Archive for the ‘Choosing the writing life’ Category
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Posted in Choosing the writing life, location free living, Simple living, simply writing, teens and creativity, writing life, tagged inspiration for writers, living the writing dream, The writing life on January 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »
10 Reasons to Attend a Writers’ Retreat
Posted in book tours, Choosing the writing life, indie publishing, location free living, Simple living, simply writing, Time to write, writing fiction, writing life, Writing retreats, tagged Australian literature, australian writers, Christmas in Australia, fiction writing, retreats on December 20, 2015| 1 Comment »
It’s officially the end of Week 3 of our Book Tour and our time on the farm, and our retreat, is at an end.
Here’s what we learnt:
- Horses can eat water lilies out of their dam and survive
- 36 degrees is unpleasant no matter where you are
- taking time out is important, so important that I think this should be number 1
- Cleaning is a great way to get out of writing and our caravan is now spotless
- Christmas Book Tours are fun as long as you have a farm to come home to
- You can write wherever you are but sitting under a shady tree watching donkeys and goats increases productivity
- Being still increases productivity
- Taking time to look back is important…it shows you how far you’ve come
- taking time to look forward is important, too, and what better time is there to plan out the new year than when you’re feeling good about point number 8
- Taking time now to do nothing much except write (and clean and sell books and go for long walks in the bush and swim in the sea and watch horses eat grass and count the stars in the night sky) is the best time of all.
Writer in Retreat: a Week ’til Christmas in the Australian Bush
Posted in Choosing the writing life, Inspiration, location free living, romance writing, Simple living, Time to write, writing inspiration, Writing retreats, tagged An Australian Christmas, Romance Writing, simple living, the Australian Bush on December 19, 2015| 2 Comments »
It’s 9.00am and, as I wander around our borrowed farm, already the animals have retreated to the shade; horses under overhanging oaks, donkeys resting under river gums and the goat hiding in his shed. Only the whippets join me on my walk, determined not to miss an adventure, regardless of the heat.
With only a couple of days left of our farm-sit, I’m contemplating the idea of hitting the highway to continue our journey south to join our family for Christmas. But part of me wants to stay here in my paddock, surrounded by nature, and only emerge when this crazy week is done.
Dear Santa,
Please send our pressies to the shack at the bottom of the track in the paddock in the middle of forest out the back of the highway. There’s plenty of grass, waterways and companionship for your reindeer and your way will be lit by a million stars.
Love a romance writer in retreat
The Good, Bad and Damned Good Fun of Book Tours
Posted in book tours, Choosing the writing life, indie publishing, marketing fiction, middle grade fiction, Stories, writing life, tagged Australian fiction, book marketing, book tours, Coffee Club, Newcastle on December 18, 2015| 1 Comment »
- Today, I had someone special to share a selfie with, the owner of Coffee Club, Kotara, who also happens to be my favourite niece
- I chatted with Coffee Club patrons about all sorts of things that reminded this writer there’s a world of stories out there to source
- I people watched and, being only a week till Christmas, there sure was plenty to watch…since when did store shopping bags get so fancy?
- The very old and very young still share a cuppa together
- People still give books as gifts
- it’s easier to say what my books are about with practice
- I need to get my next novel finished
- Kids still read
- Kids write
- The new Star Wars movie rocks (so my daughters tell me)
- My graphic artist is a whizz because people stopped because of his cover design
- i don’t look like my author pic…big mistake
- Never play the matching game with a six year old and expect to win…if she doesn’t beat you honestly, she’ll beguile you with her smile
- Make sure you have a paddock and horses to escape to when the day is done…our horse was chest high in the dam munching on water-lilies when we got home and there’s no better reminder as to why I’m a country girl at heart (and in this heat, it was tempting to join the horse in his play)
- Book tours remind us of our humanity…we may sell more books online but we don’t get near as much tactile pleasure out of the experience.
Thank you to Naomi, Shane and the Coffee Club gang for hosting our book signing. Your hospitality, generosity and love are much appreciated by me and my entourage (and the burger was great:))
The most thoughtful Christmas Gift
Posted in author signings, book tours, Choosing the writing life, indie publishing, Uncategorized, tagged Australian literature, book tours, Books as gifts on December 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »
What better Christmas gift than time with my favourite people in the world talking about the things we love the most…books.
Flowers or weeds: choosing the way we see – Writer’s Retreat Day 2
Posted in book tours, Choosing the writing life, Inspiration, location free living, Simple living, simply writing, writing inspiration, writing life, Writing retreats, tagged Bulahdelah, nature as inspiration, The writing life on December 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Inspiration: The Art of Fiction
Posted in Choosing the writing life, creativity, fiction writing rules, Inspiration, location free living, simply writing, writing life, tagged John Casey, the writer within, the writing habit, The writing life on December 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »
On Tour – Week 1 – Coffs Harbour
Posted in book tours, Choosing the writing life, indie publishing, marketing books, middle grade fiction, writing life, tagged book marketing, Coffs Harbour, indie publishing on December 4, 2015| 3 Comments »
Instant Bestseller?? Count me in…
Posted in Author platforms, Choosing the writing life, marketing books, marketing fiction, tagged book marketing advice, indie publishing, marketing books, Tim Grahl on February 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »
I first came across Tim Grahl with his marketing book, Your First Thousand Copies: the Step-by-Step Guide To Marketing Your Book’.
I followed him when he set himself a goal to sell 10,000 copies of his book in a year – The 10k Experiment – which he did (almost).
Now, he has an online training course, Instant Bestseller (visit http://www.outthink.com).
I’ve been following Grahl’s blog for so long you think I would have taken some of his advice by now but…err…okay, I admit it, there may be a reason or three why I’m yet to crack the Bestseller list, or any list for that matter, and it’s called Marketing, or in my case, lack thereof. It seems my books aren’t going to sell themselves, at least sell enough of themselves to get on anyone’s list.
So I’m gunna do the course that promises to tell me how to sell my books.
But the question is which one…
This one?
Or or this one?
Anyone want to join me? Or you can just follow my blog as I set myself the goal selling some books.
To Pseudonym Or Not To Pseudonym?
Posted in Book launch, Choosing the writing life, Fiction, fiction writing rules, pseudonyns, romance novels, romance writing, tagged a writer's life, writing romance on February 24, 2015| 1 Comment »
When to use a pseudonym:
1. When a famous romance writer has the same name as you.
2. When you are about to publish a romance novel and someone famous already has your name and fame.
3. When you’re trying to flog a literary fiction novel using your own name.
4. When you’re trying to flog a literary fiction novel and a famous romance writer already has your name and fame.
5. When you’re a middle-grade fiction writer who also writes romance.
6. When you are a teacher and all your students know you write middle grade fiction and you don’t want them to read the steamy parts.
7. When your co-author thinks you’re working on the rewrites of middle grade fiction book number three and you’re slacking off doing rewrites on a romance novel that will cause you total humiliation if your students read it at Writers Club tomorrow.
Lucky we writers have huge egos and don’t care what anyone thinks, except the famous author with the famous name the same as yours, and the co-author who is also older brother and is bossy, and a gaggle of students who are gunna snigger when I walk around the playground for the next two hundred years.
Publish and be damned…
Melinda Hammond
growing up writing 