Tuesday, April 20, 2010

You can do it too.

When I started to hunt and peck on my first home pc, I had no idea what to do or how to write a novel. I was a complete novice, that's probably a good thing, I found my way in the dark by feel and by stumbling around. I started with a vision of a small story, about ten to fifteen pages and that was all. Once I started, the story started to grow as did the characters, I watched them all grow and fill out before my eyes, as did the storyline.

What started as five thousand words, turned into fifty thousand and one year later, I finished. I had no idea what I had started and how interesting the path was going to become. The best things to happen to me have all happened on this road that I discovered fourteen years ago. You don't have to be educated, you don't have to even have a complete story mapped out in your mind all you have to have is self belief. I never passed a single subject at school, my spelling and grammar give me grief to the extreme, as you are probably aware if you follow my blog.

Once again it never stopped me, but it did make it all a lot harder. Even today I suppose I do it tougher than a lot of my counterparts that have degrees or at least a better understanding of the English language. I was always the kid at the back of the class tearing his hair out just trying to grasp the basics in life. While all the others in the class were finished, I was still trying to understand the first question. But you know what, I did it, I finished my first novel at the age of thirty four. You can do it too.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Eye's Open

I know I probably don't blog as much as I should, I struggle with this as I'm aware people like yourselves want to know and be updated regularly. Since my last blog things have really started to move. We have made significant inroads into major book chains where we are given some respect these days instead of being treated like something that is stuck to the bottom of their shoes. It's amazing isn't it how money talks, we proved ourselves in sales and the doors that were locked to us before were suddenly flung open.

The sad fact is that so many authors approach book stores today that they are tired of seeing them turn up. You are given a time and a date and expected to fail and go home, never to be seen again. Unfortunately this does happen all too often. I've been in this industry long enough now to see the train wrecks and the bodies strewn around the wreckage. I've been in a few myself, I certainly can't say I don't have any injuries or scars either.

This industry is just like every other, it's not glamorous or an easy ride. So many of us start out with stars in our eyes and blinkers on if you hang around long enough you start to realise that the stars are from the constant knocks your taking and the blinkers have been hiding the truth.

If you want your project to succeed then you have to make it happen, no one else is going to do it for you. Don't leave your work in the hands of others, they will let you down, no one will put as much effort into your work as you do. Third parties are the worst, things you can't do yourself and you trust others to do. They promise you the world and it all sounds great until they deliver, invariably late and to a sub standard. Frustrating is the word, when your heart and soul is there and others just trample all over it not caring.

On the other side of the coin you can also be lucky and find a few that are as considerate as you are. Hang on to these they are worth their weight in gold. We do have a couple like this and are grateful of it, but they are few and far between.

It's not all doom and gloom but I want you to be aware that it is important to go in with your eyes wide and your mind alert. Don't be fooled by someone shining you on, take everything said with a grain of salt. I don't want to see another train wreck.