Ready to Roll

My Book is Ready

Finally after a year of Synchronicity, Submission and Skinny Dipping I am ready for my book to be published.  It is quite a strange feeling I don’t mind admitting.  I have had some very good advice from people that have already had a sneak peak and I thank them all enormously.  I have edited the content so many times but last weekend I picked up my working copy and realised I was trying to improve a sentence that was actually ok to begin with.  I am not Jane Austen however romantic my notions and my book is not a  masterpiece. However if it makes anyone smile, smirk, laugh, cry or even just wiggle with the uncomfortable truth I know I did my job well.

My book Sharks & Lovers is available to download here:

Amazon       Kobo       iTunes

The Second Book


Oh the second book is so much better! I am even enjoying the edit. Don’t get me wrong the first book is good but as someone once told me, ‘the first book is just getting rid of the emotion, the second is where the magic begins!’  That was great advice,  I would love to post some of it on here. However I’m still hoping for a publishing deal so I need to keep my cards close to my chest, for now!

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A Christmas Present – Tiny Things to Write About

As a Christmas gift I was given a book of tiny things to write about. I’m sure it will improve my writing and I thought I would share some with you.

One morning you run into the person who bullied you at school. After preliminary greetings, you let loose, what do you say?

 

‘Isn’t it strange that when we were alone together you were always so kind. I guess you tried to make yourself look superior to me in front of everyone else by putting me down. However I saw in other people’s eyes pity, not for me but for you. I was always winning our battle, even when I didn’t want to. Sorry. I hope you have more confidence as an adult.’

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Endurance, the hard work

I have never understood physical endurance tests. One of our good friends once did the Marathon de Sables; five and a half marathons in five or six days, set in the Sahara Desert.  I am currently writing with a guy who has swam the English Channel. Why? Was my first question. Surely life is difficult enough without giving yourself more challenges. However I have realised that giving yourself these bigger challenges makes very easy work of everything else.  Isn’t it true, that through struggle we grow?

Feeling physically fit is mentally empowering. Being a Pom in Melbourne can sometimes feel like a fish out of water. Aussies are a beautiful race and generally seem a lot more active than us Brits. Beach Road is more of a cycle track than a road. Swimmers don’t just go to the beach to muck about, they go to swim five kilometres, ten kilometres. Even around the bay!

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Page Three…the error

I have sent my manuscript to various publishers and then today as I went through it for the umpteenth time I saw it. That bloody error on the third page! This means that all five publishers will have seen it.  Some publishers want 100 pages, some the first chapter, all want a synopsis. One wanted a three line synopsis! To which my explicit words were rampant for a good half hour whilst composing.

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Ten Months of Writing

I thought I’d map out what has happened this year.  In February I started writing my first fictional novel, my aim was to finish this by December. Then at Swinburne Uni I was told ‘write everyday’. My good friend bought me a planning diary and I soon realised my manuscript would be finished way before Christmas! In fact it was finished in July.  All 67,000 words of it, I actually wrote more like 80,000 but edited it down.  I think it fits in the genre of Chick Lit, a friend said it could be Bridget Jones meets Monkey Grip.

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The Ping of Hope

I get home from my writing group and turn on the laptop. Jodie and Tabitha are in Jabiru, Northern Territory, Australia and it’s about 38 degrees. They sit together in the pub supping beer, laughing and joking.  As the sun fades on the horizon their eyes reflect the changing light on the escarpment. After a hard weeks work Victoria Bitter has quenched the girls thirst and soothed their tired limbs but there is an ache they share that VB can’t touch.

Ping!

Finally an email from a publisher, I read it and let out a little scream. They ask me to send more chapters! This is great, they want more. I take the liberty of sending them more from book one but also some chapters of book two which I am now nearly half way through. I arrange my documents ready to send back, read and re-read. Please love it.

I’m so excited and yet I realise this is a drop in the ocean, I might never hear back again. Stay positive, believe. I will get that book deal.

My hunger for this is now quite ferocious. I growl at the laptop as I send my email back trying to send my energy too.

‘Come on let’s do this!’ I say sounding curiously like a tennis player giving themselves a pep talk.

I’m here let’s get on with it, my book is ready to go and so am I!

Before my altercation with the author at the Wheeler Centre. I was sat listening to them talking about the next big thing. It’s me, It’s me! I thought. I know that sounds awfully arrogant but this is different I’m happy and proud of my work. I know these books could do a lot of good. Perhaps break down a few barriers, just as writing them has broken down my barriers. It’s why my emotions run high when I talk about my writing. It’s me on a plate, no holes barred. I don’t care if people like it or loath it, as long as it’s heard. Please world just listen, even if it is background music on your elevator ride. It’s on, it’s alive, it has a pulse, in fact it gives me palpitations!

My book Sharks & Lovers is available to download here:

Amazon       Kobo       iTunes