I have reached a decision and decided to make the first 15 pages or so of my first novel I Am a Muse available for free on this very website.
Go to the I AM A MUSE PAGE and you will be able to download the PDF! 29/5/2013 Free extract(s)?I am thinking about putting some extracts of I Am a Muse on this website, but cannot decide between the following:
one free chapter, probably the first one, maybe as a PDF - but I am slightly worried that this first scene doesn't relect the overall mood of the book. OR over a month, post one shortish extract every week. Not too sure which way to go! I'll think about it... 28/5/2013 small ad...Matt ArtPix has designed a lovely little ad for Arcane Publishing!
If everything goes to plan, it should appear in the pocket edition that the magazine Level 4 is planning to do for the arts and music festival, Village Green. I am not very good with slogans, and "Stories from the city, stories from the sea" was already taken... 15/5/2013 Another book about Dorset!So yesterday I had my first interview as an interviewee... I was waiting for the journalist inside Waterstones in Southend - unfortunately, we do not have any independent bookshop in town and the nearest one is The Book Inn in Leigh-on-Sea - and having a look at their "NEW BOOKS" section, when my eyes fell on a great cover illustration; then I saw the name Robert McFarlane on it, and so I picked it up. It was a book about South Dorset! The evocative lane on the cover reminded me of the "haunted" lane we followed last September, Common Lane near Corscombe (as described in Louise Hodgson's Secret Places of West Dorset.) I will purchase Holloway in the forthcoming weeks, it sounds fantastic - although it is quite pricey! In July 2005, Robert Macfarlane and Roger Deakin travelled to explore the holloways of South Dorset's sandstone. They found their way into a landscape of shadows, spectres and great strangeness. The interview itself went ok, although I can still hear the sound of my own voice buzzing in my head. Did I say too much? Not enough? Unfortunately, the journalist hadn't had time to read the book and we didn't delve too deep into it, which I guess would have been quite a challenge for me... I am not sure how the journalist is going to get something together out of my waffle, but I guess doing that is a specific skill, isn't it? Not everyone can be a journalist, despite what the majority of people thinks. So I talked about art, inspiration, I Am a Muse, self-publishing, the English language, education - not in any particular order. What I like about writing is that you have time to organise your thoughts. When I speak, everything gushes out and I kind of panic. I guess I will learn with time... The article should be published on Friday 24th May, and I will post a scan on this website. Not too sure whether I am looking forward to it or dreading it... 6/5/2013 Getting a good "author photo"This is the most painful aspect of promotion: getting your face out there... I wish I could do without it. After all, it's the books that count!
And anyway, what's wrong with my 1920s bobbed flapper logo? :-) Matt ArtPix and I have been talking about the way getting a small kitten would probably be good for our respective ventures (see number 3)... If I really have to have one done one day, I'd like it to look like a Cecil Beaton photograph... Black and white, stylish, stylised... Just like the one below: 5/4/2013 Press!My lovely friend at La Magicbox, a French music website for which I have been writing a lot since 2000, has done a little news flash about the publication of my book. It is in French, though... MAGICBOX NEWS They might even put a review on there next month...
I have actually started writing about music again, although it will not be as full on as it used to be... I have done a profile of the Alt-Fest festival, a fantastic new festival that will take place in Kettering in August 2014, and I have just sent in my first CD review in four years! I am rather rusty, but it's good to be back! ALT-FEST PROFILE ARTICLE ON LA MAGICBOX (in French and English). 26/3/2013 Paper is best - Part twoMy boyfriend has sent me a link to this cracking little gem of a video, MUCH BETTER NOW. A bookmark is stuck in a forgotten book that is one day knocked over by wind. It experiences its environment by surfing the pages that turn in to ocean-waves, enjoying the ride of its life. As the book cover closes light reveals new challenges. The video was made by hip visual production studio SALON ALPIN and has its own website! It has won an array of prizes, and when you watch it, you understand why. It is absolutely lovely, dynamic, poetic, enchanting... And it fits perfectly with my current "paper is best" stance, but with a technological twist. Just to prove that paper can still be relevant in our technology obsessed world.
Have a look at the MAKING OFF PAGE too! It is an interesting mix of software use and craft! It makes you feel all warm inside (oh, and it's got a surfing theme, perfect excuse to mention my debut novel I Am a Muse!). 21/3/2013 Bookmarks!20/3/2013 Promo, bookshops, writingI have gone a bit I Am a Muse-mad over the past few days...
Because I haven't got anything to lose, really, I have been sending emails and press releases - and Advance Information Sheets, didn't know about those ones until two days ago! - to various independent bookshops in Essex, London and Cornwall. I have even submitted the book for consideration at Foyles - in my dreams! This has been a full-time job for the past week or so, preparing promo material, sending books and doing research - I am so lucky I have a long lull in my freelance work! And it is not over yet, because it really has just started... Yesterday, I went back to The Book of Thoth which has been neglected for weeks on end... Today, I am going to the printer to deliver the files for the bookmarks and then I'll be writing. I am starting on a new schedule: morning, I Am a Muse promo, afternoon The Book of Thoth writing. This pesky first draft just has to be completed by early July! 13/3/2013 The Eye of HorusToday, I was back to The Book of Thoth and I am trying to finish the scene in which appears the mysterious Eye of Horus. Notice the verb "trying" here...
Why does it always take me so long to get back into a book after I've stopped writing for several weeks? I often need one to two days for the flow to start again... Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive! |
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March 2024
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