I recently did an interactive reading of “Climbing The Walls“, Book 1 of my “Hart & Cole” series, with Saga’s co-founder Pranika Sharma on the segment “Hearing It Out Loud”.
This excerpt we chose is the introduction of Nicole’s boss Darren Hart — my favourite character. You’ll hate him in Book 1, but I promise you’ll love him eventually!
Check out the video!
I was thrilled to finally get a chance to talk at length about my “Hart & Cole” series with Saga’s co-founder Aakriti recently on “The Author Tells”.
We talked about everything from the conceptualisation of the series, my writing process, my favourite characters, key themes in the series, and much more! Check out the video!
As of October 1st, 2021, my first book “Climbing The Walls” is LIVE on the Saga app — exclusively (e-version).
That’s right. I hit “Unpublish” on Amazon. That’s a HUGE step for any writer, but I did it.
I took a leap of faith in a new start-up company run by young book lovers. Saga Fiction is India’s foremost mobile fiction app, which handpicks the best of feel-good stories and contemporary fiction, bringing to you an undeniable reading experience with serialized fiction, mini novellas, and page-turning novels.
I was thrilled to have a chat with Saga’s co-founders Aakriti and Pranika recently on “The Publishing Dialogue”.
We talked about everything from my writing and editing process, tips for new writers, the publishing industry, and much more! Check out the video!
Here’s a video of me talking about my experience with Saga and my books!
So… remember when I recently lamented that short-story writers are the best secret-keepers?
Well, I got tired of keeping that secret… for a few of my stories, at least!
I’m thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of my very first SHORT STORY COLLECTION!
Particularly when it comes to support from your network.
Or who you “think” is your network, anyway.
You know… your friends, your family, your coworkers or colleagues, and the like.
Almost everyone who’s aware of your writing “hobby” (because that’s the box they’ve put it into, in their minds) will have genuine words of support while your work is in progress, and maybe even when it’s out there.
But for many… once the time is upon us to actually support beyond saying “Congrats”… it’s crickets.
So, I now have a third — that’s right, THIRD — major re-edit of Book 1 of my series…
LOL. It feels like I’ll never stop working on that pesky first pancake!
I recently signed an exclusive contract with Saga, an Indian publishing company, for my entire series to be converted into an episodic format for their upcoming mobile fiction app.
My two new short stories are amazing. At least, I think so. (I may be biased.)
But, here’s the thing… what do I do with them now?
As the year started, I re-dedicated myself to my flailing “Reader Blog” with a bang. In 3 months, I read and reviewed a whopping 35 books so far! My aim is to get to at least 100 for the year, so that’s 8+ per month.
I’m a web designer and I love dabbling in code, but I’m far from a developer. In the past, I’ve managed to avoid any serious web security issues… and then my last week hit me like a train.
It started on a website I recently rebuilt. I breathed life back into this passion project, so when I had to write a bio, I thought I’d link to it.
That was the first time I realised there was a malicious redirect on the domain.
Them: “I’ll read and review your book, and post it on my feed.”
Me: “Oh, nice, thanks!”
Them: “Here are my prices…”
Me: “Wait, what?”
I love reading and reviewing, and I’m happy to help others.
I’ve been terrible at it for the last couple of years (pregnancy, early mamahood, COVID!) but this year I am determined to DO BETTER!
So I’ve spent the last few weeks working on committing myself to doing Book Reviews for indies. I researched book bloggers’ websites and took notes.
And almost everyone responds: “Ah well, that’s for the best, probably not your target reader anyway.”
…But is that even the point?
I myself have some author friends whose books I haven’t read, but I’m not talking about the regular friends/acquaintances. I’m not even talking about your “circle”, the adult people in your life directly around you, i.e. parents, siblings, best friends.
I’m talking about the person you share a bed and a life with, and with whom you’ve perhaps even meshed DNA in the form of offspring. That’s right: your significant other.
That’s right. Some crazy person, two years ago, put a book launch on her birthday!
At the time, I thought: “Hey it’d be nice to get reviews streaming in to brighten my day…”
In retrospect, I was f$#$#$@#$#@king busy all day long, and exhausted by the time I got a chance to read my reviews!
Who they are, why they do what they do, what makes them tick. They’ve been with me for the better part of the last two decades, and I know them so intimately.
But if you ask me about myself, I hesitate.
I’m a little ashamed to admit it… but… I barely read any books last year.
Literally, less than a handful. Off the top of my head, I can recollect maybe three or four. But that’s it.
Blame the pandemic, blame the baby and the newborn-newmama black hole of despair funk, blame just my utter laziness. The fact is: reading novels was nowhere near my priority list. (And, as a self-published writer, it should be!)
Secondly… TODAY’S THE DAY!!!!!! Woot! Book 1 is properly out, launched and everything!
The best part of Book 1’s relaunch is that I’m now so happy with this book leading the pack.
There’s something about that sentence that has a huge sigh of relief accompanying it. It’s a big step. Something’s happening.
Well, in my personal life, not a lot has been happening, as my health issues have taken priority.
I can’t believe it. Yup, my first book baby turned 2 years old recently, on July 28th.
In all fairness, I was hard-core for about 9 months after publishing, and then my zeal quickly tapered off when other life things took priority. So there’s been a long gap of doing very, very little writer-wise.
I made a baby. Then, the world imploded.
Of course, that’s not exactly how it happened — or rather, it is, but it’s not a cause-and-effect type of sentence but just a factual one.
Okay, so I probably need to back up a bit. There’s been a long, long silence here… and for good reason.
At the start of the year, I welcomed my son into the world. My new year’s baby. My miracle baby.
I’ve learnt so much since I first published, and grown so much as a writer AND as a person. I’ve learnt to rejoice in the triumphs of praise, and also to take criticism to heart to improve my craft.
I’m happy to say now that I felt my recent funk hugely lifted with the news that my first Author Interview Podcast aired! Here it is:
Thanks so much to Ella Barnard & Author Like a Boss!
And, well… I’m a little ashamed to say that my favourite part of my vacation was the DISTANCE from my books.
Writer burnout is real. Your books consume you.
In my launch day post for “Book 2: Pandora’s Poison”, I mentioned that I’d learnt a lot since becoming a published writer, and the book length issue was a huge part of what I’d learnt.
It continues to plague me to this day…
We’re here. We’re at this point… yep, you’ve guessed it:
Today is the day BOOK 3 LAUNCHES!
Just a reminder — my first published book was released July 28-29, 2018. My second published book was released on January 22, 2019. So there was a good six-month window between Book 1 and Book 2, but only a couple of months until Book 3!
Yikes! So it’s been a helluva couple of months…
Recently I had the honour of receiving one of my first blogger reviews, and it was SO awesome and I was SO thrilled and thankful she enjoyed my book and had such deep thoughts on it. Blogger reviews really are the holy grail of reviews!
Today, I’m so excited to be this blogger’s first author to do an Author Q&A!
I now own 800+ free ebooks. (Yep. I counted.)
Which, in all fairness, isn’t even close to the limit. Amazon boasts its newer Kindles can hold up to 3500 books!
I need 20 more lifetimes to ever get around to half of these that I already have.
…And I get 20+ emails per day offering even more freebies. I don’t even remember signing up to half of these newsletter subscriber sites. So… yeah.
Honestly, I’m not surprised authors are complaining about “no/low sales”.
We’re not “part of” the problem. We ARE the problem.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have snagged the attention of a couple of bloggers recently with my debut novel “Climbing The Walls“.
Mind you, to date I must’ve emailed over 100 bloggers, with about a .0000000001% response rate, and then after sending my book to the few who DID respond… ***crickets***!!!
So I’m eternally humbled and grateful, and so thrilled that these two bloggers took the time and attention to lovingly describe aspects of my book that I myself couldn’t have written better.
So I’m six months into this writer journey, with two books under my belt, and had a recent experience I thought worth sharing.
My friend agreed to let me share this once she read it first and once I kept her nameless, so here goes:
I gave out ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies), and a user took both Books 1 & 2 — then sent me a message saying she preferred not to review.
…Not that she didn’t like my writing. She was explicit about this. But it seems she didn’t want the book on her record of having reviewed on her accounts, since it contains a particular scene that she wasn’t 100% comfortable with.
Finally, the day is here!
It’s my birthday today, but that’s the least of my concerns.
Today is the day BOOK 2 LAUNCHES!
Now, my first published book was a whole six months ago (July 28-29, 2018). So it’s been quite some time bunkering down and absorbing all I can before my second book!
I’m not kidding when I say, in my official Author Bio, that there’s a little bit of me in all the ‘Hart & Cole‘ women.
The photo — which I recently stumbled upon while looking for something else on an old, massive hard drive — was taken circa 2005, when I’d gotten a white rose at a party because I’d been voted best dressed.
There’s less than a week to go for Book 2 of my series, so I’m doing a million things at once. So please forgive the mini-rant!
I took some time to reflect on parts of the journey that have been the hugest learning curve for me.
One of my goals for 2019 is to read more. And review more — especially indie authors!
After all, it’s not fair to be begging for reviews when you’re not passing it forward yourself.
So over the last couple of weeks, I’ve given myself a huge kick in the pants to get this goal underway…
It seems counterproductive, but a huge part of being an indie writer is that, at some point, you’ll have to give away your book for free.
…In a BIG way.
Never mind the fact that you took 15+ years to publish the damn thing.
EEEK! Are you ready? I sure am.
Today we are officially 6 weeks away from the launch of Book 2 of my Hart & Cole series!
But for all intents and purposes, my Hart & Cole series is about love. It’s a lot MORE than romance, and it covers all KINDS of love, but the relationship is a driving force here.
And there is a huge aspect of ‘romance’ though I classify it more as a ‘Women’s Fiction’ genre since it doesn’t follow the usual trends of a romance.
This is perhaps one of the best compliments I’ve gotten so far on my debut published novel Climbing The Walls (Hart & Cole Book 1) – one I didn’t even think of, when writing.
Because, of COURSE my characters don’t get lost in each other – to me, they never will; they never can. They are each so individual, so unique, to me… so I’m thrilled my readers are also able to GET that.
Because here’s the thing:
Kris and Nicole – they’re both fully (and individually!) formed in my head. I’ve only just barely edited them.
In our society, a woman’s worth is often conflated with her ability to not only bear children, but to then selflessly raise them without a thought for herself.
This is the crux of the drama for the first couple in my series, Kris and Nicole.
“Tell me all of the things that you couldn’t before
Don’t walk away, don’t roll your eyes
They say love is pain, well darling, let’s hurt tonight…”— One Republic: “Let’s Hurt Tonight”
Every time I hear this song, I think of my Book 2 main characters Darren and Luisa.
To me, it was. I mean, of COURSE you need a website.
Granted, I make a living building and managing websites, so I may be a *wee* bit biased, but this one should be a no-brainer!
For any business — and, make no joke about it, being an author (particularly a self-published one) is a BUSINESS! — you need to have a website.
But if you’re a traveller, you have to bear with the means of transport to get there. Yep… airplanes.
I began writing this post while on an airplane kicking off my mega-vacation — Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A. and my old stomping ground of London, England. 4 flights and 3 weeks later, I’m now back home — and yep, I’m still not a fan of flying!
Day 7 also falls on a timely moment — my “Climbing The Walls” ebook went live on July 28th, closely followed by the paperback version on July 29th — so today marks my 6-week anniversary as a newly published author!
TODAY is the Release Party for the new book “Easy” by Mercedes Siler which is happening over at Facebook here.
I’m a culture/race/music mongrel [I listen to EVERYTHING!] but when I’m actively plotting my scenes to write Contemporary Romance, a few songs are WIP-Worthy…
An important part of my journey to writing — especially in the end stages towards the PUBLISH button — was to set the lock screen & background on my phone to the book cover. I did it with Book 1 (left) and recently changed it to Book 2 (right)! So now I’ve got my book boyfriend to look at all day! ?
I look at my phone constantly — and every time I see it, I am reminded to WRITE! ?
