2015, thanks for everything.

Branching out.
It's been a funny old year. In a good way, I mean. I started 2015 with the familiar writer-inbox staring game familiar to anyone who has both a Labrador and a biscuit tin. And then, as if by magic (because it was certainly magical at the time) I had a book deal for a thriller series. 

Inevitably, that experience has changed my perception of myself as a writer, and how I look at my books, and also - for this series at least - how I write.


There's no getting around it, success matters. I can open doors, liberate potential and liberate us to go on to new projects and new directions.  

Actually, let's not beat around the bush - it has been an amazing writing year. Freelance clients have come and gone - some unexpectedly - and I could not have predicted, back in January, how 2015 would unfold. I've posted my gratitude list below, along with a considerably shorter list of disappointments.

There aren't words to fully express my thanks to everyone who has shared a link on social media, or downloaded a book, or hosted a post. I know many of you had your own books to attend to, so I am doubly appreciative. 

If there is anyone out there who has read any of the Thomas Bladen books - or anyone else's, come to that - please consider writing an honest review on Amazon. It makes a huge difference to authors to know what readers really think about their work and it helps improve a book's chances of being seen (by some algorithmic alchemy). 

Anyway, without further ado...

Highs
Standpoint published on 17th March 2015.
- Line of Sight published on 10th May 2015.
- Cause & Effect published 28th November 2015.
- Being Tiffany Truscott's guest of her BBC Radio Cornwall show.
- Being the recipient of other people's support and generosity in helping to spread the word about my books.
- A hugely successful British author agreeing to host a blog post from little ole me.
- Starting a new magazine column about creative writing.
- The Cornishman newspaper sharing my book news with their readers.    

Lows
- Musa Publishing, who first brought The Silent Hills and superhero club (now self-published) to life, closing their doors.
- A national newspaper book reviewer not having the time to read / review Standpoint.
- The hugely successful British author, who agreed to host a blog post from little ole me, not doing it after eight months of email ping-pong.

I couldn't end this year without thanking Jasper Joffe and JoffeBooks for exceeding my expectations as a debut thriller author, and giving me a masterclass in writing for a commercial publisher. It has been an absolute blast and I look forward to breaking new ground with you in 2016.
  
I'll leave you with this well-known quote, which I like to think of as the writer's creed:

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.

If I could pass on one thought to anyone writing or thinking about writing, it's this: just write, and keep writing. Amazing things are possible, whatever your story and whatever your personal story. (See my blog post in January for more on that topic.)

Success stories


Just for fun (and private research!), I asked a few writer friends what their definition is of success. Re-reading the list, it's surprising how diverse the answers are. Have  read and see what you think.

However you define it, may you succeed in your creative endeavours and attain your grail.


Jane Pollard

IMO there are four stages of success:  
First: Actually completing your book after all the false starts, doubts and revisions. 
Second: Having it accepted by a publisher who believes in both the book and you as an author.  
Third: Sales resulting from word-of-mouth recommendation - the best possible advertising.
Fourth: Using all you've learned to make the next book even better.

Jane is a prolific author and tutor.



----------------
Martin Bodenham 

For me, success is defined as those rare moments when I learn that my writing has made a genuine emotional connection with the reader, such as demonstrated by the following Amazon review for my thriller novel, The Geneva Connection:

"I bought this novel as a gift for my dad. He had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimers and was having difficulty with reading, among other things. So, he bought a Kindle. This was one of the first stories he read on it. I can't even explain how wonderful it was when dad realized he could read again, and he finished this in a weekend. So, I'm posting this review for him.

Dad has spent years reading every political intrigue book he could find. He absolutely loved The Geneva Connection and ranks it in his top 10. Highly recommended read for everyone."


Martin writes international thriller novels.  More information can be found on his author website: www.martinbodenham.com

----------------
Chloe Banks

I guess to me success is... achieving a goal - whether that's a 
competition win, publication or just finishing a first draft - through hard-work and against the odds. If it comes easy, or all the odds are in your favour it's luck; if you've created it for yourself, it's success.

Chloe blogs at http://madebythepotter.blogspot.co.uk/ and her novel, The Art of Letting Go, is currently a finalist in the People's Book Prize, so there's still time to read it and vote for it (my words, not hers).










----------------

Samantha Tonge


For me success is all about selling books - not for the money
nor for fame (fat chance of that anyway!) but because it means I am reaching an audience. And that for me is the whole point of writing. I have never been a writer who has simply written for themselves.











----------------

Villayat SnowMoonWolf Sunkmanitu


If someone can be inspired or motivated towards a better 

place in their own journey as a result of my work - or if someone can begin to understand the difficulties that people living with trauma face on a daily basis, I'll have achieved what I've set out to do.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/living-with-ptsd/villayat-snowmoon-wolf-sunkmanitu/9780956488541












Wishing you all a very berry Christmas and a fruitful 2016! 






Freelancing 360°

A friend once told me that part of a mechanic's job was massaging the egos of car owners.
"Yes, that's a classic model."
"There's never a problem getting spares for this one." (And with good reason.)

For freelance writers - and for most self-employed people, I imagine - there's a lot of focus on service. Sometimes that's called customer service and sometimes it's more loftily referred to as relationship management (usually on CVs), but it comes down to keeping the customer satisfied.

That requires playing a variety of roles, often before you can get down to the job itself. You may work on refining (sometimes defining) the scope of their requirements and checking that those requirements align with their objectives / audience. You may feel you have taken on the guise of a counsellor when the client wants to talk through not only the job but also the reasons behind it and the effects it has on them.

Here are some of the other roles you may play: ideas generator, business support, marketing strategist, concept developer, publicist, reality check, negotiator, and confidante.

There are times when all you want to do is get on with the job, but paying attention to your clients stated and unstated needs (you can add intuitive to the list of roles) will pay dividends. The more closely aligned you are with their vision of their work the more likely you are to deliver to their satisfaction. It naturally follows, when that's the case, you become the logical choice when any further projects arise.


It can be time consuming when you fulfil additional roles, especially when they need to be covered before you can reach the writing / editing / proofreading. However, they are not hurdles; they are simply additional aspects of the job and you need to factor in the time required and the cost of providing those services too.

Triple Crown

Any port in a storm.
You have to imagine me smiling to myself as I write this post. Not one of those 'I'm the bee's knees' smug grins, but a gentle 'groovy' crescent on my lips. (I am making it a personal campaign to get groovy back in our everyday vocabulary.)

Three novels published in one year, by Joffe Books, is surely a cause for celebration. It's also a point, amid the excitement and that long, deep breath, to take stock and do my own, belated thanksgiving.

Standpoint took eight years from page one to publication, Line of Sight around three and a half years, and Cause & Effect about a year. That's not indicative of anything other than my thought process.

So, have I learned anything?

Well, only the obvious, which still merits repeating.
1.     Persistence pays off. Keep writing and you end up with more material.
2.     Never underestimate the importance of luck. One of my muses likes to whisper a Han Solo line from time to time: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nN9xsFUsPqM
3.     As long as you're paying attention, every new page / story / book will be an improvement on the previous one.

Has anything changed?

1.     The muses know where to find me now, but I still have days where I have to work at attracting their attention. That's okay; I know they have a lot of people to visit.
2.     I look at stories a little differently now. Often, they seem more like themes, ideas and characters that need to be worked through on the page - like a puzzle.
3.     I defend my work less now. Don't get me wrong, I love it when people enjoy my work, but disapproval does not spell disaster.

Has anything stayed the same?

1.     The truisms are still true!
2.     Writers are defined by writing. It's as simple as that.
3.     Some days are easier than others.
4.     A good notebook makes for an agreeable companion.
5.     There is no such thing as dead time.
6.     I've yet to find out how a 'real writer' lives. It's all a construct and my idea of living authentically (or writing authentically, for that matter) is peculiar to me.
7.     I'm still hungry for experience, for my writing to take me into new situations. (TV and film people, are you listening?!)

Where do I go from here?

1.     Back to the blank page. I have the outline for book four in the Thomas Bladen series, and for the one after that. They're both really linear at the moment, but the meat on the bones will develop as I work on them, and the feedback from other writers remains invaluable. Like books two and three, each book deals with the some of the consequences of the previous book. There is no comfy reset button - much like life.
2.     My standalone dark comedy, Scars & Stripes, is in circulation.
3.     I was serious, earlier, about looking at how Standpoint might be dramatised. It's all dreams and faery dust right now, but I have a couple of ideas about how to proceed.
4.     I have a blog post coming up on the site of a hugely successful British author, in early December, which I'm already tingly about.
5.     I'd like to go through some of my old, angst-ridden notebooks.

Did I feel like a dick when I came up with the title 'Triple Crown' for this blog post?

Absolutely. Especially as I needed to look it up on the web to see which sport it was associated with. (Turns out it's rugby union...who knew, apart from Sarah Campbell?) But this year has represented a triple victory for me - overcoming doubts, inertia, and my tangled first drafts.



 Thomas Bladen's back and his life is about to get complicated.

Now available here:




Smackdown

Every writer experiences The Big Chill from time to time.
When you set out to write honestly and authentically, whether it be in fiction or non-fiction, it can sometimes feel like walking a tightrope. Dwell too much on the downside of your subject and you risk disengaging your audience; keep things disproportionately upbeat and you risk losing credibility (unless your writing life really is trouble-free).

Anyway, seeing as you're here...

Life often provides the balanced to our internalised obsessions. Writers will find this list of mantras familiar:
"Will I ever finish this?"
"Is it any good?"
"Will I ever get a contract?"
"Will I ever be published?"

After those jolly pieces of self-talk the next one on the list may well be, "Can I sustain this level of success?" I'm here to tell you that, in most cases, the answer may well be 'probably not'.

It is possible to blaze a never-ending, upward trail, like one of those x-y graphs we used to stare at in class. However, generally, the world is too big, too competitive, and, dare I say it, too fickle. In short, much as you might want to believe otherwise, the world doesn't revolve around you and your book/s.

Life's little smackdowns are not only character building, but they give us perspective and test our mettle. They can make us groan, laugh, sigh, bristle with indignation or shrug our shoulders and grip the pen that little bit harder. What they can't make us do is give up writing because that's only within our gift.

Here are my recent jabs from the middle finger of fate:

- A thriller reviewer for a newspaper agreed to look at a paperback copy of Standpoint with a view to reviewing it. Six months later we've heard nothing.
- Promised book reviews for review copies never materialised.
- A newspaper that I've written for previously failed to even respond to a pitch about cybercrime, following a thwarted attempt to steal over £6,000 from our mortgage account.
- My thriller series is under commercial review, following Line of Sight's sales compared with Standpoint. This means that if Cause & Effect doesn't do sufficiently well the publisher won't be optioning the fourth book in the series. In fairness, in that event, they have suggested an alternative sub-genre they'd like me to write for. (This is not a guilt trip to make you buy more of my thrillers, but feel free if you want to do your bit!)

I'm the first one to recognise that these are not real problems. They are disappointments and unfulfilled expectations at best. But they serve to remind me that my bubble is only one of many glistening in the foam. When I started writing books it wasn't for reviews, or sales, or social media marketing; it was for the stories. Fortunately, I still have that drive and curiosity to want to take a theme, or a character, or a conflict and to follow it and see where it leads. 

If you can carry on writing when you're not getting what you want, without unduly fixating on what everyone else is doing or has done (for some reason I look to Jack London), you stand a better chance of staying true to your own voice on the page. That's what makes a writer. Just that. You write, you refine and you complete. 

A literary smackdown is a bit of a reality check.
Meanwhile, what's a writer to do?
1. Stay inspired. This is a piece I return to, from time to time, by Johnny B Truant
2. Keep writing. I'll say that again - keep writing.
3. Let your writing deepen and enrich your experience of being alive instead of isolating you from life. Grab a notebook and get out there!
4. Try other forms of writing and other art forms, just for the hell of it.
5. Read.

What do you do when your writing life serves you lemons?


Authors & Books - Adventures In Underland by N. Marie McCormick

There are times in life where two people's journeys will intersect and you'll remember it long after. It may not be life or death, it may not even seem significant at the time but that memory will stay with you. 

N. Marie McCormick is an author that I met in New York, long long ago - a foot note to my year in the US. Thanks to the magic of social media and a mutual friend, we got together in cyber space to talk about her book and the story behind the story.

It's been great to swap lines after...(pauses to count on fingers)...25+ years. A genuine blast from the past - I can almost hear the Staten Island ferry!

Now that I live in the shire with the hobbits, Derek, I empathize with your adventures in NYC. You showed more guts than me, being as young as you were. You don't look much different, but you sound experienced and happier. 

You're too kind, as my transatlantic coming-of-age tale, Scars & Stripes, will show when it comes out! Okay, we'll start with the easy questions.

1. What prompted you to write Adventures in Underland and did you know it was going to be a novel when you started? 

I live in a small town with no public transportation. I worked for mileage. I worked a year driving foster kids for Child Protective Services. I had also drove screwed up teens to psych appointments for other agencies. The kids really liked talking to me, because I had been in the system as a kid and had two unstable parents. My first ride was a teen girl who had all her worldly goods in a garbage bag at a teen crisis house. She was turning 18 in a few months and was afraid of living on her own. She was still in school and this state will pay college tuition if a foster kid graduates high school. Everything is spread out, so we got to talk for several hours. The crisis house called my supervisor to ask if I could be the girl's steady driver. I said great.    
     The next day, I had a cancellation in the afternoon. I wanted to go for a motorcycle ride. My bike wouldn't start, but a bike we share with a couple that visits every summer runs fine. I got my two year degree earlier that summer and did a victory lap from WA to AZ to see my sister, on the newer bike. A couple of weeks after that 2500 mile ride,  I crashed going out for ice cream.     The docs said no one with my injuries had ever lived before. I was back driving in three months but the girl had turned 18, and I never got to speak to her again. I felt really guilty for that. 
     There were other kids, especially teens, that wanted to hear my story as pertained to their problems and ask for advice.I thought I had found my purpose in life and was happy to do it, but I couldn't drive as much as I used to. 
    Then a false arrest from a police drug dealer fishing expedition finished me with that job . They trumped up some charges that were dismissed, but my job was gone by the time I got that mess done with. 
    I started writing out my anger and frustration, and wound up writing my whole childhood instead. If I can't talk the foster kids one on one, maybe I can reach them this way. A book about being swept up in adult bullshit and making decisions that in retrospect were neither right or wrong.

2. You've said that you drew upon your own personal experiences. Did you think it a difficult if therapeutic process? 

Definitely. There is some catharsis and some closure in writing about coming of age under difficult circumstances, but it's also draining to go over all these traumatic experience again and again in editing. While writing the first draft, it felt like time travel when the story got flowing. I could remember small details, smells, sweat and grit of the city. Hanging with my friends on hot summer nights, the musty smell of subway tunnels. I would also relive the traumas like they just happened yesterday. My husband could tell by looking at the freaked out look on my face, that I'd been writing too long at one sitting. I started writing in smaller bites.

3. Given your previous work, and what you know about the lives of young people who grow up 'in the system', did you feel a responsibility to reflect that in all its positive and negative aspects?

I've made it as honest as possible, including things I'd rather not admit about myself that are definitely unlikable traits. I changed some names but most of the names and places are part of historic record, so I  went with the real names be it  positive, negative or ambivalent, where I could. There are a few places that I wouldn't mind calling on the carpet. There's all kinds of laws to prevent people from doing that, but if it's true, it's not libel. They can purge their files and probably win in a corrupt courts system. We'll see. 
    I felt the book would lose it's power, if I glossed over the actual events.
Parents and schools try to protect kids from cuss words and other content, but this is an R rated book aimed at kids and young adults who lived R rated lives. I'm hoping teen crisis houses and other programs, like Safetynet, that help kids who are aging out of foster care, might want some copies. I feel it may be condemned by municipal counseling and psych centers, because it doesn't show some of them in the best light and young adults might find there are other types of programs that help them work around their PTSD symptoms, instead of labeling them defective. 
    Books about all the pretty six pack ab vampires, and kid fighting it out in dystopian societies are great for getting kids interested in reading. They are good escapes for kids from problem homes as well. That is needed. This book takes on real life trials and predation and has many examples of what not to do, and a few good decisions thrown in. I would suggest having an escape book handy if my story gets to heavy. Kind of a palate cleanser.  

4. Do you think your novel might be useful as an educational tool for young people and for professionals?  

I'm hoping that places that genuinely want to help kids, make this book and subsequent books, available for kids. It would also make good reading for workers in the field to hear how and why unprotected children wind up in self defeating cycles. I want them to know there are alternatives to being labeled a psych patient. 

5. Do you think the care system has changed since you first experienced it, and if so in which ways?

Well they probably don't sell cigarettes to minors in the weekly canteens anymore. The courts still move as slow now as they did then. Yes they may want to protect the children in most cases, but the foster care system is one of the biggest precursors to the prison industrial system. Some kids luck out and get a solid foster home, others drift from home to home to group home to the psych system. Think of how many jobs one foster child supports? Social Workers, Foster Parents, Administrators, Attorneys, Judges, and even drivers like I was. 60% of foster children wind up as homeless adults at least once in their lives. I am no exception.

6. Are you planning to take your book 'on the road'?

I'm starting local. I've ordered several cases. I've found an outlet and I have a friend who is a DJ at a local radio station. I'll start with maybe a small book signing. I'll learn from mistakes and then start working bigger markets. I'm also trying for some big fish, like The Daily Show or Rachel Maddow. A writer gets used to rejection.

7. What was your journey to publication?

As I said before, I had to write this book in small bites for my own sanity. The present doesn't stop because you're dwelling on the past. I had to be in both places at once. When I was writing about a painful time, a part of me would be stuck there until I completed the chapter, which took weeks in some cases. The most painful recollections, could only be written a few sentences a night. Other stories poured out of me, in one big barf fest. From journal to finished book, it took 7 years. The editing process is the longest most tedious part. Every time I thought I've corrected all the mistakes, someone else looks it over and finds dozens of places I missed, then I read it again and find dozens of places we both missed. I had the book copyrighted under another title to protect it when I sent it to publishers. They all promise to get back to you and none of them do. I self published through Page Publishing. By the time you get ISB Numbers, printing firms, and advertise and sell in e-book form, it costs nearly as much as paying someone else to do it.  The easiest part was working with the graphics department on the cover art. I have taken Photoshop classes and got most of it together myself, though Pages art department did some nice final touches. 

8. What are you writing now?

I am working on the 2nd book, that answers the question I ask at the end of the first book. "What could go wrong?" I focus on my "claustrophobia" where jobs, housing and men are concerned. Over many, many mistakes and misadventures, I slowly learn consistency, reliability, and how to work around my symptoms (PTSD) and not run away from challenges or throw monkey wrenches into my life. 

9. Where can we find out more about your book? (Include any links and reference to any interviews you may have done.) 

I'm starting interviews with the local press, but my paper back and e-books are available on Amazon and Kindle

10.  How do you keep the balance personally between authenticity and vulnerability as an author?

I don't balance it. It would dilute the work and the kids and young adults as well as older adults who had similar experiences, would know falseness when they read it. I do when I read other books. I cut my self open like fish being cleaned for a bar-b-Que. It's just as painful and gross as it sounds. 

11. Give us a flavour of the Adventures in Underland.

The girl has spent the first part of her childhood with two loving but unstable parents. The inevitable happens all at once and the girl spends the rest of her childhood in her Mom's old Brooklyn neighborhood that's in the middle of a mafia power struggle. The girl makes friends with kids in situations as bad as, or more disturbing than hers. It's a historical novel that chronicles the events that have led to the present state of affairs in the inner cities. Riots, blackouts, fires, drugs, sexual predation of unprotected minors, inequities in schools, and literally institutional racism through personal experience and much dry humor.

Writing and backgammon

We've recently learned how to play backgammon, so now we can finally use the set that we bought in Turkey about 15 years ago. (I said we'd get there in the end.)

Like all dice games there is a great deal of luck in the game, although strategy and 'reading the game' play their parts too. Such is our competitiveness that we've both started practising online at http://www.247backgammon.org/ to sharpen our skills.

Naturally, I started on the beginner's level and lately I've been practising almost exclusively on the expert level. And by practising I mean losing. It won't surprise you to learn that the expert level seems to be far luckier with the dice than the lower settings, or me. And any mistakes I make are ruthlessly punished.

Why then do I play against the expert? Because, win or lose, that's usually when I play at my best (although that's cold comfort when I feel I've been cheated out of victory).

It seems to me that writing is a lot like backgammon. We can stick to the lower levels and enjoy the game without feeling too taxed. Stories will still get written, in their own time, and may even be shared. There's no shame in that and we can derive a great deal of fulfilment from the creativity and feedback.

Or...we can turn things up a few notches and dare to try a game at expert level. We can work to a deadline and a plan, gather up our finished work and edit it until our fingers hurt, and then risk all by sending our writing to an agent, a publisher or a magazine editor.

We may feel that the odds are stacked against us and that the dice are rigged. The statistics certainly bear out that point of view.

But you know what?

Sometimes statistics don't show the full story. Sometimes we gain far more, even if we 'fail', by pushing ourselves beyond our limits. Sometimes, instead of publication being solely a game we want to win, we can choose to see it as a journey and an experience we can learn from and grow from.

My trusty spreadsheet (see previous post) shows me all the times I've submitted material and the percentages of successes and failures. But more than that, it shows me how far I've come as a writer.

Speaking of which....coming soon!

CAUSE & EFFECT- my third novel published by Joffe Books this year.

A random attack on a child and a clinical assassination thrust Thomas Bladen into a dark conspiracy.
 
Thomas Bladen works in surveillance for a shadowy unit of the British government. But just when he thought things had settled down, his girlfriend Miranda’s father calls in a favour. Thomas must investigate an attack on the loved one of a drug dealer. As he delves deeper, he finds out the truth about Miranda’s past and his investigation takes him closer to the shadow state and endangers everyone Thomas cares about. 

Due out on 12th December 2015 and available for pre-order.








The joy of spreadsheets

Spreadsheets reveal the fruits of your labours
After a word processing package, a writer's best software friend may well be a spreadsheet. True, they're not seen as sexy or as creative as certain bespoke applications I could name (but won't, as I don't have a sponsorship deal!). However, when you get a basic grasp of how spreadsheets work, basic formulas and the meaning of GIGO*, a good spreadsheet can save you time and free up your thinking.

Providing you keep the information up to date, a spreadsheet can give you a detailed overview of your writing empire, o that you can see at a glance how you're faring financially and which of your many strings is twanging a good tune.

Here are some of my favourite uses for a writer's spreadsheet:

- Tracking submissions, while adding in a simple formula will also give you a prompt date for following up or for giving up.

- Displaying your freelance pitches, submissions, successes and clients by category. Why? Because it will give you a clear indication of what you're good at and whether you've knocked on the same door before (and with what effect).

- Money. My trusty - and far from sophisticated - spreadsheet can tell me which types of writing are the most lucrative for me, and the average payment for a type of job (e.g. blog writing, article writing, ghostwriting, branding, editing, etc.) and which invoices have yet to be sent or remain unpaid.

- A library overview of which pieces I've written, whether they're sold or unsold, the word count, and - for sold pieces - whether and when any second rights are available.

- For novels, I can keep account of the word count per chapter, and the key events it contains. If I want to change the sequence of events it makes it easier for re-plotting.

- Novel email lists for updates or new announcements.

Once the worksheet is set up and any formulas configured (that sounds way more complicated than it actually is), it's simple a case of updating the s/sheet with any new or changed information. Hey presto, you can concentrate on writing!


* Garbage In Garbage Out. But you knew that, right?