And now for something completely different

I have been writing, just not here. I finished the revision work on Peeling the Onion, and that's now republished. It's why I love indie publishing so much, There's no delay—well, there's a bit of a delay, but not nearly as much as traditional publishing. I've heard it can take up to two years, or more, to get a manuscript from leaving the author, to arriving with the reader. Indie publishing takes approximately three days. That's not three days to write, revise, edit, create a cover and get beta reader feedback. That's three days from when the final manuscript is submitted and the publish button is pushed.

At the same time as working on Peeling the Onion, I was collaborating with my granddaughter on a middle grade novel. I recommend for 8 to 14 years old. Although, the adults who have read it, as beta readers or critique partners, have all enjoyed it too.

It's just getting the final touch up, and I'll let you know as soon as it's published. It will be available in all formats, and on all Amazon sites, but because Madison, the lead author, lives in the UK, it will be British English as opposed to US English, which my novels are. 

Finally, to answer the question so many of you have been asking. Yes, there will be a book 7 in the Escape Route series. I've just started working on that. So, once again, watch this space.

How to celebrate my birthday?

I know! I'll publish book 6 of The Escape Route Series, Maria's Story. Kindle and Audiobook versions actually went live on September 3rd, yesterday as I write this. The Paperback and Hardcover versions went live this morning—now, that was a good birthday gift, don't you agree?

You can purchase Maria's Story on Amazon. In fact, you can purchase the entire series on Amazon. And, if you would like to give me a birthday gift, how about writing a review? Thank you in advance, reviews help to sell books. 

Now the big question remains, will there be a book 7? And the answer is, I don't know. I'm toying with a few ideas. Currently, I'm doing a cleanup job on my memoir, Peeling the Onion. I published that twelve years ago, and did so without any critique partner to help me catch the typos and more. So, I'm doing some revision, removing the more boring stuff and adding content to fill in the years and bring it up to date. I will republish the new version in a couple of months. 

Meanwhile, I'll chew some more on the ideas for a book 7.

Book 5 of the Escape Route Series - Victor's Story - Now available on Amazon!

As promised, and earlier than expected, thanks to my efficient beta readers, Victor's Story is now available. This link will take you to the Kindle version on Amazon.com. It is also available in audio, paperback, hardcover, and for Kindle Unlimited, on Amazon.[Everywhere].

Victor is book five in the Escape Route Series. If  you haven't read any of this series yet, why not? It's really good. Okay, maybe I'm biased, why not judge for yourself? While the underlying theme is escape from domestic violence (DV), there is far more to each of the books. 

Obviously, because the author (that's me) is a survivor of DV, all of the instances related in the books really did happen. 

My hope is that by relating these stories, and the escape and recovery, I can help others in similar circumstances. And, if you are lucky enough to have never been a victim, you can still enjoy the stories.

Naturally, I don't mean enjoy DV, I mean enjoy the fact that the victims escaped the abuse and rebuilt their lives, while at the same time having other interesting and exciting adventures.

To bring you up to date. Book 1, Caitlin's Escape Route follows two sisters, both survivors of domestic violence. They set up an escape route to help other victims get away from their abusers. Believe me when I tell you, it's not easy to leave such a situation. The fear of even worse violence is always there. Add to that the shame a victims feels, at allowing themselves to get into such a situation in the first place.

Each of the books in the series follows one of the victims Caitlin helped, as they attempt to rebuild their lives, and figure out why they allowed themselves to be treated so badly.

As I mentioned before in a previous post, you don't have to read these books in any specific order. But you do have to read them! Go on! And if you have a free minute, I would really appreciate a review on Amazon or Goodreads, or even both. Reviews do help to sell books, and they help other readers to decide whether or not they want to buy them.

Book 5 in the Escape Route Series coming soon

I'm excited to announce, Victor's Story will be published later this month, or early in August.

The fifth book in the Escape Route Series, follows Victor as he escapes from an abusive relationship and attempts to rebuild his life.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I find it hard to force myself to take a break from writing. But, with Victor out for a final beta read, it was essential that I do just that. Luckily I had booked three weeks in Europe, briefly passing through Ireland, to the North of England to visit my son and his family, then skipping across to the West of France to spend time with my daughter and her family, a final couple of days in Ireland with my siblings and back home to the US. 

This was the first trip in 20 years that I had managed to talk my husband into accompanying me. It was exhausting but absolutely wonderful. Now I'm trying to shake the jet lag and get my head back into my writing. 

I have one last polishing task to do before pushing Victor out for all of you to enjoy. And yes, to answer a question a number of you have asked, there will be a Book 6, but I'm not sure if that will be the last in the series. Perhaps, but if so I will have to come  up with something else to write. But first, in order to get Victor out to you, I need to clear this brain fog caused by international travel. That's why I turn to my blog to get my fingers and my head back in the game.

Writing is such a strange activity. It's very solitary, probably one of the reasons I do it, I like being solitary, not just on my own, but in silence. I tried having music in the background while I write, but it distracts me. Then, you invent people, and their stories—stuff that never even happened to people who never existed, and you write, or in my case, type it all down. What on earth made me think anyone would be interested in reading fiction my crazy mind conjures up? Mind you, not all of it is entirely fiction. Everything I write is written based on personal experience, observation, or second hand experience, that is, things that family and friends have experienced and related to me, woven into something I hope is readable.

The bit I don't like about being a writer, is the marketing. Oh, I don't mind writing a blog about the upcoming publication. It's the selling of the books that is so difficult. As I said in previous blog posts, it's difficult to ask people to be beta readers. Asking someone to give up their time to read a manuscript, and then comment on it for my benefit—that's hard. It feels very demanding. But asking people to pay out money to purchase a book you have written, a book they may not enjoy. That is very difficult. As a result, I don't do very much of that. I do create some Facebook ads. and I am making an effort to master Amazon Ads, not nearly as easy. But I don't do all of the other marketing work recommended by writer groups. So, I guess it's kind of surprising how many books I have actually sold, in the US, UK, Canada and of course, Ireland.

Thank you all for being my readers! Please consider leaving a review on Amazon, that really does help to sell books.

If you haven't read any of the books in the Escape Route Series, here is a link to them on Amazon (the US site). They are also available on all of Amazon's other sites. They are best read in sequence, but that is not necessary. I have made an effort to make each book readable on it's own merits. All of the books are available in Audio, eBook (Kindle), Paperback, Hardback and of course, Kindle Unlimited.

Yes, finished another first draft

You can always tell when I finish a first draft. I blog. That's because I have to force myself to take a break. I need to remove myself from the story for a long enough periods of time, that when I come back to do my first revision, I can see what I've written from a new perspective. Well, that's the idea anyway. The problem is, I don't want to leave the story. I've lived in my characters' world for so long, I'm happy there. Way happier than I am in my own world right now, but that's another story, and not one for this blog. Maybe it's another book?

One of the things a first draft signals, apart from the opportunity to post here, is the upcoming announcement of another imminent release. Yes, that's right. The Escape Route Book 5 is getting ready to be leaked to the waiting fans. As they say (whoever they are) Watch This Space.

You may have heard, or read, about the life of a writer being very lonely. It is. Every day, you, the writer (in my case me) sit at your computer for hours, alone, staring at a blank screen. This was the process for my first novel, Caitlin's Escape Route, the first in the Escape Route series. And it has been the same for each of the other books in the series.

Sometimes you scrape through your memories for small incidents that can be stretched and teased into a story. Memories of your own, or someone else's experiences, snippets of conversations overheard in doctor's waiting rooms, or on the bus. And you type. Eventually you might have sixty or eighty thousand words filling what was the empty screen. But, you are convinced it is all total crap.  Still you persevere. Why? I have no idea. I just know I can't not do it. And, yes, before you ask, every incident related in my books has happened, either to me or to someone I know.

From here, I'm relating the process for self published authors. A growing breed, of which I am one. Also known as Indie Authors.

Next comes revision. In my case I can expect to revise my work at least ten times, sometimes more. In between revisions I listen to the story from start to finish. It's quite amazing the grammar and typing mistakes you can catch listening rather than reading. When you read something, you tend to see what is supposed to be there, insead of what is actually on the page. As you can imagine, after reading or listening to the same story, one you made up and wrote, about twenty times, it's not only crap, it's boring.

The next step is your critique partner, if you are lucky enough to have one. A good critique partner will tell you all that's good about your story, as well as all that needs attention, with suggestions as to how to improve it. Your task is to read this critique as objectively as you possibly can, then, after you have wallowed in the praise, decide how much, if any of the criticism you are going to accept and act upon. A difficult decision. Next is beta readers. Again, if you are lucky enough to have such rare creatures. You feel guilty asking them to read your crappy story, but you send the manuscript to them anyway. Then you wait, hoping they will read it, praying they will send you their honest opinion, crossing your fingers that opinion is not just good but also useful.

Eventually some of the beta readers respond. Some writers have the balls to remind those that don't respond. I don't, well, sometimes I do, but I feel bad doing it. I'm just thankful for what I get. I go through the feedback immediately, then put it aside while the wounds to my soul, and my ego, heal. Then I read it all again and decide what to act on and what is just the opinion of one person. Of course, if all of the beta readers have the same criticisms, then you absolutely have to pay attention. 

Finally, at this point, many writers will hire a professional editor to comb through the manuscript, and presumably, make suggestions to improve it. I don't. I cannot justify the expense. I do my own editing. The way I look at it is, if my stories are good enough, and my limited marketing causes people to notice my books, I might one day make enough money to pay for professional editors down the road. Not now. 

Did I say finally? There is one more step, I actually do this after the first draft, but many writers leave it to the end. Again, many writers pay a professional to create a cover for their book. I create my own. In part because, again, I can't justify paying someone. But also because I actually enjoy doing it.

KDP, Kindle Direct Publishing, is where I publish my books. Having once worked for Amazon, I suppose I have a familiarity with it, but also I'm old, I don't have the energy required for the other self publishing avenues, plus Kindle Unlimited is a steady income, once your books come to the attention of readers. So, you upload your manuscript to KDP, go through the tedious steps getting it ready for publication, finally you push the button and wait for KDP to tell you it's acceptable and live. Then a silence so loud it's almost deafening. 

With a first book, you tell all your family and friends, hoping they will buy it, love it and write glowing reviews. Some do, surprisingly, mostly they just add to the silence. Then you scour YouTube for free instruction on how to market your book. Facebook ads and Amazon ads follow, at no small expense, but if you're lucky, as I was, your book starts to sell. Now you wait for the reviews. Reviews sell books, obviously good reviews are better, but no reviews at all are a disaster. So you get extremely excited if one or two dribble in. 

Then, you start all over again.

 

Reviews and Ratings

Reviews sell books. At least that's what I have heard. But you have to sell books in order to get reviews, in theory. And, do the reviews have to be good?

Most authors I know say they never read their reviews because, while good reviews can be very gratifying, bad ones are heartbreaking. I blogged about this many years ago. In 2013 I published my first book, a memoir. Well, to be exact it was not so much a memoir more a bunch of essays reflecting on my life. I turned it into a book and blogged about why here. I made no effort to sell the book but nonetheless, it did sell a few copies and received some good reviews. Then in 2015 I came across my first bad review and experienced that heartbreak I had heard about.

It took me a few days to recover. and when I did, I wrote another blog post about that. Because I realized someone had bought my book, read it, didn't like it but took the time to review it. I decided I should be grateful for that.

Fast forward to 2024 and the publication of my first novel, Caitlin's Escape Route. Again, at first, I did nothing to promote that book either. It was to be the first in a series and I'd read somewhere to wait until the second book was released before advertising, so that's what I did. The second book, Sally's Story, was published 8 months later. My first ads appeared just before book two was published. Both books sold well and the reviews and ratings started to come in, and looked good. Brenda's Story, book three of the series was published causing an increase in sales and even more reviews. And yes, I do check them from time to time. I try not to, but don't always succeed. 

One day recently I took a look at the reviews and to my horror, there was a really bad one. My original belief still holds, not everyone is going to like my stories, or my writing, that's a given. And I am grateful to anyone who buys my books, and even moreso if they take the time to write a review, irrespective of what it says, if it's honest then so be it. But, after I had rebalanced my perspective one thing about that bad review struck me. The reader wrote about my characters in the story, as though they were real people, criticized their decisions and praised some of their actions. What a huge compliment! She didn't like the story, but saw my characters as real. 

What's next? Apart from 2025...

As you probably know, last month I published Brenda's Story, Book 3 in the Escape Route Series. Not only has she been selling well, Books 1 and 2, Caitlin's Escape Route, and Sally's Story are also selling steadily. 

Since pushing the button on Brenda, I have been polishing Book 4, Gerry's Story. She should be ready for publication in February 2025. At the same time, I have been working on Book 5, which is in a rough draft state, but basically the story is written. Now comes the revision-edit-repeat process. 

While doing all that, I am also allowing Book 6 to germinate in the back of my mind. Yes there will be a 6 and possibly a 7, though I'm not yet certain about that. 

Rest assured, as each book comes off the production line, I'll announce it here, on my FaceBook page, and via ads on FaceBook. Plus, if you follow me on Amazon, you'll be automatically advised of new publications as they happen. 

Every time I finish a first draft I get a minor panic attack, afraid I have no more stories to tell. The reason that thought scares me is, if I don't write, what would I do all day? I guess I could sit at my desk, play solitaire and try to think of something to write. Definitely not as satisfying as actually writing a book. 

One of the things that gives me the most satisfaction is discovering how much my readers enjoy the stories I dream up. From review to comments on my web page, or on my ads, plus likes and shares of those ads. It's very gratifying.

So, if you've read all three books and are waiting for book 4, why not go write a review on Amazon? I would really appreciate it.

Happy New Year!