Jan 27 2015

How Do Writers Survive?

I read an article online, about how a writer says she is ‘sponsored’ by her husband, in that her writing doesn’t make her enough to live on, but her husband’s job pays well enough that it doesn’t matter.

She says in the article that writers need to be more honest about how they actually earn a living, if for no other reason than to make budding writers aware that it won’t be a smooth ride to say the least. She had been to events where the author would talk of all their hard work and effort, which has made them successful, but in reality they came from wealthy families, had high-earning husbands or had a lot of amazing connections that ensured their success.

I had a conversation with a friend a while back, who believed that women writers could only be successful if they had wealthy husbands. I must admit, I resisted the idea, not wanting to believe that the only way I could be a successful author was to find some rich schmuk to marry me.

But in the spirit of being honest – there’s a possibility she may well be right. When I am focused on writing (and editing and publishing) my own books, holding down a normal job that pays the bills is all but impossible for me. Because when I have a normal job, I put 120% of effort into it, and have nothing else left, so being creative is quite difficult. So in the last few years, during the jobless periods of time, I have relied on credit cards. So yes, like many other people in the UK, I have credit card debt. Not because I bought designer goods, the latest gadgets or dined out every night, but because I needed to pay rent and for food and car insurance somehow.

Magically, every month, I have made enough money to pay for my basic bills, and eat and have shelter. A lot of this is down to the generosity of friends, family and my flame. And the rest of it is down to my business, The Amethyst Angel, where I help other Indie authors to publish their work.

My living expenses are not paid for by my royalties. Not even close.

But I don’t believe that I will be in this situation forever. Despite the apparent evidence, and my friend’s belief, I do believe that Indie authors can make a living from their writing, and I do believe that I can succeed without needing a wealthy husband. If anything, these tough financial times have taught me what and who is really important in my life. It’s taught me about what I actually need to live a happy life, and what is completely unnecessary. I have come to be truly grateful for the small things, and have gathered a massive amount of material for future books!

So I’ve made up my mind. Making a living as a writer is not easy, and many writers may be supported by their loved ones, but I refuse to believe that it is impossible to be a successful writer off your own back, making a good living. Because there are many authors who have done just that.

In the meantime, being honest about how we authors survive can only be a good thing.

I think.

To read the article that inspired this post, click here.

Jan 26 2015

That First Book Feeling

Last night we watched ‘Albatross‘ on Netflix. If you have a subscription to Netflix, I would recommend the movie, it really was good. Hilariously funny in place, and quite sad in others, a good British movie. (Okay, so I suck at writing movie reviews, but that’s not what this is, so read on!)

In the movie, there’s a scene where, having written her first book, the character then gets it printed and bound, and then as she cycles home, she has this massive smile on her face. For any writer who has completed writing a book, they will probably remember that ‘first book feeling’. That sense of having accomplished a dream, of having created something you have always wanted to create.

It’s amazing. It’s exciting. It’s a feeling of pure unadulterated joy, because you’ve finally done it!

But it’s short-lived. Because once you have finished your first book, where you were free to create whatever you wanted, free to dream of your success, and free to be yourself, hidden away from view, with only yourself to answer to – you then move out into the publishing world, and from that moment on, you can never have that ‘first book feeling’ again.

Or can you?

After having written and published eight books, it’s not easy to remember that feeling, because every time I publish a book, my mind is already on whether my readers will enjoy it, how to market it, and what book to write next. Stopping to enjoy the fact that another book has been brought into existence, rarely happens, because I have so much to do.

But in order to retain the pure joy that comes from writing, and to remain passionate about creating another work of fiction – I know I must take that time to revel in it, to celebrate it, to enjoy it. And I implore other authors out there, busy doing their own marketing and promoting, to do the same. In fact, I have added it to the list of 100 things I will do in 2015 –

To all writers out there who are working on their first book – really enjoy every moment! And when you have finished, celebrate like crazy because truly, it is a massive accomplishment and you should be so very proud of yourself for having done it.

If you have any tips on how to celebrate that don’t involve tons of money or alcohol, I would love to hear your suggestions!

Jan 25 2015

A Magical Quest

What started off as an ordinary, innocent walk in the woods, turned into a magical quest leading to a hidden treasure.

Having not been sticking to her promise to herself over the previous week, of going for a walk every day, on the Sunday after she turned 31, Michelle decided to get back on track and to go for a walk in the woods. She was alone in the house, and though she was trying to get some work done, she was feeling too sleepy to concentrate, and so decided to get some fresh air.

She wrapped up warm, it was January, after all, and as mild a winter as it had been, there was still a chill in the air. She set off down the driveway, and instead of taking her usual route, she headed in the opposite direction. As she walked down the path, she took in all of the sounds and smells and sights, taking in details that she had not previously noticed. As she made her way down the trail, she decided that the time of talking about and thinking about the past had gone. And that it was time to focus entirely on the present and how that would create her future. After all, the past was done, and she had no desire to live there any more.

At each junction, she opted to take the opposite path to normal, and soon she found herself on a path she had never walked on before, despite having walked through these woods for the previous four and a half years.

Where the wise old wizard lives

Intrigued by the possibility of this new adventure, she continued, and found some new caves, where she thought a wise old wizard may live. Perhaps they would have some words of wisdom for her. But even though she called out greetings, there was no reply.

A sleeping Ent. Shhh

She moved on, past a majestic Ent, (who was asleep) and found a curious hole in the ground, and wondered if there might be a helpful hobbit there, perhaps bearing some cheese and crackers or some jolly music, but alas, no one was home there either.

No hobbit was home

She continued along, and found she was heading for the river, the sound of which grew louder and louder. It appeared to be flowing quite fiercely, due to the rains they’d had, she supposed. In the middle of her path, she came across a shaman’s feather. Its black and white stripes reminded her that there was light in darkness, and that duality was needed in life, despite it being difficult to endure the darkness at times. It also reminded her that there was an inbetween, where things weren’t black or white, but a bit fuzzy and grey. And that’s okay too.

Beautiful shaman feather

She silently thanked the shaman, for leaving her the message, and continued further down the hill, a little daydream running through her mind as she carefully descended the slippery, rocky path.

Still unsure as to what her next step should be, in her wonderfully crazy and haphazard life, she was thrilled to find that though the wizard and the hobbit had not been home, the pirates had left her a treasure map! She couldn’t fail to find what was hidden now.

The pirate treasure map

She eagerly read the map and then followed the trail to the river, and found a deserted beach, the water lapping onto the shore. She remembered all the many times she had spent at the ocean, and how it always reminded her of the expansive nature of the universe. Standing on the shore, looking out to sea, would always bring home to her that she was merely a drop in the ocean, part of the whole, connected to all of life.

A deserted beach

She continued on, past a beautiful tree with roots like celtic knots, reminding her of her heritage, of her ancestors. Though she had resolved to not dwell on the past, she thanked them now, for all they had learnt and passed on to her.

Her celtic roots

She found a very hospitable stone, at the waters’ edge, and sat upon it. It occurred to her that it must have belonged to the house she had seen on the treasure map, that had once stood where she now sat by the water. She sat in silence for a while. Her eyes drifted closed and she listened to the sound of the water, listened to her own thoughts, to the ideas that were drifting about in her head. She opened her eyes after a while, and watched the water as it hit the shore then rippled back, and a little poem came to mind, so she wrote it down:

The ripples

Merge

Converge

Shift and

Transform

As the river

Flows

Determinedly

On

The river was rushing past

She watched the water for a while, then thanking the river for its wisdom, she stood up and decided to make her way back. As she went up the trail, she thought about how she had been trying for some time to find a way to prove to herself that she was committed to her life, to her mission, having realised a few months before, that she hadn’t been up until then. She had been trying to devise a ritual of some kind, or to create something, or to purchase something to show her commitment, but she had not been able to decide on what it should be. She didn’t know what this kind of commitment looked like, having not experienced it before. She stopped on the path and looked towards the river, and spotted a heart-shaped patch of moss on a tree. She instantly knew that it was a message for her dear friend, and so captured an image of it to share with her, once her quest was over.

A message from the Angels

A quest! That was one idea she’d had of proving her commitment. To go on a quest by herself. But had this not been a quest? What had started out so simply, as a way to get some fresh air and exercise, had turned into so much more. As she made her way back up the hill, she looked up at the trees, dark against the white cloudiness of the sky, and it hit her again, the fact that everything was connected.

Everything is connected

She realised in that moment, that she didn’t need a special ritual, or a symbol or to create anything to make her commitments, she could do it right there and then, with the trees, the river, the rocks and the sky as her witnesses, she could state them out loud, and so they would be done.

As she climbed the slippery, rocky hill, she began to speak out loud:

I, Michelle Louise Gordon, am committed to my life. To loving myself, loving my body. To taking care of myself, my soul and my body. I am committed to my purpose and my mission here on this earth, and I will do whatever it takes to ensure I complete what I came here to do. And so, I commit to helping others. I commit to inspiring others. I commit to helping others to heal. I commit to my own growth and evolution. I commit to assisting my friends and family and those who seek me out to become their best selves, and to follow their own missions too. I am committed to everything that my soul has in store for me. And so it is.

By now, she had reached the caves again, and as she looked toward them, she realised that the wizard had indeed had some wise advice for her, but she had not been open to it until now:

The wizard’s advice

She knew that the wizard meant there was a danger of her forgetting her commitments, especially with her terrible memory, and that she would need to find a way not to forget the magic of her quest. She thanked the wizard, and continued up the hill. When she had nearly reached home again, she took off her gloves and scarf, having got too warm, and pulled the bobble from her hair, allowing it to fall freely. Without realising, she had wrapped the bobble twice around her ring finger, and she smiled when she saw it. In that unthinking act, she had sealed her commitment to herself. Once she arrived home from her quest, she pulled off her boots, and went inside to make a cup of tea.

The ring, and a well-deserved cuppa

It was clear in that moment, as she watched the steam rise from the silver spout, that the only way she could make absolutely sure that her commitment would not be forgotten, would be to share it with the world. So, cup of tea in hand, she sat at her computer, and began to write.

Jan 24 2015

Raising Funds to Publish

I recently set up a Go Fund Me campaign to raise money to publish the next book in the Earth Angel series. Being a completely Indie Author, I have so far funded the publishing of all eight of my books myself, with the help of some beautiful people who want to see me succeed.

I created the campaign because I would love to invite my readers and fans to get involved, and to help me to bring the next book in the series into the world, and to also be able to get stock to do some Mind Body Spirit shows and get the books out there to even more people.

I guess the sensible thing to do, would have been to set a budget for each of my books, for the editing and publishing costs, so that I could see how much I had spent on each one. But I never did that. I am planning on writing a post on my publishing blog about budgeting for publishing a book, because if you approach publishing books as a hobby, you’ll end up just spending loads of money on unnecessary things, and it’ll end up really expensive. If you approach it as a business from the outset, then you are more likely to decide on a budget and stick to it, and also, if you keep better records of everything, it makes everything much easier comes tax return time!

I am so very thankful to everyone who has donated to the campaign so far, your support is very much appreciated. I plan to list all of the donors in the new book, which I haven’t begun editing yet, but do intend to release in March. If you would like to help me with the publishing costs, please know that every little bit helps and that I am very grateful to have your support.

Jan 23 2015

First Oracle Reading of 2015!

It’s taken me a while to get to record this video, in answer to Brittney’s question about her Twin Flame. It was amazing how many similarities there were between Brittney and the man she feels is her Twin Flame and me and my Twin Flame. I sincerely hope that the reading helps her, and other Twin Flames who may also be in a similar situation, as I believe that there is a lot of good general advice for Twin Flames from Velvet and Amethyst in the reading too.

Please do leave feedback on the reading in the comments if it has helped you, and if you have a question of your own, email it to theamethystangel@hotmail.co.uk

Jan 22 2015

A New Publishing Blog

A week ago, I started a brand new blog, over on my publishing website – TheAmethystAngel.com. I am undertaking the 30 Day Blogging Challenge on that blog to get it going, and have had a wonderful response to the 7 posts I have put there so far. I am blogging about all the different steps and elements there are to independently publishing your own book. Each blog post will cover an aspect of self-publishing. I have so far covered some tips on self-editing, whether Indie Authors should have publishing imprints, how to send documents to your Kindle and some of my favourite uses for Scapple.

Over time, there will be enough posts on there to assist authors in every step of their Indie Publishing journey. I am writing posts somewhat randomly, choosing topics that come up and that I am inspired by each day. But I am categorising the posts so that it’s easy to find what you need easily.

I am opening the door to questions, so if you are an Indie Author and you want to ask me something, then email it to me at theamethystangel@hotmail.co.uk and I will create a post to answer it, as I’m sure many others are likely to have had similar questions.

Jan 21 2015

New Author Photos

Today my sister came to visit me. For those who don’t know her, she is the awesomely talented graphic designer who created my beautiful Visionary Collection covers, the back covers for the Earth Angel Series and also did my last set of author photos.

We went for a little wander in the woods today to take some new author photos, as I felt an update was needed. I wore my beautiful new hand-carved fox pendant, and my angel wing scarf. We had fun taking over 400 photos, and before she left this afternoon, Liz transferred some of the pictures to my computer.

Out of all of them, there were a few favourites, and I wanted to share them here with you first! I may share some of the silly ones at some point too.

Jan 20 2015

Goals Not Wishes

It’s my 31st Birthday today. And I’m not sure how I feel about that. I think of all the goals I have set over the last few years and there are so many that haven’t happened, it makes me wonder why I bother trying to set them.

Still in an attempt to set goals and make a plan for 2015, I’m writing down 100 things to do in 2015, and after writing down number three:

– I have a sudden moment of complete clarity.

I haven’t been setting goals. I’ve been making wishes.

Goals should be actionable, achievable, doable, tangible things that YOU can make happen. That are in YOUR control to create. Not things that are mostly up to other people to make happen.

To clarify, this is a goal:

I will write a book in 30 days.

This is a wish:

I will sell 1000 books in a month.

Because writing a book in 30 days is completely within your realm. You can do it, it is completely possible. Selling 1000 books however, depends on a thousand people discovering your book, then making the decision to buy it. You can do all the marketing possible, you can definitely do your best to make your book visible and get it into people’s hands, but ultimately, the number of copies sold is not up to you. It is merely the by-product of you achieving the goals you set for your marketing.

So I’m realising now, that almost every goal I have failed to reach, was one that was out of my hands. And many goals that were up to me, did happen. So all this time I have been beating myself up for failing over and over is ridiculous. Because I was setting myself up to fail by setting goals that weren’t really up to me.

Now, this is not to say that we shouldn’t have intentions, desires, wishes, etc., but I am going to promise myself now, that I will never mistake a wish for a goal again. That my goals will be actionable, achievable and doable by me.

Because every time I set a goal that is really a wish, and I don’t achieve it, I am dis-empowering myself. I am making myself feel useless. And I no longer wish to live that way. I am going to focus on the things that I know I can make happen, and then appreciate and celebrate the results, no matter what they are.

I do feel that many people have tried to get these concepts through to me before, and they just haven’t sunk in. But like anything that really gets under your skin and makes total sense, it’s got to come from within. So if you’re reading this and just thinking that I’m some crazy woman who’s afraid of reaching 31 having not fulfilled her goals, so she’s making a bunch of excuses for it, that’s cool. But if this post is resonating with you in any way, go within and ask if that’s true for you too.

Now I think I need to go out and buy some new slippers.

Jan 19 2015

Adventures with Astrid – January

In December I began my Adventure with Astrid, in my attempt to change my haphazard ways and become a more organised person for 2015. The reasons for this were to get my life in order and to make things happen that require some kind of long-term planning. The first step I took was to buy myself a gorgeous planner, who I named Astrid. In my planner I have sections for everything. Addresses (I’m always losing my address book) diary, goals and dreams, to-do list, and notes from books I’m reading and ideas I have.

Astrid has stayed faithfully by my side since I bought her, and since the beginning of the year, I have been filling her up every day with things I want to do, but I also have used her to form some daily habits that I have wanted to have, but never got round to creating.

Some things have been blanked out to protect the innocent. Hehe

Having Astrid by my side has helped me to take part in a 30 Day Blogging Challenge, of which I have done every day for the last 19 days on my author blog, and I have also begun a new blog on my business website, all about Indie Publishing, and I am on day 4 there.

I have started the habit of meditating daily, going for a walk every day, reading a book every week, reading through my Love List every other day and writing one thing I am grateful for every day.

My Sunday walk in the woods

In terms of long-term plans, however, that still hasn’t really happened. I had a session with the Time Doctor, Mike Gardner, and he helped me to realise that I am a creative person, and not a linear-thinking, organised person. So perhaps instead of trying to become linear – I should come up with creative solutions to my problems.

Part of me still very much wants to just go with the flow, and just see what happens along the way. But another part of me really wants to break the cycle of not moving forward in certain areas of my life. I think if things were good financially, then I would feel more justified in going with the flow, because I could afford to. Which might not make a scrap of sense, but it seems to make sense to me.

Anyway, my plan now, is to create creative solutions for the areas of my life I’m not happy with. I think the solutions need to be very visual, colourful, fun and maybe even a bit silly. But I’m not sure yet what they looks like or where they’ll come from.

What I have realised, is that having a structured routine might just not be the right way forward for me. So although I have daily ‘action’ lists, I don’t stick to rigidly to doing each thing at the same time each day, as long as I can tick it off the list by the end of the day, when it happened doesn’t matter. Though I have been trying to fit my walk in before dark!

I consider my adventure to be successful so far, as I feel quite calm and peaceful, which I think is down to the meditation. In all the years I have been reading spiritual self-help books, I have never had the daily practice of meditation. But I can see now, finally, why so many people swear by it! It creates a space in your head, it makes room for growth, for new ideas, for love to envelop you. In fact, I think I may sign off now to meditate for a while.

How are your New Year plans coming along?

Jan 18 2015

Matrix Reimprinting

This week, I have been reading Matrix Reimprinting Using EFT: Rewrite Your Past, Transform Your Future, in my bid to read a book a week. I’ve had this book on my Kindle for quite a long time now, and I’m glad that I finally got to read it.

I have used EFT many times over the last few years, and have benefited greatly from it. In this book, it’s not just about using EFT to release emotions or fears, but to actually rewrite scenes or moments in the past that have had an effect on you throughout your whole life. The idea is, that by energetically rewriting these scenes, these experiences, you can actually change your beliefs or emotions in the present day that were created from that experience.

I have tried it out a couple of times so far, and each time it has led me to another scene that I had forgotten, that had such a strong charge that I would get emotional. I will continue to work on each thing that comes up, and once I have had a bit of practice with the basic technique, I can then move onto the more complicated ones.

Though I haven’t had much time to see whether it makes a difference yet, I do know that there are many instances of things that happened in my childhood which have affected me later on. It is believed that everything that happens in our lives up until the age of 6 or 7, will shape our views and experience of the world when we’re adults. Even really minor incidents at that time can cause problems later on.

It will be interesting to see what long-term effect doing the reimprinting has, and if I notice any major differences, I will write another post about it in the future. But if you have tried EFT before and found it to be effective, then I would recommend getting a copy of this book and trying it out yourself.