Sep 15 2022

Maybe I am a Seer…

The other day I started compiling a list of release dates for my books, because we were considering doing fun posts on the anniversaries of each book. Of course, I used this blog to determine most of them, because this has been a diary of sorts throughout the whole publishing journey.

That meant that I found some funny tidbits, one of which I thought I’d share, because I laughed when I read it. It was in a post called ‘Just Keep Writing‘ written in August, 2015, when I was starting to write The Twin Flame Retreat. I had decided that instead of spending so much time trying to market my books, I’d keep writing new ones instead (a realisation I’ve had many times since, still not properly implementing) and then I said this:

Also, my numbers for the Earth Angel series have changed. I am now thinking that there is likely to be thirteen books in the series in total, and if I were to stick to my current formula of publishing one Earth Angel book per year, I figure it will be 2023 before the final book is released. That is just too far away!

Seems I may have been spot on. Because there will be 13 books in total, so far there are 10 novels and the handbook, so book 11 and book 12 (handbook is book 13) will be coming out, and chances are, at this rate, they’ll be coming out next year. In 2023.

So prehaps, like Velvet, I am a Seer. Who has forgotten she can See. Which makes me wonder what else I might have predicted in this blog…

But yes, books 11 and 12 will come. And I promise there won’t be too much longer to wait. I know how frustrating it is to wait for the next book in the series, there’s a book by my favourite author in my teens that I’m still waiting for. It’s ben 22 years. And that’s far too long to wait for the conclusion of a series!

I won’t do that to you. Promise.

Feb 3 2020

Duelling Poets – Coming Soon!

In the summer of 2012, I duelled with another poet, Victor Keegan, for 30 days. each day, we chose a topic to write about, and then wrote a poem each. We took it in turns to choose the topics, and they got pretty random at times! Now, a mere 8 years later (!) we are finally ready to release those poems, and we are asking that you, the reader, choose the winner!

The poems are not credited, so you simply read them all, tick the boxes under your favourites, then tally up the points at the end. Then you can declare your winner on Twitter, using the hashtags #duellingpoets and either #michellewinstheduel or #victorwinstheduel

The book will be available to buy as a paperback and on Kindle, from the 20th February 2020.

May the best poet win!

Apr 29 2019

A Letter to Writers

Dear Writer,

I don’t know why I am only just realising this, as it seems so very obvious, but I think that writing may be the most difficult art to make a living from. I’m not saying this to put you off of writing, or becoming an author. And I’m certainly not saying this to be negative for the sake of it. Let me explain.

Writing is the most difficult of all the arts to have genius recognised in. Because in order to recognise the genius of a piece of writing, one must actually sit, concentrate and read the words. Which might take thirty minutes or several hours or even days or weeks.

Whereas a song can be recognised as genius in three minutes. A movie in two hours. A painting in seconds. A dance in a few minutes or more.

But writing demands time. And in this world of constant information overload, time is of short supply. Or so it would appear. And so if someone takes the time to read your words, it is truly an honour, because they are saying – your words are worth more to me than several movies or several hours of social media.

As a writer, it is harder to be ‘discovered’. To have that magic moment when someone spots your genius and tells the world about it. You can’t go on a talent show or do a video that goes viral on YouTube.

All you can do is keep writing, and keep hoping that your words will hit the spot for enough people that the word will spread that your words are worth the time and effort they take to consume.

Of course, you will still always hope that one day you will reach that tipping point where every time you hit publish, you sell several thousand copies straight off the bat, and not just a handful. But until then, you keep writing, because you were not born to be a singer or dancer or a movie star.

You were born to be a writer.

So fall in love with the difficulty, the struggle and the stress that comes with this work. Because I promise you, it will be worth it in the end.

Much love,

A writer.

Image – James Pond (Unsplash)

Apr 23 2019

Digital Immortality

Life on Earth was intended to be fleeting.

Our journeys from birth to death, and the transitions through many stages and ages, were to be experienced then discarded and forgotten. We are eternal beings. Our mission here on Earth was to experience the finite nature of humanity.

But the birth of the internet changed all of that.

No longer are the tiny minutiae of our daily lives simply experienced and discarded, by only ourselves and those who are physically present. Now they are recorded, shared, stored and kept (possibly in a country-sized bunker somewhere) for all of time.

The photo of you at seven years old with paint on your face will live in a cloud forever. The ex you dumped ten years ago can still follow your life as if they were still in it. The drunken tweet you posted can cost you the job you really want, even fifteen years after the posting.

Human beings hunger for immortality. To live forever is the ultimate goal. But we’ve forgotten that we do live forever.

Just not in this particular body the whole time.

But the actions, thoughts, meals and nights out that we have experienced in this body may well live forever.

Is digital immortality really what we want? To be known forever for the pictures of things we ate, books we read or songs we like? Is it not enough to just share the moment with the people right in front of us, or even just with ourselves?

Would it not be better to be known for an act of kindness, a job well done or a long, healing hug? Or for writing a book that has moved people? Helped them?

Part of my need to write books is to be remembered. To leave a legacy of some kind when my soul leaves this body and moves onto the next adventure. The idea that a photo of my gluten-free vegan meal might be remembered more than my novels hurts me. So you can expect less banality and more creativity from me from this point onward. Because I came here to write.

And that is what I intend to do.

Feb 25 2019

Comparison – The Thief

Roosevelt said that comparison is the thief of joy, and I have to say, I quite agree.

It’s a completely different world for authors right now, to just a mere ten years ago, and now, it feels like we should be producing at least ten books a year, to keep up with reader demand. Gone are the days where you could take several years to write a book and hope to do well.

Since I began publishing properly in 2011, I have published at least 2 books a year, and I now have 16 books available. Quite an awesome accomplishment, but instead of revelling in the joy of what I have created, I find myself looking at authors who have published 50 or 60 books in that same amount of time, and wondering why I have been so lazy in comparison.

Then I saw the posts about the latest plagiarism scandal. It seems that a bestselling author in Brazil has been taking chunks of other authors’ work, and giving it to ghostwriters on Fiverr and then publishing what they’ve cobbled together and making a mint from it. She has a large list of books available, and it would seem that none of her material belonged to her.

Which made me wonder, how many of the authors with massive output are actually writing it all themselves? Or even using original material?

And somehow, this made me stop comparing myself to them. Because I know that I write every word of my books. And I know that I only write books that turn up and annoy me until I write them. And that it’s actually quite realistic to write and publish two or three books a year, when you take into account the editing and proofreading, publishing and marketing.

So although I am quite upset for these authors who have had their work ripped to bits and made into bad books that have made thieves a lot of money, I am also grateful to now have been released from this comparison game, and I plan to revel in the joy of each creation, knowing that I am producing work that I am proud of, and that readers will love, and that is wholly my own.

Do you compare yourself or your creativity or your life to others? Do you think that you should be further along, or richer, or better, because you look at what other people are doing?

Let me know in the comments.

Jan 10 2018

Book 9 Cover Release

Only 10 more sleeps! And then you will be able to read The Twin Flame Reignition!

I have the final covers, and wanted to share them with you.

The cover that won the vote for the US edition:

The UK Edition:

The Twin Flame Reignition will be available worldwide on the 20th January 2018, on Amazon, (paperback and Kindle) and through other online retailers. I will be launching it at the following event:

This instalment of the Earth Angel Series was a really exciting one to write, I can’t wait to hear what you all think!

Jan 7 2017

Gallery

The Year of the Unicorn!

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Hello Earth Angels! Happy New Year! It is officially (according to me, ahem) the Year of the Unicorn! It’s the year to make all your wildest, craziest, hugest dreams comes true, and I’m here to tell you – YOU CAN … Continue reading →

Nov 16 2016

Connections

Earlier this year, in March, I was pleased to be filmed for a short film called Connections, with William Bloom. Mike and Jim of FilmTank came to the woods to film me in one of my favourite writing places and talking about how I connect when I write my books.

The film features six very different people, and shows how each of them connect to something greater than themselves, and I think it’s beautifully filmed. The film was produced by the Spiritual Companions Trust.

Watch the film below, and please do comment with your thoughts!

Sep 23 2015

Taking Time Out

Apologies for the lack of posting recently, it seems like the Universe wanted me to take a little time out, which manifested in not feeling very well! I have blogged about this before, that if we don’t choose to take time out, to rest, relax and replenish, then we are likely to be forced to take time out, by our body or some incident that happens. Continue reading →

Sep 2 2015

To be a Writer…

Last week I bought a copy of The Big Leap on my Kindle, by Gay Hendricks. The book set off a stream of ‘aha’ moments and huge realisations, most of which I still haven’t quite figured out what to do with yet!

There are so many amazing parts to the book, to try to describe them here wouldn’t work, I recommend grabbing yourself a copy and seeing for yourself. But there is one thing that I wanted to share, that I realised from reading the book, because it may well help other writers out there.

Hendricks talks about the four zones that exist, which are the Zone of Incompetence, the Zone of Competence, the Zone of Excellence and the Zone of Genius. He said that a lot of us spend most of our lives in the first three zones, and that it takes a big leap to get into the Zone of Genius. I realised that I have spent most of my life in the Zone of Competence, doing work that anyone could do, but that I was okay at too. I think my Zone of Excellence is when I am helping others with their publishing and social media, or indeed when I am publishing my own work, but it occurred to me that my Zone of Genius is when I write. And not just write anything, when I am writing my novels.

There were three sentences to complete, to really nail down what your Zone of Genius is, and these were my answers:

I’m at my best when… I’m writing.

When I’m at my best, the exact thing I’m doing is… going with the flow and creating.

When I’m doing that, the thing I love most about it is … the magical alchemy of turning words into worlds.

Yes. When those words flowed out of my pen onto the page, a massive grin spread across my face and it hit me squarely in the chest. That was it. My Zone of Genius. I am not a writer, not an author – I am an Alchemist. I take simple, ordinary words, and create entire worlds, people, events and objects. All of which live inside the mind of the reader when they read the books. And one day, will hopefully be portrayed on a big screen.

It was a revelation to me, that what I really loved about writing was not the actual act of it, but the deliciousness of the creation. With just a few taps of the keyboard, I can create life, and I can take it away. I can make someone happy, or make them cry.

I also realised that I had been spending much more time in my Zones of Competence and Incompetence (still terrible at marketing!) than I had in my Zone of Genius. I have so many stories flying around in my mind all shouting to be told, that it seems crazy not to be spending more time in that Zone, doing what I know I do best.

On that note, I am off to write some more of my new book. The Twin Flame Resurrection is in beta reading mode and the cover is being created too, which I am very excited about! Will post the cover reveal very soon. Let me know if you read the big leap, and if you discover your Zone of Genius!