Oct 18 2014

The Writer’s Blog Tour

A big thank you to the lovely Lisa Fuqua, who invited me to take part in this Blog Tour, you can read Lisa’s post here.

So here is my contribution to the tour, I will be nominating two writers to continue the thread at the end!

What am I currently working on?

My work in progress is the latest novel in the Earth Angel series, which I have called The Twin Flame Reunion. It is not a sequel as such, but a missing piece from The Earth Angel Awakening. It follows the reunions of five Twin Flame couples, as they Awaken, reunite, and go through the struggles that so many Twin Flames are going through at the moment. As usual, I had no idea what I was going to write, or what was going to happen, and as the words flow through me, I am amazed at how the characters and events are coming together, and how much they are mirroring my own experiences at this very moment. I can’t wait to see where the story goes, and in turn, what effect that has on my life, as quite often, what I write in my books comes true in real life…

How does my work differ from others in my genre?

My genre, that of Spiritual or Visionary Fiction, is a fairly undeveloped genre at the moment, though it is growing daily. I think that my books are a little different because I am not creating the stories – I am mostly channelling them. The stories come through me, not from me. Though my own experiences come into them, the overall plot and the characters come to me when I sit down to write. It feels more like I am describing a memory or writing what I can see in another dimension than actually making it up. And that can be a scary process, because I really just have to trust that the next part of the story will arrive, and that it will all make sense, and will be interesting and readable. My last book, I’m Here, was co-written with a spirit, and that was tough for me, because though it was easy to channel his words, I had to really push myself to write my side of the story, which was really hard work!

Why do I write what I do?

I don’t think I could write anything else, because when I sit down to write, the words come through and it’s not always in my control. I think my books contain messages and stories that people need to read or hear. And they are also my way of dealing with being in the world. From the feedback I’ve had so far, they have helped many people to figure out who they are, and what their purpose on Earth is. Which is why I keep writing. Because who knows how many people the next book will help?

How does my writing process work?

I have a netbook that I write my novels on, and I use Scrivener to write them in, because I love the folder system, the corkboards and the automatic backup, which has saved my sanity and soul many times. I usually sit on my bed, or in a cafe or even in parks to write, and I like to set crazy deadlines, Nanowrimo-style, to get me motivated to finish them in time. I sometimes have a scene or a concept in my mind, but mostly, I just put my fingers to the keyboard and see what comes through. If I think too much, then I get in the way of the words, and I stop flow, and if that happens, the best thing I can do is to close the computer down, walk away from it and do something completely different. I like to have music playing that sets the right tone for what I am writing. Sometime I will get stuck on a single song, and I will play it on repeat so it becomes almost like white noise, blocking the rest of the world out.

So that’s me! I nominate the following two fabulous writers to continue the Writer’s Blog Tour, and invite them to tell us about their writing.

Rebecca Pillsbury

Though one of her childhood fantasies was to have superhuman powers that allowed her to travel instantaneously around the globe—or at the very least, fly—it is Rebecca’s distinctly human persona that causes strangers and dogs alike to want to be her new best friend. With a commitment to spreading joy and inspiring others to let go of shame and let shine their light, Rebecca unabashedly reveals her own vulnerability so that others may feel safe exploring their own.

Even as a young child growing up in Wisconsin, Rebecca found solace in writing stories, drawing inspiration from faraway places. Her wanderlust was fed as a young adult via worldwide pen-pal relationships, which gave way to her own international travels in her adult life. It was during her travels that she was exposed to new spiritual guides, paving the path for her journey-inspired transformational writing. Rather than simply leading readers to travel vicariously through her stories, however, she inspires readers to write their own stories.

Rebecca currently resides in Portland, Oregon, though you may not find her there year-round—a vagabond spirit cannot be tamed. You could look for her frolicking in forests or careening on rocks by the sea, but you’ll have better luck following her via her blog or on Facebook.

Lori Lesko

Lori Lesko was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She began dancing when she was five and acting at 13. She studied photography for a year at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. She graduated college with a degree in Psychology and Theater. She directed, acted, choreographed and stage managed several plays while attending school.

She loves to travel and has been to France and Ireland. She adapted her first book, a Novella called Our Daughters, into a Screenplay now titled Diamond City. She lives in Florida with her two dogs. She has worked as an editor for ten years at a financial publishing company.

She has just published her first novel titled COPYRIGHT a psychological thriller.

Oct 5 2014

The Twin Flame Reunion

I have been struggling lately to find the time and energy to write my latest novel, which I have decided to call – The Twin Flame Reunion. Usually when I have trouble writing, it’s not just a case of lack of time or energy, but an underlying reason, that until I sort it out, it just doesn’t happen. This time, I think it is simply that this book is really important. It’s important to me, to my readers, and to everyone who is in the position where they have met their Flame, or are waiting to meet their Flame. There is so much that I want to include in the book, to bring comfort to the Earth Angels I know are hurting, that the pressure of getting it right then makes me freeze up.

Which is when I remind myself that I must trust. Trust that my angels, my guides will help me to write exactly what is needed. They have not let me down yet, and so I need to just let go of the pressure I feel and just allow the words to flow. The structure of the book is becoming more defined daily, and the stories of the Flames are intertwining beautifully. Although I will be cutting it fine (and asking a lot of my editors, beta readers and cover designer) I do plan to release the book by Christmas, and plan to set up the pre-ordering system on Amazon from the 1st November. I am also releasing two Kindle boxsets, one of the four books in the Visionary Collection, and then the first three books in the Earth Angel series.

I have other projects in the works too, including getting The Earth Angel Training Academy recorded as an audiobook and also translated into other languages. As I am doing it all myself (the joys of being an Indie!) these things will take a bit of time but I am confident that now the ball is rolling, things will start to happen.

I have been asked a question for the oracle cards, so I plan to record the reading this week and post it on youtube, I will keep you all posted of new developments!

Here’s a quote photo with a quote from my new book to keep you going in the meantime.

Sep 1 2014

Listen to Your Gut – Not the Experts

I should be writing right now, but when the blog post inspiration faerie arrives, there’s absolutely no ignoring her!

Something suddenly struck me today, and I am going to try to explain it, in the hopes that if anyone out there has a similar experience, it may help.

In the last few months, I have had a couple of experiences with people who I have considered to be respected experts in their field, who are worth listening to, and taking their advice. They are very successful, have a lot of experience, and have based their businesses on helping others to achieve the same success.

Earlier in the year, I had the chance to attend an evening workshop with a lady whose book had inspired me years ago, but whom I had never met until then. I had a lot of respect for her because her story was so inspirational, and she was devoted to helping others to achieve their true potential.

I arrived at the event, I was having a good time, and was joined by a dear friend of mine for the evening. As part of the workshop, she was doing some short coaching sessions, and my friend was chosen to take part. When my friend said what her aspirations were, which included self-publishing her books, the lady’s response was – “Bulls**t. You will never make money doing that.”

When my friend tried to explain that self-publishing was quite different these days to how it used to be, the lady was not interested. She said that why anyone would want to self-publish was beyond her.

In that moment, my respect for her began to slip.

I could understand a traditionally published author having that point of view ten years ago, but the industry really has completely changed since then, surely, if she is advising people on their businesses, she would know that?

While chatting later, I spoke to her a little about how different the industry is, and she seemed surprised, but not particularly interested in learning more. And when it became apparent that I was not in the financial position to pay for one of her coaching packages, her response was – “Come back to us when you have the money.”

Wow. Bubble totally popped. In fact, the copy of her book that I had kept for so long, found its way into the car boot stuff a few weeks ago. And when it didn’t sell, it went to a charity shop.

I recently had another experience with someone who I thought wanted to help my business (my book writing and publishing) to flourish and grow, but it turned out that what she wanted was for me to create ‘products’ like video series’ and courses, to sell and make money with. It didn’t even really matter what the product was, as long as it sold. I felt uncomfortable with the concept, and I didn’t get the feeling that she liked me very much, which made me even less inclined to get more involved and put a lot of time and energy into her business. Later on, she even said several times that writing books was not the way forward, it takes too long. Videos are the only way forward. Unfortunately, I am a writer, and that’s not going to change.

When I finally admitted that I didn’t want to be a part of her business, her response confirmed my feelings – she really didn’t want the best for my business at all, and in her opinion, I wasn’t ‘ready’ to be a part of what she was creating.

It was after this experience, that I realised something. When around these successful experts, who are building their businesses around empowering people to follow their dreams – I feel completely disempowered. I feel like a small child who is below them. I’ve been thinking about the reasons for this, and I am fully ready to accept that it may well be my issue not theirs, but I wonder if I am the only one to feel this way?

I’ve been reading The 7 Graces of Marketing recently, and there was a story recounted in there about a coach trying to sell the author a course, that cost thousands of dollars, and when the author declined, the coach tried to make her feel like a failure for doing so.

After reading about the old paradigm of marketing in her book, I have come to realise that perhaps those who have been in business for a long time, are just accustomed to these old marketing tactics – as we, the general population, are conditioned to respond to these old marketing tactics. And when someone says – actually, this doesn’t feel right to me – their response is to make us feel like we will never succeed because we are not doing things their way.

But then it all comes down to your definition of success. If success is having lots of money – then I am a failure. If success is selling lots of products – then I am a failure. If success is being famous – then I am a failure.

On the other hand, if success is helping people to feel a little less lonely in the world – then I am a success. If success is encouraging people to listen to themselves, to really get to know themselves and then to dream big – then I am a success. If success is inspiring others to changes their lives because of your words or actions – then I am a success.

When it comes right down to it – success and failure are just words. It is our perception and attachments of feelings to the words that causes them to mean anything at all. All I know is, whether I succeed or fail, I want to be able to say – I was authentically myself, I followed my heart, I listened to my gut and I did my best.

Aug 10 2014

Interview with an Earth Angel

I was recently interviewed by the beautiful Sarah Vine, founder of the Earth Angel Sanctuary. Sarah and I met through an acquaintance on Facebook, and from our very first (three-hour) conversation, we have become very good friends. I have no doubt that we attended the Earth Angel Training Academy together! Sarah read the Earth Angel series, and fell in love with the books. I am a proud member of the Earth Angel Sanctuary, a wonderful site online where you can watch very useful videos and interviews to help you with your Earthly missions. As an extra bonus for being a member, you can also download a free copy of The Earth Angel Training Academy.

To watch the interview, just click on the video below. I will soon be interviewing Sarah, to find out more about how she started the Sanctuary and her mission here on Earth.

[youtube http://youtu.be/UsG00OstHTE]

Jul 21 2014

New Ending for The Elphite!

I recently wrote a brand new ending for The Elphite, and have released it as a free download – all you need to do is join my mailing list (click here). If you are already on my mailing list, I will have sent you the direct link to the download in my last newsletter.

The reason I wrote this new ending, was because there was quite a big twist in the tale that many of my readers have missed, and I wanted to reveal it. I know some will find it horrifying, but I hope that others will see that actually, it makes a lot of sense! You may find you need to re-read the book to see all of the clues.

At the end of the new piece, there is a chance to vote on what you think should happen next. Why have I done this? Partly because I honestly don’t know what would happen next ( I never do) and partly because it would be fun to have some reader participation in choosing what the characters would do.

If you have read The Elphite, please sign up and get the new ending, and then let me know what you though of it!

Jun 24 2014

Why I Love Being Indie

While chatting to my editor about Indie publishing versus traditional publishing today, it occurred to me that when I write, I love the uncertainty of not knowing where the story will go, but when I publish, I love the certainty of knowing that it is going to be a published, printed book.

Many writers are the opposite. They plot and plan their novels, knowing every twist, turn, sub plot and cliffhanger, crafting their masterpiece exactly how they envision it. Then they print off copies, put them in envelopes, and start sending them to agents and publishers, hoping that someone will recognise the book for the genius manuscript that it is. They have no idea if they will even get a reply from said agents and publishers, let alone an acceptance from them.

I used to think that I was just too lazy to be traditionally published, that I couldn’t be bothered with the query process (which always seemed arduous, painful and long) But I have just realised that it’s the uncertainty that I cannot handle. Which is why after I wrote Heaven dot com, fourteen years ago, I stopped writing. Because it was just too hard to get published, so why bother writing stories that would never be read? It was the evolution of Indie publishing that then made me think that perhaps I should write more, and motivated me to start writing novels. (Chris Baty’s book, No Plot? No Problem! also spurred me to write)

I’m not the kind of writer who must write every day. I’m the kind of writer who writes to share ideas, thoughts and channellings, with as many people as possible. And so writing without the certainty that I will be able to share the words, does not appeal to me at all.

I do start to feel a little antsy if it has been a while since I wrote anything, and scenes start to write themselves inside my mind, just begging me to write them down. In fact, Elphite fans will be pleased to hear that I have an alternate ending in mind, which I am thinking of writing and releasing soon.

But I don’t wake up at 3am every morning with the urge to write, which I think is both a blessing and a curse. (I hate mornings, but I would love to write more!)

If you are a writer, how do you feel about the certainty/uncertainty of writing and publishing? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

And just because I love it, here is a new quote photo for I’m Here.

Apr 28 2014

Authors Are Humans Too

I know fellow book-lovers out there will understand what I mean when I say that favourite authors can become like gods to us, and that we can put them up on pedestals, elevated high above us ordinary human-folk. And when we reach out to tell them how much their words have touched us, how much their prose has changed our lives, we are shocked and quite excited when they respond, amazed that they deemed us worthy to reply to.

But honestly, authors are humans too. It was more unusual to get a reply years ago, when snail mail was the norm, because as most authors know, finding writing time can be tough as it is, but handwriting and sending replies to fanmail would eat into that time too much. These days, when you can reply in 140 characters on Twitter, or reply to a Facebook post or a short email quite quickly, the likelihood of getting a response has increased dramatically.

I remember writing to one of my favourite authors as a teenager, in the earlyish days of email, and was very excited to get a reply, even though the reply consisted of a single line. It felt like I had connected, though briefly, with a mythical creature that a mere mortal like me shouldn’t have been allowed to. In recent times, I have connected with several authors on Twitter, and have ended up having conversations with some of them, who have turned out to be genuinely awesome people.

Back in January I received a message on Goodreads from a fellow book-lover and book reviewer, asking for a copy of The Elphite, because she was keen to review it. I responded quite quickly and soon sent a copy of the book. The review she has written will soon be posted, along with an interview, and the brand new cover of The Elphite! She said that she was surprised and extremely excited that I had responded to her request, and sent her the copy, because after all, I was an author, and to get a response from such a mythical, magical creature was unexpected but exciting.

I’ve said it before, but I will repeat it here – I am just a human. I’m not even an incarnated Faerie or a Starperson. Just a mere mortal. And I love hearing from my readers and from potential readers. It is what keeps me writing, keeps me connecting, keeps me creating. So reach out, send messages, all are appreciated and cherished and often printed and stuck on my walls, to motivate me to publish more books.

Sending love out to everyone who has ever sent me messages, you are all amazing. xx

Apr 1 2014

5 Years Ago Today…

… I was sat in JFK airport, waiting to board a flight back home. And it was while sat in the waiting area that I got a notebook out and started to write The Earth Angel Training Academy. I wrote the first 900 words in that notebook, then wrote the rest of the book in the two months following, on my old laptop that had no ‘L’ key.

The handwritten beginning of The Earth Angel Training Academy

I still have my original notes from before I began writing. Most of my ideas didn’t make it into the final book. Once I started writing, I really had no control over the story, or the characters. I was merely a bystander, writing down what they were doing and saying.

After those initial two months of writing, it took me a further two years to edit it and get it into print, after a brief attempt at entering the traditional publishing world. Originally, I called the book ‘The Angels Calling’ and even printed and hand-bound in leather a copy for my dad. After a handful of rejections, I decided to take the Indie route, having used print on demand services to publish Heaven Dot Com back in 2007.

The first edition of The Earth Angel Training Academy was published and launched in July 2011, at the Heart of the Dragon Festival in West Wales.

Original Cover

New Cover

Since writing the book, I have actually met several of the characters in real life, including Shelly, the mermaid, who I met in California last year.

In November 2010, I wrote The Earth Angel Awakening, which I then published in the summer of 2012. Then just last year, I wrote and published The Other Side.

In some ways, it feels like a lifetime since I wrote those first words in JFK, and in others, it feels like just yesterday. As you can see from my scribbles, Velvet was originally called Mulberry. Because the lady sat opposite me in the waiting lounge was wearing mulberry-coloured shoes. I can still see her shoes, and hear the noise of the airport, and see the planes taking off. Though I had been writing for many years by that point, and had self-published my novella, that moment in the airport was the very beginning of my journey as an independently published author, and a visionary fiction novelist. And in that moment in time, I had absolutely no idea what the next five years would bring. There have been awesome times, crappy times, frustrating times and absolutely ecstatic times. And I wouldn’t change a single moment, because it has all brought me to where I am right now.

Do you remember where you were five years ago today?

Mar 24 2014

On Taking Advice

I don’t know about you, but as a writer and a creative, I often find it difficult to take advice. Oh, I have no problems in giving advice, I could do that all day. Accepting and actioning advice from others? Hmmm, well, uhh, yeah, maybe.

As an avid advice-giver, I know how frustrating it is, when you offer something advice, or even when they ask you for advice, and then when you give it – they ignore it completely. *cue screaming into a pillow*

First of all, I would like to apologise to anyone who has given me advice in my life which I have ignored, I’m sorry for being stubborn, I’m sorry for thinking I knew best, I’m sorry if it upset you. Of course, I don’t regret a single choice I have ever made in my life, because it has brought me to where I am right now, and I wouldn’t change that for anything. But there is a chance that had I heeded some of the advice along the way, I could have got here without so many obstacles.

Conversely, I have been given advice over the last few years, that I HAVE followed, only to realise later that perhaps the person dispensing said advice did not have the best intentions for me. So, I have decided that there must be some kind of method, some sort of formula for which advice should be followed, and which should be ignored.

The criteria that should be met by someone whose advice I will give serious consideration to, is as follows:

1. They genuinely want me to succeed in whatever the advice is given for (whether it’s my business, relationship etc.)

2. They’re not profiting from the advice they’re giving (this is a tricky one, will address this further below.)

3. They are an expert in that field, and they have tested out their own advice.

4. I would trust them with my life. (or at least with my livelihood and happiness!)

(I believe that advice that comes from a source that does not meet the above criteria, should be treated with caution.)

In the past few years, I have taken advice from people who have not met the above criteria, and it has not been good advice for me. I took relationship advice from someone who I found out later, did not want my relationship to succeed, and though I don’t regret what happened as a result, it made me realise that perhaps I was just a little too trusting, and didn’t listen to my intuition.

The part on profiting from the advice, well, that is tricky. Because someone might be advising me to do a course or buy a product, that will genuinely help me. Yes, they might be making money from the transaction, but it could be exactly what I need to change my life. But there are so many just trying to make money, who aren’t really interested in me or my success, and that’s why I need to look at all four of the points above before deciding.

I run a small Indie Publishing business, called The Amethyst Angel, and I get queries from authors who want me to work with them to independently publish their books. Often they say they just want formatting, or proofreading, as they don’t feel it needs any editing work, they’re happy with it they way it is. The first thing I will do (which I don’t charge for) is to read the manuscript. And I warn them that I will be completely and utterly honest about what I think. I have told some authors that I think they need to completely re-write the book before considering having it edited, and I have told some authors that it needs editing before it can be proofread and formatted. Sometimes, they listen, and we work together and produce awesome books, and also become very good friends, after all, I genuinely want them to succeed. And sometimes, they don’t like my advice, and they go and find someone who will just format it and publish it, as it is, with no further work done on it.

Being an Independent Author means that it’s entirely your choice. It’s their choice to ignore my advice, and that’s fine, after all, my opinion may not be the same as others, and I accept that. But what I want them to know, if that I’m not giving them that advice so I can make money from them. I am giving them that advice so that the standard of Indie books is raised up just a little more. At the end of the day, I am an Indie Author. I am on the author’s side. I would never tell an author that a book needs work when it doesn’t because it would be a waste of my time and their money. And I will not work on a book that isn’t even ready to be edited, because it would end up costing the author too much. I would always advise them to re-write, revise, and find willing beta readers who will help them first.

I apologise for my rant. But I do feel very strongly that this is an important issue. If Indie Authors want to be seen as professionals, if they want to be taken seriously in the publishing world, then it’s time they started producing professional pieces of work. Now, I’m not saying that as an Indie Author, I have it all figured out, because I don’t. In fact, I’m currently re-branding three of my books because my original covers and blurbs aren’t cutting it. I created the covers myself, and though I thought they were good, and others seemed to agree, I realise now that they do not do the books justice. Because whether we like it or not, a large percentage of people do still judge a book by its cover!

I will keep you updated on the new covers, they should be ready to be revealed very soon, and I hope that my advice on taking and ignoring advice was useful to you! Have a wonderful week 🙂

Mar 17 2014

Choosing My Reality

Last week, I finished the first draft of my latest novel, which I have called ‘I’m Here‘. The big push to finally finish it was provided by my sister, as we challenged each other to finish the first drafts of our projects by the 11th March, and both of us made it! In the last few days leading up to the deadline, I was writing anything from 3000 to 5500 words a day. I could have just written 1500 words a day for two weeks, but instead I preferred to leave it all to the last minute and write 15,000 words in just a few days. Anybody who has done Nanowrimo and loves the last minute, will understand this!

It was weird to finally finish the book, because unlike many of my other novels, this one took a considerable amount of time to come into being. I wrote down the idea for the book more than a year prior to beginning it. I then started to write the book during Nanowrimo in November 2012. But I hit a block and found myself unable to continue writing it. So I stopped and decided to write The Other Side instead. Then in November 2013, during Nanowrimo, I decided it was time to finish it. I cut the last chapter I had written the previous year, and started to write. But again, I hit blocks during that month and set it aside again. I was struggling to get it finished, and it was only the deadline imposed by my sister (and the promise of a homemade prize!) that got me to finish it.

One of the reasons I think I found it difficult to finish the book, was because over the last few years, I have noticed that many of the events that I have written about in my books, have actually come to pass. It might sound totally crazy, but not only have I met some of my characters in real life (with the same names, characteristics, appearances, personality etc.) but I have also experienced some of the situations I have created in my novels. So when writing this book, I had a vague idea of where it was going, and I didn’t want to write it, because I didn’t want it to happen in my own life.

Now, if you are into the law of attraction, or believe in saying or writing affirmations, you might not find this concept to be so crazy. After all, with every word we think or say, we are creating our own reality. We are choosing what we are going to experience. And when I write these scenes, these stories, I am in effect, calling them forth to me. This idea was brought home to me when I read the story of the author Iain Banks, who died of cancer shortly after writing a novel about a man who dies of cancer. In this article it is said that he had written 90% of the novel before finding out his own diagnosis, so it wasn’t based on his own experiences. Some people may be offended by the idea that by writing the book, he chose to experience the same fate as his character. And I do honestly hope that is not the case. But what if we do have the power to choose our own reality in that way? My new book explores that idea, that we do actually have a choice in what we experience in life. That our intentions become our reality.

When I was a child, I loved the cartoon Penny Crayon. She was a girl who had the ability to create anything – places, people, objects, by drawing them with her special crayon. I was fascinated by the idea as a child, because it somehow made perfect sense to me. Over the years, I have manifested many things, often with the help of vision boards or through writing down my desires in the form of a simple sentence – I choose to tune into the reality where… I have lost count of the number of times I have read back through notebooks and diaries only to find what I had chosen and written down, had actually become my reality.

I have also lost count of the number of times people have asked me to write a book about them winning the lotto…

The thing is, with this knowledge, you would think I would just write about the things I would like to experience, that I would craft the stories to reflect what I wish for in my life. But it doesn’t work that way for me. When I write, I have no real say in what happens in the story. I am merely recording, writing down, the story of the characters. I have joked before now about not being an author, but a spiritual secretary, just taking dictation from above. So I decided that whether I wanted to create the reality or not, the book needed to be written. I’m now in the editing stages, and am planning to publish it by April/May. I will post updates on the progress of it, and plan to post excerpts from it very soon.

In the meantime, I’m going to choose the reality where I have a cup of tea and a cake in front of me, and I hope you choose the reality where you have a fabulous Monday!