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.

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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.

 

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.

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Earth Angel Series Kindle Boxset!

As I work like crazy to get The Twin Flame Reunion ready for sale, with the help of the fabulous madappledesigns, I have just released the Earth Angel Series Boxset on Kindle. The boxset contains the first three books in the Earth Angel series and is cheaper than buying the three books separately on Kindle!

Earth Angel Boxset

I wanted to release the boxset to encourage anyone who was interested in reading The Twin Flame Reunion of read those books first, so that they know who the characters are and what is happening in the point just before the book begins. To make it clearer how the books fit together (because they are not particularly sequential, I have put together a little graphic below!

 

 

 

The Twin Flame Reunion

 

 

 

 

 

You can pre-order The Twin Flame Reunion on Amazon, and as those who follow my blog and Facebook know, I have just taken part in Nanowrimo, and completed the next novel in the series, which is to be titled The Twin Flame Retreat. So if you are just getting into the Earth Angel Series, the latest book will be ready in the new year, probably in February.

 

 

 

 

I hope this little graphic helps to make the structure of the series a bit clearer! It’s become a bit of a jigsaw puzzle…

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Nanowrimo Winner 2014!

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Was thrilled last night to reach 50,000 words and become a Nanowrimo winner! I decided to do a little video on my experience with Nano over the last five years since I first discovered it. You can watch the video below. High fives to everyone who took part this year, you are amazing!

Announcement! New book title unveiled!

I know that I haven’t yet published the latest book in the Earth Angel series – The Twin Flame Reunion, but I’m excited to announce the title of the next one in the series, that will be published in the new year. It will be called:

The Twin Flame Retreat.

I have written twenty thousand words of the book so far. It has a slightly different structure to The Twin Flame Reunion, and it follows different characters, so you get a different perspective on the story. I haven’t got a cover design yet, but I will post it here as soon as I do! I have created this quote photo using a quote from the brand new book, I hope you like it! As always, please feel free to share it!

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I better get back to my writing. You can pre-order The Twin Flame Reunion from Amazon now, and I will keep you updated on when the print version will be available.

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.

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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

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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 LeskoLori 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.