I am really pleased with but there are one or two elements I am not sure about, I am not going to say what because I would prefer your feedback untainted by my views…
Tag: VATV
WIP Wednesday, Inspirations!
As you know I am busy working away at finishing Voices Across The Void, and today I thought I would share a little bit about the inspiration behind the stories. Voices is not your typical ghost story collection, not all the stories are intended to scare, that maybe in part because I do not find the dead anywhere near as scary as the living.
Voices is about just that, the voices of both the living and the dead, the ways in which they may connect and communicate. Just as no two people are the same, it would be wrong to think that in death everyone becomes clone like and act in the same way for the same motivations. just like the living they are all different.
That is the premise of this book, stories are told from both sides of the Void, some by the living some by the dead, some well you will see for yourselves if you read the book. There are stories to hopefully make you laugh, think, possibly feel the hairs on your neck go up, and one, well one has made every who has read it so far cry. One story, a humorous one was inspired by one of the programmes I discussed yesterday, it plays with the idea of ghost hunting shows and what would happen if the ghosts were not quite so subtle in their responses, that is one of my favourites but as always with my stories has a little bit of a twist.
Anyway that is it for today as I need to get a couple of other things done before I delve back into editing, I do however want to thank Heidi for her suggestion that is helping so much in the editing process. At her suggestion I am using text to speech software to read back my work to me, it works really well for those silly typos where you type in instead of on and the spell check obviously fails to see it. It also reminds me to add extra commas and shorten sentences, I have a horrible habit of forgetting readers need to breathe.
Vlog Time #45 – Book Launch Date
First a quick vlog…
Now your formal invitation…
There is a Facebook page for the event so please feel free to come over and show virtual support even if you cannot physically make it, though of course I would love for you to all be there to share cake with me xxx
Vlog Time #37 – A Quick Catch Up
Just a short Vlog this week..
WIP Wednesday – Finding a balance.
The book is out a couple of copies have been sold, now the nervous wait for reviews to come in and the hope someone likes what you have written. So far no loans through the KDP programme or Kindle Unlimited and I do wonder if it is the lack of reviews which make a difference there or whether I have not got the labels and tags right, time will tell on that and if there have been no bites after a couple of weeks I might consider seeing what I can change.
It has become a fine balancing act between promoting the book and annoying friends by filling their newsfeeds with it. The thing is I know the more books I get out the more following for them I build up the less I will need to post that goes on my personal Fb page rather than my author page but for now at least there is not much I can do and I guess anyone who gets really upset me is probably not a friend who wishes me success.
Next up of course while still doing promotions for Disintegration is getting Voices back on the front burner a process which I have begun already by sorting out the pile of paper stashed on my desk for the last few weeks.
So of course the links…
Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk
If you want a print copy and your branch of Amazon does not carry it please contact me
WIP Wednesday – Dragon’s Rule!
I haven’t done an actual Award post for a while but this one dropped in my comments last week and I decided you know what lets go for it so…
I mean it has a dragon so how could I resist!
Here are the rules:
- Thank the giver and link their blog to your post.
- Pass the award on to other bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated.
- Give 7 facts about yourself.
So first things first a huge thank you to Ravyn Whyt at Random Acts of Writing you can check out her lists here and learn more about her and the others she nominated.
Now 7 things about me that you don’t already know, well instead I decided to tell you seven thing I have learnt about myself through the self publishing process…
1) I could have a degree in procrastination, the closer I got to finishing the harder I found it to actually focus on the task at had.
2) Despite my bravado I have very little confidence when it comes to my own abilities and am actually now bracing myself for a stream of negative comments once people read my stories.
3) I realise the last one is irrelevant because I do not believe anyone will actually read my stories unless they know me and are trying to make me feel better.
4) I am becoming convinced I should go into PR rather than writing because I am pretty sure I can plan an awesome book launch if I put my mind to it but not as sure about producing the book itself.
5) Over the last twenty plus years I have suffered depression on and off, basically ever since post natal depression following my daughters birth, I am very good at recognising the signs of its approach and taking evasive action. I know compared to the black dogs that stalk others mine is generally more like the andrex puppy version but every now and again it grows fangs and turns into a huge hound, my grandmas death and the end of my relationship triggered that response. I know I hid it well and only a few people very close to me would have known the signs but while in its grip I found writing almost impossible, especially Voices with its obvious themes of death and afterlife, writing Disintegration became my therapy, and while I wanted it to be longer than it is, I had to accept some of my work in it was just not good enough. (Don’t worry the demons are back to chasing rolls of toilet tissue once more)
6) I have found an extra strength in admitting my failings to myself and accepting them and where previously it would have defeated me I have now learnt that because I cannot do something today does not mean I cannot do anything today and that I will not be able to do whatever I set my mind to tomorrow.
7) I make the mistake of looking at other people projects that diminish my confidence further simply because they are so awesome for example, this trailer is for my FB friend Claire’s latest project, it has absolutely nothing in common with my own stuff but I find my self thinking I will never manage anything this awesome
Now who to pass this to? Rubs hands together, lets see who has been quiet for a while…
1) Rhonda
2) Heidi
3) Emily
4) Actually you!!!! If you are reading this and have a blog then you have also been nominated, after all the fact you are reading this proves your loyalty 😀
Vlog Time #13 – Barges & Book Trailers
Still getting to grips with the new camera, am thinking I need to designate a place in the house specifically for filming with very little in the background and hopefully that will solve the focus issues, it was a little better this time and only went out of focus a little when my screen mate moved. Also the barge pictures were taken without a flash so again something I need to practise more with the camera but I still quite liked the results.
Tuesday Teaser!
You have all been so supportive and given me so much encouragement regarding Voices, and I do feel a bit of a failure that it is taking me so long to get it done and out there when everyone else seems to produce their work far quicker. I am working hard on it and I thought that in the mean time you deserve proof that it is coming along, so I decided to give you a teaser each Tuesday from a different story each week leading up to the release, I will set a firm release date very soon but the plus side will be you will know that a new story is finished each week from the postings lol so here is your first Tuesday teaser, I hope you enjoy them….
Paula Acton 