Liz Fenwick's Blog, page 17

One thing I’ve learnt is to value my friends.




It’s all too easy to think that keeping my head down over my work is the best way to productivity. Not so! Creativity doesn’t always thrive in solitude. Maybe I need other emotional perspectives; maybe it’s natural in a storyteller to always being on the look out for anecdotes. Or maybe it’s that friendship recharges my heart’s batteries. But half-an-hour over a cuppa with friends who amuse and interest me will send me back to my desk in a burst of energy, full of ideas and enthusiasm.




NB Chocolates and champagne work even better than a cuppa …




http://www.suemoorcroft.com

'One thing I've learnt is that the world isn't full of writers, either aspiring or published, but that there are readers, too, and they may have no interest in the mechanics of writing.



This may sound obvious, but (in my defence) it isn't.  After years of going to workshops and writing groups, meeting with writer friends and discussing our work and the difficulty of getting published, I'd rather forgotten that there are people out there who have no interest in what happens behind the scenes - they just want to be transported into the world of the fiction and allowed to stay there.



How did I reach this amazing degree of awareness???  Well, I went to a talk where the speaker was addressing an audience made up primarily of readers, and I realised that the speaker's focus was very different from that in a talk given to a writer-audience.



So thank you, Rosie Thomas, for giving a really brilliant talk at the Oxford Literary Festival that (I hope) will help me to keep the nature of my audience in the forefront of my mind when I come to talk to readers about my novel The Road Back.'







http://www.lizharrisauthor.com

THE ROAD BACK to be published by Choc Lit, September 2012

follow me on twitter @lizharrisauthor

One Thing I’ve Learnt… is that if I’m going to spend hours writing every day, I need to be happy in my writing space.




I can write anywhere, but my favourite place to write is in my shed where I’m surrounded by pieces that I’ve collected over the years. I can look at my photos, maps, and odd treasures for inspiration. Needless to say, there are shelves of How To… books, Writers’ & Artists’ Year books, notepads containing characteristics, plot lines, ideas and titles, as well as piles of manuscripts that really should be thrown away.




I have two vintage, pink, Lloyd Loom chairs, one for me and one for my ever-present Miniature Schnauzer. My desk is a 1950s table and the floor is covered with three mismatched rugs that had been relegated to the loft. The windowsill is covered with driftwood, pieces of coloured glass, shells and oddly shaped pebbles from the nearby beaches where I walk my dog and the view changes each season as the pine tree and palm trees grow outside on the lawn.




In fact, it’s not only comfortable, but inspiring too. Maybe that’s another thing I’ve learnt that the space needs to inspire in some way.








http://debcarrs-daydreams.blogspot.com/

http://www.deborahcarr.co.uk/

http://www.facebook.com/debs.carr

http://twitter.com/#!/DebsCarr

For so long I have wanted to have my writing published. I've worked hard and much of that time without daring to hope that it would happen. It's now less than a month until The Cornish House is to set forth to face the world.



I have spent may a sleepless hours recently wondering what its fate will be...a complete waste of valuable sleep time. The Cornish House is now out of my hands. I will have a chance of fixing any missed typos when the mass market paperback comes out....but truthfully it now belongs to who ever reads it.



So as I finish up last minute interview questions, try and figure out what to wear to two launches and an awards ceremony, double check my diary so that I don't miss anything (like the flight last week) I wanted to tell you what I've line up for the blog for the month of May...you see so many people have helped me on this path to publication and well I wanted to share it with them in some way.



So to do this I have asked friends and family to tell me some thing they have learnt...so every day in May bar the ones where I will posting picture of events there will be a short post from important people in my life - from all parts of it.... because like raising a child where it takes a community...supporting a writer takes very special people...and I have been blessed.



I hope you enjoy the daily uplift...you are in for a treat...Tomorrow Debs Carr shares one things she's learnt....

I've already written about Orion's Cherry Picks evening here but Orion sent through this picture taken of all the authors present and well I had one of those moments...OMG...I'm in the picture!!!! In the past I've been pictures with many fabulous authors...fan girl moi but this time it was different! Still not quite sure how I got there....but not complaining at all!







From left to right Cherry Menlove, Hannah Richell, Lesley Lokko, Erica James, Shelley Harris, Veronica Henry, Kate Mosse, Julia Gregson, Katherine Webb and me!

What a day this has been...first time ever - I missed a flight. I woke sans alarm at 7:55 and my flight was at 8:40.... (still don't know why my alarm didn't go off at 4:45!)



As I write this I am sitting in the lounge waiting for the 1700 flight......won't talk about the nerves or the swear words...



However today was lifted from being one of my worst every to one of my best. Today I became a cover girl (I know at my age too!)....The June edition of Writer's Form magazine has my mug on the cover here. The picture was taken in Cornwall by fabulous photographer Adam Gibbard (his website). The words on the inside are by the wonderful Helen Hunt (her website). She wanted to know why I felt that taking a slower route to publication, in my case, was better....you'll have to read the article to find out.



I checked the WH Smith's here in the airport to see if I could get my hands on a copy but alas no. Will have to ask friends to buy me a copy.



The great thing is... have already had lovely comment from a member of NWS saying how this article gave her hope....and well, that indeed made my day!

Yesterday afternoon was delightful. I mean on a wet and windy afternoon in April what could be better than prowling book stores...nothing except talking to booksellers about your book. Scary but so brilliant to have people enthusiastic about The Cornish House.



I also have to confess it was just brilliant talking to the team at the St Ives Bookseller (pictured and you can find them on Twitter at @stivesbooks) because they both loved the book. And at this point so few people have read it and, well, I love knowing what people enjoyed. I confess I haven't been brave enough to ask what they didn't like yet...I may never be...



On another note about The Cornish House....my first review is in on Goodreads and YAY!!!! it's a five star review. It's here. Now regular readers of the blog will recognize that review is from my friend - the fabulous writer Julie Cohen...so maybe she is biased but I know she is an English teacher at heart and wouldn't say something she didn't really mean so I am so honoured and pleased that, well, she liked the book....



Writers...did you cry with your first good review (yes, I did)? And readers do you review books and do reviews matter to you?

Last night I was in the House of St Barnabus in Soho for Orion's Cherry Picks evening (and yes, yesterday was a busy day!)....



Veronica Henry with Orion's Gaby Young
 with some fabulous authors...Kate Mosse, Veronica Henry, Shelley Harris, Lesley Lokko, Erica James, Julia Gregson, Hannah Richell, Katherine Webb and Cherry Menlove....



Shelley Harris, Katherine Webb and Hannah Richell


Also there...the fabulous Orion team and many wonderful people from the the press and blogging world. So with prosecco and yummie canapés we chatted non-stop for hours...



Erica Jame, Julia Gregson and Lesley Lokko
Of course with so many women writers gathered together there had to be some fabulous shoes...



Katherine Webb;s amazing boots




Shelley Harris's fabulous shoes
Of course when the official party ended a few of us (Lelsley Lokko, Julia Gregson, Hannah Richell and moi) weren't ready to burst the party bubble and we wandered into Soho to spend a few more happy hours chatting over Thai food and mint tea....

All I can say is that I have even more respect for my agent after spending a few hours at London Book Fair...I was shattered. How she survives after three full days plus the parties....



I went to see what all the fuss was about....



Earl's Court


On the surface it's just like other trade shows I've been to...loads of people, massive displays but the difference is that LBF is about books...and every one attending is passionate about them - well maybe not the coat check lady but then I didn't ask her because she was scary.

A fuzzy view


I went because I was curious. Nothing more than that I'm afraid. I had no secret agenda - well I knew a few friends would be there (Mel Sherrat, Maria Duffy) but found so many more...

Vanessa O'Loughlin


I wanted to get a picture of Carole Blake with my book on her desk and I did...in fact when I waved from the distance and she called me over she was actually pitching my book. How cool? How scary...

A US publisher sitting with my agent Carole Blake with The Cornish  House on display
I met a few people from Orion. I had great catch up with my Choc Lit buddies.



Sue Moorcroft




Me and Pia Christina Courtenay
Was it worth the cost of admission? Yes, because in today's market authors need to know how it all works. The more you know the more you understand. I attended part of the session on self-publishing. This was fantastic. Yes, I have a wonderful publisher but in the publishing world today the author needs to be savvy about selling books. The authors on the panel were successfully selling their books and had a lot of knowledge to share. I loved Linda Gillard's comment that she looks at readers as potential friends and that makes marketing much easier. It was a key point that I will take away with me...

Sam Missingham at the Bookseller stand


So no great revelations but a decision that if possible I will visit again next year and get a feel of the mood in the industry which this year according to my sources was positive....

The RNA's RoNA brochure on the Choc Lit stand

I'm not sure the title of the post is quite right but it will have to do. It's now less than two months to the publication of The Cornish House. I'm both thrilled and terrified. I also know I have missed opportunities and should have done more. I am at the bottom of the food chain...however some things are right..



Cover - it is gorgeous and every time I put a copy out people pick it up and inevitably say I want that house



Title - The Cornish House, simple evocative



Tag Line - Can a house heal a broken heart?...perfect for my market and it says it all-the house is key to the story of someone with a broken heart



So the book's contents will have to speak for themselves very soon but even before then the word needs to seep out there.



Simple thing, first is to tell every single soul you know. If you can't tell family and friends how are you going to tell strangers...I'm now getting quite good about that and whipping a post card out of my hand bag... (at first it feels like you are about to declare yourself a mass murder...I'm a novelist and my first kill... I mean book is out on 24th May...)



Now onto the more technical things I have learned...

1. get the tags right on the bottom of your Amazon listing- this helps people randomly search for books about certain thing

2. get family and friends to 'like' the Amazon listing - the more likes the more it will appear on the site. If you are feeling generous here's the link. The like button is right under the author's name...

3. for blog posts you can now Google plus them...this increases the search rating in Google. So for every blog I visit even if I don't comment I hit the G+ button to help the post along the way - it takes seconds and you've helped someone out

4. mix it up - sometimes I'll tweet things and sometimes I Facebook things and sometimes I blog things...and of course sometimes I do all of the above

5. finally don't be afraid to ask...for help, to write an article, a review...they can only say no and if they do you move on and try again...



This past weekend I heard the words that the author is best placed to sell their book. This is true. The author also has the most invested in it especially in the early stages...so invest and do it often and do it nicely....



Hope you have a wonderful Easter!