Tag: Writers Life

Posted on in Blog, Books, Culture, Indie Author, Life, Literature, Self-publishing, Social media, Writing

White Lies

ou are lovely

I read a great thread the other day on Twitter by author Leigh Bardugo about how, as authors, we tend to perpetuate the myth of glamour and success that surrounds the magical business of getting published. Take it away Leigh!

She goes on to talk about how we ‘big up’ the successful moments, but downplay (or conceal) the less attractive aspects, like having to make your own merchandise to bribe people with! But don’t we all do this in our everyday lives? Pretending that everything is rosy in the garden, whether it be your marriage, your job, or your house that looks lovely but is actually developing some scary cracks and is possibly built on an ancient burial site?? But that’s enough about me. Telling little white lies about your job is just an extension of that very human need to be seen as ‘successful’ or ‘having your shit together’. We pretend we’re earning more than we are or have a bigger office.

But there is something about the truth that liberates all of us. In recent times, more and more authors are opening up about the reality of publishing and what it really looks like, behind the headlines. Irish author Donal Ryan ruffled many’s the feather by revealing that his books earned him a mere 40c per book and that he was returning to full-time employing in order to pay his mortgage. (I wrote about it for the Irish Times here).

I think there is a certain amount of embarrassment – because all we tend to hear about are the big authors who get eye-watering book deals, then sell the movie rights and next thing you know, they’re featured in some home style magazine showing off their new castle. That’s what people expect will happen when you get a publishing deal, but it is the exception. Most authors just want to earn a wage, even a really tiny one, that means they can write full time. But that’s not always the case. In fact, it’s rarely the case.

But we don’t want to let the side down, or reveal to our friends and families that actually, not all book shops will stock your book, that some people still won’t read your book even though you’ve given them a copy for free, that you have to work just as hard promoting your book as you did writing it and at the end of the day, most Irish authors earn somewhere between €500 and €5,000 per year (eek!).

Yet it seems a bit strange that authors are the ones left to gloss over these facts – as though we somehow have to protect the reputation of the publishing industry as well as our own! Well, not on my watch. Self-publishing is a great leveler and dispels you of any ‘notions’ (as we call them here) pretty early on. I’ve had to do everything myself, so signing with a publisher was a real privilege. But it’s not the end of the rainbow – there were still disappointments as well as unexpected gains. What didn’t change is the amount of effort I had to put into making sure people knew about my book.  There are so many jobs you have to do as an author that you can never invoice anyone for and I’m not sure any amount of wild success will change that.

I remember reading an article a while back (but for the life of me I can’t remember the author’s name or find the link) in which a bestselling author spoke about a reading he was due to give at a local library for his new book. About eight people showed up; one was his wife and the rest were from a local retirement home. That was shocking to me – again because I just didn’t know that most really, really successful authors aren’t celebrities. Even New York Times bestselling authors. The truth is, nobody really cares! Apart from you, your publisher and probably your bank.

So yeah, I don’t think there’s any harm in telling the odd white lie to save face, but the constant pressure to present a false picture of your life or your career – which has only increased with the dawn of social media – is just really exhausting and serves nobody. And sometimes the most inspiring stories are the ones where you didn’t make it – like, how often do we find our own inner resilience perk up when reading about authors who were rejected zillions of times? Of course, the catch is, you have to then make it big-time for your sob story to resonate, but still. Knowing that nobody really knows what their doing can be the most comforting truth of all.

Posted on in Blog, Books, Culture, eBook Piracy, eBooks, Indie Author, Literature, Self-publishing, Writing

Why Writers Are 100% My Type On Paper

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You know that old cliche – you don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps?! Well, welcome to the book business my friend.  In the style of Joni Mitchell, I’ve looked at publishing from both sides now – well, three sides to be precise, a triangular perspective with lots of 90 degree angles.  I’ve gone from an unpublished writer, to self-published to traditionally published and I can safely say that the one rule of successful book publishing is…. there are no rules!  I’m starting to wonder if the publishing industry is some form of collective insanity.  And it is the writer, the creative power at the centre of the… triangle, who has the least amount of certainty in this baffling equation of reader plus book, multiplied by publishing.

But wait, that’s just inside the triangle.  The real uncontrollable variables are all outside the triangle, like….. like a big circle encasing billions of little triangles (God I wish I hadn’t brought up geometry) that functions according to its own rules and agendas.

Let me break it down (and stop pretending I know anything about sums).  As an unpublished author, I clung onto the popular belief that published authors had it made, that publishers showered you with advances and follow-up deals for books you haven’t even written yet and that once your book was on the shelf, everyone would know of its existence and buy it.  It’s weird to be looking back on that time now, because I suppose it forces me to see how far I’ve come, which is not something I’m very good at doing.  I’m always chasing after the next rainbow – I guess it’s the human condition.  But it’s also a reminder of how much work went into becoming the writer I am now – which is the same for all writers.  So much work goes on behind the scenes, during the lean years when the only message you got from the outside world was, ‘getting a book deal is harder than winning the lottery‘ or ‘writing is a nice hobby‘.  At this point, a lot of writers think about quitting.  It seems utterly pointless and delusional.  A strange breeding ground for future authors, but one thing it certainly teaches us all is resilience and something else far more interesting (okay, two things, I told you I was bad at maths) PASSION.  It’s at this stage you find out whether or not writing is your passion, because if it is, it won’t let you go, so you may as well make the best of it.

Which brings me to self-publishing.  The best compliment I can give to self-publishing is that most readers hardly notice if a book is self-published anymore (I know this from my reviews).  It turns out the digital revolution was right; people don’t care where their stories come from, as long as they’re good.  The cream did rise to the top – all of the worries people had about rubbish novels taking over the world were unfounded and in the end it was the reader who shaped the self-publishing landscape.  Yes, it drove down the price of an eBook, which has had both good and bad repercussions (more anon), but it also introduced authors (who might otherwise have withered and died in a pile of their own submission material) to a new readership that traditional publishers weren’t targeting.  Turns out people wanted to read about vampires and spacemen and weird sexual contracts!  But I digress – the point is, self-publishing is brilliant, dynamic and offers better royalties than the main traditional publishers, but it does have its limits and this is where reality sets in. Your book is just one out of zillions of books published every year and the problem that needs solving is how to get noticed?

Cue traditional publishing!  The old school, tried and tested way of getting your book in front of readers, but even this approach has its challenges.  There’s no doubt that having your book published traditionally gives you (as a writer) the kind of validation recognised by booksellers and readers alike.  And for me personally, it was a huge vote of confidence in my writing career.  I’m no longer working in complete isolation and it feels good to have people who care as much about my book as I do!  But books don’t automatically appear on shelves, they need to charm the book buyers first and if you walk into any bookshop, you will see who has the most influence.  You’re still facing the same problem – how to get my book noticed in a crowded market.  This came home to me when I walked into my local Dubrays the other week, an auspicious occasion, because it was the first time I was going to see my book in a shop (that I didn’t have to hand-deliver myself!)  The windows were taken up with large displays for Anne Tyler’s new novel (like she needs the publicity – and now I’ve given her more!!) and as I walked down the centre aisle, all of the mainstream publishers had their new releases displayed like colourful fruits at a stereotypical French market. I had already heard of these books through print media and online thanks to their big promotion budget, and now they held prime real estate right throughout the shop.  So there is a lot more to this book business than meets the eye and each new deal is a giant victory for your book. (Like the fact that The Story Collector is now on promotion in all WH Smith stores in Irish airports – YAY!!)

So I’m still pushing, still trying to let people know that my book is good and it’s on the shelf.  I’m very lucky to be with my publisher and have a wonderful PR person helping me, but the truth is, I am probably working harder to promote this book than I did on my previous two.  Then again, I have more to promote and that’s thanks to having a publisher, which has definitely opened more doors for me.  I just got off the phone from the arts reporter for my local newspaper and I’m constantly submitting articles to online publications and (gently) reminding people that my book is on promotion and on the shelf.  What’s that? Where can you buy it? Allow me to furnish you with those deets 🙂

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Book Depository ~ Dubray Books ~ Foyles ~ O’Mahony’s ~ Waterstones ~ WH Smith

Amazon UK  ~ Amazon US ~  Amazon (paperback)

So what’s my point?

It’s non-stop graft, but you still have very little control over how well your book will perform.  You spend years in the Unpublished Doldrums, wondering if you’re any good at all or if you’ll ever make it, then if you hang in there, you might get to Self-Published Isle, a wonderful place where you make everything happen yourself but lack the support of industry insiders.  Then if you’re really, really lucky, you’ll get to Trad-Published Mountain, a mythical place where not all is at it seems, but the view is good and the bar is subsidised!

HOWEVER, after all of that and regardless of which route you take to publication, chances are your voyage will be scuppered by pirates (or as they should be called, copyright thieves).  The digital revolution has been such a wonderful progression for everyone who loves books, but the downside is the growth in illegal download sites.  Like the music industry before, books have lost their value for some and even 99p is deemed too high a price for a book.  A typical comparison when discussing this topic is that some people believe it’s normal to pay more for a cup of coffee than a book.  So after all those years of working on your craft for no income – the years of submitting and learning how to deal with rejection – the years of starting over with a brand new novel and putting the old one in a drawer – the years of being told it’s not commercially viable or ‘right for our lists’ – the years of promoting your author platform – more writing – more editing – waiting for a response – providing tons of free content to gain exposure – finally getting a deal – discovering you won’t be getting a six figure advance after all – more promotion – doing all of this before you see a red cent – some creep comes along, takes your new book and makes it freely available for anyone to download.

Because, as we all know, people in the arts aren’t really working; it’s not like a real job, so they don’t deserve a real income.  And the people who download your book from an illegal site aren’t really stealing, because they probably wouldn’t have bought it anyway. Or maybe they’re like the old me, thinking that published authors are doing quite nicely for themselves and anyway, the publisher will probably cover the loss.  Maybe articles like this in which author earnings are revealed to be less than the minimum wage, will help (and they’re the lucky ones, professional writers who got published and write full time).  For authors in Ireland, it’s even less (The €500 a year career)  This is what’s happening and finally the industry is starting to fight back, as in the recent case with OceanofPDF (The Times).  But is it too little too late?  Who knows.

All I do know is that, in the face of all this improbability, writers keep on writing and books are more popular than ever.  I see the enthusiasm of new publishers (like Urbane) to become a dynamic and exciting alternative to the Big 5, to give voice to new writers and offer readers something different from the risk-averse mainstream.  But this whole fallacy about ‘writers not doing it for the money’ needs editing.  We might not be motivated to write by money, but we would very much like to be remunerated for our work, thank you very much.  Even if it is a pittance, we’ve earned it! Fiction writers are real people with very ordinary lives, trying to create something a little extraordinary that everyone can enjoy.  I don’t think the world owes us a living, but it sure as shit needs to protect our copyright and give us a fair share of the profits from our work (UK book sales for 2017 hit a record £5.7 bn, read more here).

So on the one hand we have an industry that has been described as ‘exploitative’ by author Philip Pullman and on the other, a section of society that now expect to read books for free.  Even with my limited skills, I know that doesn’t add up.  And that is why writers are SOOOOO my type, because even though they are aware of this shit storm going on in the big circle around them, they sit down and keep plugging away at their story, in the hope that the pen will ultimately triumph over everything else.  Yeah, maybe we’re slightly deluded, but how else do you think books get written?!  Writers are dreamers.  They have to be, to imagine a place where words are not something to be stolen, but something to be cherished.

Posted on in Blog, Books, Life, Literature, Writing

My Writing Life

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I read somewhere that you don’t become a writer; you discover you are one, and I suppose that’s what happened to me.

People always talk about their love of books as a child, but I also had a love of stories and storytelling.  So much so, that I often made up my own and told them – seanchaí style – to anyone who would listen! My goal was to entertain and storytelling became my party piece.  But when it came to reading, well, books were my medicine.

I spent a lot of time in and out of hospital as a child and people would always bring me books, mostly fairytales. I would read voraciously when stuck in bed.  The Grimm brothers helped me escape from the confines of a hospital ward, along with Johnathan Swift whose crazy stories of magical lands and strange wonders opened up a whole new world for me.  Later, my older sister’s Edgar Allen Poe collection saw me through countless infections and fascinated me with his gothic tales.   Yet, as soon as my health improved, I would abandon my books for the outside world, making up for lost time. I was a fair-weather friend to books, but they were still there waiting for me, whenever life got hard.

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I’m not sure this little girl, surrounded by books, would’ve believed she’d be an author one day.  I think there’s a part of me that still doesn’t believe it!

It wasn’t until much later that I even dared to think of writing a book. Again, it was one of those ‘stuck’ moments in life and I needed a new story to help me find a way out. I rediscovered the library, my love of books and an escape route. I’m not sure at what point I decided, ‘Hey, I could write one of these!’ but I certainly remember the moment when I realised it wasn’t as easy as it looked. I felt like a fool for even trying. I wasn’t a writer! It was a silly dream. And so I buried my first attempt deep in my hard drive and tried to forget about that part of myself.  I kept reading though – if I couldn’t be a writer, I was going to be a reader.

It worked, for a while, but it was like I’d been bitten by a bug (a not very talented, but persistent bug!) and before I knew it, I was writing another novel. I submitted it to ONE publisher before I even finished it and they requested the full manuscript. I couldn’t believe it. “It’s happening!” I thought to myself, “It’s really happening!” Then came the rejection letter – which wasn’t surprising, seeing as I had submitted just 50k words of a first draft. The editor said that, while it was well written, the story wasn’t strong enough. Well, if that’s not an excuse to wallow in self-pity for a good two years, I don’t know what is! But I kept reading, exploring new genres and different voices.

So yet again, I had pushed aside this crazy dream and told myself I’d have more chance of winning the lottery.

I think it’s a rite of passage for writers, this tug of war between heart and mind.  You try to talk yourself out of it; acutely aware of how irrational this longing is.  Everyone tells you there’s no money it, you’ll never get published and besides, the novel is dead!  But you keep climbing into your ivory tower anyway, because you simply have to tell your story.  Even if no-one listens, you have to tell it because if you don’t, no-one else will.

So when do you really start feeling like a writer?  I can’t say.   It’s an unusual process; you spend all this time wondering when you will become a ‘real writer’, but just like the Velveteen Rabbit, the realness happens without you noticing it. You work away, writing stories, writing articles, submitting manuscripts, waiting endlessly and then one day you look around you and realise, I am a real writer! It’s happened.  I think seeing my photo in the Irish Times with the caption Evie Gaughan, Author was what really clenched it!  I mean, who am I to argue with the Irish Times!!

Evie Irish Times

And then came the greatest endorsement that all writers hope for, dream of, but never really believe will happen.  Yet just like love, it happens when you least expect it and have almost given up on it.  In a happy twist of luck and happenstance, fellow writer Thomas Hocknell (The Life Assistance Agency) pointed me in the direction of Urbane Publications, and I found my perfect fit.  I submitted my manuscript and on Saint Patrick’s Day, merry with wine, I received the email I’d been waiting for – “We’d like to publish your book”.  It was really happening.

It IS really happening.

Even now, in the midst of my third book launch, I think there’s a part of me that still can’t accept that this is real, that it’s really happening.  People ask me how I feel and I’m sure I reply with something coherent, but really it’s a jumble of feelings and impossible to put into words (ironically!).  I’m just trying to do the work and give this book the best launch that I can.  Another surreal moment has been the endorsement of one of my favourite authors, Niamh Boyce (Her Kind).  Having her words on my cover, praising my story, is something (again) I could only have dreamed of.  Another welcome surprise to me is how generous and supportive authors are of each other – something I hope to pay forward.

But it’s probably the same for most authors, a lot of the time you just can’t see the wood for the trees.  There are lots of hidden moments; a contract to be signed but you can’t talk about it, a new cover that you can’t reveal yet, a new story you don’t want to jinx, so you keep it to yourself.  And so you never really know when to celebrate and when things finally do start happening, you’re already in promotion mode.  So maybe it will be another few months before all of this sinks in and I can give myself a congratulatory pat on the back.  And a holiday!  Or sit down in a quiet, still place and let myself feel this in my bones, remember what it was like when I started out and see how far I’ve come. Till then, thanks to everyone who has supported me, my squad, my tribe 🙂  It would be a far lonelier journey without you x

The Story Collector is available to purchase here – 

Hive  * Foyles * WH Smith * Amazon *

 

Posted on in Blog, Books, Writing

Writers – What Not To Say

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Top Tip: You can do a practice run with some old teddy bears

When you write books, people are gonna want to ask you stuff.  It is very important that you LIE when answering these questions.  Lie through your teeth and don’t ever let them find out the truth.  As a helpful resource, I’ve put together a mock interview, a mockterview if you will, to guide you through  it.

 

 

 

  • Do you have a writing routine?

Yes. I like to see how long I can spend not writing before the guilt kicks in.  Then I simply distract myself with the kind of housework I wouldn’t normally do if my life depended on it… like cleaning the oven, descaling the kettle, washing my make-up brushes or, worst of all, clearing out THE DRAWER OF NO RETURN.

 

  • Where do you get your ideas from?

Right at the back of THE DRAWER OF NO RETURN.

 

  • So can you tell us what your new book is about?

Oh.  Holy.  Jesus.

 

  • What’s your favourite part about writing?

The ‘not writing’ part.

 

  • What do you tend to wear when writing?

Um, Chanel No.5? And the elasticated pants I’ve been threatening to throw out for two years.

 

  • Who are your favourite authors?

Woah, hey,  I’m not here to promote other peoples’ work!

 

  • How do you handle bad reviews?

Very well actually.  I’m a big believer in karma.  But just in case karma is busy, I simply fashion a home-made punching bag with the offender’s avatar taped on the front and take care of business myself.

 

  • What can readers expect from you in the future?

Bitter disappointment?  Long periods of idleness?  It’s hard to say.

 

 

  • Did you always want to be a writer?

Yes, but then I’d never written anything, so I didn’t know any better.  Reading books and thinking you want to be a writer is like watching the winter olympics and thinking you want to be an ice-skater… Then you realise how unbelievably slippy ice is!  (It’s like, really slippy).

 

  • Any advice for budding authors?

Yes. RUN!

Posted on in Blog, Books, Literature, Writing

Patience Is A Virtue

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There are many skills that an author needs to learn in this business of pub, patience being the most important.  Patience with yourself, as the magical story in your head makes its way stumbling and lurching onto the page with all the grace and skill of a toddler.  Patience with the world when it doesn’t immediately recognise your brilliance.  Patience with agents and publishers while you await their response to your submission.  And now, for me, a new kind of patience while I wait for my book to be released.

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The advance reader copies have been sent out and happily, joyously, wondrously, the feedback is good 🙂  Editors and publications have been contacted, copy sent in.  The blog tour has been arranged.  And as we speak, my book (along with those of my fellow Urbanites) are being showcased at The London Book Fair.  THE LONDON BOOK FAIR!

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As Jean-Jacques Rousseau once wrote, patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet, and I couldn’t agree more!  Over the years, there have been times when I wondered if being so patient was my way of deluding myself.  Now I feel the opposite; expecting things to just fall into your lap is delusional!  So to all of the up and coming writers out there, being patient, you’re on the right road – just keep going.  And one day, you too can spend copious hours photographing your book when you should probably be writing your next one 😉  IMG_20180325_170943

The Story Collector will be published on 14th June 2018, but you can pre-order your copy here.

A beautiful and mysterious historical romance from the author of The Heirloom and The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris.

Thornwood Village, 1910. Anna, a young farm girl, volunteers to help an intriguing American visitor, Harold Griffin-Krauss, translate ‘fairy stories’ from Irish to English.

But all is not as it seems and Anna soon finds herself at the heart of a mystery that threatens the future of her community and her very way of life…..

Captivated by the land of myth, folklore and superstition, Sarah Harper finds herself walking in the footsteps of Harold and Anna one hundred years later, unearthing dark secrets that both enchant and unnerve.

The Story Collector treads the intriguing line between the everyday and the otherworldly, the seen and the unseen. With a taste for the magical in everyday life, Evie Gaughan’s latest novel is full of ordinary characters with extraordinary tales to tell.

 

Posted on in Blog, Books, Literature, Writing

How To Tell When Your Novel Is Finished

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Art is never finished, only abandoned.

Leonardo da Vinci

Creativity is something that refuses to be measured by calendars; laughs at deadlines and always begs the question, ‘Could I make this better?’  Leonardo is right, at some point you just have to walk away, but how do you know when that is?

As many of you will know, because I keep harping on about it, my new novel The Story Collector will be published next year by Urbane Publications (woohoo!)  Yes, I’m still woohooing and plan to woohoo for some time to come.  Anyway, I’ve been working on this book, on and off, for about 18 months.  In my eyes, it was ready.  It’s been alpha read, beta read, edited and all that remained was a final proof read.  Or so I thought.

I joked with my publisher that, bar any new characters coming along and upsetting things, I should have the final draft in by our agreed deadline.  Well guess what?  A new character came along!  Well, not entirely new, but she was minor at best.  All of a sudden, she has loads to say and to my amazement, lifts the whole story an extra notch.  How did this happen?!  I often find myself writing about the creative process and how so much of what we do is fumbling in the dark, while equally holding on to the belief that we are being guided.  The original idea takes a perilous journey through countless drafts and rewrites, and much of the final touches are finding your way back to where you started.

I also paint and the process is exactly the same.  You have an idea in your head and from the moment you start putting that idea on the canvas/page, you are on a voyage to get back to that original idea.  You get led astray, fall down rabbit holes, become distracted by plots, deceived by characters.  The only way you can see the work clearly is to stand back from the canvas.  That is when you realise that you’re lacking depth, or that you need more highlighting, or perhaps the balance of the piece is leading the eye in the wrong direction.  So you get back in there; darken here, lighten there, until it’s time to step back again and repeat the process all over again.

When I first heard the phrase ‘Kill your darlings’, I thought I was going to have to bump off one of my favourite characters.  Then I realised that it was those lines, paragraphs, or entire chapters that you have an irrational attachment to and can’t bear to cut, no matter how much they are dragging the rest of the story down.  I’ve been revising the first three chapters (which are really crucial for capturing your reader’s attention) and paring back anything unnecessary.  With each sweep, I’m losing more and more of the writing I thought was important, but turned out to be superfluous.  My job at this point is to make it easy for the reader to slip into the story and want to continue reading.

So how do you know when you’re at the end?  When you’ve given your novel all that you can?  Is it when you can’t bear looking at it anymore?  Or is it when you’ve pushed past that point and begun to see your novel as your future readers will?

George Saunders, author of Lincoln In The Bardo, wrote about this process in a recent article for The Guardian

You revise your reader up, in your imagination, with every pass. You keep saying to yourself: “No, she’s smarter than that. Don’t dishonour her with that lazy prose or that easy notion.”

And in revising your reader up, you revise yourself up too.

I wholeheartedly subscribe to Saunders’ idea of revising yourself up and never underestimating your audience or your ability.  As Leonardo points out, there is never really complete satisfaction, but when you can walk away knowing that you’ve given more than you thought you could, that’s a good day’s work.

The Story Collector – Coming June 2018

Posted on in Blog, Books, Indie Author, Literature, Self-publishing, Writing

When One Novel Isn’t Enough

1I’ve just begun outlining my fourth novel.  No-one is more surprised  at reading those words than I am!  Obviously, I’m still in the honeymoon period, meeting the characters, sussing out locations.  There’s nothing like starting back at the beginning to remind you how delicate this process is and how, at one point, writing more than one book seemed like wishful thinking.  They say that everyone has a book in them, but the greatest fear of all writers is that one book is the limit.  What if that’s all there is?

I remember when I published my debut novel, the thought of writing another book was almost laughable!  Do that again?  Are you nuts??  The idea for that book came to me somewhere around 2010 – but that’s not really the beginning of the story.  I began writing The Heirloom after a two-year break from writing, following the disappointment of my ‘actual’ first novel, unfortunately titled ‘Shoot The Moon’.  I missed.  My ideal publisher requested the full manuscript.  It was too good to be true – I hadn’t even finished writing it (rookie mistake number one) and now I had a major Irish publishing house interested.  When the letter came back, praising my writing but accurately pointing out that the story wasn’t strong enough, I went into a kind of mourning.  One rejection letter of my first and only (and unfinished) novel was enough for me to scrap the entire enterprise.  When  you start out as a writer, your ego can be so fragile that even when positive feedback arrives along with an initial rejection, it comes as a huge blow.

Over time however, my bruised ego healed and I began reading more and beyond the limited genres I felt comfortable with.  I discovered time-slip (or dual timelines) and just fell in love with the idea of connecting the past with the present.  So, my writing was good but my story wasn’t strong enough, eh?  Well, I was going to give them a story to knock their socks off!  I spent over two years researching and writing a monster of a novel, with a story stretching from medieval Ireland to the present day.  It took over my life and at times (i.e. all the time) I felt as though I had bitten off more than I could chew, but when I eventually self-published The Heirloom, I felt a huge sense of achievement.  For about a week.  And then people started asking if I was working on my next book.  I thought I’d misheard them.  ‘But look,’ I’d say, ‘look at the big huge book I wrote.  It took two years and it nearly killed me.  Isn’t it brilliant?  Won’t I be living off this success for years?!’  Tumbleweed rolled by as my audience backed away.  Turns out readers need proof that you’re not a one-trick-pony (bloody readers).  If they like book one, they need book two to satiate their appetite, or they’ll have to look elsewhere.

All of this is like a threat hanging over an author’s head!  Like a lover threatening to leave if you don’t keep them… entertained.  Not a great motivation for writing, but motivation nonetheless.  I quickly realised that if I wanted to stay in this business, I had to write more than one book – hardly rocket science, but still it came as a shock!  This was officially my second book, did I really have a third in me?  But just when I wasn’t looking, the plot for my next novel dropped into my lap.  I was watching a TV show about an Irish chef living in France and for some reason she decided to visit a renowned bakery that was shrouded in secrecy, as no-one knew who the baker was.  I may have made that last bit up; it’s all so long ago that I’m not sure where the TV show ended and my imagination began.  Either way, the ingredients for The Mysterious Bakery On Rue De Paris were gathered and I began writing again.  Just recently while doing a clean up of old files on my computer, I found the first draft, in which I hit the mother of all dead ends.  I had forgotten that, but my original plan for the story just didn’t work.  I thought, that’s it, I can’t write.  I remember now, laughing slightly hysterically with my sister about it, who assured me that I would get there in the end.  But how could she know that?  I didn’t even know it!  As an observer of my writing process, all she saw was another speed bump, not a dead end.  I can’t say exactly how long it took me to work out another route, but one day my main character Edith appeared in my  head and took over the story.  I started having fun again and realised that my first attempt was too serious.  I was trying too hard to be a writer instead of telling a good story and enjoying myself on the page.

Writing never really gets any ‘easier’, but I suppose what does change is your faith in the process.  Practice does actually make perfect and what’s more, it builds confidence.  Somewhere in your neural pathways is the memory that you have done this before and therefore, can do it again.

Whether you are traditionally published or self-published, there are pressures to get more books out there as quickly as possible, but I’m not sure if this is a good thing for writers.  I remember getting the advice that you should have three novels written before you begin publishing and thinking, who are these people?!  I don’t think I would have been able to write another novel if I hadn’t seen that there was an audience for my work.  Also, I am a firm believer in giving your ideas time to germinate.  I see a lot of commercially successful authors who have a new novel out every year for a decade and I wonder, where do they carve out the time to just, think?  Maybe it’s a luxury, but one of my favourite things is turning an idea over in my mind for months at a time, watching it take shape and expand.  This is the time when serendipity peeps out from behind corners, magazine articles, overheard conversations; drawing all manner of flotsam to the shores of your mind, that just happen to fit your story.

If your goal is to sell a lot of books, then yes, by all means write a trilogy and study the genres that are popular right now (it’s grip lit by the way, you can have that for free!).  But if your goal is to be a writer and to write the kind of stories you love, that say something about you, don’t rush.  You have to make the choice between what’s right and what’s easy.  I read an interview recently with Irish author John Boyne who said he always advises his students against taking the easy route and ‘brushing up’ old manuscripts, for lack of any better ideas.  This may have been a cheeky reference to some of his fellow authors, but I get his point.  Sometimes the thought of starting out from scratch again is so scary and the pressure to produce a new novel so great, that the temptation is to cut corners.  But it’s your integrity that’s on the line – your unspoken contract with the reader.  Like I said, it doesn’t get any easier, your ego is still open to bribery.  I wish there was a lovely motivational quote I could use to send you all merrily on your way, but you know the answer and it’s not very glamourous.  The only way to write your next book is sit down and write.  And believe.  And in my case, surround yourself with four different types of chocolate.  And stop looking at Twitter!

Posted on in Blog, Books, Indie Author, Literature, Writing

Why Do Writers Write?

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Why do we do it? Is it because, as the saying goes, everyone has a book in them?   While that may be true, getting that book to come out is really where all the trouble starts. Writing is an absolute slog.  Apparently, only 3% of those who set out to write a novel actually succeed (I don’t know  how they come up with these statistics, but if it makes me look good, I’m including it).  Essayist and short story writer Joseph Epstein encapsulates the process perfectly:

“Without attempting to overdo the drama of the difficulty of writing, to be in the middle of composing a book is almost always to feel oneself in a state of confusion, doubt and mental imprisonment, with an accompanying intense wish that one worked instead at bricklaying.”

As a writer, you work alone, with only your inner critic and self-doubt for company. Just 5,000 words into your manuscript, that best-selling idea which started off so well, falls flat on its face; like an Olympic runner suddenly discovering that she’s wearing clown shoes. But somehow, you have to find the belief and ingenuity to pick your idea up and make it work again. Equally, you have to know when to cut ideas loose and leave them to wash up on someone else’s shore.

Unless you are the next Emma Cline, sparking a bidding war between 12 publishers and winning an advance of $2 million, the chances are that you won’t make much fame or fortune out of writing. I’ve heard quite a few male authors remark on how they only started writing to get laid, but I can honestly say that the words ‘I’m an author’ have never prompted a member of the opposite sex to hop into bed with me, so maybe it’s one-way-traffic in that particular department.   So once again, if not for love or money, why do we do it?

IDEAS. You can be sitting on the couch, eating biscuits and minding your own business when (what appears to be) an innocent little idea comes along and you think, “Ooh, that’s good. That would make a good story.”  And that’s it. That idea will plague you morning, noon and night until you do something about it. So you write a few notes – nothing serious, just a couple of lines, and stick it in a drawer. But like Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Tell-Tale Heart’, the story’s heartbeat keeps you awake at night. You try to ignore it, because you know that once you’ve decided to write this brilliant idea, you’re going to have to destroy it. Author Ann Patchett describes this murderous process beautifully, by comparing our ideas to pretty butterflies that, in order for us to capture their allure on the page, must be sacrificed.

“The journey from the head to hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write — and many of the people who do write — get lost… Only a few of us are going to be willing to break our own hearts by trading in the living beauty of imagination for the stark disappointment of words.”

I think we all like the idea of being a writer, but the reality involves staring down your inadequacies (or at least pretending not to see them) and never giving in. With each book, you strive to get closer to the idea, to reassemble it as faithfully as you can and capture the beauty of the butterfly. That’s the process and that’s what keeps me coming back for more (rather masochistically). That’s why I keep reading authors who are much closer to the goal than I am – to learn how they did it. The goal is simple, as opposed to being easy. And the feeling you get when you have captured an idea, however imperfectly, on the page, is indescribable. To have created something that didn’t exist before you dreamed it up and wrote it down is an addictive process. Which leads me to believe that us writers are all slightly drunk on our ideas and despite the hangover that actually writing a book can bring, we just can’t resist the temptation of a shiny new idea, just waiting to be transformed.

Here’s a song for all the writers out there 🙂

Posted on in Blog, Books, Indie Author, Life, Writing

How Being A Writer Can Prepare You For Old Age!

As I strolled through the park the other morning (I say morning, could have been tea-time, but who’s counting) I realised that the life of a writer is really quite similar to that of an old-age pensioner.  Don’t switch off!  This is a good thing!!  Seeing as the public at large like to view the title of ‘author’ as something of a non-job anyway, may as well make the most of this life on the fringes (as opposed to life on the edge, which frankly, sounds a bit dangerous).  So when it comes to life in the slow lane, how does being an author prepare us for a future of being old and shuffle-y?!

  1. You’d rather be taking a nap.  Like, always.  I think a nap can only be truly appreciated when you know the rest of the population are stuck in an office, hard at work, so afternoon naps are a good place to start.  Contrary to popular belief, old people are night owls and this is probably due to their positively ninja napping capabilities.  As a writer, I have begun to find myself slipping quietly away from my desk and sneaking under the covers for quick cat naps.  I take my notebook with me of course, should inspiration strike, but as I fall gently into the pillowy arms of a peaceful slumber I think to myself, ‘Ah, it’ll keep’.

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2. Your postman has inexplicably become your next of kin.  He is the hinge on which the rest of your day swings.  I’m not normally a fan of unannounced visitors, but the fact that he never expects to move beyond the doorstep earns him a mark of respect in my book.  Year in, year out, we’ve shared stuff.  Him, bringing the fat brown envelopes returning my manuscripts, me ruing the rise of Grip Lit and my inability to jump on any of the passing bandwagons that could lead to literary success (I blame my dodgy knee).  Oh the laughs we share.  Good times.

3.  You’ve become adept at ‘making your own fun’.  It’s funny how hobbies are encouraged in children and the old, yet are frowned upon during those years that you’re supposed to be earning a living.  It’s a shame really, because we all need time to ‘play’.  For a writer, there are a lot of ‘in between’ moments, so it helps if you can nurture an interest in hobbies that won’t allow you to stray too far from the house – should the muse appear.  Old people manage to make all sorts of stuff fun.  Like playing bridge and gardening.  Still haven’t mastered that one yet, but I am trying (mostly by taking my naps in the garden – two birds, one stone.)

4. Time.  What was once a series of numbers representing points in time that required your appearance at a certain location, has now become a mere construct of your imagination.  Time.  Means. Nothing.  (Unless it’s four o’clock and my body instinctively knows I need to ingest some form of cacao.)  Old people can seamlessly settle into an hour-long conversation about weedkiller or gout at any given moment, day or night, and you have to admire their complete lack of respect for time (their own and other peoples’).  Postman (does he have a name?) will often ask me “What time will you be finished writing?”  How on earth can I know what time I’ll finish if I don’t even know what time I’m starting!?  Silly man.  He’s lucky I put up with him really.

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5. You start using your GP visits for so much more than just moaning about your dodgy knee.  The clinic is the perfect place to find new characters, and you can discuss various new plot-lines with other patients in the waiting room (a captive audience if ever there was one).  You can then use the appointment itself to discuss the medical conditions of your characters.  As you get older, doctors expect this kind of increased interaction.  They’re totally cool with it.

6. When you have got all this time on your hands, you can afford to be a little mischievous.  Don’t waste the opportunity of visiting your local supermarket without doing a little ‘rearranging’.  Old people love messing with your head, so it’s good to start practicing this early.  In the spirit of Amelie, why not move the foot creams over to the toothpaste aisle, or replace the tags on a size five shoe with a size four.  Better yet, visit your local bookshop and put all of your favourite books in the bestseller section.  There’s far too much emphasis put on the next big thing in publishing, rather than quality books which may have a few more miles on the clock.  Look!  I’m even talking like an old person.  I’m not even speaking in kilometres!  The transition is complete 🙂

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On a personal note, I have to admit that some of my best friends are old people!  We are an ageist culture and it’s a shame because the older generation can be so much craic to hang out with.  They’re not obsessed with their phones, social media or telling you where they went on holidays.  Aging can take things away, but it also gifts people with wisdom and a very low bullshit threshold.  I recently watched the documentary Older Than Ireland which interviewed several centenarians about their lives and how it feels to be old in Ireland.  The funniest response was from a woman who was 113 years, who said she was sick to death of people asking her what the secret to old age was.  In then end she started telling people she became a prostitute!  So you know what, maybe being old (or being an old writer) is something to look forward to and living a life beyond the norms is a privilege, at any age.

You can get my books here:

new heirloom1+1Amazon (Paperback) ~ Kindle ~ Kobo ~ Nook 

 

The Mysterious Bakery On Rue de Paris (7) - CopyAmazon (Paperback) ~Kindle ~ Nook ~ iTunes ~ Kobo