Australian Authors Hook Up

Have you ever thought about working with another author to produce a novel? When I first heard about the possibility of collaborating, I had my doubts, however, four Australian authors have worked together to produce The Greenfield Legacy.

Their journey started with the seed of an idea from Paula Vince. She contacted Meredith Resce, Rose Dee and Amanda Deed to work with, and in all authors' opinions it proved to be a successful venture. It started with a brainstorming session on skype. By the end of this time they had a story and then a cast of characters was alloted to each of them. They each returned to their computers and built their character profiles. As each author wrote about their characters, the plot developed and the story was written quickly.

This was a plus for each of the authors and Resce sums the process up well when she said, "The best thing about collaborating was that we each had at least three other people who were passionate about the story as we were, which when you write alone, and you enter your said fantasy world, you usually go there alone, and when you re-emerge into reality, no one really gets where you've been and what you've been working on. With The Greenfield Legacy, Rose, Amanda and Paula were on the same page, planet, wave-length, and it was great to be able to chat your characters and ideas through with enthusiastic and informed responses."

When I read this book, I was surprised that the authors' voices sounded so much alike, I expected them all to be different. I applaud these authors for hooking up with each other to create a novel that gets emotional as the characters work through their issues of where they fit into the Greenfield family. I was pleased to find a character list at the end of the book I could refer to. In the beginning so many characters were introduced I became a little confused, so the character list was very helpful.

The Greenfield Legacy is set in South Australia's beautiful McLaren Vale wine region and is available from all good book stores.

The Greenfield Legacy

To learn more about the authors visit these links:

http://www.facebook.com/paula.vince.7

http://www.facebook.com/MeredithResceAuthor

http://www.amandadeed.com.au/

http://rosedee.com/

African Hearts E-Book

African hearts e-book

I've been on a big learning curve. This is good. I'm someone who likes to learn something new every day, and if I don't, I feel I've wasted my day.

During the past few weeks, I've been preparing African Hearts for Amazon and Smashwords, including an e-book cover. I hope you like this version. As I explained in a previous blog, I have changed and re-edited this work to make the work similar but stronger. Preparing the manuscript for uploading to the internet was the hardest part and it took longer than I'd planned, but the uploading was easy. Both e-publishers have easy to follow instructions. If you're a logical thinker, it's easy. Just follow the directions.

Let me tell you about the process. I used a word .docx file which was the orginal document I wrote for this work. As I revised the work and made the necessary changes, I turned on the paragraph markings and other formatting symbols so that I could see where the extra spaces and other formatting problems were. I changed the formatting issues as I revised and ended up with a document to be uploaded that cleared Amazon and Smashwords formatting guidelines the first time. I was thrilled the uploading was so quick, but realised it was the quality of the formatting that got me through fast. I recommend when preparing your manuscript for the e-book publishers make sure you take the time to check the correct formatting.

I outsourced the cover to a cover designer. I have no skills in this area. The cover designer was very patient with me, in fact she was an angel. We worked together to-ing and fro-ing many times as we tweaked it to get exactly what I wanted. I hope you like the ebook cover here.

Now, I'm waiting to see how the sales go and from there I will decide whether I want to continue with ebook publishing or continue with traditional publishing. These are exciting times for writers. Never have there been so many options available. The most important point to remember though, is that our books have to be of a high quality with no obvious errors, otherwise our readers will be disappointed.

If you have any questions about e-publishing, leave a comment. I'd be happy to help.

Inside The Writer's Mind

Being a writer means communicating at multi-levels.

There are a lot of books on finding your writing voice in the market place. Ever since I was six years old I found the magic in being able to read a book and get inside the writer's mind. The words took me to outer space, into the future, on the farm, overseas and places I'd never known. It was wonderful and exciting to be inside the mind of another person. Intriguing, too ...

When I started writing I didn't understand what was meant by 'writing voice'. My writing seemed lame compared to all the published work. What was I doing wrong? Lots..!

Well, I was trying to be like some of the greats that I'd read, Pearl S Buck, Virginia Woolf, Ray Bradbury, and all the others. I wanted to write like them when I grew up. I'm still growing up, so there's hope yet. However, now that I've found the confidence to put pen to paper, I've realised I can't write like them. I'm not them, I'm Laura, and so I have to write like Laura with her personality. My first unpublished works resembled others I'd read and it sounded like I was trying to be someone I wasn't. No wonder I wasn't getting published. My writing was bland, bland, plain boring.

So how do you find your writing voice? Write, write and write some more. From the heart with the words that are yours in the way you would say it because of the life experiences you have had. It's your life experiences that have made you the person you are and there is no one in the world like you. Really. Your perception of the world and what you see as important or unimportant is different to Pearl, Virginia or Ray, and all the others. Now that I've realised my writing is different from every other writer's on this sphere we call Earth, I hope to find the voice that is uniquely mine. I don't think this will happen overnight, but with practice I'm sure I'll find the unique way of writing that says 'It's Laura'. I'm hoping my future works will reflect the 'genuine article'.

How about you? Are you writing from the heart with your unique perspective on the world? I'd really like to hear about your journey in how you got to that point.

The Tyranny of Belonging

African hearts

I'm preparing my first novel, African Hearts, for uploading to Amazon. As I prepared the text, I was drawn to the conversation where Kam and Gina are on Monkey Rock taking some time out to look at the elephants washing in the creek down in the valley. To this time Gina has been challenged by village life in more ways than one. She questions Kam about belonging and what it means to belong. She also challenged me when I re-read this scene. I've just returned to the Gold Coast, so I began to think about the word 'belong', and a question came into my head: Does anyone belong anywhere?

I don't know about you, but I use this word lightly in conversation, especially where the meaning of life comes up. I looked up the dictionary and realised I've used this word incorrectly for most of my life.To belong is to be possessed, as in an item to be owned by someone. No wonder I became confused whenever I thought about where I belonged.

So what words should I be using instead of 'belong'. After much thought and free writing on this subject, I've come to the conclusion that belong is not a good word when we're meaning we want to 'fit in'. We don't want to be anyone's possession, we want to be a contributing part of a group, helping others and ourselves fit in, and sharing ideas with each other.

Kam thought he wanted to work as a surgeon in that big hospital in Kampala and Gina has been confused for some time about where she fits in; back in Australia or in Gumboli? So I've come to the conclusion they're talking about their life's purpose.

Nobody can own another person, however, they can live together contributing to and sharing a lifestyle and encouraging each other on their life journey. Is this the issue that Kam and Gina were dancing around while they were up at Monkey Rock? I've changed this scene and all the other belonging issues in the e-version of African Hearts. Watch this space for the new cover and when it will be available on Amazon for download to your Kindle.

So, I'm left to ponder further: belong is a strange word, I wonder where it belongs? I'm eager to hear your thoughts.

Living In The Smog

The smog will kill you if you don't rise above it.

Sometimes life can be tough. We get caught in the daily grind of living, making decisions that affect the rest of our life. Some of the decisions are good and some send us into a spin. Usually, the decisions that send us into a spin are the ones that have been blurred by stress and not taking the time to think the situation through.

I've suffered more than my share of making myself miserable because I did something without thinking. I brought my son up encouraging him to think, think, think about everything he does and before he says it. He does it all the time, somehow I don't always heed my own advice these days. Am I too busy, too lazy, too caught up in what others might say or have I lost some of the self-confidence I've had because of life's struggles? Possibly all of these.

During the last four months I've been on a journey of self discovery. I thought I knew myself pretty well. I've always had a sense of adventure and an insatiable curiosity about others' lives. Six months ago I was given the personal papers of a woman who died last December. I glanced at the contents of the boxes knowing I would get to them sometime soon. I've just completed my third book which is under consideration with a publisher as I write.

I'm about to move house again, so it's time I looked at that box. This week I sifted through the papers and the bits and pieces and found some interesting information. However, my head is in a space where I'm not thinking clearly. The person who gave me the boxes phoned me recently to say she was closing her second hand store and would I pass on the boxes to the historical society when I finished. Yes, I would do that. Aware of my fast approaching move, I picked up the phone to see where the historical society contact lived. Can you believe she lived across the street?

Deep inside of me I had doubt about giving the boxes back, but because I'm stressed at the moment, I ignored that feeling and thought the story wasn't interesting enough. Our son is visiting this weekend. I found a phone number on a loose piece of paper. He insisted I phone knowing my head wasn't clear. The person at the other end of the phone was the deceased woman's daughter. She gave me the contact name for a person in Mackay who has researched the deceased woman's husband's family.

Extraordinary! All the pieces of this story are coming together because my son insisted I stop a moment and think about what I'm doing. I thank him for his commitment to me and my career and his own career, and for seeing things that I can't because I'm caught in the smog of life.

Are you missing opportunities because you're living in the smog?