Authors and the Internet

Shortly after I arrived in New Zealand I needed to find a local phone number.  Do you remember the days of heavy telephone directories rather than looking up a number online?

The name I was looking for began with an H, and while scanning down a list of names, I was amazed to see a listing for Sir Edmund Hilary - I could dial the number and actually speak to the man who was first to reach the summit of Mt Everest!  I have to say here that I didn't, I would have been much too nervous.

Many authors have websites, or are on Twitter or Facebook, and while they may not give out their telephone number you can contact and interact with them.

I listened to a podcast by a well known author this morning while having breakfast, and through Twitter and other social media I can interact with people I admire.  Through online workshops and conferences I’ve become friends with people I may never have otherwise met.

In my work I’ve designed training courses for people in organisations around the world that allows them to connect and learn together, and from each other, even though they are in different countries and areas of the world.  The internet has opened the world to us in so many ways.

Can you imagine discussing women's fiction with Jane Austen, or children's books with Beatrix Potter? How about the Bronte sisters having Goodreads author accounts?  Or following Hemingway? - he would have been a natural on Twitter.

What author would you like to talk books with?

Authors Tagging Authors

As I live like a hermit a lot of the time, I’m always thrilled to be chosen to take part in anything, and this is The Next Big Thing: Authors Tagging Authors.  I was tagged by Di Jones who wrote Transplanting Holly Oakwood.

What's involved? Answer the questions below and tag a set of authors. So here goes…

What is the working title of your book?

If you read this blog regularly you’ll know I find titles difficult, and generally I’ve finished the first draft before coming up with a title, which is exactly where I am with the current work in progress. It’s only had a name for a month or so, but I’m pretty happy with it - Lies of the Dead.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I wanted to write a book with two possible storylines – think Mapping the Edge or the film Sliding Doors.  The main character is Liam, however all through my initial thinking period it was Tom’s voice (Liam’s brother), which kept coming through in the scenes. The dual storyline wouldn’t work with Tom as the POV character, and so I’ve put that idea away for a future novel, but I'm happy with the way the story is moving.

What genre does your book fall under?

Thriller/mystery

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Now that’s a hard question as I read a lot more books than I watch films, but here goes…

The story revolves around the character Liam, although we find out more about him through the other characters, but I guess in a film version they’d do more flashbacks. Ryan Gosling would make a good Liam.

Tom is Liam’s brother and I think Jake Gyllenhaal would do an excellent job playing the role. Tom is a nice guy, but during the novel has to take on people and events way out of his comfort zone, and I think Jake would cover off those changes in character well.

Andi is Tom and Liam’s sister, and is a feisty character. Emily Blunt would do a fantastic job.

And for the authors I’ve tagged – have a look at their websites and books.

Rachel Abbot 

Tui Allen  

Bev Robitai 

Stephanie Ingram  

Katherine Logan

It's Not Too Late

I've always loved reading.  As a child, and even an adult, I was in awe of writers and their ability to take me on journeys to different times, countries, and sometimes, different worlds.  It took me years to even dare think I might be able to do that.

There are days when I wish I'd begun this journey much sooner.  They are few, because I don't believe in wasting time on regrets and wishing I'd done things differently.  We can't change the past (unless we really can go back in time - anyone got a DeLorean?), but we can change our direction from now.

The one thing all famous authors, actors, musicians, athletes, or other achievers have in common, is that they began their journey before they were famous or skilled. The important thing is THEY BEGAN.  

A Love Affair With Books

During this year a lot of my reading has been on my Kindle. That was until a month or so ago, when my daughter lent me a paperback she thought I would enjoy. I did. The time travel nature of the book reminded me of an unread book I bought some time ago, and so I searched through the bookshelves (double packed with the ‘to be read’ books in front), and then the teetering tower of Pisa in the corner of the room, and found the book. Since then I’ve been working my way down the stack, which no longer sways in a light breeze, and the incline is almost non-existent now as well.

I’ve had a love affair with books since I first learnt to read. I’d save up my pocket money until I had enough to go to the local shop and buy a book. It was actually a newsagents shop, but they had two rotating stands of books, one for children.  I would hurry there with my money clasped tightly and spend a delicious half hour deciding which book I’d buy. Around that time I acquired my own library ticket and would go with my dad to the library and also select books there. I worked my way through all the books, and then sneakily started on the adult ones on the shelves next to the children’s area. That was how I found Agatha Christie. I read most of her books when I was around twelve or thirteen, and then moved along the shelves and discovered historical novels. I flirted with these for a year, but went back to crime (as in fiction) and thrillers.

Both my parents loved reading, though they didn’t own many books, so we were regularly at the library.

Book prices are now much cheaper, relative to earnings, and so I have quite a book-buying habit. Acquiring a Kindle certainly didn’t do anything to lessen that. It also made me realise something else, and some people will no doubt reel in horror at this admission, I don’t have a love affair with books, it’s with reading.

I still buy print books, still browse through bookshops, and I think I will probably always buy non-fiction print books, especially if it’s something I need to refer to for learning purposes. However, I read more widely on my Kindle and am reading classic books that I might never have tried. Recently, when  reading an 800 page print book, I wished I’d bought the eBook as it's much easier to carry around!

I have books on my bookshelf that are special, and that I’ll never get rid of. As I was looking for the unread book I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I picked up a book I bought for my father as a birthday present a few years ago. He died just weeks after his birthday, and when I went home I found the book on the shelves next to his chair. I could see he’d read it, and I hoped he'd enjoyed it. I brought it back with me, and enjoyed reading it, but sometimes a book is special for more than the tale it tells.

Working From Home

Today is the first of November, and for writers everywhere November means Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month), but don’t worry as this post isn’t actually about Nanowrimo. To be honest I’ve never taken part in it, though I do think that writing a first draft as fast as possible is a great idea. The main reason I’ve not yet taken part is that I’ve never been in the right writing place – I’ve either been finishing a first draft, editing, or last year getting to grips with KDP, Smashwords and CreateSpace.  Yes, I agree, pathetic excuses, but I’m just not a multi-tasker when it comes to major writing or work projects.

I’m fortunate in being able to work from home most of the time, with only occasional projects requiring me to work from a customer’s office, and I was interested when I saw this article earlier today.

In my last fulltime job prior to working for myself, I was asked to put together a business case allowing staff to work remotely depending on their job role. In writing the business case I did quite a lot of research, and as part of that I met with staff and managers from several companies that had already implemented flexible working conditions.

The conclusion I came to was pretty much the same as shown in the link and the Stanford Business report mentioned in the article. 

Working from home isn’t possible for all jobs and won’t suit everyone, but it is a great option for some people.

A few years ago I spent a couple of days in another city working with some trainers on a project. We hadn’t met before, and in getting to know each other I mentioned that I usually worked from home. At first they all said how lucky I was and they’d love to do that.  Then after a moment one of them said. ‘Actually I don’t think I would like to work from home. I’d really miss meeting up with everyone in the office.’  Another then said they'd find it hard to get their work completed because of household distractions.

These are valid reasons for people preferring to work in the office environment.  We are all different and need different surroundings and motivation.

Personally I love working from home, but then I’m always amazed at the number of writers who seem to enjoy (and thrive) writing in cafes.  It wouldn’t work for me.  I was away a few weekends ago, and had a lovely breakfast in a very busy and noisy café. It was great for people watching, but writing! 

Wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same?

Bits and Pieces

I wrote a short story last night. It's been a long time since I even had an idea for a short story as I’ve been busy with other projects, work and life in general. This one came out of the blue and mostly complete. The problem is that it came to me around 2 a.m. as I lay restless and tired, but not sleepy. You know what’s coming! I should have got up and actually written it. 

I remember most of it now as I sit at my laptop, though the sparkling prose isn’t quite as sparkling it was in the early hours. But I will persevere…

It’s interesting (for interesting you can read annoying/frustrating) how something that should help in your work can initially slow you down.

I have a shiny new toy, except that when a laptop is a requirement for your job it’s not a toy.

Recently I had problems with my (old) laptop which necessitated taking it back to factory settings. Fortunately it didn’t just die so I was able to ensure I had all my backups, but the reset meant I lost many of my customised settings in programmes. I recreated a lot of those settings, and now with the shiny new laptop I’m doing the same, plus getting used to the new operating system. 

New is not necessarily better, at least until you get used to it.

This week I’ve also been battling a back injury; hence the lack of posts as sitting hasn’t been an option for a few days. 

There is an old saying along the lines of, ‘you don’t realise how good it is not to have a headache until you have one.’ I can certainly agree with that one this week, when every movement has been accompanied by vocal noises ranging from a groan to something louder depending on the pain scale.

So that’s been my week in a few paragraphs. Sitting is still problematic, but my Kindle has been a boon as I've been able to read and make editing notes on the book I'm working on. Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly.

The Sound of Thoughts

I received an email from a friend this morning. It had eight or nine photos of groups of people in various locations – sitting in a café, a restaurant, by a beautiful painting in a museum, at the beach, at a game, driving around the city in a convertible.  The point of similarity in each of the photos was that everyone was totally absorbed in their phone. 

The quote at the end of the email said, "I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots." Albert Einstein.

I’ve been away for a few days in Sydney - a mixture of work and fun. Sydney has a population of approximately 4.6 million people compared to Auckland at 1.5 million, and as I mostly work from home and live in a sleepy coastal suburb, I really notice the difference in pace and energy in my surroundings.

I love visiting Sydney for this vibrant, enthusiastic atmosphere, and it gives the writer in me an opportunity to people watch and listen to snippets of conversation.

I think you can tell a lot about a city by watching the residents early in the morning. At Circular Quay people exit the ferries from suburbs on their way to work. The weather was hot and sunny while I was there, and what better way to get to work than by cruising past the Harbour Bridge and Opera House on a ferry. Walking across Anzac Bridge from Darling Harbour another morning, people were walking, jogging and running to work.  The monorail runs above the bridge and later in the day (when it was close to 30 degrees) the only shade on the bridge was immediately under the monorail. There was a trail of people (myself included), like a line of schoolchildren following their teacher, walking across the bridge in this sliver of shade.

One of the things I noticed is how plugged in we are. On the city streets during the peak commuter times the majority of people wore headphones, and the same was true of most people at any time on the underground. I like to listen to music on noisy flights, and I need music with a good beat when I’m running (it’s the only thing that keeps me going!), but I also love going for walks with just my thoughts as company, and I wonder in all this world of noise we have, whether we’re losing the capacity to enjoy quiet times.