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Posted
May 23, 2016
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Stress

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Stress all affects us in different ways. For some it prevents us from accomplishing our goals or dreams. For others, it can push us to even greater heights than where we currently are. But to a person, everyone has stress in their lives or will do at some point.

It’s how we deal with it that matters.

Being a part time writer, with everything else going on is a pain in the ass.

Getting from part time to full time is my goal. Getting there is the biggest hurdle I think, I have faced in my life. Writing for me comes easily. I know that may stick in anyones throats, that suffers with writer block, but it does. You either write what you love or don’t.

It’s as simple as that to me. Writers block comes from shame.

Shame that you’re not good enough.

Shame that people will hate your work.

Shame that you are baring your soul for people to see, and they may not even be bothered.

No writing was never hard for me, because I never gave a fuck what people think or say. When it came to writing. Because I have an ego when it came to writing. I have a chip on my shoulder to prove to everyone that I am good enough. To prove to everyone that a dyslexic kid, who couldn’t read and write till he was in his early teens, can write a good book.

It was never shame that I felt when I wrote. It was anger. Anger which I used to push me to greater lengths and greater strides, when it came to writing.

No it was never shame that stressed me out when it came to writing.

It is everything else which comes from being a self published author.

Marketing

Ad Copy

Email list building

Facebook Ads (which I still have yet to do)

And the endless other bullshit that you have to deal with, when you’re running a self published author business. Now I know some self published author’s love having all that control. They love being in charge of their domain and I do to.

But…..

If When I make it big and some publishing house offers me a big contract, am talking millions and millions here. Then I may take them up on it.

I may not.

But when I dreamed of becoming a writer, doing all this other shit wasn’t in the plans. I envisioned myself sipping cocktails on a sandy beach, swinging in a hammock, typing out my next novel.

But alas, you have to dig the dirt for the ground before you lay the swimming pool.

Anyway, sorry for the rant guys. Just feeling a little stressed.

Can you tell?

Until next time.

Good Morning

Good Evening

Good Night

Posted
May 16, 2016
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Failures

Failure-Celebrated

I have failed a lot in my life.

Shit

Thinking about it now, my eyes grow moist at all the failures that I have gone through and not learnt from. I am a hard headed stubborn bastard, who sometimes needs to go through a experience more than once so it sinks into his head. And I know that is a major fault of mine.

I know it’s stupid. Its something that I am trying to change.

Learning from your mistakes is important, but not making any or seeing them ahead of you so you can sidestep them is even better.

This year I have tried my upmost to stop making mistakes.

And you know what.

I failed miserably..

We are only five months in this year and the growing list of mistakes I have made keeps on growing, and growing, and growing.

But last night, I battled with myself and stopped myself from making one.

I TOOK CONTROL AND STOPPED.

Now this isn’t going to be a speech about, motivation or achieving your goals or any of that bull. Its just one man’s thoughts on how we are all human. It’s just one man’s thoughts on the struggle it takes to change yourself.

This year my goal was and still is self-growth and change.

I accomplished a lot last year. But it was with 60% of my overall effort. Everyone else looking from the outside in, would have been amazed at what I had accomplished. But honestly. It was easy.

It was easy to write a book. It was easy to learn about this how self-publishing business. It was easy to get all my ducks in a row.

But what isn’t easy, is knowing within myself that I could have done better. I could have archived more. I could have grown more.

So as the new years starts proper, none of this January business. I have made a promise to myself that I will attack it like it owes me money.

An in a lot of ways it does.

Remember that what you do, is a lot more important than what you say.

I just have to remember that myself sometimes.

Until next time

Good Morning

Good Evening

Good Night16

Posted
May 9, 2016
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What did I learn from completing a book series.

I treat this blog, the same way I would treat a dairy. So a lot of the words on this blog, website, page, are a lot closer to me than they should be. Half of the writing population will bare their soul out in their work. But even less than that, will bare their soul on outlets like this.

I understand why.

10Your time writing blogs, could be better spent writing novels.

And

Yes

That is true.

But like I said this blog for me, is more of a personal diary than anything else. So I write on here when I need to get things off my chest, thoughts down on paper, that sort of thing.

So today I am going to talk about what I learned from finishing my first series.

The Fallen Angels Series contains 2 novellas and 2 novels.

From the get go, I can say without a doubt that I should have just done a trilogy and been done with it.  I think doing that hurt sales and more importantly pissed off readers.

For that I am truly sorry. Lesson learnt.

The second thing that I should have done is learn about the craft of writing more. I am a doer. I jump into something with both feet and only learn how to swim, when am rapidly sinking to the bottom.

I should have taken a few months out just to read books on the wonderful world of craft.

But I didn’t.

Not much I can do about it now.

And last but not least I should have plotted out my story more. At least have some sort of idea, about what my story was about.

Instead I just said to myself, I want to write a story about Angels, and I just did it.

The characters, the plot, the story line, just came as I wrote.

It was  the most pantser’s, pantser’s book that has ever been written.

But a story did come out of it.

Apart from all the negatives above I did some things right.

I stuck to my guns and wrote Two hundred and Ten thousand words.

I found out that if I wrote everyday a book would come.

I didn’t do anything by half measures. I got the best of everything that concerning my books.

From the best editor that suited my style.

From the best cover designer, that bought my dreams alive.

To the best proofreaders, that caught stupid typo’s that I just plain couldn’t see.

I invested everything into those books and for that I can hold my head up high.

It still doesn’t feel real to call myself a author.

But people have officially paid me for my books. So I guess I can.

Do I wish that my first series sold better.

Yes.

Will that stop me from writing another.

No.

Till next time folks

Good Morning

Good Evening

Good Night

Posted
May 2, 2016
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Where am at‏

So…..

I have finally finished my fourth book in my fantasy series Fallen Angels. It took me longer than I would have liked, but the book ended up being longer than I thought.

It topped out at 107K of written words.

That’s a hell of a lot, for a book that was only meant to be 55k at most.

What are the reasons for this?

Well honestly, I wanted to write a fourth and a fifth book. But after finishing the fourth one, which stood at fifty-five thousand it didn’t feel complete. I felt I had a lot of hanging plot that my readers would be angry about if I didn’t just wrap it up. So I thought what the hell and just kept on writing. In doing so, I kind of finished the series.

I have left it semi open, so I could go back to it if I wanted to. But honestly I don’t think I would want to.

That may change in the future. But I have so many ideas that are running through my head of things that I want to write, that it doesn’t make sense putting it off any further. And honestly the books did okay, but it wasn’t as big of a hit as I thought they would have been.

So at the moment, I am going to have one more sweeping pass at it. Then send it off to my editor.

She will have it for the next few weeks or more, and in the mean time while she does that I will be writing my new series.

I don’t want to give the title away. But I will be dipping my toe into the Scifi genre and see how the readers over there like me. It’s my second favourite genre to read in, I will be honest.

Fantasy will always have my heart. And the many sub genres in it. Urban, Superhero, Epic.

But I do like to get my socks off with some Scifi books.

Like I said before, last year there were two books that competed for my number one spot.

The Never Hero- Superhero genre

And

Red Rising- Scifi

When I say I will be writing in scifi, it won’t be hard scifi or space opera. Not my sort of crowd. To techie for me, and I don’t think I’m smart enough to write a solid story in that sort of universe.

No, I’m  talking about books like Omega Force by Jason Burke and Star Splinter by J G Cressey.

My story will be based along those lines, so readers of those sorts of books will be happy.

I would call it low scifi I guess….

It will have plenty of action, more action, fights, kick-ass assassin women and more fights.

Plus shit is going to blow up for no reason!!!

To say that I am excited about writing this story is an understatement. I have been thinking about this universe for so long that, the first book has basically written itself.  All I have to do is put the words on paper. At the moment I am busy plotting it all out, and all the characters have a strong voice.

Thinking about this now, this may become a problem when everyone is trying to compete for page space but I hope that it won’t be.

Man I am excited for this new series, I just hope that I do it justice.

That’s it really.

The last and final book in the Fallen Angels Series will be out July-August time.

And I will be plotting and writing all three books in my new series. Which should take me till the end of the year.

I already have another series which I want out next year. It will be in the superhero genre.

If there where only more than one of me, I could get more than one story at once.

Till next time folks

Good Morning

Good Evening

Good Night

Posted
April 11, 2016
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The highs and lows of writing

I am a very optimistic person, or I would like to think so. I always have a smile on my face and tend to see the sunny side of every situation that I am in. No matter what it is, I believe that you can always grow from the experience that has befallen you. When you can look back on your worst day and learn from it, then you can move on from that pain of the experience.

But writing, boy does it seems to kick you in the teeth. Unless you have skin like a rhino, then you will not last long in this game.  Some of the reviews that you receive can be pretty hurtful, if you let them get to you. Some authors I know don’t even read reviews anymore, they simply flat out refuse to.  But that in itself, I think can harm you a lot more.

When your first starting out, and you don’t have beta readers to highlight where the story lags and where it doesn’t work, reviews can do that for you. Not every review will be helpful, but the ones that tells you what didn’t work for them you can disgust that and use it in your later work.

Reviews like “Rubbish.” With nothing else written, just ignore. As well as any personal attacks, these do not help and can just be met with a shake of the head and move on.  But others that really break down your book, use it to your own advantage so your next book is tighter, stronger, better.

I will admit the above is not easy to do.

Trust me, I know.

It will have you doubting your work, hating everything that you write, and can sometimes led to writers block if you let it. But what I have learned and what works for me, is that once your book is out in the world for people to buy it, you can’t be that attached to it.

If you are a self published author, then you must treat your book like a publisher. If something doesn’t work change it. If a cover is wrong for the genre, that you write, change it. If the story sucks then it may be time to un-publish it and try again.

When you are creating your work of art, treat it like your best friend, lover, soul mate, to get the most out of that book. But once the work is done. It’s done.

Treat it like a brief love affair, then move on. Get what you can from it, experience, knowledge, what works and what didn’t, but once you hit publish.

Thats it!

It really doesn’t belong to you anymore.

I know we all get attached to our work, but getting better at anything is a painful process.
Posted
April 5, 2016
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My Ideas

I wanted to take a minute, and just tell readers how my first ever series Fallen Angels came to be. Really I honestly can’t quite tell you. Not for certain. I try and recall how it came about, but this idea has been knocking around in my head for so long, that it just seems to have always been there. From as far back as I can remember, I had this need to tell an Angel story. I knew how the first book would end, and how it would start. But apart from that, everything else was just one big blur.

It felt as if I was looking through a window smeared with grease, and didn’t know were it would led if I smashed through it.

Looking back at it now, with the series nearly finished, and taking a critical eye, over the whole thing. I can see where I went wrong with it.

I simply wrote for myself.

It was a story that I needed to tell, that has a lot of me in it. But apart from that, the story as a whole, doesn’t really fit in any genre. It doesn’t fit any category. It was just a story that I always had buried inside of me.

And I am happy that I told it. But judging from the sales of this series or should I say lack of it, it will always be a niche series written by me. But thats okay, because it has taught me so many valuable lessons. On story structure, story development, character development, the whole nine yards.

Now that I can take a step back, I can see the mistakes I made. Where I showed and not told. Where I added to much to the story instead of taking it away. Where the story was too lean, when it needed more meat on its bones.  I could go on and on, but after each book was finished, I leaned back in my chair and was happy that I couldn’t improve it any more.  I was happy with the finished product, and because of that, I can hold my head high.

Its only after some time has passed, when you grow in skill. Do you realise how lacking the book really is.

But I don’t think that will ever change, if you’re always looking to improve your story telling craft. That’s the only way you can really grow, by reading other peoples works, and reading books on craft. I am loving it, and having a blast at the moment reading everything I can get my hands on relating to the subject. I feel like a video game character, improving daily by the more info I dump into my brain.

I was never afraid of releasing my book. Well I may have been afraid a little bit. But I knew that no matter how much work I put into it, it would never be up to scratch in my eyes. When you have put that much work into something, it will never truly live up to your dreams. But like I said, thats okay.

I can only get better by writing more words. Day in, day out.

They say that you won’t learn the basics of story craft, unless you have a million words under your belt in fiction. Many writers believe also, thats where you truly start finding your voice.

I don’t know how true or false that may be.

But I have another Sixty-Five hundred thousand words to go, I can’t wait to tackle it one word at a time.

Until next time.

Love and Peace

Y’all

Posted
March 31, 2016
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What nobody tells you about writing, and why it can suck

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Everyone thinks that creating great art is easy, and it is, when you know how to do it. But what everyone leaves out is how do you get to the place where it becomes easy.

Writing, painting, music.

They all take time and discipline to develop the right brain patterns, so you can easily flow into creating something great. Without practicing for hours, drilling and drilling your chosen profession, then you will always fall short.

I heard a great saying the other day on a podcast, where the guy was a martial artist and he said to get better was like walking in a field of grass. To begin with the path that you choose is hard to follow, and difficult to cross, as the way is blocked by unruly grass. But after days and weeks and months of taking the same route, you have now formed a footpath, that is bare of all grass and roots, and is easy to follow to the destination that you what to get to.

And I believe that is true with anything you want to get good at, you need to create that path way through your brain till its beaten down and worn smooth by use.

What you don’t want to do, is take the path that everyone seems to take. You start out taking one route then, a few weeks later you switch to a different path, then a different path. Until the first one that you originally used, is now overgrown and hard to use.

Be consistent!

Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Be deliberate, in everything that you do!

If you choose to write for an hour, then fucking write for a hour. Don’t sit at the computer, but spend twenty minutes writing and forty minutes fucking about on the net. The net is your biggest roadblock to success. It has taken me years to realise that, and if you are like me, I know what you will say to yourself.

I can stop surfing whenever I want to. But how wrong I, and you are.

Whenever I use to hear about people spending five hours a day watching TV. I would always think fucking losers. But man, if I didn’t spend more than that just watching youtube, reading blogs on writing, listening to podcast on writing, and just all around time wasting. Then I would chalk it up to more than five hours a day. Although I wasn’t wasting my time in front of the idiot box, I was still wasting my time in other ways.

And this brings me on to my second, piece of advice. To be good at anything you have to suck at it first. I remember my first piece of writing I did, and I uploaded it onto a writing forum a few years ago. It was filled of holes, spelling mistakes the whole shebang. I got pulled to pieces on there, if it was a real room and not just a chat room, I would have been laughed out of it. The words and comments won’t all that helpful, which is pretty surprising now, when I am in a number of writer forums and indies are anything but friendly. But I must have just stumbled on a negative bunch of writers, who knows. But anyway, I nearly left there feeling rejected, if it wasn’t for this one solid gold piece of advice.

It went something likes this.

Your writing is utter shit …. But it has promise, keep at it and maybe down the years you will fulfil your dream of becoming an author.

If it wasn’t for that woman’s one piece of advice I would have never continued on. I would have stopped at the first hurdle.

So to anyone reading this, I will simply say. Everything you write for the first year or two will be shit. Utter horse shit. But don’t despair, all the greats had to go through the same thing. If any say they didn’t, then they are simpy lying to you.

Remember.

To do anything well, you need to put in the time!

One way or the other.

Until next time dear reader

Love and Peace

P.S Buy my shitttt!!!!!

Posted
March 9, 2016
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Takeover (Fallen Angel Book 3) Available Everywhere

Takeover-2500x1563-Amazon-Smashwords-Kobo-AppleBroken heart, broken mind, broken body…

Being left for dead, Perez must face his greatest challenge yet.
Survival. Simple for most, but not for him.
With Monroe in danger, all seems lost,
As an unknown angel finds himself closer to victory,
A victory that Perez knows will bring about
Many twists and turnns of events that could ruin them all.
Now, it’s up to Perez, broken and shattered, to find the courage and strength to save all that he holds dear, before the takeover.

 

 

It’s out!!!!

I am super excited and happy that my third novel in the Fallen Angels series is finally here. It took a little while to get out, but after I had edited the last word, I sat back with a smile on my face knowing that I couldn’t have written it any better. This book for me is my best work yet.

It’s double the size of the last two, and has more action, emotion, and heartache than the other two as well.

You can pick your copy from, Amazon.uk,Amazon.com,Kobo,Barnes&Noble.

Hope you enjoy it,

Until next time

Love and Peace

Y’all

 

Posted
March 7, 2016
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An interview with author Lisa Morrow

Today ladies and gents, we have a special guest giving us an interview. Her name is Lisa Morrow, and she is the brilliant writer of The Sea Goddess: A Tarak Tale: Part 1 and To Kill a Wizard: Rose’s Story (The Protectors of Tarak) but to name a few. Reading her first short story, blew me away. She managed to pack, so much drama and tension, into such a short piece of work, that I am wondering what her longer works are like. If you have not done so yet, pick up her first book and see for yourself.

But anyway without further adieu, please welcome Lisa Morrow.

Do you want to tell us a little about your stories, and what made you choose to self publish?

Everyone wants to feel powerful, and yet, there are so many times when we feel exactly the opposite.  My stories revolve around characters who are often blessed with magic.  Their powers give them the means to do things that ordinary people can’t do.  But the funny thing is,  magic doesn’t just instantly solve their problems.  If anything, it often creates more problems for them.  It’s only through their bravery, strength of will, and sense of morality that they’re able to accomplish great things.

Rose, in “To Kill a Wizard” faces an army of undead wizards to protect those she loves.  Dessi, in “The Sea Goddess,” plunges into danger as she steps out on The Feast of Darkness to rescue a friend.  And Dessi’s problems only grow, in “Realm of Goddesses” when she must risk her life against an impossible enemy.

And these young women manage to do it all while falling in love.

So in other words, I write young adult fantasy with a splash of romance.  I focus on creating plots that move quickly, keep the tension high, and have character you want to see succeed.

As for deciding to self-publish, it was a difficult choice.  But in the end, I couldn’t give up control over my work.  I love being able to go online multiple times a day to monitor my sales.  In fact, after this post comes out, I’ll be able to see how many people downloaded my free story, how many people bought my paid stories, and how many people “bought” my story through Kindle Unlimited (where I’ll be able to see how many pages they read each day).  Can you imagine knowing any of this through a traditional publisher?  It is quite simply awesome.

How long have you been writing for? And what first made you want to put pen to paper, or fingers to keypads as it were.

I started writing when I was in the second grade.  I entered writing competitions as early as elementary school.  And from the very beginning, I was driven with a deep need to write a story and to have it heard.

What’s your favorite genre to read, and write? 

Young adult novels are fun, as is sci-fi, but nothing beats fantasy.  I love it.  There’s something about the limitless possibilities that has me returning to it over and over again.

Who’s your favorite author, and what’s your most memorable novel? 

This is a tricky one.  “Bridge to Terabithia” was the first novel that made me cry, and that taught me how a well-written novel can create characters who feel real.  “The Golden Compass” showed me how a master-writer can create whole worlds, and “Harry Potter” was simply a novel that left me forever attached to people and places that only exist in my mind.

You’re doing all the right things (awesome covers and blurbs) when it comes to selling books. Do you have any suggestions for other authors?

Write what drives you, but then finish what you start.  I think it’s easier to have a dozen half-finished novels, than to spend months or years editing a novel until it’s what you want.  And guess what?  With self-publishing, you’ll learn very quickly what you’re doing well and what you need to work on.  It can sting a bit, but it just means you can keep growing and improving as a writer.

And once your work is out there, you can promote your novel, (which takes time away from writing, but at least a little promotion is necessary).  You can also spend a lot of money having others promote it for you (which I don’t), but the three most important things to being successful will always be: a good blurb, a good cover, and writing your next book.

What are you planning next, and where can people find out more?

I’m working on a ridiculous number of things right now, because I’m going wherever inspiration strikes.  The third story in the Dessi series has been started and started over multiple times.  I have a cool superhero story coming out in an anthology this year.  Rose’s mom will get her own three part story series.  And, I have a couple short romances in the works.

Where to Find Me…

Website: www.lisamorrowbooks.wordpress.com/

Twitter: @LisaMorrowBooks

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003385210975

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Morrow/e/B00X6S1EM6/

Want to read an awesome young adult fantasy novel?  Check out “To Kill a Wizard” by Lisa Morrow (free with Kindle Unlimited):

 

When eighteen-year-old Rose is chosen to join a mysterious order of women known as The Protectors, she hopes to escape a forced marriage and a miserable life. Instead, she unveils the dark secrecy surrounding The Protectors, and uncovers the horrific truth behind their power source. With her loyalty in tatters and her best friend’s life held hostage, she must learn to unlock the powerful magic slumbering deep inside her. 

But time is running out. 

The Undead Wizards, a dangerous enemy, have re-emerged from the Underworld, plunging The Protectors and the kingdom into a brutal war. Unfortunately, The Fates’ decree, that Rose is the answer to the war, may cost her more than she ever imagined. To win, she must decide whether to join them and betray the man she loves, or risk the annihilation of all she holds dear.

Thank you Dominique Mondesir for letting me stop by your awesome blog!

Posted
March 2, 2016
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Interview

Hey all,

I did a quick interview over at Lisa Morrow’s blog. Check it out. I had fun answering her questions and even more fun reading her short story the The Sea Goddess: A Tarak Tale.

Let me know what you lot think. In the mean time, have a good morning, happy afternoon and restful evening.

Love and Peace

Y’all

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