Book Challenge

Tell Me a Story.

I have just read a blog post on The Story Syren that brings a glimmer of hope to new writers. The post encourages the public to read books from debut authors. In this case the object seems to be to introduce readers to Young Adult books - but why not extend the challenge to include ALL debut writers. In fact my own challenge is for everyone to read at least ONE book from an unknown writer - who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Too many books from celebrities

Okay I know I have a biased opinion, but in my view, too many people are reading books from over-paid, over-exposed, semi-literate celebrities. All well and good to read this stuff, but unfortunately, it's at the expense of books from real and talented authors.

No Budget

Each year, on the American market alone, we see something like 150,000 new books published. Steve Weber suggestes that of these 100,00 will sell less than 100 copies - not because they are not good enough, but because no publicity is made available for them, no book promotion because publishers plough their budgets into sure-fire hits from celebrities. The public has no idea which books are available. If this sort of thing continues, if there is no encouragement for new writers, there could be a stage where real novels are no longer available.

• So what is the 2010 Debut Author Challenge on The Story Syren?
  
• "The objective is to read a set number of YA (Young Adult) or MG (Middle Grade) novels from debut authors published this year.* I'm going to challenge everyone to read at least 12 debut novels! I’m hoping to read at least 30! You don’t have to list your choices right away, but if you do feel free to change them throughout the year. I will also be focusing on mostly Young Adult novels.
• Anyone can join, you don’t need a blog to participate. If you don’t have a blog you can always share your views by posting a review on Amazon.com/ BarnesandNoble.com/ GoodReads/Shelfari, or any other bookish site.
• The challenge will run from January 1, 2010- December 31, 2010. You can join at anytime!"
• For more information check the post out at The Story Syren
  
  
• Next post on Tell Me a Story

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Creative writing tips, conflict and tension
Book writing, 20 ways to polish that manuscript

Getting over Writer's Block

Tell Me a Story - writing tip

If the surge of ideas has faded, if your writing feels trapped or awkward, if you’ve hit the dreaded writer’s block, maybe you’re just not paying attention to your subconscious.

The waking mind

When you hit a sticking point, it sometimes means the plot is flawed and your subconscious knows and has slowed down. You’re still forging ahead as if the storyline is okay, and simply think you’re having a bad patch. The idea that your scheme might be wrong hasn’t trickled through to your waking mind yet.

Sometimes it’s better to step back and take another look at your plot. Re-assess your ideas; are there other scenarios that might work better?

Allow it to be processed

Search through your running notebook of questions on the story (you do keep a notebook of things that need answering or resolving at a later date don’t you). Feed the ideas into your mind, try reversing the roles, chew things over. Ask yourself questions about the problem you've hit.

Now put the whole thing to one side. Take a walk, feed the dog, go shopping, do anything except write. Allow time for this fresh material and the questions to be processed by your subconscious. Let it poach and boil whilst you do something unrelated. Take a holiday.

Nourish your mind

Feeding crude material into your mind can be intriguing and very worthwhile. The more you nourish your mind, the more probable your subliminal dynamic will be there to help.

Lying dormant within your notebook, or sometimes in what you’ve already written will be a clue to the problem. Give it time to bubble and eventually the answer will doubtless appear.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

Who needs writers agents?
Book writing tips - A Perceptive Notebook

Give yourself permission to write crap

Tell Me a Story - writing tip

AJ - Do you have any suggestions for those of us perfectionist/ slowpokes who have a hard time NOT editing as we write? Basically I write crap. I have to keep editing it away.

Hi, Billie. Thanks for contacting me. I can only suggest that because you understand your problem, the answer virtually lies in your own hands. Recognizing that you’ve hit an obstacle is certainly the first step - and even the best writer churns out crap in the first draft.

Some writers become drunk with their own words and don’t recognize what they’ve written can have anything wrong with it. They are deluding themselves. Their writing will remain crap.

Words have worth

Maybe your problem is the opposite in that you don’t believe your words have worth. If that’s the case, then you too, are deluding yourself. There is something of worth in everything you write. Amongst that crap will be a gem, and if you clean it up it will sparkle.

Once you acknowledge a first draft, warts and all, is an essential part of writing, maybe you’ll face it more philosophically and proficiently. No one is going to read your first draft. It’s for your eyes only, a scribbling of basic ideas.

Force yourself to write.

Striving for the ultimate is an essential part of success, but you really shouldn’t let it get in the way of putting that precious story down. Be hard on yourself. Force yourself to simply write until the draft is complete. When the draft is finished, you can give yourself full-rein to edit. You can be as harsh as you like – in fact, you should be severe. Stories are not written, they are re-written.

Overcoming the problem.

Years ago I had trouble with putting profanities into my work.

I overcame the problem by writing a whole story using the most foul-language I could dream up. I let it flood out; in fact, I overdid the writing. The story was unreadable because of this overuse of swear words, but it cured me.

Maybe you could try something similar with, say, a version of your very own NaNoWriMo. Set your own target then write like mad for a month – forget quality – forget story content – just give yourself permission to complete a novel-full-of-crap within a month.

Expect crap, write crap; be satisfied with crap - but you might be pleasantly surprised. You might even have a story you can use sometime – and you might just be cured.


--------------------------------------------------------------

• Next post on Tell Me a Story. 
• Romantic Suspense

Writing - Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Tell Me a Story - question

Hello, AJ. I'm having a dilemma. I think it's descriptive power syndrome. I over-describe things (maybe) and get stuck right after writing a great descriptive paragraph and become unable to continue the plot. Every thing I start to write results like that. Please do recommend me methods or tell me tips to overcome my problem. Thanks.

Hello Aiman from Singapore. Thanks for sending this in. Descriptive Power Syndrome, mm.... That's a new one on me, I guess you not only recognize you have a problem, but have named it as well. Perhaps you’re talking about what in the past was called ‘purple prose’.

It seems to me that you almost have the answer in your own hands. Most people don't understand what the obstacles are with their writing and that's where their actual problems lie. Once they KNOW they have a problem, they work on it and polish it away. You seem to understand exactly what is wrong - so let's try to see why you can't get over it.

Edit it away

Most authors simply get on with writing their story and return later to edit away the crap. Don’t imagine that writers produce a beautiful piece of work hot off the press. Stories aren’t written, stories are re-written, several times. Everyone has to edit the rubbish away. The trick is recognizing what the rubbish is. You already seem to understand this.

Let's try a plan

Okay, so maybe the real problem lies in planning. I know I hammer this a lot, but a lot of hiccups in writing come about because of insufficient preparation.

If you make an outline of the story before you start to write, you won’t grind to a halt because any sticking points will be ironed out in the planning stage. A plan doesn’t have to be all-inclusive, it can be as sketchy as you like. Just make one. The worst plan is better than none at all - and the plan can be altered at any time to accomodate new ideas.

Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Some writers claim that making an outline inhibits their flow of writing, that their creative juices are stunted. In fact, it can have the opposite effect. Once you know where the story is going, you can write free-flow then wham! Words just fall off the ends of your fingers.

A plan is merely a guide, a map of where you want to go; it isn’t the journey, it isn’t writing. Writing is where you release the juices and the flow of creation comes into it’s own.

Good luck - and let me know how you go on.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story
• Romantic Suspense

The first few pages of a novel are crucial

Tell Me a Story - advice.

Hello AJ. I wonder if you can help? I have a problem when starting my stories. I never seem to get the beginning right. Is there any advice you can offer?

Hi, Jennifer. Thank you for sending this in. The first chapter, in fact probably the first ten pages, are the most important part of any story. It's the window into your fictional world and unless readers like what they see within this time, they're liable to turn away.

For more information take a look at this Bukisa article BECOMING A WRITER

Hope this helps a little. Don't give up - and good luck.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

Who needs writers agents?
Book writing tips - A Perceptive Notebook

Tips for editing your book

Tell Me a Story - writing tips

So your story is written. Your flurry of words is finally down, you've captured all the ideas you wanted to capture. The adventure is complete.

Now comes the hard work.

That amazing manuscript is raw. Raw words should never see the light of day other than by the author. You now have to become your own worst critic. You must put those wonderful words away for a few weeks. Shove them in a drawer. Lock them up. Let them rest for a while.

It's amazing what a few weeks away from your work will do to your perspective. You'll suddenly realize those words aren't so magical after all. But all is not lost.

Editing

You need to learn how to polish. You have to put on your editing head and knock that precious book into shape.

How? Take a look at To Write A Story - 20 Ways To Write A Story Better and you'll stand a chance of making it to the other side without screaming.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

-------------------------------------------------------------
How To Describe - Mastering Descriptive Writing
7 Cool Ways To Jump-Start The Story Characters In Your Writing
Emotional Writing - 8 Cool Writing Tips To Invoke Emotion

The Fulfilling Facet - Emotional Influence

Tell Me a Story

Emotional writing - creating impact

"It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what other men do not say in whole books." - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzshe

Emotional influence is sometimes the most ignored facet with wannabe writers. Emotion is essential, not only when linked to what characters feel about themselves and others, but more importantly, in the reaction they stir in readers.

Creative writing tips - but what is emotional impact?

Creative writing is worthless without emotion. Creating emotional impact is the only real way to cultivate empathy between readers and your story.
Enjoyment, fury, dread and anguish are the most common human emotions. Each time you find a piece of writing that sticks in your mind, it's usually spiked with one or more of these. If you want your own work to be thought of in this way, you'll have to wrench at those same feelings in your readers.
Emotional writing? So, what is the right way to go about writing a book that has sufficient emotion? How do you create such an elusive element in your readers? Naming it certainly doesn’t produce it. We can declare our protagonists irritated, anxious, broken-hearted or suchlike, but it doesn’t generate the emotion in the reader. How then do we use this intangible feature

Elements of emotional writing.

How do established authors invoke emotion? There are certain elements in creative writing that can be brought into play that have an emotional influence. It must be noted that their whole is greater than the sum of their parts. You should be prepared to include all elements to be sure of capturing this elusive quality.

generator

• Emotional writing - There must be consequence. The degree of emotive reaction is a direct reflection of the character’s problem and the consequences they face. Will there be incentive if the central character makes it, will there be tragedy if he doesn’t.
• Emotional writing - There must be a strong theme. The outcome of the story must be important in some way. The story must mean something. If the predicament doesn’t matter one way or another, readers won’t be bothered about the outcome.
• Emotional writing - There must be struggle. There must not only be consequence in the plot, there must be serious tussle both inner and outer with the character, otherwise no emotion will come from it. No matter how severe the crisis, if it is easily sorted, no one will care; no one will feel anything.
• Emotional writing - Find that passion. Passion grows from the story’s significance. If the task is meaningless, there will be no feeling, no identity.
• Emotional writing - Think about the atmosphere. A story should have mood, ambience, atmosphere, call it what you will. Mood comes from all the restrained emotions that arise from the material elements of your story. It’s not enough to set a house in front of your characters; we need to know how they feel about it. Is it scary, or full of love, what does it mean to them; how does it move them?
• Emotional writing - Use the senses. Characters shouldn’t walk in a vacant space. Tell readers what is around them. Emotions can be constructed from sensory reaction even when there isn’t a problem. It won’t be a strong emotion, but it can exist as an entirety by itself.
• Emotional writing - Writing with moderation. Never give emotive words too full rein when you’re displaying how a character feels, use moderation, it’s a good maxim. Play down the most moving events. Encounter in itself carries drama, and key sentiments become implicit without description.
• Emotional writing - Limit your detail. Be cautious of littering scenes with too much detail. It takes only a few well-chosen words to describe a setting. Humans don’t have time to respond to every element around them, and characters should not respond to everything either. Opt for the most valuable details; the reader will fill in the rest.

Emotional writing tips - and so....

So maybe the lesson to be learned from these emotional writing tips, is to write with every single sense, including the sixth, but to write with restraint. Remember, more than enough is too much. Use your descriptive powers with self-control. Make every word count.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

Researching that novel

Tell Me a Story - tips

Does the idea of research throw you into a fluster?

Okay, so you’ve dreamed up a breathtaking idea for a mystery. You've decided you’ll have a young English girl swept off her feet by a French aristocrat whom she bumps into accidentally and who obviously has something to hide. You can’t be bothered with all that crap about planning and plotting, you know exactly where to begin. You’ll get your main characters in conversation right away when they meet on a train from London to Glasgow.

You're in heaven

You rush right in, hot ideas spilling into the word processor. You're filled with utmost assurance. The dialogue will be a cauldron of interesting little snippets that are sure to captivate the readers. You’ll bring in your hero’s French background, how he came to be on the London train, her experience in learning some new job that you’re bound to think of in a few minutes, and every bit of it will be full of interesting detail.

Oh, oh!

At this point, you come to a stop, yet you haven’t typed more than a couple of pages. You become conscious that you don’t know these characters. Their lives are a blank; you know absolutely nothing about them or their lifestyles. Is there even a train from London to Glasgow? If so what times does it run? Someone will pick up on it if you get it wrong.

As empty as an empty can

The whole of your mystery will be just as empty if you don’t know pertinent facts. You must find out all about your characters and their backgrounds before you begin. You must know about their families and friends, you must know their likes and dislikes. Research means no more than that, yet the thought of it can throw beginners into as big a panic as the idea of writing a synopsis.

Even if you’re familiar with a place, a job, a building, you still need to do a little research. Unless you have a super-human memory, you’ll find your knowledge of even quite familiar things will play tricks with you.

Research can be as unpretentious or as convoluted as you care to make it. Just make sure you get out there and do it.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

Who needs writers agents?
Book writing tips - A Perceptive Notebook

Identity theft

Tell Me a Story - warning identity theft.

I feel an idiot. Last night I was well and truly hooked by local phishermen.... or in this case someone pretending to be someone I knew.

My identity was briefly stolen - my personna robbed - someone took my place. Some unknown piece of shit stole my name and passed themself off as me. I feel abnormally angry.

Phishing and chips

I'm perhaps one of the lucky ones. No money was involved this time - at least none I'm aware of. My credit cards are intact, my bank balance remains healthy - but my identity was still taken. I am violated.

The cause.... I opened a DM (direct message) on Twitter from a trusted follower, and it advised me to follow a link that I 'just had to see'. That's what ultimately let me down - I was too damn nosey - I had to find out what was going on - so I suppose it was my own fault. That's what these vile shits understand - people's weaknesses. They're expert psychologists.

Identity theft

When I clicked the link I received a message telling me that Twitter was over capacity. Now as all Twitter users will know, this a common enough happening - except this time it also flashed up that I needed to re-enter my Twitter name and password. It wasn't quite the same format as usual but close enough not to ring any warning bells - I entered my password and bingo....

Immediately, some, if not all, of my followers received strange DM's that I can only hope were legal. I pray no one had anything pornographic.

I was lucky enough to have people warn me fairly soon afterwards that something odd was taking place. I followed advice and changed my password - which hopefully put a stop to it - but how much damage was done - to my reputation if nothing else? That's what identity theft does, it robs you of confidence, it makes you question what else in your life has been affected - or damaged.

Reputations take forever to build and can be destroyed in seconds - I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that any collateral is minimal. I hope my friends remain just that - friends. I hope they realise it wasn't me sending out the spam.

So take heed of my circumstance and be warned. Be careful how and when you let your password out - it's frighteningly easy to get trapped. It all seemed so logical, so normal that I was fooled. There are some evil bastards out there..... It could have been much worse than this.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story.

Who needs writers agents?
Book writing tips - A Perceptive Notebook

National Hispanic Awareness Month - Living In Spain

Tell Me a Story

I LOVE living in Spain. As an Ex-pat from England, I'm maybe uniquely placed to comment on what it's like to live in Spain. Sometimes pictures speak better than words. Maureen Sabina has been looking at the photos around Jalon and Moraira and is interested in what my own villa looks like - so here goes -

I've taken a few snaps around the garden and here they are. Hope they meet with your approval - I love the place - but then again I am rather biased.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

Who needs writers agents?
Book writing tips - A Perceptive Notebook

National Hispanic Awareness month - Around Moraira

Tell Me a Story

As promised, for those living in the New World here are some more photos to remind them of their origins in the Old World of Spain. This time I've featured Moraira. A picturesque resort close to Jalón - featured in the novel Without Reproach.

National Hispanic Awareness month

Next post on Tell Me a Story.



Who needs writers agents?
Book writing tips - A Perceptive Notebook

National Hispanic Awareness month - Around Jalon

Tell Me a Story - National Hispanic Awareness month

Novels and in fact ANYTHING to do with Spain seem to be in the public interest at the moment.

I've been asked to give an indication of what it's like around Jalon, do I have pictures. A couple of readers wanted to understand where Without Reproach was set and what the scenery was like. So here goes. Here's a flavour of rural Spain - nothing like the high-rise Costas you might be familiar with.

Let your mind go free, live with Eduardo, experience his country understand his rugged domain.

I'll publish some more pictures over the next few blog posts. Hope you got a flavour of this big country for your National Hispanic Awareness month. And for those of you living in the New World, hope you like what you see of the Old.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

Who needs writers agents?
Book writing tips - A Perceptive Notebook

Do writers go to college

Tell Me a Story - question time .

AJ, Do writers need to go to college? I mean people who write books. Not technical writers or journalists or anything. I'm talking about the author of a fantasy series, a book full of laughter, a tragedy, a romance, a thriller, whatever. If so, what kind of degree do you need to be one?

Hi Demi. Some universities certainly offer courses on creative writing, but a degree isn't necessary to be a successful writer. I do actually have a degree, but it isn't related to media in any way, so it doesn't count.

All skills have to be learned.

As my interest in writing deepened I realized that I needed to understand the principles involved, so I studied numerous books on creative writing. I also completed a correspondence course on writing.
Very few people are born with the ability to put a coherent story together. Everyone has to learn, either by years of experience and disappointement, or by studying what has gone on before and proved to be successful. Remember, any skill worth it's salt has to be learned. If every man-jack could write, would it really be worthwhile doing?
Artists don't just pick up brushes and paint successfully; they study for years. Sculptors, musicians, dancers and actors are the same. Why should any sane person think it's different for writers?

All artists are craftsmen. Not all craftsmen are artists.
Writing is a craft. Like all crafts it can be learned, but an apprenticeship has to be served. To turn that craft into an art that readers will take seriously takes something extra - and that is what keeps writers striving - the search for that extra dimension. This can only come when you thoroughly understand the principles involved.

Formal tuition.
Admittedly some writers don't go down the path of FORMAL training, instead they 'teach' themselves through years of reading and attempting to write. Don't be fooled by tales of 'overnight' success - generally it involves years of closet writing before the 'magical' discovery.
Formal tuition cuts those years down, you get to understand the why and wherefore of what you're doing, and if you participate in a course, you have a guiding hand too - feedback is a very important element of writing.

A different slant.
If you’re interested in studying, you should at least search for modern books on the writing craft. There are numerous available to choose from. As with everything, it's down to personal preference which book will suit you best, so maybe purchasing one or two will be preferable. I had about three on the go at once, at one time, each taking a different slant and emphasis, but each good in it's own right.

Good luck with it Demi. Hope it all goes your way..

• Next post on Tell Me a Story
• Romantic Suspense

The forward motion of verbs

Tell Me a Story .

I've just found this quote and I think it sums up a lot about writing style. It neatly encompasses one of my pet rants. In my opinion, a number of published writers would do well to take note.

Forward motion in any piece of writing is carried by verbs.

Verbs are the action words of the language and the most important. Turn to any passage on any page of a successful novel and notice the high percentage of verbs. Beginning writers always use too many adjectives and adverbs and generally use too many dependent clauses. Count your words and words of verbal force (like that word “force” I just used).

WILLIAM SLOANE

next post

---------------------------------------------------------------
Holidays in Alicante - the Hidden Spain
Lens Coating - What Everybody Ought to Know

Finding a literary agent

Tell Me a Story - information .

Right guys. If you're a writer, finding a literary agent is probably uppermost in your mind. This seems to be even more true in the USA than the UK ..... so I guess most of you will out there searching....

Search no more..... there's a new service on the market and can be found under Agentbox at WEbook

Agentbox will forward each writer's proposal to an agent selected from the available list. If agents are interested in a writer's work, they'll make contact. Typically for writers, finding the right literary agent in a list of thousands is one of the most challenging steps to getting a book into publication.

At first glance this seems to be a good scenario, someone else doing all the slog ..... If anyone has experience of them let me know...

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

---------------------------------------------------------------
Holidays in Alicante - the Hidden Spain
Lens Coating - What Everybody Ought to Know

End of post - Finding a Literary agent.

Why do women make love

Tell Me a Story.

Why do women make love?

Poets through the ages have been inspired by it, songs have been sung because of it, thousands of stories have been written, films have become smash hits because of it.... but just WHY do women make love?

Men are simple creatures, men make love because quite frankly.... well it's enjoyable....Sex is nice....

The question has never been asked of women before - but now that it has, the answers are rather intriguing and perhaps just a little bit disappointing - for men at least. It seems that enjoyment plays only a small part - no pun intended - in the female sexual act.

Take a look at this article by Tanya Gold for an insight...

So when I put pen to paper for my next novel, I'll have to scrub out all those scenes where the heroine actually enjoys making love to her partner....

There'll have to be some more altruistic reason for her taking part in such a transient physical activity.... Now let me think.....

• Next post on Tell Me a Story.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Holidays in Alicante - the Hidden Spain
Lens Coating - What Everybody Ought to Know

Kelly Corrigan - A success story

Tell Me a Story - success

Last year more than 560,000 books were newly put into print in the United States alone. This is a cake of which everyone wants a wedge; a cake that many people seem to think is thickly layered in cream – it isn’t.

• Writers are required to be business people.
• Writers are expected to sponsor themselves.
• Writers are expected to create a household name.
• Writers are expected to market themselves.

For most of us, this isn’t what we entered the world of literature for. We are creative souls, not entrepreneurs. For most of us, the world of business is anathema.

Publishers will enthusiastically campaign for big names authors of course, but for the majority of authors it's a work-it-out-for-yourself universe of generating book trailers, Web sites, blogs, and social networking.

Just occasionally, someone shrugs off the bands and blazes a trail that everyone else wants to follow. Kelly Corrigan is one such person. Take a look at her incredible journey and take heart.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Holidays in Alicante - the Hidden Spain
Lens Coating - What Everybody Ought to Know
Massage your way to good health

The source of writing

Tell Me a Story - writing ideals.

The source of powerful writing, in fact perhaps the source of all creative writing, is frustration.

Writing is born from an innermost and overwhelming urge to communicate. Writing is a longing to share ideas and concepts, to transform the concealed into the perceived; to express, relate, and in the end fashion new understanding.

Writing realigns our thinking and gives us new ideas. Writing can transport us and make the world of imagination real.

Those lucky enough to share the words, listen to a different part of the same discussion - each of us creates a different world from the same writing. That is the ultimate excitement of books. Each one of us creates a perfect world from those words, a world that exactly fits our own ideals. It can never be bettered.

Long live words. Long live writing.

Next post on Tell Me a Story.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol

Tell Me a Story - opinion.

Like his work or hate it, author Dan Brown simply won’t go away.

The sensational sales of the latest novel from Dan Brown are a real shot in the arm to publisher Knopf Doubleday - and of course booksellers in general. The industry, along with many others, has suffered badly in the financial slump and they've all been sitting with hands clasped and eyes raised.

Booksellers have been nervously looking for a title – ANY title - that will hit the mark with readers and generate the same sort of frenzy that the "Harry Potter" series from author J.K. Rowling, did.

Well, Mr. Bookseller, be nervous no longer - it's happened. The most recent novel from writer Dan Brown, "The Lost Symbol," burst one-day sales records, its publisher and booksellers claimed, and seems to have answered a few prayers.

Booklovers apparently bought over one million hardcover copies across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom after it was issued on Tuesday, according to publisher, Knopf Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc.

"We are seeing historic, record-breaking sales across all types of our accounts in North America for 'The Lost Symbol," said Sonny Mehta, editor in chief of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Knopf Doubleday is a division of Random House Inc.

Amazon.com called the book from Dan Brown, its best-selling first-day adult fiction title ever.

Ah well, things seem to looking up for some....

• Next post on Tell Me a Story.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Holidays in Alicante - the Hidden Spain
Lens Coating - What Everybody Ought to Know
Conserving Water - Your Must-Know Guide

Audio short story

Tell Me a Story

I'm shy! Book promotion holds all sorts of devils for me.

I hate being the centre of attention, I don't enjoy nook signing, so as you might imagine, so a radio interview is possibly the most painful thing I could do.... But do it I did.

The saving grace is that the radio interviewer went on to read one of my short stories - and she did a good job. See what you think....

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

---------------------------------------------------------------
Holidays in Alicante - the Hidden Spain
Lens Coating - What Everybody Ought to Know
Conserving Water - Your Must-Know Guide