A couple of days ago, I took an online writing workshop run by American writer, Vanessa Martir. I did a free workshop of hers a while back (and meant to double down with the paid version, but got distracted) and when this one popped up in my feed I signed up, not least because it wasn’t expensive (US$30) and I like the way she structures her classes. Vanessa sends through pre-class readings, which are discussed in the workshop and there are timed writing/thinking sessions to prompts (maximum of five minutes). Given that I’ve pretty much lost my mojo, I figured
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I had no clue I was dating a covert narcissist, mainly because my boundaries had been whittled away to nothing by the sense of opportunity and complacency I’d allowed myself to develop in Vietnam. I said yes to everything that crossed my path. I remember having a conversation with another expat about the type of men I was interested in, and I replied: I’m interested in men who are interested in me. No wonder I found myself in an emotional abusive situation. Love bombing, gaslighting, ignoring red flags, intermittent reinforcement, control and manipulation — this relationship had it all. I
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I’m often contacted by writers who’ve finished their book and know they should have it edited before self-publishing or approaching an agent and/or traditional publisher. When I ask them what kind of editing they need, invariably they don’t know. Or they think they know, and then decide that it’s not what they need after all. Or they think they know, and I start editing—and the book needs more work than I anticipated. As an editor, you only get a sense of the work required when you appraise a couple of sample chapters, and have to trust that the author knows
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My first book in more than four years has been published on Amazon. If you’re curious about what it’s like to start a new life in a developing Asian country as a single expat woman of a “certain age”, this book will tell all, including: – what it’s really like to live in Vietnam – expat jobs, particularly freelancing – problems of living in Vietnam – pros and cons of living in Vietnam – cost of living in Vietnam – whether Vietnam is safe for expats. Part diary, part memoir and part travel guide, Vietnam: It Seemed Like A Good Idea
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You want to write non-fiction — maybe a memoir? — because your story is fascinating and you want to inspire people by sharing it. Or you may have an idea for thought leadership articles because you have a vision for the how the world should be, not as it is. Or you need a writer for a content marketing project that involves creating a series blog posts or other marketing content that showcases your company. Why hire a ghost writer? People and businesses hire ghost writers for a whole lot of different reasons. You might not have time to sit
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When I started The Secret Lives of Writers series, I was approached by Alex Kourvo from Writing Slices (check the comments at the bottom of this post) to see if I’d submit it for a book review. Of course, I was overjoyed that someone was keen to review it, and I submitted it when it was ready—with very little thought, I might add! A month or so later, I was duly advised by Alex that her review of The Secret Lives of Writers would be negative. She gave me the option of not going ahead with the review (she said she had a soft
Continue reading...Get The One & Three Others *FREE* this weekend. As a self publisher, I love writing short stories. Not only do you get to release them out into the world on their own quite quickly, but you also get to bundle them up into the one collection—and keep adding to it! This short story collection includes my new short story Office Ink, plus That Damn Lift, Must Have Hair and The One. Usually priced at $2.99, this weekend (from 15-17 October) you can download it free from Amazon! And because I know that my readers access Amazon from all over the
Continue reading...Writers write about creative writing Regular readers will know that over the last 18 months—yes, it’s been that long since it started!—I’ve been running a series by writers, for writers, on their approach to creative writing, with a special focus on how they fit writing into their busy lives. I am super pleased to announce that The Secret Lives of Writers is now available in the Amazon Kindle store, Kobo, Nook and and iBooks. You can grab your copy from the Delicious Publishing Book Store. So who is this book about writing for? If you are interested in creative writing, or dabble in
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Sunday Best is a curated list of articles I’ve read over the past week or so that I find enlightening, educational or just plain interesting. This week’s focus is on writing and publishing, which is always of huge interest to me. Enjoy! What’s next with your NaNoWriMo project? The whole point of NaNoWriMo is to bang out 50,000 words across November. Quality doesn’t matter so much as quantity. So now you’ve got this… thing… that may or may not be a novel, or the start of a novel. What on earth do you do with it? Luckily, Joanna Penn has an
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It’s been six months since I published my first book on Amazon. I thought I’d be well on the way to notoriety, infamy and gazillionaire status (also known as being able to quit my day job) by now. I thought I would write my books, publish them and the dollars would start rolling in. I would bask in the glory of being an author, with actual published books (well, electronic ones anyway) and I’d be invited to conferences and summits and to guest present at seminars and workshops and on radio shows and everyone in the entire world would be
Continue reading...I knew nothing about self publishing when I decided to book this blog and publish it as the Love & Other Brave Acts. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Actually, that’s not true. I knew nothing about self publishing (other than: I’m quite IT savvy so how hard could it be?) and a bit about publishing (as in: I’ve been rejected by both major and minor publishers alike, and I read published books). What I did know was that I wanted to publish and more importantly, with the tools that are currently available, could publish. And publish I did. Two books down and
Continue reading...This book self-publishing gig sure is a wild ride. I’m loving the steep learning curve that I’m pedalling up, and the business decisions I have to think about and make. I knew nothing about self-publishing when I started this journey a few short months ago. Nothing. Nada. Zip. I know slightly more now, but I am very much the novice, and it doesn’t bother me, because in this space, everything is changing so fast. New technology to learn, new ways of doings things, new boundaries to push. You have to be nimble, but at the same time acknowledge that you
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