To date I have published:
Children of Fury
Also at Amazon USA: http://amzn.to/Od6XFB and most leading online
stores.
Within a period of turmoil for the
immortals Heron is born. A Fury like no
other who seeks vengeance which spans thousands of years. In England during the 1400’s he meets a young
woman named Aimee who has already met her soul mate. As their paths collide with catastrophic
results a story of retribution spanning centuries unfolds. Love can create comfort or even hatred, but
cn also be found where we expect it least...
I am Nine
Also at Amazon USA: http://amzn.to/Od797G and most leading online
stores.
As people across the world die from
some incurable disease, Naomi a five year old girl who lives in England is torn
from her parents. Naomi finds herself alone, growing up on a ship with
strangers, as she journeys across the sea into a new and very different future
on the American coast. A future where a
pack of great vicious dogs as well as cannibals roam the land...
Enmitus, The Tranformation and am currently writing
the sequel
Also at Amazon USA: http://amzn.to/U6vIWo and most
leading online stores.
Back Cover:
When spaceships
leave a dying Earth it is not until centuries and galaxies later that survivors
reach planets which will support human life. A community from one of the ships
builds a life underground on a barren and ominous planet named Serenitus. Princess
Corinna lives a contented life under the surface of Serenitus, with her father
Great Lord Corin, completely oblivious to the deceit surrounding her and her
people. This is until... powerful Lords from neighbouring planets arrive, the
destinies of Corinna and those around her are about to change, forever.
Corinna’s strength and ability to survive is tested to extraordinary lengths
when she is forced to marry a cruel and evil man in love with another dangerous
and despicable woman. Her own heart breaks as she realises her love for
another. A story of danger, love, hate, cruelty, deceit and revenge...
How I
published:
As I
did not publish until I had retired from my working career I felt that I should
find a publisher quickly as time was no longer on my side. I then proceeded to
read about other people’s experiences and how difficult it was for them to find
a publisher. Consequently I sent extracts to two publishing houses to try to
assess what my chances might be.
One
publisher said they did not publish fantasy adventure novels. The second stated
that while what I had written was interesting they weren’t publishing this type
of book at the moment. Both wished me luck and directed me to a book I could
buy which contained many publishers.
At my
time of life and having already sent in extracts and waited for responses which
took a considerable length of time to fall through my letterbox, I consequently
decided to self publish.
While criticism around self publishing might
include the work has grammatical errors in the script, that some parts of
storylines might need development, at times the author might stray a little
from the plot, identification of typing errors (though a number of published
books might contain one or several of these issues), it seems to me that self
published authors have to work twice as hard as they have no editor unless they
have the financial reserves to pay one. It’s not surprising that many authors
in the book world, for various reasons and due to personal circumstances, feel
they have no choice but to self publish. I self published because writing a
book was an ambition which I had carried with me from being a child and was
something I finally had fulfilled. Yes, it would be great if my books were
successful, but for me personally, someone who had always struggled with
English Grammar, self publishing my first two novels without the luxury of an
editor was a huge achievement. It also seems the publishing scene is dominated
by those who are already famous (established authors or stars who are writing
their own autobiographies) and others who have contacts within publishing
establishments. As a result of this only a minority of new authors have the
energy and time as well as needing a lot of luck to make it through the
minefield to publish by traditional means
Once I decided to self publish I
began to search the internet and from the many companies out there I did my
best to choose one that was well established.
When I approached the company they had two offers available regarding publishing my work however, the one I chose was a kind of 'buy one, get one free' offer as at that time I had almost completed my second novel. What I did not realise throughout the whole process was that I should have taken charge, instead I misguidedly and naively felt as if I had to meet deadlines. If someone telephoned, I would respond instead of saying I needed more time. This meant that my two daughters who supported me throughout tried to check my books fairly quickly. It is my belief that we had probably become 'word blind' when checking my first novel having read it so many times and I think we did a better job with the second book. I chose my own illustrations for the cover and the company did an excellent job, in my opinion, of designing it. When asked about a pen name my nerves jangled as I wondered if people, including my friends would think my books were rubbish and concluded, what the heck, I had spent almost two years writing them! I tried to take everything into consideration and decided 'in for a penny, in for a pound' and used my real name. I believed in my books and therefore I did not need a pen name. As the process of self publishing continued to the point where the books were to be made public I became extremely anxious and nervous. I asked myself, would anyone like my books? Would anyone read my books? However, I have to say the moment I actually held my first book I felt amazing. Apparently the company I have used to date have earned a name for themselves but without them I don't know if I would have ever published and I wanted my first books as a paperbacks option as well as ebooks.
To conclude, the most awkward and uncomfortable thing about the whole process was putting oneself out there, but I did! To date I have had generally had good feedback from family, friends, acquaintances and strangers... so far, so good. Have I sold many books? Answer, it's too early to really make comment.
When I approached the company they had two offers available regarding publishing my work however, the one I chose was a kind of 'buy one, get one free' offer as at that time I had almost completed my second novel. What I did not realise throughout the whole process was that I should have taken charge, instead I misguidedly and naively felt as if I had to meet deadlines. If someone telephoned, I would respond instead of saying I needed more time. This meant that my two daughters who supported me throughout tried to check my books fairly quickly. It is my belief that we had probably become 'word blind' when checking my first novel having read it so many times and I think we did a better job with the second book. I chose my own illustrations for the cover and the company did an excellent job, in my opinion, of designing it. When asked about a pen name my nerves jangled as I wondered if people, including my friends would think my books were rubbish and concluded, what the heck, I had spent almost two years writing them! I tried to take everything into consideration and decided 'in for a penny, in for a pound' and used my real name. I believed in my books and therefore I did not need a pen name. As the process of self publishing continued to the point where the books were to be made public I became extremely anxious and nervous. I asked myself, would anyone like my books? Would anyone read my books? However, I have to say the moment I actually held my first book I felt amazing. Apparently the company I have used to date have earned a name for themselves but without them I don't know if I would have ever published and I wanted my first books as a paperbacks option as well as ebooks.
To conclude, the most awkward and uncomfortable thing about the whole process was putting oneself out there, but I did! To date I have had generally had good feedback from family, friends, acquaintances and strangers... so far, so good. Have I sold many books? Answer, it's too early to really make comment.
My working career began in youth
work and then moved to community development. For the final 16 years of my
career I worked for a local authority managing youth work and adult learning
and I retired in 2011 planning to concentrate on my family and writing novels.
My qualifications include:
Diploma in Youth & Community Work
BSc Open (Hons)
Post Graduate Certificate in Leadership and Management
My qualifications include:
Diploma in Youth & Community Work
BSc Open (Hons)
Post Graduate Certificate in Leadership and Management
Wow! You've had a busy career. I understand you put together some Q&As for my readers. Go ahead and share them now.
Question: When do I write?
Answer: Everyday but not at a specific time.
Question: What makes writing easier for me?
Answer: I prefer to write two novels at the same time but I don't always have two storylines. If I have a mental block then I find it easier to switch from book to book.
Question: Who are my favourite authors?
Answer: I like a variety of books but the authors include, Jean Plaidy, Charlaine Harris, Stephanie Meyer, Dean Koontz plus many more.
Question: What advice would I give a new author?
Answer: Where to start? ... If you want to write, go ahead and do it. There are lots of books out there giving advice on writing and publishing if you are fortunate enough to have the money to buy them, but there is so much information on the internet. If you can afford to pay for proof reading and editing great, but not everyone can. Once you have written your book get someone else to read it and within reason act on their feedback. Do any changes to your book and then I wish you lots of luck whichever road you might choose to take. This industry is like all others, you will receive praise and criticism, it is how you deal with it that matters.
Question: Do you review other books?
Answer: Just started to do reviews but need to be careful as there are so many genres out there and I have to be sensitive about my comments about books that are not my preferred taste and remain professional. It is the quality of the story that is told that is important to readers who usually stick with the genres they prefer..
Thank you so much for visiting the Realm today, Diane. It's been wonderful getting to know about you and your books. Please come back anytime.
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