Thursday 26 January 2012

The return of the muse. Oh, how I've missed you.

It was a busy day for me, exhausting, to be honest; the release of Candlelight Sinner was a bit more complicated. I had to update the other two books for Kindle and Smashwords and I get easily confused. Yes, give me three sheets of paper and I'm in tears. Well, not that bad, but I have to concentrate very hard to get everything right.
Never mind, after hours of fighting with the different formats, I had the books updated and my latest baby released into the world. It's free on Smashwords for today until midnight and after that will be $3.49/£2.31. Still not bad, I would say. The downloads are flying in, but from experience I know only 10% will probably read the book. Many just hoard it. But I'm happy for the 10% to be able to flee from reality for a while.

To celebrate, I will write a 500-word flash fiction piece for my newly launched writers' group. I've given the prompt 'On a winter's night' and to be honest, I can't wait to write something; it's itching heavily. My muse has probably been ringing the buzzer of my former flat, trying to get in and help me writing. What a surprise when my buzzer went and the lost muse showed up. Back to writing!
I'm also looking forward to what people of the group come up with. I have only met two of them 'informally' and they are lovely.

Since I want to write two books this year, I better get cracking soon, right? My horror thriller, which exists of two scenes so far, one of them you can find here, has been calling, the story slowly forming in my mind. I will, though, write the scenes first and then weave them into a story. It's probably multi layered. Typical. Nothing easy for me please.

If you need to get your arse from the sofa and the fingers to your keyboard, feel free to use the same prompt. :-)

Happy writing, everyone.

8 comments:

  1. Quite strange that so many people would download your book without reading it - it reminds of "shopoholic" women who buy clothes they never wear.

    Have you written any novels based on your own life experiences?

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    1. Hello, Zaki

      I have, sort of. The literary fiction piece is based on true events. There's a lot of autobiographical stuff in her e-mails to him.
      I also want to write about my experience 'living with ADHD without medication', hoping to help people understand that you don't 'outgrow' ADHD. You'll have it all your life.

      Why do you ask?

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    2. Don't kill me for saying this, but novels based on the author's own experiences are more fascinating to me because I feel I'm learning something about the world. Some authors, like Tom Wolfe, try to bring authenticity into their work by doing a huge amount of research before they start writing. I loved A man in full for this reason. A week in December by Sebastien Faulks is another one of that genre.

      Having said that, some of my favourite books are comedies which have nothing to do with the real world, so maybe laughter beats everything!

      Do you have ADHD yourself, Stella? I'm surprised you can be a writer with that condition.

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    3. I won't kill you for that. I love non-fiction, too. Well, depending on the subject, of course. Like, you, I like to learn.

      Yes, I'm ADHD myself and according to the person who did the diagnoses, I'm rather much affected. If a person with ADHD finds something they really like, they tend to hyperfocus, that's how I can be a writer/editor. It's often hard and I have to give up trying when my concentration just jumps all over the place, but when I get into a 'flow' I manage quite well.

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  2. That's fascinating, and I'm glad you can cope without medication. I wonder how many others with the condition have used it to their advantage.

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    1. Probably a lot. The woman who diagnosed me said that I'm clearly gifted, which explains my coping. I do have learning difficulties, meaning I hate learning when I need to cram things into my head I don't really want to learn. I read that several times and nothing really sticks with me. At least not that what I'm not interested in. Quite a dilemma and my teachers - without exception - all said, if only I studied a little bit I'd have top results. Not in math, though, I studied hard and still didn't get it. lol

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  3. Hah, well maths is my strong subject so let me know if you need any help! Maybe I could show you a few beautiful geometrical curves to get you interested!

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    1. Err, no thank you. haha. I did love algebra, though. And I made my A-level in curve discussions or whatever it's called in English. I'll stick with languages. That's what I was interested in and music and sports. And for some really odd reasons, I loved physics, but only when it 'hands on'. Same with chemistry.

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