Z End

Appalling and cheap. Unworthy of me and the high standards I set for this blog. Yes and yes, and yet I have reached the end. This is my third year of blogging A to Z in April and it really has been quite a challenge. There are multiple demands on my time, and I have been staying up later than usual to manage. I haven't had a bed time read for a month because by the time I get to bed, I'm too tired to even open the book. The Hobbit has been waiting patiently on my bedside table, silently craving my attention.

The challenge pushes me and I love that. Deadlines work for me. I can drift into unproductive nonchalance quite easily, and I do have a propensity for procrastination. I would love to have a editor demanding I finish my WIP, because of all my readers who were dying to get their hands on my fifth novel, and because of all the money they, the publishers that is, would make. I reckon I would rise to that challenge, instead of finding other things to do because really, where is the urgency? I do not have a galaxy of eager readers salivating over the prospect of another literary gem from D.A.Cairns. (Incidentally I do write literary gems) No one expects anything from me, except me.

So I end this whingefest in the 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge, with a complaint against myself. I am indeed my own worst enemy. Fortunately, Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, and I can go with that quite happily.

A couple of questions to finish with: Do you do better working to deadlines, or setting your own pace? And secondly, who or what is your worst enemy?

Photo sources:
http://muls.org/2015/03/31/ill-later-said-law-student/
http://pha.purdue.edu/news/mu-deadlines-approaching-eps-and-hospitals

Ready

Due to a number of factors, only some of which were beyond my control, I have not done any creative writing for many weeks. I miss it, and I'm ready to resume. I've decided to forge ahead with my ten chapter old WIP. For you precious few readers of Square Pegs, here is a scoop: the title of my next book, the aforementioned WIP is Lovesick.

Stay tuned for progress updates. Also, I'm looking for some beta readers, so if you have the time and the inclination, please let me know.

The Flagpole

I've been looking a lot recently at writing competitions,  Winning competitions is a good way to boost the ego, and increase exposure. Depending on the award, there is a certain cache which comes with being a prize winning writer, aside from the joy and satisfaction of having your work published. The problem with many of the competitions is that there is a fee to enter: ranging from around $5 to as much as $100. I just don't have the budget to keep on paying for my work to be read and perhaps be short listed, or even awarded a prize. I don't know how 'prestigious' these various awards really are. I don't know what impact being a winner or a place getter would have on my profile.

Even for regular submissions of my short stories, I baulk at paying reading fees for the same reason as I have avoided subsidy/joint venture publishing of my novels. Despite their promises of massive exposure, they cannot guarantee sales so a choice to invest in a joint venture is risky. Even though I believe in the quality of my work, it is still a risk I am unprepared to take, because my novels don't sell. Hardly anyone knows about them. I have a dribble of visitors to this blog, and a dribble is insufficient to underpin a solid base of readers.

Anyway, I digress. I just wanted to tell you that I entered the prologue of my WIP in a writing competition. It will be the first test of what I know will be my best novel yet. If I win, that would be great publicity for the novel, but I am also interested in the opinion of the editor/judge.  Very interested. Stay tuned.

A question for writers: what is your take on writing competitions? Do you enter them? Have you entered them? Have you had any success?

Putting My Face Out There

Since the release of my first novel, Devolution, in paperback I have become a publicity hound. I am trying to sell my books in an extremely competitive market, and as much as I find it annoying to have to spend so much time on marketing, it is a necessary evil.

Twice I have appeared out the front of my local book store doing meet and greet, sell and sign.  I've also appeared at the library to talk about writing. I've been to local markets three times. I've been in the newspaper three or four times. I've been interviewed on local radio. I've had some exposure, but as yet I haven't broken through.

Last Wednesday, Dapto library hosted me as the guest author for their new program 'An Audience with..." It was a Q & A session with a group of people, most of whom had read my latest novel, Ashmore Grief, in their book clubs. They formulated some excellent questions which I was given in advance. I sat and was interviewed by the event organizer, Jo David, answering those questions and others that arose during the discussion. It was great. I loved being the centre of attention. There were nearly fifty people there, and I only knew 9 of them. I felt significant. I felt appreciated, and I felt tremendously encouraged.

Why? I've been reflecting on the occasion and how good it made me feel. To interact with people who had read my work, and to hear how they responded to it was thrilling. My desire as a writer is to touch my readers, to connect with them. On Wednesday night I was shown proof that I had succeeded. One woman said, 'I think everyone in Australia should read this book.'

I said 'amen to that', and I thought to myself how great would it be to sell 23 million copies. None of my novels have reached sales even in the hundreds yet, but now I believe that it is possible. If one complete stranger tells me they loved Ashmore Grief then there must be others. A writer's life is full of loneliness, discouragement and insecurity but last Wednesday night I received a massive injection of faith and hope.

U is for Unbelievable

U is for Unbelievable

“Thuza laughed.

‘I have been here for three months but I’m leaving soon. Would you like to come with me? Then stay strong, Little One. Stay strong.’

It might have been madness but it sounded so rational: not at all like a foolish fantasy but more like a plan. It seemed that Malee had a way out of the detention centre, or if not, she had at least done an impressive job of deceiving herself that such a thing could happen.

‘How are you going to get out? This is a prison. They won’t let you leave. Don’t be foolish!’

‘You are ignorant, Little One, and trying my patience. You’ve been here for one night and you are telling me the ways things are. You don’t know anything. Get up now. Let’s go and get something to eat.’

Thuza rolled over to face Malee. ‘I’m not hungry.’”

from chapter 7, Ashmore Grief

A friend of mine is overly fond of the adjective ‘unbelievable’ and so I want to dedicate this post to her. When I hear the word, or think of it, I think of her. Certain words or phrases are like that: they get stuck in your mind and are inextricably linked with a person. Either because of the peculiarity of the word itself, or their over use of it, the word and the person become one.

Blogging is a self indulgent past time for me, and a means to an end. To some extent writing is purely cathartic, but I also want readers, and so my blog is a self promotional vehicle for me to drive along the highway to fame. I have something to say, and I want as many people as possible to hear me. I want my name to be linked to words like classic and entertainment, and to phrases like thought provoking. I want my name indelibly associated with quality literature. I want a multitude of readers not only of my hasty, passionate and often somewhat gloomy articles but my stories, my novels. Having that desire does not make me unique, and yet I am.

It is unbelievable to me that I have chosen such a path. It amazes me that I have achieved as much as I have. I once dreamed of what I have now accomplished. With over thirty short stories published and three novels, I yearn for more. The unbelievable can become the undeniable, and I will never cease trying to prove it.

Photo source:

http://oprisco.deviantart.com/art/unbelievable-122558113