Z is for Zafon

As this series has focussed on writing, and the tools of a writer's life, I can hardly close without a word about reading. Reading is as essential to a writer as breathing. From time to time one may see someone claiming that this is not so, generally in a writers' group on Facebook. Then, one immediately knows that person is not a writer. Even if he is a hack who has published something, he is not a real writer. And I'm happy to defend my statement against any and all attacks.

This being the case, it's time for me to review my own reading habits. From time to time I make myself a reading list. Although some of my less literary friends think I've read everything there is, actually I don't consider myself particularly well-read, and there are a number of quite important books I've somehow never got around to reading. So, today I am going to make a list to remedy that.

I take as a starting point that BBC list that floats about from time to time. You know, you must have seen it - the one that's headed 'BBC believes you've only read six of these books'. It turns up perenially on Facebook and we all vie to have read the most. I usually win, but at 65 out of 100 that isn't anything to shout about.

There are thirty-four books on the list I make; I refuse to count the complete works of Shakespeare. I hate reading plays, and never do it. The proper way to experience plays is by going to the theatre.

It would, of course, be a nonsense to attempt to tackle the whole list, so in accordance with our daily theme I choose The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Zafon and Germinal by Emile Zola. And as luck would have it, I already have a copy of The Shadow of the Wind.

I load the book onto my Kindle, but as I'm already reading eight books, reason tells me I need to finish something before starting yet another. I nearly always have a number of books on the go, because different days and different moods call for different reading, but there has to be a limit - if I have too many in progress, it gets confusing, particularly if several are in the same genre, as is the case at present. Here's the lineup:

 With all this lot, it's hard to decide just which one to finish. I run over the field and decide to finish Connelly's The Scarecrow before I start on the new book. 

I start reading, but on this sunny, windy day it just isn't what I'm in the mood for, I want something more light-hearted, so I decide instead to finish Bubbles Unbound. Those Bubbles books are so much fun.

First, though, a walk in the park. Emily has to have exercise, especially on such a beautiful day.

Is she not the most divine being you've ever seen? Even after swimming in the duck pond.

After that, I settle in our favourite reading spot, equipped with coffee, Bubbles and Emily. I finish Bubbles Unbound and read some more of The Scarecrow, then switch to Death du Jour. Not for the first time, I wonder about the prevalence of murders, especially perverted serial killings, in detective fiction. My own crime fiction, in my two published novellas and the novel I am still writing, deals with more innocuous crimes; it's difficult to be funny about a mangled corpse, so I stay away from the gruesome deeds. Why are we so fascinated with these disgusting, extreme crimes? I wonder if it is a symptom of some deep sickness in our society.

Be that as it may, I know that I won't get to starting The Shadow Of The Wind today. But it is next on my list.

Y is for Yes - Tabitha goes Compliant

Y is for Yes, and today's the day I will be attempting to accede to any and all requests that anyone makes of me. It's a dangerous thing to say, I know; still, it is only one day, and I make the statement with reservations about anything that goes to morality or the law.

Even as I start this entry, I have a message from writer friend, Susan Day. Susan has finished a new book in the Astro's Adventures series.

This will be a pure pleasure, and I quickly download the book and write back to tell her so. If you haven't read any of the Astro books, you should: they are screamingly funny, the more so if you personally know any of the characters, who are all real dogs. In fact, my own Emily was a guest star in the last one, Astro's Indian Odyssey, and Susan captured her personality to a 'T'. You can find that one HERE, and the new one I've just received HERE.

As usual when I have several things to accomplish in a day, I start by making a list.

1. Read and review The Lucky Leprechaun
2. Do the next day in the Bad Redhead Marketing Challenge (I'd already been asked for this review).

I check my email, but there is no one else asking me to do anything. Tant mieux. Today is going to be a fun day. I start Susan's book right away; they are not long books, so I can probably do both things today, and anyway, she's a personal friend. I have no worries about a conflict of interest with the review; Susan can write, and in fact I was an admirer of her work before I knew her.

I load the book onto my Kindle, as my old Kobo is now on its last legs and very clunky to use and difficult to recharge. I'm phasing it out, as it is near death. The next several hours pass very pleasantly. I take my time reading the book, as I really enjoy this series, and in between chapters I get some housework done and take Emily for a long walk on this beautiful day.

A wonderful time chasing her ball in the park

It doesn't take me long to write my review - you can see it HERE - and I'm on to the second task of the day - the marketing challenge. Oh, help! It's about social media management. A dark and perilous estate where I have never dared to tread. But, the day's content is not so scary. Rachel gives us a rundown on the various tools, and the assignment is just to choose ONE of them and create an account. I can do this!

I create a Hootsuite account and construct a rather basic advertisement for Dance of Chaos - I suck at this, but I do my best:

I send this, with some text and an Amazon link - at least, I hope this is what I've done - to Twitter. And would you believe it - when I log into Twitter, there it is!

And with that, I think I can let myself off for the rest of the day.

X is for Planet X - worldbuilding and the great database disaster

I was dreading coming up with a topic for today, but as I have not yet named my planet, I'm still calling it Planet X, which comes in handy now.

Image used under creative commons licence
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Today I plan to spend the whole day, or substantially at least, working on my worldbuild. I've been reading and making notes - lots of notes - and a few more hours should finish me with the wolves. Then it will be on to our own Koori people - I hope to take some social features from their incredibly old, successful society. As my Planet X people are hunter/gatherers concerned with land management, I think the Kooris have a lot to contribute.

So I settle onto our bed, which is my preferred reading spot because, well, cats. And Emily.

The team is assembled!

It's heavy going reading this book, and most of the relevant gear was in the first few chapters. It's many chapters now since I've used the pencil. Still I slog on with it, because you never know what gems may be buried in there. It's also heavy going because these scientific types aren't very good writers, in terms of grabbing one's interest and keeping the pages turning. They rely solely on the content, which, of course, they are entitled to do. But when the content is irrelevant, that makes it hard to stick with the read. At eleven I decide I need a break, and my breakout activity is going to be the next day's activity in the Bad Redhead Challenge.

We're still on Twitter, which is unfortunate, because I'm already bored with Twitter. But must press on - I have committed myself to do this thing. Onwards and upwards!

Today's lesson is about what content to post on Twitter. I note with surprise, relief and delight that the author of this book is of my own mind about constant 'buy my book' postings, which can amount to spam. 

The assignment for today is to set up Google Alerts on three topics of interest. This is to bring in content that can be tweeted about, so as to engage with one's audience. I can do this. I choose the following keywords: writing, dogs and values. Dogs because I am in the dog world myself and I have connected with many fellow hound people around the world, and so I'm naturally interested myself in news about dogs. I chose the word 'values' because I'm hoping it will net items about morality, politics, environmental issues and so on, with a wide focus.

Next I am to create a free Flipboard or Scoop.it account, whatever these things are. They are free, so what the hell, Archie! Toujours gai, Archie, and always a lady.

I start with Flipboard. What a fantastic site! I generate my personal magazine, I'm in love with this site, but I mustn't stop to read all the articles now. I'm on a mission. Flipboard was so great I decide to go ahead and do Scoop.it as well. But it demands management access to my Facebook or Twitter account. I don't think so. Tant pis. I've more than done the tasks required, for I have done two of the four optional things. It's only taken half an hour, a good length for a break, and I'm quite refreshed. On with the wolf book!

Another hour and I'm ready for another break. Emily wants a walk, but it's just started raining, so instead we will watch a little television. Our programming of the moment is Remington Steele, which is appropriately mindless for the purpose. It's almost stopped raining when that finishes, so out we go for walkies. Then I finish the wolf book and it's back to Amazon where I buy a copy of The Biggest Estate on Earth, by Bill Gammage. It's about our own First Peoples and their land management.

Mr Goyal saved the day!

The awful thing happens right after I download it; I discover my Calibre database has become corrupted, and the restore doesn't work. Not to worry though - I receive prompt and definitive assistance from Kovid Goyal himself! Now I must confess to a little fangirl moment.

By the time I get my database fixed I am feeling so overwrought that I believe it is time to stop work for the day. We artistic, creative types are sensitive, you know.

Tomorrow will be brought to you by the letter 'Y'. I will be having another excellent adventure, attempting to accede to every request that anyone makes of me that day.

W is for Working in Bed

I'm coming down with something, and I hope a day in bed may stave it off. Sometimes this can work.

I'm not really sick, though- not in that legitimate, call-a-doctor way, so I do feel a bit guilty about it. So today, I've decided to investigate the possibility of working in bed.

Of course I have a laptop, and with the wireless internet it could be just like working at my desk - except for one thing. Whenever I switch to my laptop, I have to copy over all my files. It seems like a lot of work just for a lazy day, and I find myself wondering how necessary it really is. After all, there is Onedrive, if I had ever  got around to setting it up. But there, I haven't, and it seems too hard for today. It definitely goes on the list for the future, though.

There is certainly work I can do without transferring files. Right now I am writing this blog on my ipad. It's rather tedious and annoying using the virtual keyboard and poking stick, but the predictive text helps. A short article is manageable, although I wouldn't want to be working on a novel.

So, let's look at work that can be done using the ipad. It seems to me that the higher the read/write ratio, the more suitable for the ipad, with its very limited typing facilities. A further consideration is how many things need to be open concurrently, because the ipad isn't nearly as kind or as flexible in this regard.

So we want things with not much typing, that can be done on one site or screen at a time.

I consider the work I have on at the moment.

• The Bad Redhead marketing challenge, for eventual review.
• The worldbuild for my new book.
• Writing new material for Grammar Without Tears.

The first two things seem well enough suited - the worldbuild is still at the reading and making notes with a pencil stage, while the marketing challenge activity for today is to do following on Twitter, to acquire an appropriate target audience. GWT, not so much; I really want a keyboard for that.

Let's start with the marketing. That's for someone else, and with the step-by-step format of the book, I think it will be the easiest of the three.

The mission for today is to find a lot of people on Twitter who might like my books and follow them. I sign up for a free account at ManageFlitter, as Rachel recommends. It's an online service, so there's no messing about downloading stuff. With only a little angst I manage to find a lot of book bloggers and follow them. I can only use the service to follow 50 people every 24 hours, so after following 50, I check out Rachel's second suggestion, Twitter's own Advanced Search. Now I see the value of ManageFlitter; this is a terribly clunky way of doing it. I plough through a search on book reviewers. I have now got up to following 96 people and I have a raging headache. I'll call that a wrap for day 3 of the marketing challenge.

On to the worldbuild. This day is not being at all restful. My own thought is that it would have been far better just to get up and have my day as normal. Still, I have embarked on this experiment now and will see it through to the bitter end.

As I read, I find my mind returning to the original premise - to the fact I am staying in bed because I'm sick, and I start to question the value of the whole experiment. When your whole body is full of pain, when it is a physical effort just to hold the kindle and read, what will be the value of any creative or analytical work that you do in this state? Not much, I suspect, and with that I give over trying to work today. These observations may be of use to someone who's in bed with an injury, rather than systemic illness.

V is for Venom, and Verbing

V is for Venom, which means Venom Ponds, so my first task of the morning is to make the final payment of the money I owe the builder for my house. That is easily done.

My house. From here, you cannot see anything is wrong.

Now, to work! Today we are going to do some MARKETING. I know that sounds both scary and repulsive. But I've received a review copy of a book - the Bad Redhead Media 30 Day Book Marketing Challenge. It seemed to me the ideal way - perhaps the only fair way - to review a practical text like this is by taking the challenge, so that's what I am doing. It will take 30 days of course, so I won't have my final review up by the release date, sorry Rachel, but I think you will get a better review this way, with concrete and measurable results. The metrics I've chosen are book sales and followers on Twitter and Facebook; those things are easy to measure.

I started this challenge yesterday. Today's task is to do something called 'verbing the bio'. I can feel my hackles go up at what I feel is an unwarranted mangling of our language, but I firmly remind myself that marketing people are different.

I log into Twitter. My bio as it now stands is as follows:

I live to make you laugh. http://bit.ly/2dnzpvP  http://amzn.to/2cUVHEs  http://bit.ly/2cpqJAb 

I set this up yesterday, in Day One of the challenge, and clearly it hasn't worked all that well for me, as the number of my followers has dropped from 38 to 37. I 'verb' it. Now it goes:

My books will make you laugh, even on a bad day. http://bit.ly/2dnzpvP  http://amzn.to/2cUVHEs  http://bit.ly/2cpqJAb 

The other task is to pin a tweet to my profile, and I accomplish that with ease, even going so far as to make a new tweet for the purpose. This is necessary because deep down I don't see the point of twitter, and almost never go there or tweet anything. But I am doing the challenge and I will do it properly, to give Rachel the best possible chance at being right.

U is for Unpaid, and Unavailable

U is for Unpaid, and to me that means unpaid bills, so I start this beautiful Saturday morning by making another payment to the gentleman who is fixing up my old house. I have a daily limit imposed on my account, God knows why, so I must nibble away his bill two thousand at a time. 

I had had a go at painting inside this house myself, but despite having a hard plasterer to fix the plaster, it all peeled off after the big rains. Thank God I had only done one room. Turns out the house has NO DAMP COURSE. Now Mr Nichol and his merry band have been putting one in, preparatory to mending all the damaged bricks and plaster, etc. It is a long term job.

As it's always a bit of a thing finding tradies who are any good, I feel I should give Gary a bit of a plug here. If you are in the Goldfields area and want plastering or any kind of associated thing done, he is your man. Partly because he's one of the old style tradesmen with a deep love of his craft, partly because he's a wonderfully good-humoured, easy-going chap, but most of all because as I've got to know him, I have discovered a foundation of rock-solid integrity. The business is called GE Property Maintenance, and they're based in Clunes.

This weekend is the Tango Festival, and Robert and I have booked ourselves into a lot of workshops, so there will be not much work done today or tomorrow. So U will also be for Unavailable.

T is for That, and also for Trailer

Time for another word on grammar, and today's target is the very common misuse of 'that' instead of 'who'. I use Black Beauty, Ginger and Merrylegs for this one. I had started a dialogue using Katy and Clover from What Katy Did, but I have decided to abandon it - the characters are so impossibly bland that I don't think even I can make them funny.

There isn't very much to say about 'that' and 'who', but I manage a dialogue that I think is entertaining and in character.

Now to a more interesting task. T is also for Trailer, and I have today received an email from my friend Sue, the one who is so kindly making a book trailer for King's Ransom. She has a draft copy of it for me to look at. And it's lovely! I email back.

See, this is what I was talking about the other day. Writers are not rivals. It isn't like two dressmakers who compete for a limited amount of client-spend. We are each other's cheer squad, we help one another, review one another's books, and when necessary we call each other on our bullshit. I am very lucky to have a writer friend right in my (very small) home town. 

While that awaits a response, I'll continue working. I have my client's book back, so that's the job for today, but first I check to see if there are any more lessons in the writing course. World-building, which is the reason I'm doing this course, was briefly touched on in one lesson this week, but there was not a lot of detail. I am hoping this means we will soon get to the part of the course that deals with world building in detail.

There is nothing, though, and I didn't really expect anything, as we have had our lot for this week. So, to work! Client has made a couple of minor changes, but it is just a few words and phrases, so I accept all the changes and settle in for a final read through before I send it off to Paradox for formatting and production.

A word about Paradox, since it's come up. This business provides formatting and cover design, and I get all my own covers done by them. Patti Roberts, the proprietor, is one of the easiest people I know to work with. She's endlessly flexible, talented, and FAST! And the cost is very reasonable. Presentation can make all the difference to your finished book, so unless you're gifted at it, it's very unwise to do your own covers. You can find Paradox Book Covers HERE.

I finish the client's work about three, and spend the rest of the day taking Emily for a walk and watching a little mindless television. And then, my trailer comes! Here it is: 

Thank you, Susan Day! And yes, I almost forgot. You can find Susan's wonderful children's series, Astro's Adventures, HERE. Not only children will enjoy these wonderful books. Anyone with a sense of humour is bound to love them. They're funny and lovely. Of particular note is Astro's Indian Odyssey. This book features my own Emily as a guest character. Yes, they're all real dogs, all the characters. It's beautifully done, and she's captured Emily's character to a T.