Guest post: Creating an Indie Chicks charity anthology by Cheryl Shireman

I’m delighted to bring you tonight’s guest blog post, a Monday night extra, on the topic of creating an Indie Chicks charity anthology, by Cheryl Shireman.

Is Your Life Whispering to You?

I believe life whispers to you and provides direction. I call that life force God. You can call it whatever you want, but there is no escaping it. If we are open, and brave enough to say yes, life will take us in directions we never expected, and you will live a life beyond your wildest dreams.

Those whisperings often come in the form of a “crazy” idea or a nudge to move into a certain direction that seems odd or silly or daring. Then there is that moment when you think, Well, that’s weird. Where in the world did that come from?

And then there’s the second moment, when you have to make a choice. You can dismiss the crazy notion, and probably even come up with a dozen reasons why it’s a bad idea. You don’t have the time, the money, or the resources. Besides, who are you to do such a thing? What in the world were you thinking? So, you dismiss the idea. We always have that option – to say No.

But it comes back – that whisper. Sometimes again and again. But if we are practical, and safe, we can squash the notion until it is almost forgotten. Almost.

Such a notion came to me a couple of months ago. I began to think of an anthology composed of women writers. An anthology that would be published before the rapidly approaching holiday season. The title came to me almost immediately – Indie Chicks. It was a crazy notion. I was working with an editor who was editing my first two novels, and was also in the middle of writing a third novel. Working on three books seemed to be a pretty full plate. Adding a fourth was insane.

But the crazy notion kept coming back to me. It simply refused to be dismissed. So I sent out a “feeler” email to another writer, Michelle Muto. She loved the idea. I sent out another email to my writing buddy, J. Carson Black. She loved the idea, too, but couldn’t make the time commitment. She had just signed with Thomas & Mercer and was knee deep in writing. I took it as a sign. I didn’t have the time for the project either. Perhaps after the first of the year, when final edits were done on my own novels. I dismissed it, at least for the present time. I’d think about it again in another couple of months, when the timing made more sense.

A week later I surrendered, started developing a marketing plan for Indie Chicks, and began sending out emails to various indie writers – some I knew, but most were strangers. I contacted a little over thirty women. Every one of them responded with enthusiasm. Most said yes immediately, and those who could not, due to time commitments, wished us well and asked me to let them know when the book when the book was published so they could be part of promoting it.

One of the first writers I contacted was Heather Marie Adkins. Earlier this year, while I was browsing the internet, I came across an interview with Heather. The interviewer (oddly enough, Michelle Muto) asked Heather, When did you decide to become an indie author? Heather’s answer was:  About a month ago. My dad had been trying to talk me into self-publishing for some time, but I was hesitant. One night, I sat down and ran a Google search. I discovered Amanda Hocking, JA Konrath, Victorine Lieski; but it was Cheryl Shireman that convinced me. This is the field to be in. I was shocked (Astonished! Flabbergasted!). I had no idea that I had ever inspired anyone! To be honest, it was a bit humbling. And,okay, yes – it made me cry. So, of course, I had to invite Heather to be a part of the anthology. Heather not only said yes, but she also volunteered to format the project – a task I was dreading.

As Heather and I exchanged emails, I told her about how I had been similarly inspired to become an indie writer by Karen McQuestion. My husband bought me a Kindle for Christmas of 2010. Honestly, the present angered me. I didn’t want a Kindle. I wanted nothing to do with reading a book on an electronic device! I love books; the feel of them, the smell of them. But, very quickly, I started filling up that Kindle with novels.

One day, while looking for a new book on Amazon, I came across a title by Karen McQuestion. I learned that McQuestion had published her novels through Amazon straight to Kindle. Immediately, I began doing research on her and how to publish through Kindle. I had just completed a novel and was ready to submit it through traditional routes. Within 48 hours of first reading about McQuestion, I submitted my novel, Life Is But A Dream: On The Lake. Twenty four hours later, it was published as an eBook on Amazon. Within another couple of weeks it was available as a paperback and through Nook. Did I jump into this venture fearlessly? No! I was scared to death, and I almost talked myself out of it. Almost. The novel went on to sell over 10,000 copies within the first seven months of release.

As I shared that story with Heather, another crazy notion whispered in my ear – Ask Karen McQuestion to write the foreword for Indie Chicks. Of course, I dismissed it. We had exchanged a couple of tweets on Twitter, but other than that, I had never corresponded with McQuestion. It was nonsense to think she would write the foreword. I was embarrassed to even ask her. Surely, she would think I was some sort of nut. But, the idea kept whispering to me and, with great trepidation, I emailed her. She said yes! Kindly, enthusiastically, and whole-heartedly, she said yes. Karen McQuestion had inspired me to try indie publishing. I had inspired Heather Adkins. And now the three of us were participating in Indie Chicks, that crazy whisper I had been unable to dismiss.

The book began to develop, and as it did, a theme began to form. This was to be a book full of personal stories from women. As women, one of our most powerful gifts is our ability to encourage one another. This book became our effort to encourage women across the world. Twenty-five women sharing stories that will make you laugh, inspire you, and maybe even make you cry. We began to dream that these stories would inspire other women to live the life they were meant to live.

From the beginning, I knew I wanted the proceeds of this charity to go to some sort of charity that would benefit other women. While we were in the process of compiling the anthology, the mother of one of the women was diagnosed with breast cancer. Almost immediately upon learning that, Michelle Muto sent me an email. Hey, in light of *****’s mother having an aggressive form of breast cancer, can I nominate The Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer? I mean, one of our own is affected here, and other than heart disease (which took my own mother’s life), I can’t think of anything more worthy than to honor our sister in words and what she’s going through. A daughter’s love knows no bounds for her mother. Trust me. I know it’s a charity that already gets attention on its own. But, that’s not the point, is it? The point is there are 25 ‘sisters’ sticking together and supporting each other for this anthology. I say we put the money where the heart is. We had our inspiration. All proceeds would go to the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer research.

The stories started coming in. Some were light hearted and fun to read. But others were gut-wrenching and inspiring – stories of how women dealt with physical abuse, overwhelming grief, and a host of bad choices. It was clear; these women were not just sharing a story, but a piece of their heart. I felt as if I were no longer “organizing” this anthology, but just getting out of the way so that it could morph and evolve into its truest form.

Fast forward to just a few days before publication. Heather was almost done with the enormous task of formatting a book with twenty-five authors. We were very close to publishing and were on the homestretch. That’s when I received an email. An unlikely email from someone I didn’t really know. Beth Elisa Harris and I were involved in another indie project and Beth sent an email to all of the authors in that project, including me. She attached a journal to that email. For whatever reason, Beth had been inspired to share a journal she wrote a few years ago. She cautioned us to keep her confidence and not share the journal with anyone else. I tend toward privacy and don’t tend to trust easily. This is a HUGE step for me. I’ve only read it once since I wrote it. Intrigued, I opened the journal and began reading. It dealt with her diagnosis, a few years back, with breast cancer! Before I was even one third of the way through the journal, I felt I should ask Beth to include this journal in the Indie Chicks anthology. It was a crazy notion, especially when considering her words about privacy and trust. We didn’t even know each other, how could I ask her to go public with something so personal? I tried to dismiss the notion (are you noticing a pattern here?), but could not. I wrote the email, took a deep breath, and hit send. She answered immediately. Yes. Most definitely, yes.

Indie Chicks: 25 Women 25 Personal Stories, with foreword by Karen McQuestion and afterword by Beth Elise Harris, is now available through Barnes and Noble and Amazon. The book includes personal stories from each of the women, as well as excerpts from our novels. And it began as a whisper. A whisper I did my best to ignore.

What whisper are you ignoring? What crazy notion haunts you? What dream merely awaits your response? I urge you, say Yes. Live the life you were meant to live. Say yes today.

Stories included in Indie Chicks:

Foreword by Karen McQuestion

Knight in Shining Armor by Shea MacLeod

Latchkey Kid by Heather Marie Adkins

Write or Die by Danielle Blanchard

The Phoenix and The Darkness by Lizzy Ford

Never Too Late by Linda Welch

Stepping Into the Light by Donna Fasano

One Fictionista’s Literary Bliss by Katherine Owen

I Burned My Bra For This? by Cheryl Shireman

Mrs. So Got It Wrong Agent by Prue Battten

Holes by Suzanne Tyrpak

Turning Medieval by Sarah Woodbury

A Kinky Adventure in Anglophilia by Anne R. Allen

Writing From a Flour Sack by Dani Amore

Just Me and James Dean by Cheryl Bradshaw

How a Big Yellow Truck Changed My Life by Christine DeMaio-Rice

From 200 Rejections to Amazon Top 200! by Sibel Hodge

Have You Ever Lost a Hat? by Barbara Silkstone

French Fancies! by Mel Comley

Life’s Little Gifts by Melissa Foster

Never Give Up On Your Dream by Christine Kersey

Self-taught Late Bloomer by Carol Davis Luce

Moving to The Middle East by Julia Crane

Paper, Pen, and Chocolate by Talia Jager

The Magic Within and The Little Book That Could by Michelle Muto

Write Out of Grief by Melissa Smith

Afterword by Beth Elisa Harris

Indie Chicks is available for your Kindle on Amazon and your Nook on Barnes and Noble. You may also read it on your computer or most mobile devices by downloading a free reader from those sites.

Stop by our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/IndieChicksAnthology

Follow our Indie Chicks hash tag on Twitter!  #IndieChicksAnthology

Thank you Cheryl, I hope it sells really, really well!

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please” (while quietly bouncing up and down in my seat with joy!).

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with romance author Chris Karlsen – the one hundred and seventy-fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

 

Blog interview no.173 with multi-genre author Dal Burns

Welcome to the one hundred and seventy-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. Today’s is with children’s and sci-fi author, playwright (and more) Dal Burns. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. You can also read Dal’s ‘Writing for radio and theatre’ guest blog posted last night.

Morgen: Hello Dal. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

Dal: I’m a 4th-generation entertainer. I’ve been in TV, movies, radio, recording studios, rock band, theatre etc. I’ve done almost every job in the ‘biz, including writing. I’ve written for radio ads, theatre programs, screenplays, radio plays (they were fun!) theatre plays (2 of which were produced and quite successful). I’ve actually been a stunt man in Australia and in the U.S. on top of everything else. I wrote my first short story at seventeen, after a mentor suggested I enter a writing competition. He said that because I was rather well known in my village (in the wilds of Northumberland) as the local storyteller. As I recall, I won the competition. I didn’t pick it up again until I was in my thirties and working with a theatre company.

Morgen: Definitely born to do it. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Dal: I don’t write for any genre. I write what I love. Stories are my genre, if you will. I have always loved stories and when I was living in the Australian bush (in my late teens) I heard stories from Aborigines, carnival workers, jackaroos and the like. Stories I heard while on walkabout with Aborigines or sitting by a campfire in the deep bush with an opal miner or a carnie or a swagman I chanced on in the bush.

Morgen: What an experience. What have you had published to-date? If applicable, can you remember where you saw your first books on the shelves?

Dal:

• Outback! – One-man play that became an audiobook. Suitable for YA to adult
• The Kookaburra and Other Stories – Audiobook of seven stories and a paperback with twenty-three stories. Suitable for 6-11 years, though many adults love the audio version
• The Adventures of Phoo – The story of a boy jester and his robot friend Clunk, on the planet Mars. Suitable for 6-11 years
• Alien Race – Sci-fi novella for YA to adult

My Kookaburra book first appeared at Copperfields book store. I once got a phone call from the lead editor of the Sydney Morning Herald who called to tell me my Kookaburra CD had supplanted the Game Boy as the favourite object for his two sons to fight over!

Morgen: Oh wow! This leads me perfectly on to my next question, have you ever seen a member of the public (whom you don’t know!) reading your book… in any unusual locations?

Dal: My books and audio have turned up in England, Saudi Arabia, China, Australia, Chile and a few other odd locations. I have never seen one in the hands of a stranger, though.

Morgen: Yet. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Dal: Not a lot. Once I have written a piece, I tend to let it go. I am changing that attitude and am working on social and commercial web media to help get my work more into the public eye. YouTube videos will be a part of that, along with the usual blog and Twitter accounts.

Morgen: Trailers are becoming more and more popular. I’m not strictly a novelist so it’ll be interesting to see whether they work for other mediums, I suppose they do. See, I’m hammocking in the learning curve. You mentioned competitions, do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Dal: Not really sure they help unless they are studied by a publisher who is interested in acquisitions.

Morgen: Do you write under a pseudonym? If so why and do you think it makes a difference?

Dal: I don’t use a pen name. I figure if someone wishes to hunt me down for writing a terrible book, they’ll find a way!

Morgen: But hopefully not. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Dal: I don’t have an agent. I believe that agents were once vital to a writer’s career. With the advent of the web and eBooks, that is changing, rapidly.

Morgen: I agree, or at least by going my own way, I hope so. Are your books available as eBooks? If so what was your experience of that process? And do you read eBooks?

Dal: Alien Race is purely an eBook. My Kookaburra stories and my Adventures of Phoo will become eBooks next year, when my publishing contract expires and the books are mine, once again. My next two books will also be eBooks, at least at first. I currently own a Kindle and a Nook and I use my iPhone for some, smaller books.

Morgen: I’m hoping, as a short story writer, that that will work to my advantage. What was your first acceptance and is being accepted still a thrill?

Dal: Gosh, that’s hard. I first started writing radio ads and theatre programs. I had a short (horror) story published by a magazine and I loved it. Anytime someone likes my stories, I get a big thrill.

Morgen: Presumably in amongst these successes you’ve had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Dal: Hundreds. I just figure that if Parlophone records turned down the Beatles because ‘guitar bands’ were on the way out, no-one is perfect and the agent / publisher is probably wrong about me, too.

Morgen: JK Rowling was turned down by over a dozen (14-16 depending on where you read about it). What are you working on at the moment / next?

Dal: Letters from Chile is an (adult) collection of short stories. Releasing as an eBook as soon as I can get it finished.

The Neighbour’s Cat is an illustrated book for young children. Working with Kari Wishingrad (co-author) and SonaJacob (illustrator) on this project, releasing as an eBook and possibly an iPad app., this winter

The Hidden Path is a YA Faerie story that is on my list for next year, as an eBook.

Morgen: It’s encouraging that you write so many different things (as I do) but then that’s the joy of eBooks, it pleases so many more markets than being streamlined into one. Do you manage to write every day? What’s the most you’ve written in a day?

Dal: I don’t write every day. Some days I wander around the forest around my little town, sometimes with my horse and sometimes alone. I use that time to think and let my mind formulate stories. I think the most I ever wrote in one day was 3,000 words and they were awful.

Morgen: Oh dear.

Dal: With Alien Race, I wrote 2,500 in one day and was delighted with all of them!

Morgen: Oh good – only an average of 50 awful words then. What is your opinion of writer’s block? Do you ever suffer from it? If so, how do you ‘cure’ it?

Dal: Writer’s block is not something I have experienced. When I am in the right mood, I write. If the ‘feel’ is not there, I do other things.

Morgen: Best plan. A question some authors dread, where do you get your inspiration from?

Dal: My life, principally. I am very well-travelled and adventurous. I recently backpacked through Patagonia, mostly alone. Got a few good stories right there! Last year I bicycled 800 miles through Morocco with a friend. We just biked wherever we felt like going. This year I spent a week in the Nevada desert, driving cattle to the Reno Rodeo. Between the ages of seventeen and twenty I travelled the Australian bush, often alone. I still get inspiration from the bush. I have so much life to draw from that I have no excuse not to be inspired, all the time.

Morgen: Wow, you sound like my friend Caroline, she’s always off somewhere, and my brother’s a big traveller. I’m more of a home bird… a one-room writer. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Dal: I do both. Sometimes a story comes to me fully-fledged, as Alien Race did. With Phoo, it took me six months of hard slog to build the plot and write it up.

Morgen: But rewarding when you got there, hopefully. Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?

Dal: I do not. I most often draw from life and will create my characters from an amalgam of ‘characters’ I have met in life. Naming is fairly easy as I tend to make up a name that ‘suits’ the character I have created. Taking inspiration from life helps make my characters ‘believable’.

Morgen: And that’s what we’re after. Do you write any non-fiction? If so, how do you decide what to write about?

Dal: I write non-fiction in a fiction format. I take real events from my life and the lives of others and mould the events into fiction, using a little ‘poetic license’.

Morgen: Do you write poetry? If so, do you write to form or free verse? What would you say is the difference between a piece of prose and a prose poem? Why do you think poetry is so popular and yet so poorly paid?

Dal: I do write some Hai-Ku, though mostly for myself. To me, a prose poem is just a piece of prose set to a particular cadence. Poetry is not taken seriously in schools and, therefore, the adults don’t take it for the art form it truly is.

Morgen: Isn’t it, it’s a shame. I’m still learning poetry (not sure if I ever will as I don’t write much of it) but it would be nice to ‘get’ it. Do you write short stories? If so, apart from the word count, what do you see as the differences between them and novels and why do you think they’re so difficult to get published?

Dal: I believe that quantity often overshadows quality. If we don’t get 250,000 words, we feel robbed. Unless we get a Hummer or a triple Big Mac, we are not getting value for money. That’s the principle difference as I see it. That and most publishers cannot see past their own noses.

Morgen: Hopefully eBooks will change that. Novel length for eBooks is already been talked about at least. Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?

Dal: Not at the moment. Something comes up, I will jump at it.

Morgen: Who is your first reader – who do you first show your work to?

Dal: I have friends in California and the UK who get to see my work before I send it to market.

Morgen: Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Dal: I edit. I hate editing and I edit.

Morgen: I’m not its biggest fan either.

Dal: I want to distil a story to its essence so I write it, leave it to sit a while and then hack at it with a blunt instrument until I remove the useless words.

Morgen: What an image. How much research do you have to do for your writing?

Dal: I do research. Often by going out and living what I want to write about. I tend to read a lot anyway, so I get facts and snippets and tuck them away for future use. I rarely research just for a single book / story.

Morgen: What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Dal: There are times when writing is so easy, it’s not fair. Some days I can’t type fast enough to keep up. Other times, it’s like trying to pass a rather large and spiky kidney stone!

Morgen: I’m embarking on NaNoWriMo tomorrow so I’m hoping it’s the former for me, although this’ll be my fourth time so I know what I’m letting myself in for. Do you write on paper or do you prefer a computer?

Dal: I make notes on paper. I always have a small, spiral pad handy. When actually writing, I use my computer.

Morgen: I’m the same really then I do most edits on paper. Some writers like quiet, others the noise of a coffee shop etc. Do you listen to music or have noise around you when you write or do you need silence?

Dal: I far prefer quiet to write by. Taking notes is different. Whenever the fancy strikes, I can write my notes in any environment. Oftentimes the environment helps me to come up with ideas. An old friend of mine, Charles Schultz (creator of Snoopy) used table napkins to jot down ideas for his strip. He liked the local ice arena café and ate lunch there every day (he built the arena for his daughter to skate in). When we had lunch together, he’d be scribbling away on the napkins. I liked that and have copied it.

Morgen: I grew up with the Peanuts strip… so funny. Let’s hope some of his napkin magic rubs off. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?

Dal: First person is fine. Third I use a lot. I once wrote a short horror story in the second-person and just scared the living daylights out of the magazine editor. I wanted to drag the reader into the story and second person worked a treat on that one.

Morgen: Doesn’t it, it’s great for dark (I love it). Do you use prologues / epilogues? What do you think of the use of them?

Dal: Don’t use them. I may, if I need them. Just depends on what I need to drive the story along.

Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Dal: Absolutely. Some of them are junk but I like them, anyway. Some are scraps of stories I just cannot find the wherewithal to finish.

Morgen: Practice pieces then maybe. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Dal: Favourite is coming up with a new story, a new character to become friends with.  Least favourite is actually typing out the story.

Morgen: If anything, what has been your biggest surprise about writing?

Dal: That adults love my kids’ stories.

Morgen: Oh I’m a real child (I still love the Peanuts humour). What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Dal: Get out and live. Go out and get into scrapes and adventures. Scare yourself half to death by doing things like parachuting, or Ropes Courses or backpacking alone in the wilderness. Go and hang out in seedy bars and dangerous street corners and listen to other people’s conversations. Experience every possible emotion to its fullest. Get some scars, emotional and physical. Fall in love with the (totally) wrong person and get a broken heart. Then write about it all.

Morgen: I’d say most of us have done some of those. What do you like to read?

Dal: I love sci-fi, funny books, biographies, Stephen King, Brian Greene and anyone who strikes my fancy at that moment.

Morgen: Stephen King’s a popular choice in these interviews. Is there a quote or phrase you like.

Dal: Yes, there is. A very long time ago, a friend said to me, “Burns, you have this unique inability to understand that some things are impossible.” I’ve never found out whether this was intended as a compliment or an admonishment. I have always taken it as a maxim to live by.

Morgen: What do you do when you’re not writing?

Dal: I run on the wooded trails around my home. I ride my Peruvian Paso horse. I read a lot. I do some gardening and I potter around my home and truck, fixing things that get broken. I learn about new technology. I help out with the local Theatre group, on stage and behind the scenes. I look to get into adventures and to learn new skills.

Morgen: Wow, what a life. Northampton’s a little lacking on that score. Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful and would recommend?

Dal: My favourite book on writing is Stephen King’s book, On Writing. Other than that, every book I read helps me to be a better writer.

Morgen: A popular choice. In which country are you based and do you find this a help or hindrance with letting people know about your work?

Dal: I live in California, high up on a mountain, overlooking the Napa Valley wine-growing region. I’m pretty remote but the web is increasing my ability to reach people.

Morgen: Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how invaluable do you find them?

Dal: I have a Facebook page, a Twitter feed, a Google+ account, a blog site, a web site or two and I am a member of LinkedIn. I believe they will all help me as I learn how to use them effectively. They are the future, IMHO, LOL ;->.

Morgen: I agree, especially for those (like me) going solo (well, solo with an editor) and most interviewees have said that. Where can we find out about you and your work?

Dal: http://dramaworksinc.com, http://dburnsinc.com (older site, needs work), http://dalburnswrites.com (blog), Twitter – @dalburns, Facebook – Dal Burns, iTunes, Amazon.com, AmazonMP3, Rhapsody, CD Baby, Napster etc, under ‘Dal Burns’. I have books, audio, songs and even some ringtones (for the iPhone). I also lead the ongoing children’s writing competition ‘Write Across America‘.

Morgen: My goodness, you have time to write? What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Dal: A lot of hard work. We will have to be our own writer, editor, agent, publisher and marketer. Still, we’ll get paid more than the average 5c a word for all our work!

Morgen: Let’s hope so. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Dal: Yes. That inspiration and hard work can really come from the least expected sources. ‘Alien Race’ is a great example. I was having a drink with a friend one evening and we were talking about writing. She is not a writer and she was picking my brains about it all. She gave me a funny look and said “I’ll bet you $100 you can’t write me a story of over 20,000 words, in two weeks, if I give you the last line you must use for the story.” I took the bet. She continued, “The last sentence of the story is to be…” and she told me what it would be (Can’t give that away, though). I wrote Alien Race in ten days and won the bet.

Morgen: And you’re clearly very proud of the result. Thank you Dal.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know. You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays.

 

Podcast: Bailey’s Writing Tips ep 042 – back to basics

Episode 42 of the Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast was released today Monday 31st October 2011.

Having spent episode 41 talking about NaNoWriMo I thought it would be an opportune time to cover the basics of writing and talk about ‘show don’t tell’, repetition (not to do it!), dialogue fundamentals and much more.

The episode concluded with a 314-word first-person short story called ‘Lost’ which I will be posting on my Flash Fiction Fridays page on Friday 18th November.

The podcast is available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe).

Details of the other episodes (interviews, reviews, red pen sessions etc.) can be found here.