I’m going to be shattered later as I’m writing this at 7am having been awake since 2am. Insomnia is annoying but I decided a couple of years ago to make use of it. If I can’t get back to sleep in an hour, I get up and write. So today from 3am to 7am I…
Some more Indie Author ups and downs… Facebook adverts really work! They’ve been so successful I had to pause my boosted posts for 48 hours just to take a break from the notifications and lower my phone from my face for a while. It was getting out of hand; I was walking into lamp-posts as…
The writing journey continues… it’s been one week since Daughter, Disappeared was published; a dream-come-true week for a new Indie Author! Thank you to everyone who has bought an ebook or ordered a paperback – I’m overwhelmed at the response to my adverts. 113 ebooks were sold in the first week and a further 4,590 pages…
I’m excited because I’ve purchased ISBN numbers for my novels. I feel like a bona fide publisher. I agonised for some time over whether to make up a different publisher name or simply list myself as the publisher of my books. I’ve noticed many Indie Authors create a separate publishing identity, partly to make their…
The ‘fuck it’ stage I thought I’d document where I am on my journey to becoming an Indie Author: Bamboozled. Skint. Knackered. Not writing very much except To Do lists. I joked recently that becoming an Indie Author is more like setting up a business than being creative. Except it’s not that funny – it’s…
It’s surprisingly easy to write a book. Think up a story line, a few characters, and off you go. 1,000 words a day for 80 days and it’s done. Even if you only manage 500 words a day, you’ll have an average-sized novel in 160 days. Six months. Not long. Four years later… Like many…
I set up my facebook Writer’s page, thinking it would be much the same as my personal profile. But when I posted a blog article, a message popped up. Did I want to boost this post for £3? I had no idea what would happen, but £3 didn’t seem like much – a couple of…
What happened to me today is barely believable. I’m so glad it’s over. I’d been on the verge of cancelling my 33 mile walk from Fort William to Fort Augustus due to the forecast for heavy rain. But I decided not to be a weather-wimp and off I set in my waterproofs at 6am. For…
I’m half-heartedly planning a walk from Fort William to Fort Augustus (33 miles) on the Great Glen Way this Monday. I’d been planning to do the 66 mile Speyside Way (Buckie to Aviemore) this weekend and sleep out overnight in a bivi bag – but it’s too cold and wet (I’m definitely going to be…
There are heaps of articles about the pain of literary agent rejection. I identify with many of them: been there, done that. The first traumatic part of the process is the time-consuming business of identifying appropriate agents and preparing the specific submission they want. Agent One wants a 567 word synopsis (single spaced, Ariel 10 point),…
fionamacbain.com 