Moving...

To all the wonderful followers and readers of the Scribbles,

Thank you SO much for travelling with me so far in my blogging journey here at the Scribbles. I know there are a lot of you who drop by, so I hope you will stick with me when I say that, very shortly, the Scribbles are moving home.

In future, they will be on my new website! 

I will post a link here as soon as it goes live, so you can link into it easily. The blog will still be known as Squidge's Scribbles, but you'll access via the website instead of here. Blogspot has served me well for a little over 8 years, but it's time for something different. Something that gives you the whole package of me as an author, not just my musings on life and writing. 

Watch this space!

(For historical purposes, here's a link to the first ever proper post I put up on the blog...Finding My Feet, posted Jun 29th, 2013)

How to market your books - and yourself, as a writer

I've been forced recently to question whether I do enough to market my own books; I've had some really disappointing sales figures.

It got me thinking, and I was challenged to take a look at what I already do, marketing-wise, to see whether I can improve things. So...

Blogging.

I blog, and not as often as I used to, I'll admit.

There are two reasons for that. The first is that over the last twelve, possibly eighteen months, I've been in a bit of a funk. Life has felt like a huge effort - my world seems to have shrunk and I've been pretty down at times. I believe I am peri-menopausal (sorry fellas, if you're reading!) which has affected my mood, confidence, concentration, and motivation. Quite frankly on occasions I've just wanted to shut the world out and curl up in a ball until I feel better. Another reason is that the Squidgelings are both at uni now, and I have found it extremely hard to adapt to them not being at home, as well as coping with issues they have had while they're away. Maybe I should've pushed myself to still share my life and writing, but I simply couldn't.

At least the blog's still here, and it's still the first place people come to, to find out about me and what I write. I like writing posts - and I hope you enjoy reading them, even if there haven't been as many of late.

Website.

I do have one. But set up after the Scribbles 'because authors need a website', I never really saw the need for it after establishing a blog - and it's horribly out of date. I used a freebie website thing to set it up, but the problem was that I didn't find it easy to use or make changes to. I was also using it so infrequently, I'd forget how to do things or the templates would have been updated and I didn't have a clue. I've said before I'm a bit of a numpty when it comes to IT - I'd rather not do it than make a mess.

I did look at getting one set up for me, but the cost was prohibitive, especially if I wanted to transfer all my Scribbles over to a new domain/host/whatever it's called. I will work on it in the future, but even with some lovely advice available from BInk, it's literally all double-dutch to me.

Facebook.

I'm on it. As myself, not as 'Author', and I'll admit to being very careful here about posting marketing information. Mainly cos facebook take offence if you sell on an undesignated page, but also because facebook for me is about more than selling. It's friendship and keeping in touch, and I don't want to jeopardise friendships by seeming to ram my books down people's throats. Of course I share when I've got a new book out or a cover reveal, but I don't do it to gain sales - I do it to share my excitement.

In all of my social media, I'm genuinely me, and that's something that seems to be really valuable when...

Selling the books.

The vast majority of sales for my novels are direct sales - it's relationships that sell books in my experience. People will buy once they've met me, but if they see my books as being written by an unknown author, they don't tend to take a punt without some knowledge under their belt or a recommendation. That's where catchy blurb/eyecatching cover becomes important too.

In the vast ocean of books on Amazon, my novels are mere amoeba and have to fight extra hard for attention. Especially when it's probably not children - my target market - doing the searching for suitable reading materials, but their parents and grandparents. Ditto on a bookstore shelf; most bookstores have children's titles limited to the big names or popular formula series that children love to read.

My novels have proven to have crossover appeal (instead of middle-grade, they need an 'anyone over 9 years' tag!) but labelling them as children's books can put adults off buying them for themselves.

And the price...I've said it before and I'll say it again - selling children's books is hard. An unknown author, whose books are twice the price of a known author (I know, there's also economy of scale to consider) is unlikely to get chosen. But a lot of the time the price is out of my control...

So relationship is really important for my sales figures.

Reviews.

I do get some lovely comments from readers. I also get some lovely reviews, but not very many. That said, I'm not very good at asking for feedback. All my books are listed on Goodreads and I've done giveaways; I've had one review as a result. One. From several, multiple copy giveaways.

Book reviewers like to have ARC's (Advance Reader Copies), and I'd be happy to send some out - but who do you ask? Children? Adult readers? Book bloggers? (The latter are really hard to get featured by, and I've not seen many for children's books.) The latter tend to focus on big names...

Author events.

I do a fair few of these in schools, for groups, or at fairs. I normally hope to cover my table fee, if nothing else - but schools can be tricky as they may not want you to sell direct. Most of the money I make as an author comes from events where I'm giving a talk or running a creative writing session and charge a fee - any books sold on top are usually a bonus.

Guest blogs.

I don't do this very often, but sometimes I write blogs for other sites. This widens my reach, but doesn't necessarily convert to sales.



Looking at all of that, I think I market myself more than my books - but I market myself in order to sell my books. Does that matter? It gets sales...but maybe I need to backtrack a step.

Why did I start writing books in the first place? To give readers good stories. Did I want to be rich and famous? No - I wanted to encourage children to read. So maybe, just maybe, I need to not be so worried about the marketing? Having said that, I'll ask for more reviews. I'll blog more. I'll take another look at the website and attend more author events if life allows me to. I might even blow my own trumpet a bit more.

Oh, and I'll be sure to hand out some of my new business cards...

A tumbleweed moment...

No, I've not disappeared off the face of the earth. I've been super busy, and as a result I know I've been neglecting the Scribbles.

If I'm honest, I'm not writing much at the moment. Hardly anything.

And yet I have lots to tell you. I just don't have the time or energy to write it down.

I will though, I promise... The Scribbles will be back.

Soon.

Den of Writers

A short while ago, I posted a brief mention of my new web-based writing community - Den of Writers - following the demise of the wonderful Cloud.

In the last week or so, many ex-cloudies and others have joined the Den, but we're aware that some cloudies are having problems finding us or logging on. (Advice from Admin:  "go to the register button top LH side of screen on a PC or laptop, on the black border outside the immediate forum screen. That should work." ) 

Because we know that a fair number of cloudies used to follow the Scribbles, consider this blog a call-out to them - and any other authors or would-be authors - who are a bit lost now in the internet ether. Especially if you are reading this and trying to find a place to be with writers where you can get help and advice from your peers, support each other and share celebrations and commiserations with writing friends.

The site itself is constantly being worked on at the moment, as the Admin team discover glitches or make improvements - one of them being that the site is now https rather http. (Which even this techno numpty knows, is a Good Thing, even if she doesn't know what it stands for.) So don't be surprised if things change. And like the cloud, it takes a while to be able to navigate around the different forums, but we're getting there...

To join, follow THIS LINK - there are a plethora of other Writers' Dens or Dens of Writers on the net, but THIS ONE is the one you need. (Yes, I have just posted the link twice. It never hurts to repeat yourself if you're sharing Good Stuff.)

And look out for https://twitter.com/denofwriters if you are a Twitterer - we've already had folks find us that way, too...

So if you fancy being a Denizen, come on over and join the rest of us... I can promise you won't regret it.

Squidge with her TBR pile... 

PS - Book statue is in the grounds of what used to be Newcastle Poly, taken on a weekend away with Mr Squidge a few years back. 

A quiet time on the Scribbles (but only for a wee while)

It's going to be quieter than usual on the Scribbles over the next couple of weeks... Reason being, I'm currently writing not one, not two - but THREE blogs! Add to that the fact that Mr Squidge has just had a minor op so I'm playing nurse, and the fact that there's a lurgy lurking - neither T or myself are feeling on top form at present.

Anyway - back to blogs.

I'm revisiting the Stories for Homes blog as the first anniversary of publication of the book fast approaches. I'll be posting snippets of some of the stories as well as reports from Shelter over the next week and a half, leading up to a Twitterfest on the 13th December. You can find out all about it here, at the SfH site.

The second blog is entirely new and will run just throughout Advent; The Advent Star. My church has organised an illuminated Advent Star to travel around the parish, and we're posting starry thoughts and pics of the star on its journey, as well as encouraging folk who aren't able to host the star to put a little starlight into their own Advent preparations. Check out this post for some starry craft ideas.

And then I've got the Scribbles...It's likely that a lot of posts will link you to SfH or the Advent Star, but I daresay there will be the odd thing writingwise or creativewise that I'll not be able to resist sharing with you all. I'm still knitting Christmas balls, for example...

Just keep popping back to see what I've been up to...

Catch you later, love Squidge x

Two hundred!

Did you know, that two hundred...

* is the number of seeds produced by each dandelion head?

* is the number of Japanese executives who die every year on golf courses?

* is the number of pounds (or dollars) you get for passing 'Go' in Monopoly?

* is the number of hours, estimated to be spent globally every day, to collect water?

* is the number of companies who control a quarter of the world's wealth?

* is the number of fire-flashing eyes Typhon the Titan had in Greek mythology?

* is the average number of miles covered daily by the Pony Express in the US?

* is a number signifying 'insufficiency' according to Billinger's study of biblical literature?

* is the number of posts I've written on the Scribbles to date?!

Any more '200' facts you'd care to share? (And for this, I really, REALLY hope that readers can leave comments. There seems to have been a glitch on my previous post which prevented anyone commenting, even though all the settings are the same as they've always been... Please let me know if you're still having posting problems and I'll have to get on to blogger.)

Reasons to be cheerful: 1,2,3

Pinch, punch, first day of the month.

And there are several things I'm going to celebrate this June:

1. My birthday. (No, I'm not going to tell you how old I am...)
2. My 200th blog post will be published.
3. Squidge's Scribbles will celebrate its first birthday.

Since I know that some of you have been reading the Scribbles since day 1, you're all invited to celebrate with me!

Are you ready to Paarrr-tay? 

Plenty of scribbles - just not on the blog!

Blimey - it's been a week since I last posted a Scribble! *hangs head in shame* Apologies.

I've not been idle - oh no! But what have I been doing instead, I hear you ask? Well...for those who remember The Fast Show...

This week, I 'ave been mostly editing.

Every spare minute, the laptop's been on, I've plugged the memory stick in, and set to work on StarMark. And you know what (sorry if I'm banging on about this) - it feels pretty good. I am currently at page 120 of 190ish and going strong.

There are certain things in the process that I've noticed are very different this time. Perhaps, having left this story for three years in a drawer, my writing ability has improved over time...Perhaps I'm more familiar with the storyline...Perhaps...oh, I dunno!

You be the judge! (And I have no idea why the text has gone doo-lally later on - apologies again! I've tried to sort it but without success...)

1. I seem to have found my writer's voice - the real one, the one that says 'Katherine wrote this.'

The strange thing is that I seem to be taking out all the big authorly words and simplifying the text. I find myself looking at the text and thinking 'That sounds so pretentious! How would you say it to get the important bits across in that scene?'

Previously...

Irvana looked to where Matild indicated. The trees appeared to be thinning, the green gloom giving way to dappled sunlight, until suddenly the forest lay behind them and a magnificent view was revealed. She shaded her eyes from the glare of the sun, and gazed in wonder.

The road wound down from the forest edge through fields of swaying corn, towards the foot of an imposing cliff. At its base, fortified walls contained the hundreds of buildings which clung to the steep slope sweeping up from a busy harbour towards the rock. Where the gradient became almost vertical, there were no houses, but the natural fortress this created was topped by walls of gleaming stone. Excitement sent shivers of anticipation through Irvana’s body. So this was the city….it surpassed everything that she had imagined.

Now...

Irvana gripped the sides of the jolting cart and leaned round Matild. The trees appeared to be thinning, the green gloom of the forest giving way to dappled sunlight, until suddenly the trees lay behind them. She squinted in the bright glare of the sun and gazed in wonder at what lay before them.

The road wound right from the forest edge and down, through fields of swaying corn, towards the foot of an imposing cliff. At the base of the cliff was the city, its fortified walls wrapped tight around hundreds of buildings. The houses clung to a steep slope which swept up from a busy harbour, towards the point where the gradient became almost vertical; the natural fortress this created was topped by walls of pale gleaming stone. 

2. Certain characters are acting differently. 

Irvana, my MC, isn't quite the nicey-nice and two-dimensional girl she used to be. There's more depth to her, we know more of what she's thinking and experiencing; that infamous psychic distance that is so hard to do but so brilliant when you get it right! Mind you, I'm not saying for one minute that I HAVE got it right, but it certainly feels more right than it did before.

Previously...

Irvana stared at the rows of bottles stacked behind the bar, feeling stupid and small and fighting to contain the panic rising in her chest. Of course Matteuw would be an old man by now – just like Gwendara had been an old woman. Gwendara had died...was he dead too? Her one chance to discover more about her parents was slipping away, and Irvana realised just how much she had hoped to find Matteuw so that he could tell her all the things Gwendara never had. But more importantly, if she couldn’t find him, what on earth was she going to do?

Now...

He wasn’t here! Irvana stared at the rows of bottles stacked behind the bar, seeing none of them. Why wasn’t he here? She felt panic rising in her chest, tightening its hold on her lungs and making it hard to breathe. Was Matteuw old, older than Gramma? She’d died...was he dead too? Irvana gripped the bar tightly as her knees buckled, desperately trying to stay upright. Her one chance in the city, her opportunity to find out about her parents…gone. What was she going to do now? 

3. It's easier!

Before, I'd have approached editing as a way of making the writing sound right...which isn't actually the same as making it sound how I'd probably say it if I was to tell you the story verbally. See - that's the voice thing coming through again. I can't really give you an example, except to say that in a week, I've edited 2/3rds of a 64,000 word manuscript without going back to tinker! Except for a last look-through in the 'read' layout; making the words look like a real book page does wonders for picking things up. I've even managed to sort out my 'm' and 'n' dashes and apostrophes, especially as one character in particular will keep dropping her aitches! (Also discovered that if you write h'er and delete the h afterwards, the apostrophe's the right way round and saves you having to copy and paste! Joy!)

So what now?

Part of my eagerness to get this edit done stems from the fact that there are several open submission months coming up for agents and indie presses...and I'm toying with the idea of sending StarMark out again. I know I said I wouldn't, but I want to see whether this version gets the 'too nice' response again.

The other reason is that publishing Granny Rainbow has given me the confidence to publish a full length novel as well. Sure, it could still crash and burn and folk might hate it. But having published once, I know I can do it again. Even if this time, there are different problems. I'm already toying with ideas for the cover...

So there you have it - a quiet week on the Scribbles, but not a quiet week for the Scribbler herself. And there's still 1/3 of the MS to go, so if I'm a bit quiet over the next week or so, at least you know why...

Happy New Year!

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing today, and whatever plans or resolutions you've made for the next twelve months...

Happy New Year to the readers of 

Squidge's Scribbles! 

Looking back - and looking forward.

I'm going to take a break from the Scribbles over the next week - unless something awesome happens that I need to share - so it seems a good time to look back over my year of words.

I've been published - six short stories in five charity publications. And I was runner-up in a short story competition, to be published as an anthology ebook of winners and runner-uppers in 2014.

I parted company with my agent. An unfortunate event, but the silver lining is that it has forced me to write what I enjoy writing rather than what I think will please other people. Whether that means success or failure in the future, I do not know...

I edited the heck out of Rurik and submitted him to new agents. He's been thoroughly rejected by 'the industry', in spite of being favourably received by readers...I've even been asked for the next story in the series.

I started a new WIP - Ani's story - which is coming along slow but sure after I finally found my voice (with some help from Les Edgerton).

I attended the Festival of Writing, a great weekend with old and new writer friends.

I started Squidge's Scribbles late in June, jumping straight into the Ultimate Blog Challenge in July. I really enjoy blogging and it appears there are quite a few folk who like what I say; today, I'm almost at 9000 hits and have a small band of followers, so at least I know I'm not talking to myself most of the time!

I did a little bit of paid editing work for a publisher - and a lot of unpaid editing for fellow writers. It's really satisfying to see good stories grow and develop into some brilliant work when authors take on board the feedback and apply it in the way that suits them.

As for 2014...

Well, Granny Rainbow will be published in January if all goes according to plan via Panda Eyes, a local indie publisher. Getting the work formatted, edited, contacting printers, working with a publisher and cover designer AND seeing my characters come to life in illustrations has been the steepest of learning curves, but I am looking forward to getting a book of stories (that are entirely mine) out to an audience. I'm also scared witless for the same reason!

I will write, of course, though which project to focus on, I have no idea. Depending on the success (or otherwise) of Granny, Rurik may or may not be self-published. Ani's story is still begging to be told, as is Peril in Pergatt, the next book about Rurik. Add to that blogging, Word Clouding, Helping on the Stories for Homes blog...there will be lots of words.

But between now and then comes Christmas and New Year. A chance to take stock and count my blessings in what has been, on balance, a very good writing year. Thank you, dear blog reader, for sharing the last six months with me. 

As we finish 2013 and turn our faces towards 2014 and whatever it may hold for us, all that remains is for me to wish you and yours a very

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

(Source; 'Tales from the Rainbow Room' blog)

Don't miss your chance to 'Challenge Me'...

This is the last call for 'Challenge me' suggestions!!

I'm running a bit of a competition - the winner will receive a warm fuzzy glow and the kudos associated with the fact that their three unrelated objects were chosen to be included in a unique piece of flash fiction, written by ME and posted here, on Squidge's Scribbles!

I'm going to post all the suggestions received so far in this thread so they're all in one place...you, blog reader, have until midnight GMT today to add your own. Please bear in mind I reserve the right to delete what I deem to be unsuitable suggestions - remember I write mostly for kids.

My family will be asked to choose their favourite combo from all those received, and I'll write the story to include them and post it on the 31st October.

It was great fun last time; I wrote two stories in the end, because I promised to create something unique for the only child who joined in - and I am a children's author after all. Check out Arnie's Aerial Adventure and The Ride to Heaven Retirement Ranch to see what I made of a kiwi, flying elephant and snowman, plus a cowboy hat, rocking horse and zimmer frame...

Let's see what you can come up with this time round - over to you!

Progress on my writing targets - how much have I achieved?

Some time back, I set myself some targets in my writing. You can see them here. I looked back over them today, and have surprised myself with what I've achieved.

1. Get Rurik ready for York; York is a dim and distant memory now, but Rurik was there! Admittedly he got conflicting reviews (!) and since then, has been tweaked to reduce the 'ring problem', but that means he's...

2. ...ready to submit to agents again. Over half term next week, I shall be hunting children's agent details, ready to send Rurik out into the world again... And if all else fails, I may self-pub.

4. Plot ideas for a new book; (and yes, I've missed number 3 out - I'll come to that in a minute!) I have begun to jot ideas for not one, but TWO completely different stories. One fantasy, one historical. I've been very organised (for me) and kept them in separate notebooks so they don't get confused, and I've taken the 'just do it' approach to Ani's story, which has been a bit of a revelation.

5. Be more disciplined about writing; since giving up work, I have not felt under as much pressure to write, which oddly, has meant I've been more productive. I have the freedom to clean the house in a morning for example, then write for a couple of hours in the afternoon. The Ultimate Blog Challenge has helped, as have the challenges on terrible minds and the latest charity collections by the short story group I belong to. On the whole - yes, I now write every day - blog, flash, on the laptop, in a notebook, on rough paper...

Finally.

3. Self-publish Granny Rainbow; She's formatted, looking lovely, and out with some young readers at the moment. Laura is working hard to get the pictures finished this month (studies permitting), and I am waiting to hear when I can meet the local publisher to see if he wants to take Granny on. If not, I'm ready to go POD. A friend is playing with cover ideas and I've also been researching local independent bookshops with a view to asking them to stock a book which has been written and illustrated by local folk ('It's a local shop, for local people!' The League of Gentlemen). All this - without a physical book in my hand. I think it's the area where I've had to do the most, yet I'm still a way off achieving the end result. But it will come, hopefully before Christmas.

So there you go.

Squidge is on track and feeling good, though she's becoming aware that she needs to stop herself from getting too distracted by all the 'little' writing projects and keep focussed on the bigger WIP's.

Colouring in - how hard can it be?

My son has just started an art project at school, where he has to focus on a particular artist.

He's a pretty good artist himself - he prefers to draw very detailed miniatures in black and white - hence his choice of artist: the wonderfully talented Chris Riddell, who illustrated the amazing Edge Chronicles, Coraline, the Grayeyard Book, Platypus and loads of other titles of his own and others authorship. (And his blog is amazing - lots and lots of sketchbook pics!)

T was really excited, thought it would be a great project. Based on what his sister had had to do two years ago, we knew you had to reproduce pieces of the artist's work, which, given that Mr Riddell works mainly in black-and-white, T thought it would be right up his street.

Until this week.

For homework, T had to use coloured pencils on his chosen image. Not a problem, we thought - all Chris's book covers are in colour.

There's just one teeny-weensy problem.

T hates adding colour to his drawings. (Unless it's great big, bold blocks of it on robots and fantastic creatures.) He feels that it ruins all the hard work and detail he's put into the basic pencil drawing, and he is never, ever satisfied with the end result - because he hasn't chosen to use colour often enough on detailed pictures to get good at it.

So then we start to slide down a vicious spiral...

'My colouring in is rubbish, so I won't do it...which means I'm not getting better at it...which means my pictures look rubbish...so I'm not going to colour anything and why does the teacher want colour anyway? I don't like colour - I like pencil! Why can't I just do it in pencil?'

I like drawing and colouring - heck, I even had some designs made into rubber stamps a few years back - and I'm trying to help and encourage as much as I can. Ultimately though, it's up to T, and whether he can accept that school art is there to broaden his experience, allowing him to use different artistic media.

But it did set me wondering. Do I do the same in my writing sometimes? Stick to what I'm comfortable with, refusing to push the boundaries of my creativity and refusing to persist with something 'cos it seems too hard?

Well, blog reader, you'll have to be the judge of that. Every even-numbered day through October, I'm posting 'a little piece of flash', here on Squidge's Scribbles. I consider them my 'practise pieces' when I'm trying something different - you'll have to let me know whether my 'colouring in' is OK?

Or do I have to practise a bit more?

Note - added later by viewer request...one of T's pencil drawings and THE coloured-in one that sparked this post...

Story time - in more ways than one.

OK, I've decided that, as I'm trying really hard to get the last Granny Rainbow story finished AND revamp Rurik so the rings aren't so obvious AND jot a stroyline for The Lufbra Job AND draft shorts for the next short story group collection - *whispers* - I'm going to cheat on this ultimate blog challenge!

Over the two years I've been a member of the Word Cloud, I've not missed a single monthly comp. Because of that, I've produced a variety of flash fiction which has been constrained by various parameters. (To be honest - that's part of the fun, giving myself a challenge and writing in ways I couldn't possibly hope to keep up through a  novel!) Now - some of the long standing cloudies who drop in here might have seen them before, but I reckon there's a lot of Squidge's Scribbles readers who haven't. So - every other day, purely for your enjoyment, there will be a very short story posted.

Added to that, I'm going to set up another 'Challenge Me!' If you didn't get involved last time, the idea is that you, blog reader, post three objects in the comments box below; I will hand over the list to the rest of my family, who will choose their favourite combination. Then, I'll endeavour to weave those objects into a story. (Please bear in mind that I reserve the right to delete suggestions I deem are unsuitable.) Last time, it ended up with me writing not one, but two stories - you can read them here and here.

I reckon I'll give you until the 15th to post your suggestions, then I'll stick the finished story up on the 31st. How's that?

So...here's to Squidge's Scribbles and an October filled with snippety bits of literaryness!

The Ultimate Blog Challenge!

Can you believe, it's time for the next blog challenge? The last one was July, which really got me going on this blogging lark - but I didn't realise it ran every quarter!

I'm wondering whether to go for it again; 31 posts in 31 days, over a month which isn't the summer holidays, when I'm writing more on Granny Rainbow and Rurik. Hmm...have I just made life difficult for myself?

Oh, what the heck! Let's go for it!

Anyone else fancy joining me? Let me know if you do - we can cheer each other on!

Introducing...Laura Buckland, illustrator of Granny Rainbow.

Laura writes...

Self portrait, August 2013

I am 19 years old and have just completed an Art and Design Foundation course, receiving a Distinction. I have always loved drawing and painting, especially animals and characters. I love books and decorating things (yes that includes doodling) and now am aspiring to be an illustrator.The degree I will be studying is Graphic Design and Illustration at De Montfort University.

Spirit of a horse

Dance

The previous book I illustrated is called Metal Molly by Ariadne Tampion.  

I am very thankful for the opportunity of illustrating two books and developing my skills, including using a graphics tablet. A Graphics Tablet is a device that you plug into the computer which enables you to draw using a pen/stylus - a bit like a big cursor pad on a laptop. It makes it so much easier to draw than using a mouse.

Katherine writes...

Knowing that Laura had illustrated one book already, I thought it would be good to work on the pictures for Granny Rainbow with someone I knew. I do draw sometimes, but I'm not sure I could draw well enough to do the pictures justice. I asked Laura to produce black and white character portraits rather than scenes from the stories,  mainly because I like the character style of Chris Riddell, but also to keep printing costs down and make it easier to transfer to ebook format if I decide to publish via paper and digital routes.

Laura...

As Katherine finished each story, she sent it to me and I sketched out the main character who appeared in it. We promised a sneaky peek - so here are the early stage sketches of Granny Rainbow and the Black Shadow and the characters who appear in the 'Purple Potion' and 'Blue-footed Twitterer' stories: Timmy Tenta and Roger Randoodle.

Old Tom isn't here yet - he's still giving me some problems. (Katherine realised she'd asked me to draw him with a beard, but there is no mention of a beard in the first Granny Rainbow story! I think they call that a continuity error...)

Katherine...

Hmmm...must sort that one out! I'm really pleased with how Laura's taken my ideas and created the characters I had in my head, bringing them to life visually for the reader. Can't wait to see what she draws for the characters in the remaining stories!

So, over to you, Squidge's Scribbles readers - what do you think? 

Tweaking!

For regular readers of Squidge's Scribbles, you may notice I've had a play with a few things! Nothing major - I've just finally had time to work out how to do a blog list, and allow folk to translate my various musings if English isn't their first language...

I decided to remove the 'wannabe' from the sub-heading too. I am not a wannabe any more - I am, after all, a published author. I may not have hit the big time, but my stories are out there to read, in real books.

About time I started to recognise that.

Self-publishing - a couple of thoughts.

Chuck Wendig has done it again - dropped a huge dose of reality into my lap.

His blog today is '25 steps to becoming a self-published author', and if you're a regular reader of Squidge's Scribbles, you know it's something I've been toying with, particularly for Granny Rainbow, but also because of Rurik.

I'm right with Chuck when he says 'get an editor'. No-one - and I really mean no-one - can look at their own writing and see all the mistakes and glitches they've missed. (And I'm not just talking about spelling mistakes here - I'm talking head-hops, plot holes, unnecessary info, strange phrases...) Hopefully, given time and experience, there will be less to spot, but there will always be something. I learnt such a lot from professional editing of my novels - in most cases by the editrix herself, Debi Alper, (via Writer's Workshop) but also through beta readers, my trusted author friends.

Still with Chuck on the subject of book cover design. Make it good, peeps! And make sure the standard of your content matches that of the super-duper cover. But don't be tempted to cobble something together yourself if you don't have the skills - use friends who are graphic designers or pay for concepts. Personally, I like the covers of series where colour or images link the different stories, rather than detailed images. A simple concept, but it can still make the series instantly recognisable. In my dreams, Rurik's story will be published as five separate books; all the covers will have five interlocked silver rings on them, set within a black circle on a different plain coloured background, where the colour represents the region where that particular story takes place...  

There was one thing that really got me thinking, especially if I do go ahead and plunge into the murky waters of self-publishing. Chuck wrote (with a couple of tweaks by me to keep it clean!) 'Target readers. They’re your gatekeeper now. Don’t build an audience: earn your audience. Find where they are and talk to them — not above them as if on some platform but among them because you are them. (The best writers are also readers, after all.) Get a website. Let that be your central space. Use social media to talk to people, not at people... Stand out. Be the best version of yourself. Try lots of things. Don’t be a jerk.'

It made me realise that it's not enough just to say 'I write for children' and expect the books to wing their way into eager pre-pubescent hands. (Anyone who's ever been into a school to listen to kids read will know that there are lots of reluctant readers out there - the Wii or PlayStation is a much more appealing prospect for entertainment.)

Children need to be exposed to stories - and the age range I write for, 8-12 years, is possibly in that awkward gap where parents are still buying most of the books for their kids - but the kids are starting to realise what kind of thing they really, REALLY want to read. (I'm not a big fan of action books, for example. My son and daughter were 9 and 11 when they got heavily into young James Bond and the Power of Five etc etc. All my suggestions about trying a nice classic, or a fantasy for a change, went out the window.)

This means I'd have to earn two different audiences: adults and kids. Adults might set a load of store by reviews and recommendations, but kids will want to hear/read the stories for themselves, so that could mean a whole load of school/library visits.

Interesting - and probably the part of the self-pubbing process which needs much more thought on my part. Made me wonder - if you were to self-pub your work, which part would you have to really think about?

Writing progress.

Today's blog is a progress report.

Over the last couple of days, I've been working on that opening chapter...you know, the one I mentioned here? The blog post started an interesting discussion on the Word Cloud about what makes a good opening; as you might imagine, the opinions on what makes a good opener are almost as varied as the people who write them or read them. Definitely a matter of personal taste. As a result of comments on the blog and feedback from a couple of writer friends whose judgement I trust, the opening chapter finally feels like it's all hanging together very nicely, thank you very muchly. (Phew!)

Tomorrow is my day for emailing the opening chapter and everything else to the Writer's Workshop so it's ready for the Writing Festival at York. I won't be able to tinker with any of it any more...it is what it is, and what will be will be. (But my fingers and toes are very firmly crossed)

There's progress to report on Granny Rainbow too - I keep checking my inbox every two minutes today, because Laura has done some initial sketches and said she'd send them through. I can't wait to see them! Maybe... just maybe... I might let you have a peek...

I am aiming to get all the stories finished by the end of September, (ties in nicely with the start of Laura's term at uni) so that I can organise a proper, printed paperback book in time for Christmas. I will ebook it too - but that may take a bit longer to format. It will be interesting to see what happens, once I have a book published - a whole book! - in my own name.

I've been scribbling ideas for the local history book too - the voice of the child who will tell the story has finally emerged. I shan't be working on it any time soon though, as I have to complete a second edit of the full version first.

One thing that's not going so well is numbers of blog hits on Squidge's Scribbles. Since I stopped posting every day, the numbers have dropped right off - I'm not sure whether it's 'cos what I've written about more recently has bored the pants off everyone (!), or whether it's something to do with the frequency of posting. Maybe it's just holiday time, and everyone's leaving the electronic world behind for a well-deserved break?
What do you reckon as a reader of this blog?

Right - must stop writing this, as I'd like to get another Granny Rainbow knocked into shape. And tomorrow looks to be a good writing day too - it's going to rain...