Catherine Green Author Interview - English Matters Forum

I attracted the attention of a lady who runs a company teaching English language. She likes the style and presentation of my author advice blogs on Write and Share. Here is the link to my recent author interview for English Matters:

http://english-matters.co.uk/WPBlog/2012/04/04/interview-with-authors/

The Writer Loves Books

OK, the title of this post is perhaps a little silly and I am stating the obvious. There cannot be a writer out there who does not love books, but I am open to comments if you can prove me wrong. Anyway, my point is that I love books. I have always loved books. As a child, my mother taught me to read, and would take me to our local library every Saturday morning. I would step into that small one storey building full of excitement and happiness, and spend a few hours searching the shelves in the tiny children's fiction section, picking out my allocated allowance of six books. I would then read them all within a few days, return the following weekend, and do the whole thing again. I loved it!

Now that I am officially a published author, I feel on top of the world. I have just finished writing my third book, and I immediately started writing a fourth. The words flowed effortlessly, the stories are buzzing round my head, and I am both excited and overwhelmed with it all. But that is only half of my situation. I have an enormous pile of books to be read. That is just the paperbacks, and a couple of hardbacks. On my new Kindle I have something like sixty books or more, including samples. And somehow I ended up back in our local library the other day, and came home with another five books to read. Talk about a sucker for punishment!

This obsessive behavior got me thinking. Perhaps I am addicted to books. I have to touch them, to feel the texture of their covers and smell the familiar library smell of the ones I borrow. Even on my Kindle, I like the sharp definition of text, and the neatly ordered electronic pages. I feel such excitement every time I pick up a book, whether it be fiction or non-fiction. The point is I will learn something from each story, and I will experience new people, new places, and new adventures. I love books. I am a bookaholic. Who's with me?

The Redcliffe Trilogy Inspiration

This morning I was feeling a mild sense of panic when I realised that once I finish editing Love Kills and send it off to the publisher, I will then need to start writing the third Redcliffe book. At the time it was only a vague idea in my head, sort of following on from the latest instalment that I just wrote. Determined not to be perturbed, I put the panic out of my mind and sent out a silent plea to my muse.

After lunch I finally dragged myself away from the computer and decided to take myself, the baby and the dog out for our daily walk. The weather was beautiful. It was sunny and fairly mild for a January day in England. We strolled along by the canal, my daughter chattering away happily in her pushchair, the dog running off ahead exploring the undergrowth.

My mind wandered as I stared out at the water, and I admired the way the sunshine reflected in warm colours of orange, yellow, and even hints of blue on the gently rippling surface. There were no boats moored up in their usual spots, which surprised me, but then I remembered, it is winter. We continued on our walk, following the gentle sweep of the recently resurfaced towpath, and we didn’t encounter anybody else on our way.

And then it hit me. I was mentally organizing my current edit of Love Kills, and then I started to think about what would happen next to Jessica Stone and Jack and Danny Mason. The story suddenly panned out in my head, clear and exciting and ready to be written. Hallelujah! My muse has spoken, and my prayers have been answered. As soon as Love Kills has been despatched, I will get started on the next book, as yet untitled.

But that wasn’t all. I was in luck today, and it must have been the sunshine drawing out my inspiration. Not only did I mentally prepare the third Redcliffe book, but an idea for the fourth one started to grow as well.  And it sounds good! And then, to top it off, I came up with a plot for a completely separate novel featuring a character that appeared in another novel. She is a powerful and ancient vampire, and I now have a clear idea of where she came from, and how her story should be told.

All in all, it was a very successful walk. I feel refreshed and invigorated to continue my work, the dog is happy after running round like a puppy and playing with sticks. And my daughter had some fresh air and a little stimulation as she saw the ducks, the water, and the beautiful countryside in which we live. Clearly I was brought to live in Middlewich by some sort of divine intervention!

If you haven't yet read Love Hurts, get it now for Kindle on special offer until the end of January!

The Indie Author Book Signing Event

Last weekend I attended my second book signing event to promote my paranormal romance novel Love Hurts. The event took place at Waterstones Bookseller in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, UK. This was my home town so I was very excited. I have spent many years wandering around this book shop, dreaming about the day when I might see my own work on the shelves. And now that day has come!

The lovely staff welcomed me to their store, gave me a mug of coffee, and showed me to my special table in the centre of the ground floor retail space. I was facing the main entrance, in a nice open place, with the tills adjacent. The perfect location to see all the customers and for them to see me.

I had actually been sat for a few minutes before I even saw the large display stand full of my books next to the table! My heart gave a little leap of excitement, and I peered round to have a better look. Yes, there they were. A whole collection of books, above which hung a large banner announcing that local author Catherine Green was in store to sign copies of her new book.

The staff had printed some leaflets and had distributed them amongst customers for a few weeks before my event. I found this very touching, and a lovely gesture, since I hadn’t actually been able to get some leaflets produced myself. I am still learning the ropes, so to speak. I had gotten some mentions in local newspapers and magazines, so I was hoping this would help. And of course, I had plastered my event all over the social networks for weeks in advance, and told people as I went along.

As it was, the shop was almost empty all day long. On this day, the 1^st October 2011, the sun shone on the UK. We had some of the hottest temperatures on record, and people were not in the mood to shop. I was most annoyed. Where is the rain when you need it? We should be wearing jeans and jumpers now, not shorts and t-shirts!

There was nothing else for it. I had to pluck up some courage, approach people, and coerce them into buying my book. The Paranormal Romance and Dark Fantasy sections were located near the main entrance, so I practically wore a path in the carpet every time somebody walked in and paused there. I would hurry over to them, trying not to look like a bird of prey swooping in for the kill. Fortunately most people were very polite, and agreed to take a look at my book.

By the end of my four-hour attendance, I had sold seven books. Not an impressive number, but very satisfactory under the circumstances. Aside from this I had spoken to a book reviewer for the local influential newspaper, and he said he will feature my book shortly. This just goes to show that you never know what contacts you might make if you creep out of your dark writer’s space, and mingle in the wider world, even for a short time.

Now, who shall I visit next? I shall consult the list given to me by the manager of the Hanley store. Watch this space for more events…

Getting Down to Business

As mentioned previously, I have been so involved with networking and promoting my book recently that I have been rather lacking in actual writing. So tonight, after another busy day with the baby and various jobs, I forced myself to sit at the computer and not jump straight onto the internet.

I have actually managed to write another chapter of The Darkness of Love, and at the moment this book is drawing me back in. Marcus Scott is a hot character, I have to say, and this story is all about classic Victorian vampires. It is sultry, sexy and alive, despite the undead characters!

There is still a lot of work to do with this. Firstly I must persevere until all of the chapters are written in rough. The story has been buzzing round my head for months now, and I have to stop suppressing it. Then I can start at the beginning, read through, and amend the chapters as necessary.

Once that is completed, I will need to format it and find a publisher. Easy! 

Highway to Hell by Alex Laybourne

Heaven and Hell, Angel and Demons, these things were once considered opposites, but now you will see that they are neighbors, allies…. friends.

Marcus, Becky, Richard, Helen, Sammy and Graham. All complete strangers, different ages, backgrounds and even countries, but they all have one major thing in common…They all must DIE.

Sentenced to offer their penance in the many chambers of Hell, their lives are nothing but a torturous experience. They are brought face to face with their past, their mistakes and the implications that had for others. Until one by one they are rescued and thrown together. Waking in a dying world, they are introduced to their rescuers who do anything but conform to their angelic stereotype.

Together, bonded by an unknown destiny the group is set on their quest; to find one individual buried deep within the many Hell worlds. Not only does the fate of their world rest on their shoulders, but that of existence itself.

Writing In A Foreign Language by Alex Laybourne

I moved to the Netherlands in 2006. It wasn’t really a big adjustment for me as I had always wanted to leave England, or certainly the area I lived in, and with my mother being Dutch, and me moving to the same town she grew up in – that is another story entirely – you could say I really was moving to a home away from home.

Now, almost five years down the road I am married, with three wonderful children and have never regretted making the move. However, I have learned that being a writer in a different country certainly comes with some limitations. Let’s face it, if we boil it down, I am writing in a foreign language. Sure almost everyone in Holland speaks the language, but there is a difference between speaking and being able to read a full length novel and understand it well enough to at least feign enjoyment.

Thanks to the Internet this problem has never hindered me, and now with Kindles and e-readers galore stocking the shelves, getting my hands on an English book is not a problem. Writing and promoting one on the other hand is a different kettle of fish; from writing circles, critiques, friends to bounce ideas around with, beta readers. Ok the last one is probably stemming from my somewhat Luddite lifestyle.

It goes without saying that a large percentage of Indie author promotion is done online, hanging around the social media scene, dropping links and making your presence known on sites such as Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Authors.com and Wattpad, but there is still a lot to be said about face to face interaction and sales. Approaching local Indie bookshops and even larger stores (I have read several people saying that they approached their local Barnes and Noble for book signing sessions and have been given a place on the shelves in that particular store) and requesting some of their time and pitching a sale the old fashioned way.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew what I was getting myself into, and I accept that the majority of my sales will be via the online promotion work that I am doing. I am not afraid of hard work and am looking forward to the adventure that self-promotion is proving to be. I am not the first writer that is trying this, and I will not be the last. All Indie writers face an uphill battle for promotion, regardless of where we live.