Blood Tide's new launch!

It’s finally out in print and I can’t believe how wonderful it feels.  After years of rewrites, making small changes, edits and feedback from some very amazing readers, it’s pure concentrated love in triangle paperback form. Springbok Publications, my publisher for the book, has also sent me to my first e-launch.  I had no idea what to expect and I was sweating for the three hours before it started.  However, once live, it was good fun and I had the chance to engage with my readers and potential readers for a few hours.

Something someone asked me on the night was, ‘what made you want to write about slavery in 1733?’ Valid question.  It was a very convoluted answer.  The primary reason was that I felt Black History Month became a bit boring for teenagers at school.  It seemed to be the same list of names, dates and atrocities and I had the distinct feeling they’d become num to it all.  I wanted to engage these young adults with a new tale – a fictional tale using the elements of historic slavery with a character they could follow (and was new to them).

Of course, there was also that amazing charcoal sketch of a Caribbean woman at my grandmother’s house which inspired Amber’s mother, Precious.  This is her story too, although most of it is about Amber fighting her way to freedom alongside her fellow captors.  And, of course, who could resist the urge to write about pirates?

There was only one successful revolting slave ship in history, and that was the Amistat. Slaves on the ship managed to escape the hold, take the ship and live for a short time as pirates.  With several historic points as inspiration, I wove a tale that (hopefully) tempts newcomers to history, leaving them wanting to research their own histories and learn more.

Blood Tide is available now on Amazon, but should, in just a few weeks, be available to order from Waterstones and most bookstores.  For a signed copy, visit www.springbokpublications.com.

Balancing with Two Inks...

Does anybody remember Robert Pattison pre Twilight?  Aside from being Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter films, he was a talented musician.  If you saw Twilight, you would have heard his song, and his talents as he played (yes, it was him, not dubbed over) the piano.  So what happened to his music career?  It could have developed alongside acting right?  Or no?

My point is that I must be barking mad trying to balance two difficult careers.  My writing is doing very well at the moment and despite my having developed my jewellery making skills and photography (pics for the jewellery) it’s just not going anywhere.  I love it.  I really, really love it.  It also keeps me sane when I’m battling it out with editing.  But it’s not making anything.  Do I keep at it or focus just on writing?  I’ve just registered my maker’s mark with the Assay office – expensive, but a legal requirement for the UK if I’m making larger items of precious metal.  I don’t want it to just be a hobby.  I don’t do hobby-level crafting; it’s usually all or nothing.

So how does Pattison deal with it?  Does he moonlight as a musician under an assumed name, hoarding off the adoring vampiric fans?  Or will he wait until the acting career has fizzled into a comfortable level and then do a bit of band work on the side (thinking of Adrian Edmondson and The Bad Shepherds - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Aulos-NGsk)

Getting paid for my writing today and not for any of the rings I’ve made this month is probably the sign that I’ve been putting off.  The problem is that I can’t STOP.  So… if you’ve read this, thought, hmm… I need to wear some pirate rings to put me in the piratey mood while I read Blood Tide… http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Tide-Promise-Freedom-ebook/dp/B0099POPGW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359111765&sr=8-1 please visit my etsy shop and knock yourself out with a 10% discount (type in NEWCUST10 in the discount code box) http://www.etsy.com/shop/SeadrakeCreations?ref=si_shop

Because balancing the two is what I do best :-)

January inklets

So much to do and so little time.  I’ve been working on more rings and other jewellery for Seadrake Creations.  My photography has certainly improved, but I’m still struggling to be seen and found on etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/SeadrakeCreations?ref=si_shop) as there are so many millions of people selling there.  I do very well at the craft fairs, so this year, I’ll be looking for more fairs to sell at.

I loved doing the bat ring for Berni.  She’s going to wear it to the next Dracula Society meeting – a perfect setting for such a goth ring.  Other jewellery projects have been doing more rings, working with traditional sterling bezels (look at the etsy moonstone ring which blends fine silver with sterling https://www.etsy.com/listing/120699333/beautiful-6mm-moonstone-in-fine-silver).  My wax ring is looking beautiful with celtic spiral and trinity knots, but it’s too expensive to have cast just now. I’ll have to wait until I’ve sold more work.

As for writing… I suppose I needed a break.  I’ve not written anything new for knowonder save for the forward to the next anthology coming out soon.  The ideas seem to be bottlenecked in my head but come out as dark teen fiction – probably because I’m still editing my YA 16+ fantasy book, Downtrodden.  Blood Tide was swept up in the free offers after Christmas – over 400 readers downloaded the book internationally in three days, but only one person left a review.  Thankfully, it was a five star review, and that did make my day.  After years of toil, research and rewrites, it has come to pretty much nothing. Yet I’m happy I wrote it.  It is, in my opinion, my best work – something that I may never top, which is a scary thought.

The days are passed wondering what else I can do to promote my work.  There is always more to be done, but there is danger in just throwing out cash for google-ads only to find your time and efforts would have been better off spent on something else.  So what on earth to do next?  I really want to get this fantasy edited, dusted and kindled.  A wonderfully supportive fellow author has shown me the path to Smashwords – an online resource that allows authors and publishers to upload to most retail outlets for little to no cost.  So I suppose I’ll continue to slog forward, blinded by the icy headwinds, recklessly delusional in the hope that someday, someone will pick up my work and hand it to someone who might send me a good contract.