Authors Electric

Tomorrow I am heading up to Stonehaven, a wee town just south of Aberdeen. Wendy Jones - a keen AE member and blogger (as well as successful crime writer) does a monthly radio show on the local station, called BookBuzz. She has invited me to be this month's guest author. So I am feeling quite energised and ready to rock 'em in the aisles. I actually love radio as a medium and have been a listener since the 'tranny' days of my misspent youth. I even worked briefly for a local radio station and chaired an advisory panel for another. That was a great wheeze since it involved going to twice yearly to the IBA HQ in London for meetings. Their offices were directly opposite Harrods. My children were quite the envy of their friends as I shopped there for those little 'bring-you-back-a' presents, with which we parents assuage our guilt when we dare to have a life of our own and leave them - albeit perfectly well cared for - even for a short time. I also love radio b...

Editing The image of the writer sitting alone, huddled over a typewriter is a long held image. For much of the time this is true, although we now have the modern equivalent - a computer and word processor. However, writers do spend a lot of time in solitary confinement, writing.  And of course there is editing to be done. This really does necessitate being alone, usually with a vast expanse of table, highlighters, red pen, a Thesaurus and a Dictionary. Most writers will tell you at this is hard slog, and yet somehow satisfying. Often it seems to take longer than writing the book in the first place. Then there's rewriting and re-editing. You get the picture.  What has this got to do with marketing I hear you ask? A fine question indeed. The above leads me on to the first tip I have for marketing your books.  1. The most important task you can do to market your book is write a good book in the first place. The better the book, the more likely readers a...

The title of this blog could come across as quite rude as this saying now has two meanings. This being a writers' blog it might be a good idea to clarify what I mean. In this case, it's go cycling.  I've recently had my bike returned to me after my two nieces borrowed it. It has been returned in perfect condition which means they didn't use it much. After many years of illness, I have now fully recovered, so it's time for me to get on my bike. I am looking forward to exercising again, and to discovering the Scottish countryside in a different way. In the process I will become healthier and fitter. Win Win, so to speak. What's this got to do with writing I hear you ask? A very good question. It's all to do with perspective and clearing your brain. I've been thinking a lot about perspective lately, and have written about it on the More Than Writers Blog. You can read it here.  When we drive from A to B, we are in a protected bubble. Much ...

SoAiS Committee Members I am on the committee of the Society of Authors in Scotland, and some of us are in the picture above. SoAiS are supporting CILIPS, Libraries Matter Campaign because we all believe that libraries truly do matter. We are having our meeting in the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh. Scotland has always been a proud supporter of education and reading. Scottish philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie believed in them so much he built and supported a total of 2,509 libraries worldwide, starting in 1883. In Scotland, 56 local authorities were given money to build libraries. Several of these built more than one, including Dundee, where I grew up. My local library was one of these. However, Dundee has an even older library. Lochee library and baths, which was built in 1895. Scotland has always believed in the value of reading and the way in which it can transform lives.  Coldside Library, Dundee These libraries ensured that everyone had access to book...

I am writing this post as the new year begins. By the time you read it 2017 will have crossed 16 days off the calendar, and Christmas will be long over. However, hands up those who got an adult colouring book for Christmas? I've got both hands up as I got both a colouring book and a pack of pens. I will admit I have grabbed the adult colouring craze with both hands and sprinted with it. As have many others it would seem. This has got me thinking about these books and why they are so popular. My research started on Amazon where I typed Adult Colouring Books in the search bar. This gave me 37,962 books to choose from. I kid you not. I was stunned, knowing it was popular but not that popular. That's a lot of books to choose from. It then got me thinking about different genres of colouring books. The one I had for Christmas was a daily devotional so I started with Christian. That gave me 501 books, with devotionals being 95 of these. A quick look at my genre of crime gave...

As a writer I have been thinking about the different ways in which we write. Readers often think that writers fall into two camps, those who use a keyboard and those who write by hand. Indeed many writers would, themselves, say they are one or the other. Is this in fact true, and if true, is it always the best way? I am knee deep in editing at the moment and this entails sitting at a computer and going through the entire novel. I am sure most writers will agree, that it can be long and tiring work. Still, it is one of the most crucial aspects of writing a book. However, editing can, and should, be done in different ways. Once I have finished the edits on my computer, I will print the book out and will then go through it on paper. I will move to a completely different area of the house. Using another medium, and in a new place, can bring a fresh approach to the editing process. I will be wielding my pen and highlighting any areas which need to be changed or culled.  One...

You may be somewhat confused at the moment as the title of my blog suggests I will be talking about characters, and here I am talking about reading. Never fear, you were right in the first place. Just as no two readers ever read the same book, no two writers ever write the same character. It would be interesting to give a group of writers the following exercise: Female, 24 years old, quiet, mousy brown hair and glasses. Write a story about this character.  I can assure you that no two stories would be the same and the character would come over differently in each one.  As writers we often set off thinking we know our characters well. I, following advice in a book on writing, answered 100 questions about the characters in my series. I thought I knew them intimately and could answer any questions about them. Wrong. During the writing of a novel the characters take on a life of their own. You want them to do one thing and they want to do the complete opposite. I...

I have recently taken up the role of Webmaster for the Association of Christian Writers. In my enthusiasm to develop the role I had the bright idea of setting up a collective blog. This would involve 27 ACW members being regular contributors, and the other days of the month being open to guest bloggers. The blog, More Than Writers ,  has now been running for one exhilarating month. So what have I learnt from this process? I started by inviting members to be regular contributors. They were chosen to provide an eclectic selection of bloggers, each of whom would bring their own unique talents, and spin, to the blog. This has worked well and the posts have been varied and interesting. However, I have learned one lesson. As this is the blog of the Association of Christian Writers, many members want to be involved. This can be difficult with only 31 days in the month. I may have to look at changing regular contributors, after 6 months or a year, to give others a chance. At t...

I've started the post today with a photo of Glamis Castle. This is the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and is situated near Dundee in Scotland. Castles are something that we Scots seem to do extremely well. The other is using a language which sounds very bonnie indeed. There's nothing like the sound of a Scot in full flow, be it with the lilt of the Highlands and Islands or the strong accents of Glasgow or Dundee. However, these melodic sounds are accompanied by words which may mean nothing to a reader outside the area.  For example, I have a bonnie wee burn at the end of my garden. A burn would be called a stream anywhere else in the UK. In the middle of Dundee, we have a hill called the Law. Law is an old Scots word for hill. Therefore, the proper name is The Law. As I write crime books this could be somewhat confusing if I said "there's been a body found on The Law". So I have to say the Law Hill. I am sure you are getting my dri...

          As a writer I spend a lot of time on social media, and I mean a lot of time. It is amazing how this displacement activity can turn into hours rather than minutes. However, as a writer, social media is also a necessity to reach out to readers. So, an important part of a writer's life. I am on all the usual ones such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram. However, one thing I have done is sign up with my writer name to as many social media sites as I can. This means that should I ever want to use them, my name is available. They just sit there in cyberspace waiting for me to engage one day. One such site was Wordeo. I had little to do with this but decided to give it a go. It is an app which turns your words into images. Yesterday I decided to do this and within seconds I had a little video which I could share. The images come from Getty Images, but you can also tweak the clips with your own images and others fro...

.By now you know me well enough to know I'm not speaking of this: On line I'm far more likely to talk of first-class  vowel  movements. And this is what I have in mind for my New Year post: So, Muse, help me fix my sights. Help me focus on, er, fiber in blogging.  Inspired by an AE post by Wendy Jones (link below), I set out to increase the numbers of the two blogs I run. 1) The main blog is called Southern Scotch. I call this my everything blog: from book reviews to interviews to thoughts about writing and life...it's all here. And here is where I suffered most from irregularity--with posts averaging just once a week. 2) The second blog is Seattle-related. This has evolved from the chronicle of a cross-country move to a monthly online 'zine called The Seattle Rock. The challenge here is different--to keep building reader interest in a once-a-month event. So, two blogs with two distinct challenges...each requiring a creative approach to regularity. ...