The last time I posted on my blog, I’d been interviewed by the lovely Lesley Dolphin at BBC Radio Suffolk. Today, I found myself in what is possibly – even probably – the most scenic radio recording studio in the UK: the Casino on Gun Hill, Southwold, overlooking Sole Bay.
It’s been a glorious day and there were lots of people on the beach – even people swimming. The temperature in the studio – with the door open – was 23 degrees Centigrade. What a fabulous place to work!
I was interviewed by Sylvia Jagger for her magazine programme at 12 noon. She had read my book, Still Caring, and she had some experience of coping with loved ones in residential care so her questions were well-informed and sensitive. This isn’t always the case! I must admit to building up quite a case of nerves before live interviews like these. The interviewer can ask anything and there’s no going back!
Blyth Valley Community Radio, broadcast on 105FM, may be a small concern but I was impressed to learn that there are apps for listening on tablets and smartphones as well as a website(www.blythvalleycommunityradio.co.uk) and listeners come from all over the world.
Being interviewed in Southwold on a sunny day, I just had to allow enough time for a stroll along the beach. And as I walked through the little Monday market on the way back to my car, I stopped off at the fish stall and bought a dressed Cromer crab to go with new potatoes and salad for my lunch.
Lesley Dolphin is a great interviewer. I was her sofa guest this afternoon at BBC Radio Suffolk, there to promote my new book Still Caring. But Lesley had read the biographical bumph I’d provided and while she gave my book and the really important topics of dementia and residential care generous air time, we also ranged widely over other topics — but in as relaxed a manner as if I’d been sitting chatting with a girlfriend over a mug of tea (provided by Lesley’s assistant Sarah).
I decided to go to Ipswich by train – since I live near a railway station and have a railcard that gives me a discount. I thought it would be fun, a little treat, to go by train and much less stressful than driving and trying to get parked in a town I don’t know at all well. The train journey was delightful, through lovely countryside, and I had time for a gentle amble from the station up to a CLC Christian bookshop just across the road from the studio.
Being mindful that my purpose today was to promote the book, I checked whether the shop had stock. Ah woe! but the minute I told the staff what I was doing today and showed them Still Caring and its companion One Day at a Time, they declared they would order some. And when I said I was building up a case of nerves, one of the women staff said ‘Then we’ll pray’ and she came round the counter, put her hand on my shoulder and prayed!
I could feel the peace she asked for just slide over me like a silken robe. Quite amazing. And thus blessed, off I went for the interview. Which was a joy, thanks to Lesley’s professionalism and genuine personal interest and friendliness.
If you want to listen to it, you can by going to BBC Radio Suffolk’s website and then clicking on Lesley Dolphin. The interview was recorded between 3 and 4 p.m. today (4th September) and will be able to listen to again from tomorrow. Sarah, Lesley’s assistant, gave me a CD of the interview to take home. But I don’t think I dare listen to it! And if you want a copy of the book, SPCK Publishing’s website has an online bookstore.
And now today’s promotion activity is done, I can relax! (And if you’re thinking of doing radio interviews to promote your books, do take the plunge! It’s great fun. Really!)
I was advising a friend’s brother-in-law this afternoon about getting a rather good book of translated poetry published. My first port of call in preparation for our meeting was Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, which now contains lots of helpful articles as well as those invaluable reams and reams of listings.
The Poetry section begins with an amusing – and very honest – article by Benjamin Zephaniah, followed by a down-to-earth article on ‘Getting poetry published’ by Michael Schmidt, editor of PN Review and director at Carcanet, as well as Professor of Poetry at Glasgow University. So you’d expect he knows what he’s talking about. And he begins with: “Start with this axiom: you have not come here to make money.”
And neither have we Christian writers. Which is just as well. We’d soon be sore disappointed. But there is a paradox: we’re not in it for the money, but we do want our books to reach as many people as possible. And that means sales.
Someone recently stopped me and asked were the sales of my new book, Still Caring, doing well. I gaped. It’s only been out a week or so!
But then I remembered when I was publisher for business books at McGraw-Hill UK, I reckoned there was a visible sales pattern: sharp take-off from day one (books into stores as a result of good repping), leading to a plateau at eighteen months, and then — depending on author activity — a rapid or slow tailing off till the first print-run was sold out, or we were left with a thousand or so unsaleable books in the warehouse, and the commissioning editor with a red face. (It is said that this is why commissioning editors moved companies every eighteen months – before the results were in!)
I’m still working pretty hard at promotion for the new book. I’m being interviewed by the lovely Lesley Dolphin of BBC Radio Suffolk on Wednesday afternoon, sometime around 3 p.m. (You can hear it live or  ‘Listen Again’ online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk) There are a couple more print media to receive customised press releases for insertion in their October editions, and then a couple more radio interviews. Hopefully this will help local sales keep ticking over.
But on the corner of my desk is the printed-out draft of the novel and I’m longing to get back to it. But the new baby is demanding all my time and energy! I fear the novel will sulk or storm like an ignored toddler and I’ll find it hard to renew our previous relationship. I wonder do other writers have a good way of dealing with this?
Meanwhile, I have a service to prepare for Sunday, a talk for a lady’s meeting tomorrow afternoon- and it’s hot, hot, hot! Still, the blog is written so that’s one tick on myTo-Do list today!
Word of mouth is what sells — so if my latest book is going to reach all the people who need it, somehow they’re going to have to hear about it. From other people.
This is where launch teams come in. I think it’s a great idea — enlist lots of friends/Facebook friends/other people willing to help and give them free copies of the book to show around and piles of flyers to give away or leave in suitable places. All volunteers welcome!
I realise I should have started this enlistment ages ago before publication date so we were ready to hit the ground running. But better late than never.
I’m working through my own checklist of promotional opportunities. Yesterday we held a tea party in our local Christian bookshop, the Sign of the Fish in the Market Place, Halesworth.
True, we didn’t get crowds. Maybe to get crowds you have to be very famous — an A-list author like J. K. Rowling — to have people queuing round the block for their signed copy, cup of tea and slice of cake! But I’m very grateful to my friends for their support, and for our visitors from further afield. It was definitely a lot better than the signing/launch of my first Christian book when only my friend Jane who had come to support me and the very embarrassed bookshop staff were there!
As I’ve said before, I find these things uncomfortable, but yesterday, surrounded by lovely Christian people taking tea and eating cake, it really did feel more like a party than a book-promotion occasion. Even the arrival of a local journalist with camera and instructions for a group photo didn’t dent our fellowship.
And maybe, once again, that’s the key: never forgetting who we are, Who we belong to and why we do what we do. It’s not for us or about us. It’s not (ever!) about making our fortune! It’s about serving God through serving His people. And I sincerely hope that my book will do that.
Once they know about it. So it’s back to work, ignoring the discomfort!
Writers  write. Isn’t that right? Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the story. Writers, once published or self-published, have to put their shoulders behind the publicity and promotion of their books otherwise hardly anyone will ever know about them — and all that work will be wasted.
Let me be frank: I really dislike making cold-call approaches to local newspapers and other media. My basic assumption is
that I’m being a nuisance
that I’m embarrassingly blowing my own trumpet.
I do not like this. Invariably, however, I am met with pleasantness and a welcome – which always amazes me! I put down the phone or sit back from reading the email with surprise and joy all over my face. And of course, the feeling that I’ve been an idiot leaving it for so long when it’s so pleasant and easy!
You would have thought I’d learnt by now. After all, Still Caring…. pause to show off its gorgeous cover again….
is my tenth published book. And I used to work in book publishing! What is the matter with me?
I’m racking up approximately one book a year at the moment. That really isn’t long enough to justify amnesia! But I’m still shy of taking the book out of my bag and showing it to people! Telling people about it. Though once I’m behind a microphone or in front of a camera I’m fine.
I was brought up to believe that it was seriously bad form to boast. The Bible supports this view: boasters do not get a good press (unless you’re St Paul!). But as writers, we need to get over ourselves on this. Christian writers write not to glorify themselves but to serve their Lord – and if nary a whisper gets out about your excellent book which would help loads of people, it’s a bit like burying those talents in the ground. (I join you in the OUCH! And for those of you too scared to send your work out to publishers….)
So there we have it: writers write and promote their work. And we can do it graciously and unpretentiously. Those of us who still blush (and I admit even at my great age, I still do!) can even add one of those in a becoming manner – while we plug our books to the best of our abilities! Onwards, friends!
My new book is published today! I totally love the cover:
I think the team at publisher SPCK came up with the perfect title: Still Caring – because that’s what you do when someone you used to look after at home goes into residential care.
Coincidentally – or maybe not! – today is outing day for my husband. I told him about the book and we agreed this one and the previous book about at-home caring, One Day at a Time, are the silver lining to our journey with dementia – if they will help other carers learn more easily what I had to learn the hard way.
We’ve been on this road a long while and there is no knowing how much longer we’ll be travelling. My husband’s consultant suggested, when he diagnosed dementia six years’ ago, that the illness had been developing over the previous twenty years. Looking back, I can certainly see signs that now I know enough about the disease, I maybe might have picked up on.
No point beating myself up. It’s what everyone with a family member affected by dementia says: “I should have spotted it them. I just thought it was weird….”
We’ve been for our outing. Today’s only included a very brief pre-lunch shuffle. I notice differences – deteriorations – every time. But on we plod.
Lord, have mercy on everyone suffering from dementia and on everybody involved with their care.
Back to the big re-read of the novel first draft. And I am surprised. Truth to tell, I am frequently surprised when I return to something I have written and discover it ain’t bad. I wonder do other folk find the same thing?
I’m making loads of corrections, putting in links, tying up loose ends, seeing gaps that need to be filled. (I have a tendency to charge furiously onwards getting the plot down on paper first time round so I often miss necessary connectors or explanations.) I’m also accumulating a list of things that need to be checked:
did Great Yarmouth have street lights in 1921?
would newly-enlisted Danny have got married in his brand-new uniform in 1915?
when would the first catch of the day be brought to the yards for preparation?
And lots more.
But I’m enjoying it. It seems to flow nicely and is holding my interest and enthusiasm. But I’m a bit nervy lest the second half isn’t so good!
By some strange chance, the paper I’ve used for printing out this first draft is a hand-corrected version of my first book for carers (One Day at a Time) and as I turn the pages over, words catch my eye. I confess I have lingered briefly to read back what I wrote then… and once more am surprised.
I had forgotten just how terrible the caring-at-home years were. How exhausted and burnt-out I got. How isolated I was. In fact, just how bad it was. And I am amazed I ever actually did it. I am absolutely positive I couldn’t do it now. And my heart goes out to all those millions of at-home carers struggling to care and survive. Because it is truly grim. Even cruel.
And the world passes by on the other side.
I read the words I wrote in 2009/10 and wonder will I be just as surprised when I read the words of the next book, Still Caring, in a few years’ time and wonder how on earth I coped with this stage?
London Christian bookshop in church – not where I was today!
I have just spent three hours in a Christian bookshop. I was filling in for a friend who could not do her usual duty slot. It’s useful for a writer to have a chance for a leisurely and unpressurised browse of the latest titles – and any catalogues that are available.
The only book purchasers who came by were looking for a Bible – specifically The Message. Happily we had one in stock and I was able to sell it to her, though she was horrified at the price (originally £22.95). I know Christian publishing is a niche market, but must the books be so expensive?
And so many American! On the counter was a copy of the Authentic catalogue for 2013. I leafed through it and found several appealing titles but I wonder how relevant it is to a British book-buyer that a writer is a ‘famous conference leader’ or ‘up and coming pastor’ somewhere in the USA?
My own next book will hit the shops on 15 August here in the UK. Still Caring mines my own experience as a carer faced with the terrible decision to move a loved one into residential care. The first part of the book treats that situation, then moves on to the settling-in period with all its hassles and upsets, and then the final one-third covers the seemingly endless grind as you settle down into visiting and caring at arm’s-length.
I know there are a lot of people in the UK in each of the stages covered by the book. I know they are suffering and struggling and desperately need help. And I know I did and still do.
But my book is written from my Christian viewpoint. It consists of a short piece about a specific situation I’ve encountered, a relevant quotation from the Bible, a prayer, and a self-care suggestion. And I wonder will the ‘religious’ aspect put people off – people who might find this book really helpful and supportive? And if it is only sold in Christian bookshops how will non-church people ever know about it?
I know my publishers will do their best. And I will too – although I find the apparent self-promotion required to publicise the book cringe-making! I also find talking about my husband’s dementia upsetting. But both are necessary. I’m glad I’ve got a few days to get myself into gear!
Last week I polished off the proofs and created the index for the new book for carers. Entitled Still Caring, it will be published by SPCK in print form and for Kindle in August. So that’s done – apart from the author involvement in marketing and publicity. Something I find cringe-making even though I know how important it is. So, being pretty good at biting bullets, grinning and bearing, I shall no doubt simply get on with it – but nearer publication date!
Meanwhile, there is the novel. Today I managed 1550 words. That means a total of over 66,000 – the most I have ever written for a single novel. In the past I underwrote. My approach was to slam down the plot – to tell myself the story, basically, without frills. But this story seems much richer, demanding I give the characters room to tell their own stories.
And I admit I’m gripped. I left this morning’s session on a bit of a cliff-hanger. I know where it’s going to go but I’m intrigued to see how it’s going to get there! I am simply loving writing this book and I ache with hope that it may be published.
It’s not my first ‘baby’, you see. There have been around a dozen other fiction attempts but not one like this. In the past I wanted to be a writer. As a precocious 12-year-old I announced my plan to ‘be an author’ – receiving the usual patronising pats on the head! But it was my name on book spines I wanted to see. I had no idea of the hard work that goes in to getting it there!
In the six months between graduating and accompanying my first husband to Northern Nigeria where he’d just landed himself an interesting job, I frittered the time away with short-term jobs till sheer boredom drove me to a novel-writing class and the start of my very first novel. It was science fiction/fantasy and although the plot holds up not badly even now, the technology has been superseded long past.
The next one was a gothic romance. I was a great fan of Victoria Holt and this was my hommage to the lady. Still in my early twenties and as innocent of the seamy side of life as a new-born lamb, I bit off more than I could chew and it lingered for many years, written but unconvincing.
A Young Adult adventure set in West Africa followed. Unfinished because the story required my hero and heroine to bribe some border guards and I really couldn’t make myself bad-mouth people who had been unfailingly courteous and helpful to me!
By then I was working as an editor in the University Publishing House. We returned to the UK and ‘my brilliant publishing career’. (Please hear the heavy irony!) It was only after hitting the glass ceiling – and rock bottom – that I found myself writing again. I completed a children’s book for a friend’s son (who now has two youngsters of his own!), made a start on another focusing on global warming, tried a couple of Mills & Boons (don’t ask!), and did a huge amount of research for a family saga trilogy based loosely on events in my own family. There were a few more. A crime novel. A chick-lit for older and wiser chicks. And at last, this novel.
Much water under the bridge. But now it’s no longer about me and my name on books. Now I am writing for God and for God’s people. It’s a conscious commitment and commission, and it matters. It also changes everything. Now, only my best will do. And I do think it may well be my best. But hopefully not my last! I have a few more ideas – and a couple of the relegated ideas may be worth reviewing.
So, 66,000 words down, a cliff-hanger waiting for me to start again tomorrow. This writing life – it’s a wonderful life!
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