1. A virtual launch is alot less work and stress than a real paperback launch.

2. A virtual launch is also probably a bit less fun.

3. I don't know many people in Australia with e-readers. (My book club friends being the exceptions).

4. I know lots of people in America with e-readers.

5. Most people I know in Australia have never downloaded an e-book.

6. I know more people with iPads than e-readers in Australia.
 
7. Very few people I know in Australia read books on their iPads.

8. When you publish a book people are amazingly kind, supportive and enthusiastic about your efforts.

I was thinking about this when I was launching my own book.

Who do you thank and will they know you thanked them (which isn't why you do it but you want them to feel thanked if you thank them, don't you?)

I always read them.

I'm not sure if I always have but I think so...I'm also a huge huge fan of the Oscar/Emmy/Award night thank you speech. I love  these. I remember formulating my own reponses in my early teens (when I actually believed I would win an Adademy Award for best screenplay...but I digress).

I read acknowlegdements in books because I know how hard it is to write a book and how many people you need to buoy you along.

Similarly I now  know how hard it is to write acknowledgements. I had a couple of people I left out of mine because I thought including them seemed self-serving or would be perceived as such, so people I wanted to thank I didn't.

Overall though you want the right people to feel appreciated and no one's feelings to be hurt.

So here is my question - do you read acknowledgements?
And if you could put it in print who would you thank for your accomplishments?

Don't forget Mr Right and Other Mongrels at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0086L8NBS

Here I am at my virtual launch with my lovely new book on my Kindle and the computer.

I want to say a HUGE thank you to all those people who supported me today with tweets, facebook shares, Pinterest re-pins and of course purchases.

The support had been amazing and life affirming!

After much love, blood and sweat my debut novel Mr Right and Other Mongrels is available today on Amazon.

To buy it click here.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0086L8NBS

After reading the book, if you like it I'd love you to leave me a review. That would be fantastic.

It's quite a surreal experience e-launching a book because you can't see it or see people holding it. It's like an imaginary launch in a way.

My author page is still loading on Amazon, that takes up to a week so I hope by the weekend it will be up.

I will now work on getting the novel up on other platforms (eg Smashwords, Barnes and Noble etc). As I am not the world's most tecnical being so it's all quite an adventure. Lucky for me I have a second book to launch in a month or two so I can use my new knowledge. Meanwhile please celebrate with me and enjoy Mr Right and Other Mongrels.

1. What was  the  inspiration for your novel? 


Well, I've written quite a few of them now including a couple ollaboratively. Concentrate was initially my brother Darren's story, which  combines magic realism with a kind of YA literary fiction style, which was inspiring enough for me to want to work
on. Inspiration generally is sometimes hard to come by. It takes a bit of effort to see the world through the right lens, to ramp up reality into fiction. For me it's usually about finding huge upheaval in the smallest places. Or something like that.


2. When did  you take up  writing?

I always did it, but I never seriously considered writing as a profession until I was almost finished my undergrad degree.
Something clicked when I realised that writers are just people who...you know...write. For a while there I was determined to be a musician and I'd write these long and involved song cycles with a huge back story and multiple characters into a...I was going to say "libretto" but I think "mess" is probably more accurate. Strange that it  took me so long to figure out the words were
more important.

3. How  important is setting/place in your writing?

I set a lot of stories in Brisbane where I live. I understand the place and it's comfortable and I don't have to do any research.
My collaborative novel with my brother has two versions: one set more or less in Brisbane and one in Vancouver (where he's based). The setting made for small differences between the texts. Increasingly in my own work I've been taking my
stories out of specific  place altogether, opting instead for more generic landscapes that could be  anywhere. If you know Brisbane, you'll probably still spot the references, but that's just a bonus.

4. Do you have a  favourite character (s) in your current novel?

I love them  all. Even the villains.

5. What’s  the best piece of writing advice you were ever given?

Park your arse. I don't know if that was Stephen King or my brother. Maybe it was my brother's interpretation of King.  Good advice
though. Words don't put themselves together.


6. Do you have a schedule for writing?

I wish. I have steal time to write. I'm like a frigging cat burglar neaking around the house, desperate not to wake anyone up.

7. Are you a  plotter or someone who tends to wing it?

Both. I make long multipage lists of characters and scenes, then I lose them and forge to use them. Then I go back to them, fix the manuscript, change  the list, and keep going.


8. Can you  name three of four of your current favourite books?

The Best Short Stories of JG Ballard, Coetzee's Disgrace, and I think I may  be the only person in the world who loves Slapstick
or Lonesome No More by Kurt Vonnegut.

Disgrace is the most recent of the three books, you'll notice. I have about 20 years of reading to catch up
on.

9. Can  you  tell me a little bit about what you are working on now?

Final chapters of the second collaborative novel with my brother. We're really enjoying the process of working together and it's a
huge relief for me. I had a bad run of stories that couldn't get traction anywhere and I kind of fell into a creative funk. So working with someone else was exactly the kick in the  pants I needed. I'm just about to read through the final chapters and I can't  wait...

I'm also a few weeks away from writing (and editing and publishing) a book with eight other writers within a
single 24-Hour stint. This is through my  work with if:book Australia. I get paid to come up with this kind of stuff. I am  very lucky.

10.
What advice would you give to a fledgling writer to assist them on their journey?

Park your arse and hunker down. Learn how to listen to everyone around you. Never give up.


Concentrate is available for Kindle.
http://www.amazon.com/Concentrate-Figments-ebook/dp/B007VB8BO8/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

Its North American version The Focus and The Freak is also available.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Focus-Freak-Figments-ebook/dp/B007TIZ4QQ/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

blog & books: simongroth.com
collaboration: iseeapatternforming.com
book:
25yearsofstreetpress.com

blog & books: simongroth.com
collaboration: iseeapatternforming.com
book:
25yearsofstreetpress.com

(Apologies I am  having some difficulties with images today...once I resolve these I will have Simon's photo and book cover images up!)

Chapter 2, Part 1 of The Art of Romance was just reposted on this site.

Do you think Elisa should do business with Brian, could you in the same situation?
Why do you think Lucas is at the hospital?

I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

I know I have already mentioned this byt Mr Right and Other Mongrels will be available on Amazon later this week. The dog on the cover isn't a total mongrel and he does feature rather prominently in the book.

Question: What would you name an Old English Sheepdog if you had one?

I will be posting a wonderful Q&A with Brisbane author Simon Groth tomorrow so stay tuned for that. (I wouldn't want anyone thinking this was a ladies only website).

It's a very big week here so stop back each day. There is alot happening!

So the official cyber launch date for Mr Right and Other Mongrels is this Wednesday 30 May.

It will be up on Amazon then. And I will update with the link then.

Other outlets will follow later in the week but I will keep you updated on that as the week and my technonoglical skills progress.

After so many years and so much effort to get to this point it is a wonderful feeli

WOW! I really can't believe it is Friday already. This week absolutely flew by.

A huge thank you to the lovely Juliet Madison who featured me on her blog this week as part of Mouthwatering May. Please check out the excerpt from Mr Right and Other Mongrels there if you haven't already. Also please take a look at her terrific blog and some of the wonderful authors she has featured there.
http://julietmadison.wordpress.com/

On Wednesday I took my lovely daughter into a writing workshop run in conjunction with the Sydney Writers' Festival. It was a wonderful workshop and she adored it. It was run by the wonderful Deborah Abela who writes terrific books for children. There were a couple of other similar workshops in the series and if you have a primary school aged child I really recommend having a look at next year's program and signing your child up if they love to write.

Meanwhile I am doing the final work on the book getting it ready for e-publication next week. Like any new thing you take on it's both exciting and a little terrifying but that's good. A little bit of fear is a good thing in life. I'm really not one of life's perfectionists (think of me as a big picture girl not details) so this is an exercise in discipline for me. I don't like shoddy work but I just do better in broad brushstrokes.

At a talk last week a couple of authors were talking about how they hated the blank page but loved the editing and fine-tuning process. My friend aPam and I both said "Monique, you are totally the opposite!"

Anyway so far I'm on schedule to have the book ready next week so stay tuned for a final release date!

Today I am being featured on the lovely Juliet Madison's blog.

Juliet is running a series called Mouthwatering May so the piece I chose of course features Allegra and Teddy (my main characters) making dinner.

I hope you like it. Please visit Juliet's site and have a read and also look at some of the other authors whose work she has featured.

http://julietmadison.wordpress.com/

Here is a Q&A I did with gorgeous Brisbane writer Edwina Shaw. Her book Thrill Seekers is available in selected book shops. 


 1. What was the inspiration for your novel?

Most of the stories in Thrill Seekers had been sitting in my head for over twenty years, aching to be told. I wanted to bear witness to the life of my brother Matthew who killed
himself at the age of twenty to escape the pain of schizophrenia.

 2. When did you take up writing?

I started writing full time in 2002, when I wrote my first full length novel manuscript – now firmly buried in the bottom drawer. I also wrote a few short stories and took as many courses as I could on
the craft of creative writing.

3. How important is setting/place in your writing?

Thrill Seekers is set in Brisbane on  the banks of Oxley Creek and on the Brisbane River. The river plays a big part,
not only in the action of the story, but symbolically too. It wends its way through the story, just as the real river winds its way through Brisbane. My  second novel is set in Cambodia and its wild and dirty streets are central to  the story. The sugar cane fields, mountains, rivers and jungles of far north QLD  play a big part in my current project. So yes – setting is important to my
writing.

4. Do you have a favourite character (s) in your current novel?

In Thrill Seekers I am fondest of Douggie, the character based on my brother. I hope that I’ve captured Matty’s sensitivity, love of life and incredible courage.

 My favourite character in my current project is Silver, a charismatic, aging artist.

5. What’s the best piece of writing advice you were ever given?

Persistence is the Key. The quote below from Calvin Coolidge is the truth. I’ve seen better writers than
me come and go. NEVER GIVE UP!

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is
full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Calvin Coolidge.
 
6. Do you have a schedule for writing?

I try to write in the mornings after I’ve done the morning chores and seen my children off to school. When writing  creatively I need absolute quiet and to know that I won’t be interrupted so I stick to school hours mostly. Night times and early mornings don’t work for me. Sleep is too important. 

7. Are you a plotter or someone who tends to wing it?

With Thrill Seekers I was totally winging it. It began as a collection of linked short stories that, only quite late in the piece, I realised were joining up to create something more. My other novel manuscripts have started with a plot outline but have changed dramatically in the writing.
 
8. Can you name three of four of your current favourite books?

 Animal People by Charlotte Wood. The Spare Room by Helen Garner. A Better Woman by Susan Johnson.

9. Can you tell me a little bit about what you are working on now?

At the moment I’m reworking a novel set  among the canefields of far north QLD in 1969, “Into The Fire”. 
I wrote the first draft in 2010, made a complete mess with the second  draft in early 2011, and have come back to it now after a year, much better able  to see how it can be rescued.

10. What advice would you give to a fledgling writer to assist them on their journey?

Write. Just write. Write as much as you can, as often as you can. Don’t stop to edit and tear your work apart. Keep writing till you’ve finished what you set out to achieve. 
 
Read a lot of good quality literature in a variety of genres.

Join a writers group of like’-minded people also on the writing path and critique each other’s work. Do as many courses as you can that teach about craft.

And finally – WRITING IS   REWRITING!

Thrill Seekers by Edwina Shaw is available below:

http://www.booktopia.com.au/thrill-seekers/prod9781841678801.html