Oh good question! There is an element of imposter syndrome lurking about with regards to this one. Right from the day I finished the first draft of Stronger Within, inwardly I was incredibly proud of what I had achieved. Openly admitting that took a lot longer…about 5 books longer! Now I am more comfortable to say that I am an indie-author but it still depends on the situation. Being a writer is an intrinsic part of who I am. It’s been such a huge part of my life for over ten years that I can’t imagine it any other way now. If folk think being a writer makes me a bit weird then that’s fine by me. Afterall why be normal?
#meetthewriter Day 13/15- THREE
Describe my writing style in 3 little words….ok here goes.
Emotional Believable Honest
Have a read at my book babies and my blog and judge for yourself 😊
#meetthewriter Day 14/15 – IMAGININGS
The writing dream was always to see my name on the cover of a “real” book and that has already come true. I’ll not lie, I would love to see my books for sale on the shelves of high street bookshops, but I appreciate if that was to happen, it could bring some unwanted “fame” with it and that’s not for me as a person. And let’s face it, Amazon is the biggest “bookshop” around and they’re already on its virtual shelves complete with glittering stars so let’s not get greedy here.
#meetthewriter Day15/15 – COMMITMENT
Day 15 already… the last fifteen days have flown by.
My commitment to my writing life is to keep going and to keep enjoying it. After all that has gone in my world over the past few months, I am still finding my feet, so I am doing my best not to put any undue pressure on myself with regards to deadlines with my writing. This is a year to restore some balance and to begin to heal from the past few years.
The wee driven stubborn bit of me that keeps whispering in my ear would love to see Book Baby 8 released by the end of 2024. The voice of reason is saying “be content to get the first draft done”.
My creative journey has opened several doorways. The key doorway was the one into the story. Taking that first step to sit down and write what became the Silver Lake series took me a huge amount of self-confidence and self-discipline. I’m terrified of letting people read what I write but the dream was always to see my name on the cover of a book. Writing and then self-publishing took me through a doorway that led me way beyond my comfort zone but I’ve never looked back.
Day 7/15 – PSEUDONYM
A pseudonym isn’t something I ever considered. Taking the decision to initially set up my blog and them to self-publish my first novel in 2015 was something I was hugely proud of achieving so there was no way I was hiding behind a pseudonym. These were my achievements and I was proud to put my name to them. I still am.
A lot of my writing journey has been about establishing my own self-belief and self-worth. It would feel as though I was cheating if I used another name.
Day 8/15 – SOUNDS
Ocean, beach and sunset spring to mind! They’re feelgood words.
Tour , book, wine and Sale are among my favourite 4 letter words.
On a more serious note, I like the Greek word MERAKI which means to do something with soul, creativity and love. Sounds a bit like writing to me
Day 9/15 – LOCATION
My family would argue that you can find my writing all over the living room! LOL No, seriously, you can find my blogs at Coral McCallum | chasing rainbows and dreams in day to day life There’s also a “shop” tab on there that leads you to the Amazon links for my book babies. My 7 book babies (oh it still feels surreal to say that out loud) can be found worldwide on Amazon if you care to look and are available as both paperbacks or ebooks. Haven’t ventured into the world of hardback books…yet. The rest of my writing can be found in countless notebooks, journals and diaries. Some of those journals may be pulled together into a “something” further down the line. Time will tell….
Day 10/15 – CHAMPION
I have been truly fortunate throughout my creative journey and for the year or so before I self-published my first book baby Stronger Within in 2015 to have a core group of “champions” by my side and behind me, encouraging my every step. These are my “infamous five” and my “cavalry” You know who you are, and I’ll not blow your cover by naming names here.
My readers, blog followers and social media followers are also my champions.
I am wholly appreciative of everyone who supports my journey. Thank you will never be enough.
Some of you may remember the Meet the Writer online challenge from 2023. When I saw Beth Kempton promoting this year’s challenge, I was excited to see what topics came up.
Here’s the first of 3 instalments.
Day 1/15- VIEW
Today is Day One of this year’s Meet The Writer event with 15 daily prompts from Beth Kempton.
View…. when I’m writing indoors this is the view of my desk. Cluttered but cosy. My desk is in the corner of the living room so there’s usually a cat or two for company. In summer I enjoy writing outdoors in the sun but it’s January and it’s cold and damp and dark so no view of that space today
Day 2/15 CATALYST
I can’t remember not writing. As soon as I could write a sentence, I was off and scribbling. I’ve mentioned before that writing has always been a coping mechanism for me. I wrote through high school to escape from persistent bullying. I’ve journaled extensively for the past 3/4 years as my key coping mechanism through first Lockdown then George’s illness. Writing fiction is like oxygen to me. I need to be lost in my book babies. Over the years they have proved to be a therapeutic escape from reality. Long may that continue…
Day 3/15….HANDWRITING
I write everything out longhand. I journal longhand. I write far quicker than I type. Do I like my own handwriting? Yes but a lot of folk struggle to read it. I love a nice pen, preferably with purple ink. I’m a sucker for pens… and notebooks. Yes I have several of those that are “too good to use”
Day 4/15 – RITUAL
Even although I am a complete creature of habit, I don’t really have any rituals associated with my writing. I have routines. Every night before I go to bed, I sit and write my diary entry for the day.
When I am buying notebooks to write future book babies in, I always buy 5 of each. Each novel so far has run to 4/5 notepads and I like them to match.
If my writing isn’t flowing as well as I’d like with my manuscripts, I will occasionally change to writing with a different pen in a different colour of ink to see if that flows better….it usually does.
Day 5/15 – COMPANIONS
My companions while I am writing tend to be feline rather than literary. I am the human slave to four spoiled furry boys. Let’s be honest- the cat has done an awesome job at domestication with their humans
I do write near to my bookshelves so you could argue that all my favourite authors are just over my shoulder.
When I’m writing, the books I tend to dip into most often are usually my own as I search for particular scenes to ensure I maintain continuity.
Gentle waves lapped at the pillars beneath the fishing pier. The pier stretched out in front of her, reaching out towards the watery horizon. As was her want, she had climbed up onto one of the concrete blocks at the base of one of the pillars, choosing one free from seaweed that was catching the early morning sun. The first hour after sunrise was her favourite time of day. All around her the world was wakening up. Off to her left, she could see a heron, wading leisurely through the shallows. The beach was virtually deserted, only the occasional fisherman standing on the shoreline.
It was a peaceful scene. A perfect picture of tranquillity.
With her sketchpad balanced on her knee and two spare pencils skewered through her messy hair bun, she worked swiftly to capture an image of the heron before it took flight.
A voice, an irate voice, shattered her concentration. Looking up from her drawing, she spotted a guy with shoulder length tousled blonde hair, wearing a dark suit with the trousers rolled up, wading through the water between the pillars. His black leather shoes were sticking out of his suit jacket pockets.
“It was our fucking wedding night, and you fucked my best man!” he ranted as he walked between two pillars a few metres from where she sat unseen.
He paused his stride while the other person, his bride, replied.
Slamming his fist off one of the pillars, he fumed, “Screw you! I’ll be speaking to my lawyer to get this farce of a marriage annulled. Have a nice life, Elizabeth.”
Ending the call, he hurled his phone out into the ocean.
Sitting in stunned silence, she watched as the rejected bridegroom headed off down the beach away from her. His aura was screaming hurt and anger around him.
A strange feeling crept over her. She felt as though she had intruded on a private moment for the stranger, a life changing moment. A moment that had left her with the feeling of carrying someone else’s secret. Part of her wanted to run after him and tell him it would all work out, but would it?…
While she had been distracted, the heron had flown away.
The scene from the beach was still eating at her as she opened up her coffee shop an hour later. Her overactive imagination had woven all sorts of scenarios around the snippet of conversation, but she still felt guilty about accidentally overhearing it in the first place. Telling herself that it was just a moment in time, and she’d never see the guy again, she flipped the closed sign over to open before opening the door to let the ocean air waft in.
Soon her morning regulars began to fill the tables. The coffee shop hummed around her with the buzz of conversation.
“Americano with an extra shot to go please.”
The voice sounded familiar.
Looking up she found herself face to face with the guy from the beach….
So many years had passed since she had last seen “the tin”. When had it even last been opened? The old shortbread tin was beginning to show its age. The tartan sides and border on the lid were faded. The image of snowcapped Scottish mountains on the lid was growing faint with age, almost as though a veil of mist was hanging over their peaks. The tin was older than she was. In fact, it might even be older than her mother.
Holding it in her hands, memories of playing with it as a little girl came rushing back. She had spent many hours sorting through the contents, plaguing her gran to tell her the stories that went with them. Her gran had happily gone wandering down memory lane as she reminisced about where each item had come from.
When she had been a child, the tin had seemed huge and heavy. Now, as she held it in her hands, it was the weight of the memories within that she felt.
Taking great care, she eased off the lid. As she glimpsed inside it, everything looked exactly the same as it had done over forty years before.
The tin was filled with buttons.
There were buttons in all shapes and sizes; there were buttons of every colour.
Lost in her memories, she ran her fingers through the buttons.
She spotted the large dark green buttons that had belonged to her grandfather’s army coat from during the war. There were small round pearl buttons from one of her mother’s summer cardigans from the 1950’s. Big round purple buttons caught her eye. Those came from the wool coat her aunt had bought with her first wage packet. She could see some bone toggles that had been snipped from her father’s duffel coat. One still had its leather loop attached. Several small pearly white buttons with a star in the centre made her smile. They were from her own handknitted baby cardigans. In one of the corners, she saw four or five grey buttons clustered together that had come from one of her primary school cardigans.
Reaching into her jeans pocket, she pulled out four navy blue buttons about the size of a two pence piece. With a wistful smile, she added the buttons from her gran’s favourite cardigan to the tin.
Her whole family history could be told using the buttons from the tin. In her hands, she held several lifetimes of memories. If only those buttons could talk. The tales they would tell!
She was now the custodian of “the tin”. Silently, she promised her gran that she would keep up the family tradition and add her buttons and her children’s buttons to the tin. In time, the tin would pass down to the next generation but for now it was hers to cherish.
A teardrop fell, landing on a red button in the heart of the tin.
“How many characters have you created?” … that was the question that was put to me recently.
And the answer?… I have no idea!
I have heard that there are authors out there who keep strict records of all their characters.
This author has scribbled notes on scraps of paper or post its stuffed into polypockets in the notebooks she has filled…. truth!
I do have a nice teal leather journal where I jot down potential character names and character traits or potential fictitious band names so perhaps there is a glimmer of hope. LOL
The question got me thinking about the various characters I’ve created over the past ten years or more. (If I go back far enough, its nearly 40 years for some aspects of Jake and Lori.)
I love the central characters on my book babies. The more I write about them and develop them, the more I begin to think about them as “real” people. As a writer, you spend as much time in your head with this “fictional family” as you do with your real family…sometimes more. Through time, thy take on personalities all of their own.
But what other minor characters have stuck with me?
The first to spring to mind is Reuben (Ben) Storm who made an appearance around Christmas 2018 in a short story I titled, A Party Dress, An Ugly Sweater And A Christmas Surprise. Every now and then I think fondly of him and wonder what story he has to tell. There may be another outing for him one day…time will tell.
My dark angel, Anna, from my serialised vampire fiction Silently Watching is another favourite. It’s over nine years since I created her and began setting her free around various full moons. Like Reuben Storm, I feel she has a back story to tell us. Writing the Silently Watching instalments is always fun.
Thinking about minor characters in my book babies who have stolen my heart, Nana from Ellen is a standout. I love that little old lady!
Eden Friend, from Long Shadows, the final instalment of my Silver Lake series, is an intriguing young lady. I don’t want to give away any spoilers in case some Silver Lake lovers haven’t met her yet but she’s another one who could have more to say in due course.
The dark characters who were fun to write were Nicole Tonriverdi and Salazar Mendes, both from the Silver Lake series. Ms Tonriverdi may have had her day but with the right story, Sal’s past could be explored one day.
The more I pause to think about these characters, the more ideas are forming a queue in my imagination!
At the end of the day, no matter how many “people” I create, I’ll always be grateful to Lori Hyde and Jake Power for the creative path they set me on. Both of those characters had lived in my imagination for a very long time before I found the confidence to put pen to paper and set them free. Thank you will never seem enough to say to them.
I am currently working on Book Baby 8. There will be more news about it in due course and hopefully 2024 will see me share these characters with you. Time will tell…
Less than an hour later, the burgers were sizzling on the grill, Maddy and Lori were bringing salads and relishes out from the kitchen, Becky was contentedly watching TV and the four band members were all catching up with each other, as they sprawled across the sun deck. Rich had taken charge of the BBQ, ordering Jake to stay clear of the smoke. Happy to relinquish the cooking duties, Jake had gone back to the sun lounger without a word of complaint. Once all the food was out, Lori came and sat beside him. He draped a protective arm around her shoulders, kissed the top of her head and whispered, “Love you, li’l lady.”
“Love you too, rock star,” she purred, resting her head against his bare chest.
Within a few minutes, Rich was dishing up burgers and they were all scrabbling round the table for rolls, salad and relish. No one was standing on ceremony and the relaxed atmosphere gave it the feel of a family meal.
Just for today Bonded Souls, book 3 in the Silver Lake series is free to download to Kindle
Nicole, however, has been a busy lady and, since our first catch up, has published not one but two novels.
So, I’d like to welcome her back to my blog to talk about what she’s been up to creatively this year.
I first “interviewed” you back in March, so how has life treated you so far in this crazy world that is 2020?
Wow! I don’t think either of us predicted how this year was going to pan out. What incredibly strange times we’re living in. I’ve been incredibly fortunate in that none of my loved ones have been badly affected by the virus itself. My 20 year old daughter thought she had the virus back in April, she had heart surgery as a baby so I always worry about her health, but she was fine. I own a cafe, so of course I had to close the business. I was closed for a couple of weeks, but then customers started contacting me and asking for afternoon tea. I ended up delivering afternoon teas and homemade scones all over Widnes. It’s been difficult from the point of view of my business. Not knowing if the business will survive and trying to decide what to do in the longer term is tough. Since we reopened though my customers have been amazingly supportive. The good will i have received has been heart-warming. I live in the North West and case numbers are high again. I’m waiting to find out over the next few days if we are going to be told to close again, but it’s simply a case of waiting and hoping we can weather the storm. Whatever happens I have lots to be thankful for. Lockdown gave me a little time to stop and think. I had been writing Chasing Butterflies for years. Lockdown gave me the chance to pull it all together and edit it before self-publishing. I also managed to start The China Doll before I reopened the business. Your debut novel Chasing Butterflies was published in May this year.
Your debut novel Chasing Butterflies was published in May this year. How did it feel holding your “book baby” in your hands and seeing your name on the cover?
Holding my own book was a dream come true. I have always dreamed of being an author. I have written bits and bobs all my life but completing Chasing Butterflies gave me an enormous sense of satisfaction.
Has Chasing Butterflies been well received? I see it currently has 5 stars on Amazon. Well done!
I have had some really great feedback for Chasing Butterflies. As with most creative people, I really lack self-confidence and I’m my own worst critic. My heart thumped in my chest as I read every word of every review, but i was really pleased with the feedback I got. Readers seemed to really engage with Hope’s story and rooted for her throughout the book.
Without giving any spoilers, what made you want to tell Helen’s story in The China Doll?
After I finished Chasing Butterflies, Helen was still in my thoughts. As a mother myself I felt for her. I really felt that there was more of her story to tell. She was such a damaged character, it seemed a disservice to her not to tell her story and explain how she became so fragile.
Tell me a bit about your approach to your writing. Are you a meticulous planner or do you tend towards letting your characters go with the flow?
My approach to Chasing Butterflies was very different to my approach to The China Doll. I wrote Chasing Butterflies over the course of 5 years. I wrote, rewrote, changed and edited along the way. I wrote scenes as they came to me and didn’t have so much of a plan. With The China Doll, I had a much more linear approach. I set myself word counts for each week and tried to stick to my plan as much as possible. I did deviate in places, but the story was more evolved in my mind before I started to write.
Where’s your favourite place to write?
I own a cafe where we have a book exchange. Following the pandemic we put in bookcases to separate tables. During quiet times I can be found sat at a table in the corner, hiding behind a bookcase and typing away. At home I sit in the lounge on my sofa with a chaise lounge. I put my laptop on my knee and become immersed in the story I am creating. My husband Sean sits with me, often practicing his guitar playing while I’m working.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
I guess the best advice I have been given would be that you can’t edit a blank page. I was terrible when writing Chasing Butterflies for revisiting the same scene again and again to edit it. It really slowed my writing down.
What advice would you give to other aspiring authors out there?
Set yourself weekly word count targets. Keep your targets realistic. Don’t compromise on quality over the quantity of words.
So, what’s next creatively? Are you working on anything else just now?
I’ve started my next project. It’s a stand alone book and not part of the Secrets and Lies series, although I do plan to return to those characters in the future. My next book “My Friend Bill” is the story of Jack. His parents were killed in a car accident when he was a baby and he was brought up by his somewhat resentful grandmother. Feeling unloved and unwanted, Jack develops an unlikely friendship with Bill. But who is Bill and why is he drawn to Jack?
Thanks, Nicole. Can’t wait to meet Bill and Jack!
I was fortunate enough to be given an ARC copy of The China Doll by Nicole Thorne and I loved every word of it.
The prequel to Chasing Butterflies, The China Doll tells the back story of Hope’s mother, Helen. Without giving any spoilers away, if you’ve read Chasing Butterflies, it answers a lot of the unasked questions and makes sense of the past.
If you’ve not read Chasing Butterflies then you’ve time to read book one in this Secrets and Lies series before The China Doll is published on 14 November 2020.
Nicole’s writing is vivid as she paints the scenes in this second book in the series. You can hear the seagulls and smell the salt in the Cornish air. Like the sea itself, this story draws you in and leaves the reader captivated by its beauty. There’s a fragility to this tale but also a huge amount of inner strength to the characters. Both books are making we want to travel to Cornwall and remind myself of its rugged beauty.
Great read! Well done, Nicole.
And if you missed my review of Nicole’s debut novel Chasing Butterflies..
I was drawn into Hope’s story right from the start and my heart immediately went out to her as her world falls apart around her. Chasing Butterflies is well written and, in some respects, flits about like a butterfly as the reader is drawn into Hope’s present and gradually enlightened about her past. No spoilers but I loved how past and present eventually entwine.
Coral McCallum 