QA What Motivated you to write? 14Jan2017

QA: Is it difficult to get published?

Deanna's Tidbits: Pirate Lovers...Stop in to meet author Marti Melvi...

Deanna's Tidbits: Pirate Lovers...Stop in to meet author Marti Melvi...: A Visit with Marti Melville      Please welcome Marti this week! She's taken time from working on the screen play of her new ...

What are the Deja vu Chronicles?

Imagine:  DaVinci Code meets Black Sails & Sleepy Hollow

 

www.martimelville.com

 

Deja vu Chronicles:  Midnight Omen Deja vu (book 1), Silver Moon Deja vu (book 2),

Onyx Rising Deja vu (book 3) and Cutthroat's Omen: a Crimson Dawn (book 4)

 

Can You Really Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?



It's been nearly two hours since I started my search for the meaning (and purpose) of an RSS feed.  I know, I know...I can see your eyes roll.  But for this old lady, RSS was just as foreign as FLK or AFK would be to anyone outside of an ER.  (Oye, the acronyms!)  Finally, my head is wrapped around the concept.  However, the process still eludes me. 



Finding a safe place in the ever-evolving cyber world of online communication and information exchange is daunting to say the least.  I realize that I'm not the first to blog about this issue - just the first in my own household. 

Writing the book(s) is easy.  Marketing and getting them "out there" is not.  Research and becoming savvy to the processes required to market a product in this era can be a full time job.  Personally, I'd rather hire someone else to do it.  Alas, finances doesn't allow this.  Fortunately, there are resources for people like me who struggle with understanding just what the "next step" would be. 

Create Space (Amazon's publishing house) has provided amazing resources to those of us who seek assistance with our marketing plans.  Their free assistance to marking for fiction is invaluable - providing links to everything from website design to website analysis to retail wholesale companies (the people we market to). 

My past few years has been focused on target audiences that center around my series genre:  Paranormal Historical Romance, Fiction and PIRATES.  The efforts have been rewarding , fun and eventful bringing in profits which have been notable.  However, these avenues are limiting.

Finding time to learn "new tricks" necessary to succeed in current markets is a key element to sharing the amazing story found in the Deja vu Chronicles.  I supposed, with the prospect of "getting it out there" through cyber tactics, learning a new trick or two won't hurt this old gal!

Thoughts...Just Thoughts for a Monday

Today's began amazing!  The mist settled over the beaches and passed through the trees outside my balcony.  Tiny sparrows played hide-n-seek with a hummingbird just feet from where I sat with my feet wrapped in a blanket and book on my lap.  It was the perfect way to begin a new day.

Hours later, I still sat with a blanket wrapped around me even though the sun was out and the dog begged for another walk.  My joints ached and my head pounded.  Something was trying to invade every cell of my body and it was obvious I wasn't going anywhere except back to the soft chairs on the balcony with the blanket and book. 

I think it was meant to be though.....

Taking up my Nook, I decided to read Oprah's magazine and found three questions she had asked her staff that month.  The questions resonated with me.  I pondered them for quite a while.  These are amazing questions that breathe life into a typically mundane existence.  I am grateful that I was able to answer them and while I would be happy to do so (should anyone ask...), I would prefer to post them here for your benefit.  Take a minute and ponder these questions as they relate to your life, your week, your day.  Answer them and share, if that feels comfortable to do so on this blog.  I take joy in reading about others' accomplishments and triumphs, as do so many of you!

And so...the questions are this:

1. What is my greatest accomplishment?

     2.  The most risky thing I've ever done is...?

     3.   If I had no fear, I would......?


Namaste ~

How To - Writing, Step 3

Your notebook is gapes open with scores of ideas scribbled in no particular order - organized chaos speaking volumes to the author.  An outline beckons you to fill in the gaps and fatten its skeletal framed entity into a fat, juicy story.

...Now for the fun part....

Today is a day of genesis - the birth of your characters.  In stillness, take your mind and spirit to sit with the main character of your story.  What does he/she/it look like?  What is their scent?  What does this character eat?  How do they cry and what do they laugh over?  (or can that character laugh?).  Describe every single detail as if you were living that character's existence.  Experience in completeness the very being of the character.

Write it down.  Write and write and write until each and every nuance of that character is recorded.

Then do it again...with the next character and the next.  Be sure to leave space to include detail that may inadvertently crop up as the manuscript unfolds.  Keep intricate notes and know these characters intimately.  It's imperative!

There is very little that will be as rewarding as the actual creation of the characters in your story.  You assume great responsibility, almost altruistic in nature, when you create these beings.  You are meant to relish the experience, savor creation at its fullest.  Enjoy!

Now...go create.....