Is Writing a Catharsis?

I think maybe it is. Many people write memoirs, blogs, poems, paint or create music as a way of dealing with life, problems, complications. I started writing after my mother passed away after a short battle with cancer. We had been planning to move to the country, and she was going to move in with me. We had lots of plans that never had a chance to happen.

I thought I started writing because I had time on my hands and an empty house. But I’ve come to realise that I was grieving and releasing that grief through writing, expressing myself through words, and maybe escaping reality for a moment and entering a world I knew she would love. I had lost my best friend and I was trying to find a replacement for that gaping hole. I wrote seven books. A bit like Forrest Gump running across America, twice!

That new companion became the world of Remargaren and Jerrol and the Sentinals. A world of myth and legend. Of friendship and betrayal. Of ancient forests and magical trees.

I always credit my mum with instilling in me a love of books and reading. I remember my love for the The Wishing Chair and The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton; my first foray in the world of fantasy. To escape into a world where down can be up and the sky can be green, and your imagination rules.

I am happiest when I write, when I visit the world of Remargaren and I am surrounded in possibilities, and a lot of challenges for my characters of course.

I thank my mum for sharing her love of reading. I know she’s looking over my shoulder, making suggestions, loving the stories. I hope you are loving them too.

In these crazy times, it’s strange being a debut author. It wasn’t because of Covid that I started writing, I just happened to have been ready to publish. So I’m a 2020 author, forever connected to the year of Covid, with virtual book launches and no book signings! and yet there is still good to have come out of this year; Sentinals Awaken for one. Even in times of great difficulty there are good deeds and amazing people. People who put themselves before others, whether it be a nurse in the NHS, the dustman collecting the bins, the man stacking the shelves in the supermarket, parents home-schooling or a King’s Ranger trying to solve a mystery and save his country.

As we enter lockdown again here in the UK, I hope Sentinals Awaken provides some relief and entertainment as well as some hope, away from the continuing restrictions imposed on us all. If you want to chat, you can find me on twitter, Instagram or Facebook or here on my website. If you are following the #tweetbookclub on Twitter, you’ll know I’m always happy to chat about my books. Trying not to give away spoilers is the challenge, because I just want to share! And to discuss Jerrol and Birlerion and all the rest.

Thank you for making it to the end of this blog. Hopefully you are enjoying the results of my catharsis!! Book Two will be along soon…as the self-publishing journey continues. Hope you stay for the ride!

Keep safe and well. Speak soon.

The Home Straight

An author experiences a variety of emotions in the long journey to publishing. Having actually written the book in the first place you then have the long slog of revising and editing, trying to polish your novel until the shine is blinding and you can finally let it go takes a lot longer than you would think. My first blog on this topic was back in May and here we are October!

And then its copy editing, interior design and layout, and proof reading, and then the vicious circle of wanting to put a review link in the ebook to make it easier for readers to leave a review, but you have to upload your book to get the link. And to get the link you have to commit to a publishing date – which Amazon then chase you (which is good and bad) and threaten to ban you from using their services for a whole year if you miss it. If that doesn’t stress you out, then nothing will!

If I have learnt anything on this journey, it is that everything takes a darned site longer than you would like. And the amount of days you spend chewing your nails waiting for a file to come back so you can review again is excruciating.

There is much to learn, and I may begin to post some podcasts (If I can find the time as I need to be editing book two!) about the different elements of the journey, because as a first-time author, it truly is eye-opening. And if my learnings can help someone else navigate this road more easily then that is all too the good.

But, as the title of this blog says, this is the home straight. I am now on the final leg rushing towards that winning line. The book is uploaded to Amazon and filtering through all the affiliate sites. It may even be live in paperback in some locations already – as you are advised to upload a week before publishing to let the sites sync, but you can’t set the publishing date, Amazon set that when the book goes live—so do you wait or do you upload?

You upload! So you can get the proof copies and author copies, and oh! The first time you hold your book in your hands. A-maz-ing! I feel so proud and so happy. Such an achievement.

BUY SENTINALS AWAKEN NOW!

My launch date is October 11^th, and I am going to do a virtual book launch via Zoom, because, when it comes down to it, you only ever get to do your first ever book launch once. And I think that is something that should be celebrated. Even if it is just me talking into a screen, I will still raise a glass as Sentinals Awaken sets sail on her ocean voyage around the world.

So I have set up a Zoom call, created my rafflecopter giveaway, sent out the invites and now it’s a case of waiting to see if anyone accepts. This is more nerve wracking than publishing the book.

Come hell or highwater, I will be launching my book on Sunday. If you’d like a chance to win a signed copy, then join me at 7pm UK time to raise a toast.

DM me for the link to the launch at helen.garraway@hotmail.com

To Sentinals Awaken. My first ever novel. Published.

Long may she entertain.

Letters to our Legacy

Have you paid forward yet? There are lots of opportunities to do so and to make us feel better about the year 2020, here are a couple.

I am fortunate to be a Product Manager in my spare time, uh no, that’s an author in my spare time and a Product Manager by day! But anyway, I work for a video conferencing company where I create new services to sell with our products. At my company, we have an active diversity and inclusion movement. Part of that is a Women’s leadership group, and you find out all sort of interesting things.

Being part of this group inspired me to join the student mentoring group at Southampton University, where I graduated from many years ago with a Degree in Politics and International Relations.

It was a fun time, and I’m glad I had the experience, and I wanted to pay forward to our next generation, and so I joined the university mentoring program. Since then I have mentored four students, both on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Of course, this year’s mentees suffered much disruption, having to relocate, return home and set up remotely. But the offer of mentoring is still there, and in the age of video conferencing makes it possible to pursue.

Another initiative I came across was Letters to our Legacy, which I thought was another excellent idea. Two women set up a website where you can submit a letter, a letter where you can write to your daughter, grand-daughter, godchild, whomever, but an opportunity to pass on advice from the year 2020 to future generations—a modern version of the time capsule.

Doesn’t everyone love finding old letters or journals from your ancestors? I have letters from a great-great-uncle sent to his sister whilst he was at the front during the second world war. It is amazing to hold such history in my hand; to get a feel for who he was, especially as the gift of writing letters seems to be passing with the new technology we have today. I suppose blogs are the new letters.

I wish my mum had written me a letter full of advice before she passed, it would have been one of my most precious treasures, but instead, I have wonderful memories and the gifts she passed on, and I think of her every day. My writing novels is a tribute to her memory. Without her love of books, I would never have been such a bookworm, and I would never have picked up that pen and jotted down those first ideas for a novel.

If you’re interested in paying forward, get involved. You can find the Letters to our Legacy website here. There’s no time like the present to get writing‒and it doesn’t have to be a novel!

How are your balancing skills?

I have concluded that writing is all about juggling. You must be an expert juggler to keep the balls, or is it plates or hoops? No, it’s novels! Up in the air at the same time. Or is balancing the better concept? I’m a Libran, so balance resonates better, juggling feels like it could spin out of control at any moment, whereas balance is calmer, less frenetic, feels right.

Photo by Deniz Altindas on Unsplash

I am in control, right?

From the sheer excitement of having your first meeting with the cover designer and seeing his interpretation of your ideas come to life before your eyes to the grind of checking the copy editing on book one, editing book two and then aargh – A whole new series has popped into my head and is demanding to be written.

But first, cover design! 90 minutes of discussion and watching Jeff draw my ideas in front of me, and then mocking up that first cover with my name on it!

OMG! What a feeling of absolute delight and pride. It may be a raw sketch but just wait until its finished, I love it already. I debated about posting the initial concept here, but I think I’ll wait to show you the rough draft versus 85% finished!

Just a sneak peek if you’re interested. Let me know!

Copy editing is almost finished on Book One: Sentinals Awaken. Each revision I learn something new, which is great, and means each book will improve: next maps and internal formatting.

I’ve edited Book Two: Sentinal Rising, cut and consolidated chapters where needed; I suppose 135k words was a bit long. Moved some things around, then corrected my grammar. I’ve sent it to my number one fan Michael to beta read and put it aside before I return for another edit. Then this idea for a whole new world bubbled up, and I’ve been capturing the ideas and planning out the skeleton of the story, and I’ve already written 20,000 words. Holding name is the Freedom series, can’t wait to see where it goes.

How to fit it all in is the challenge. But it is fun, and I love it, and I wish I had started writing a long time ago. Sometimes, I suppose you just have to wait for the right moment, and then take that step and begin. Who knows where it will take you, but wherever it takes me, my balancing skills can only improve.