When I was young, maybe 7 or 8 years old, we had a family friend, who I absolutely idolized. She was older, about 13, with long, dark, curly hair and full lips. Even though I was beautifully innocent at that age, I thought this girl was it. She wrote love stories on her typewriter and because of that fact alone, she was the most amazing person ever I’d ever met. She was a writer! And when she was done writing her beautiful stories, she would let me read her stories. I thought they were the most wonderful things I’d ever read.
To this day, I could not tell you her name. She shattered the bubble one day when I showed her a story I had written. Remember, I was still just a baby. My stories were sweet and simple. I was so proud of my story. This girl’s feedback horrified me. She ripped the paper in long strips, my heart feeling every tear, as she cackled at how lame it was. This girl was a nasty piece of work who was clearly in the category of ‘mean girl’. Her words scarred me while her disregard haunted me. It’s no wonder I don’t remember her name.
The idea of being a writer at that point was my dream. Something I thought I would someday do. I didn’t let the mean girl get in my way. I persevered. My parents eventually gave me a typewriter for Christmas and, now that I’ve been a parent to a writer, I know I probably drove them bat-shit crazy with the tap-a-tap-tap as I cranked out those stories.
The mean girl was right in a way. My writing was not good as a kid. But, no matter how bad I was, the idea stuck in my head that one day, someday, I was going to be a writer.
It may have taken 50 years, but here I am. I’m finally doing it. I can finally say I’m a writer.
Being a writer is not what I imagined it to be. Not in the way that little girl dreamed anyway. The process is not as simple as sitting down and writing a nice little story. It’s damn hard. I’ve taken course after course, banging my head against the wall, trying to piece together the elements of writing over and over. (It’s possible that bitchy teenager hit me in the head with her typewriter to accentuate her point.)
Things like point of view, dialogue, setting etc eventually stuck. Now I’m the writer who, when reading a book for pleasure, will notice slip-ups the author has made. You know, stuff their editor didn’t catch. It’s annoying as hell once that pandora’s box is open, let me tell you. I’m sure I’ve driving my husband insane with the comments I make when shows drop obvious clues (to me) in mysteries or when the timelines aren’t correct.
But getting back to my writing, as I do have a point here.
When I finally wrote a book, it came with an interesting story: It came to me in a dream. I woke up thinking ‘wow, that would make a great scene for a book. I should write that one down.’ And I did. I was still writing 18 hours later. (My husband saw the drive in me and kept bringing me food and drinks. He’s a supportive one. A good egg.)
That was in 2014.
I took myself on self-writing retreats to get the book finished. One time I went to an old stomping ground, because it got me back in touch with the girl within, so I could finish it. I rented a cabin at the beach and, in the morning when I was due to check out, I went to the office to ask if I could extend the stay one more night. I explained I was so damn close to finishing the draft of my book, I thought I could do it with just one more day. They told me they would give me the cabin for free for the night, if I finished the book. And I did!
When that novel was finished, the first draft sat at 82k words. I had it professionally edited. Not a cheap thing to do, but necessary. My then editor told me it was “an impressive coming-of-age novel (with)… great location details, terrifically relatable characters…The mystery at the heart of who she is compelling, and the twist is heart-stopping. You should be very proud of this.”
And I was proud of it. I’m STILL proud of it. That book was BENEATH THE SURFACE.
But I was scared shitless of publishing it.
Writing it was one thing. Publishing it was another. I was scared of that next step. (You can read about my publishing path here.)What if I failed? What if the book was shit? What if the editor was just being nice to me because she had seen how far I’d come, since I took her writing class many moons ago? What if that mean girl was right?!
The biggest fear – and one that remains even today. What if I publish the book (or books) and no books sell?
The thing is, no matter how many books I publish, hitting publish is still one of the scariest things I now do. It puts my heart into my throat every single time.
2022 has been an interesting year for me. Things haven’t gone quite to plan with releasing new books, but that actually turned out to be a good thing. I’ve learned a lot this year about my business and my writing process.
In fact, that could well be the understatement of the year.
When I started out this year, my goals for the year were relatively straightforward:
Engagement:
Be more engaged with my readers through social media and my newsletter.
Diary of an Author. Create and publish consistently.
Be interviewed on three podcasts.
Double my (interested) subscribers for my newsletter.
Publish.
Add Camino Wandered into Camino Wandering as the epilogue and republish.
Write and publish The Decisions We Make.
Sell two short stories to online publications.
Profit.
Spend no more than $2500 on advertising.
Double the number of books sold.
Expand into new markets.
Process.
Review tools – eliminate what’s not working.
Review processes – where am I spending my time, and what’s most effective?
Review and revise my websites to be more user-friendly.
So let me share how I did this year, with those goals in mind.
Engagement.
When I think of my favourite writers, like Colleen Hoover and Nora Roberts (writing as J.D. Robb), I think about how connected they are to their readers. Some authors aren’t as open to sharing their lives as I tend to be, and that’s fine. But I do think, as an indie author, you kind of have to be.
I’ll be honest with you. Going into the year, I wasn’t eager to spend a lot of time on social media, especially since there were so many outlets to post on. Between Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter, Medium, Patreon,…. The idea of posting becomes too overwhelming, even if you do ‘repurpose’ content. I wanted to ensure my time was spent wisely. And I wanted that time to be engaging, not just posting for the sake of posting (quality over quantity).
I first asked myself whether I enjoyed being on whatever platform I was assessing, because it’s pretty obvious when someone is on a platform simply to sell books. Then I looked at what I was posting. Was it entertaining, educational, or enlightening to my readers?
Then I dug deeper and realised I was posting not to my ‘ideal reader’ but trying to satisfy a broader community. I needed to look at where my actual readers were. And they weren’t on TikTok!
What I determined was I didn’t know who you were, or what you liked. I was just throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something stuck (translation: that what I was posting resonated with you). So, I sat with that for a while, then went through a process of questions to understand you more clearly. Granted, I didn’t post a questionnaire – and I may do that next year – but for now, I thought about who engages with my posts, who I think about when I’m writing, and why I’m thinking about them. Then I thought about what television shows you might like. What your guilty reading pleasures might be. What genres you like to read. What social media platforms you spent time on. Stuff like that.
Holy Toledo Batman – it was enlightening!
Not only did I come away with a clear sense of who you were – my ideal reader – but I also realised I was hiding from revealing who I was. And what I was sharing with you!
All of this helped me understand what I was putting into my newsletters. Since I publish a newsletter only once a month, the newsletters are pretty robust. I want to ensure they are providing those three things I mentioned above: “entertainment, education, and/or enlightenment.”
I also asked my subscribers in July whether they would like more frequent emails (with the information split) and overwhelmingly (78%) said keep them as is. So robust they remain.
I set out to double the subscribers to my newsletter, but I was challenged with how to do this. Because I didn’t want just any subscribers. I was looking for my people. My readers. And that’s not a simple thing to do as an author.
I’m happy to say that through perseverance and focus, the number of subscribers has not just doubled, but tripled! The engagement remains the same, which is the part I’m most happy with!
Speaking of entertainment, education, and/or enlightenment, I began a new endeavour this year. I began posting every three days or so, in a journal post format, to shed some light on the self-publishing author world. I offered this only to my newsletter subscribers, to give them something extra.
Since I’m not getting a lot of engagement with it, which I’d hoped I would, I may not continue it past December 31st. But it’s been an interesting journey. Maybe I’ll convert it into a book, using some of the journal entries as prompts.
I’m going to spend time in January (2023) reviewing the posts to see what I can learn.
Podcasts:
Now, this was interesting. This was the area where I took my scariest leap. Speaking publicly, even if I know the content extremely well, is a frightening endeavour for me. And you can tell. You can even watch the flaming red rash that crawls from my chest to my face every time I speak publicly. Add in my voice cracking? Yeah, it’s embarrassing.
But I knew that to expand my readership, I had to follow this path. So, I reached out to three podcasters who talk about the Camino de Santiago, because I figured Camino Wandering would be the best book to talk about since it’s my best seller.
I interviewed with two podcasters: Leigh Brennan from The Camino Café and Dan Mullins from My Camino. My Podcast. I thoroughly enjoyed these interviews. The one with Leigh was done late in the evening for me, and I was rather tired after writing that day. Afterward, I lay awake all night thinking what a train wreck it was. But, when I finally listened to it, it turned out to be a fun, engaging conversation. The conversation with Dan was fabulous too. He asked some amazing questions that really kept me on my toes!
I had another podcast scheduled with a Camino podcaster in the U.S. Unfortunately, life impeded it from happening–for both of us. I hope to do this podcast at later date.
Publishing
I had a few goals. Some were easier to aim for than others.
The first was to add the short story epilogue, ‘Camino Wandered’ into Camino Wandering as the epilogue, then republish it as a second edition. (If you bought Camino Wandering before April 2022, and would like to read the epilogue, click here.) While I had some hiccups, they weren’t huge, so encompassing the epilogue into the second edition was a fairly smooth endeavour overall.
Publishing the second edition of Camino Wandering coincided with finishing writing, editing, and proofing the next book in the Life Upended series, The Decisions We Make. While I had hoped to publish this book in May, the date was pushed back while I took some time off because of a death in my family.
I went into the year with a quiet goal of publishing the third book in the Life Upended series, Finding The Way.
The novel is still not fully drafted as I finish out the year. The main character in Finding The Way deals with the memories of a challenging upbringing. Problem was, I was dealing with memories of my own challenging upbringing, and the combination was just a little too intense for me to move forward. Eventually, I lost the joy of writing because the book became a slog. The main character wanted to reveal all in the first half of the book (a big no no), and I was unsuccessful in controlling her! I needed to put the genie back in the bottle and deal with my own emotional intensity before picking it back up again.
Not the actual cover
NaNoWriMo
I changed my focus for NaNoWriMo. I went into October thinking I would work on Finding The Way during NaNoWriMo, the annual 50k word writing challenge. But, I had signed up earlier in the year to be a Municipal Liaison (ML) for NaNoWriMo for my region of Tasmania. Turned out, there were only two of us taking on the role, which meant a lot more responsibility to bear than it had been in previous years. (Little did I know how much it would end up being!) To further complicate things, I helped my daughter move to a new city on the mainland in early November, so my time was limited.
So, I decided to work on something new for NaNoWriMo. I’ve had a storyline niggling in my head for a while. One that has been inspired by my own house-sitting experiences. (I was a housesitter for three years, staying in some amazing places, looking after gorgeous animals … but that’s where the comparison ends between my experience and this book.)
Once I began writing – this time without a detailed outline – the story poured out of me. I was excited by what was happening, but never did I think I’d finish the challenge and make it to the 50k goal. And yet, I did! I found the joy of writing again, which made me extremely happy (and relieved)!
So now The Housesitter, my next suspense/thriller, is now three quarters drafted. If you’re still reading, you’ll note that writing another book was not a goal for this year! Yay me!
Between writing two half novels (Finding the Way and The Housesitter), being an NaNoWriMo ML, and a death in my family, the two short stories I’d planned to write were… not. Oh well.
3. Profit
Now we come to my least favourite subject. As much as I want to make a profit and have a sustainable income, this was a year of learning, not earning.
Advertising budget – BLOWN!
$2500 on advertising? Yeah, no. In hindsight, it was an unrealistic goal.
This year, I knew I wanted to apply for a Bookbub deal, which I did in June (and was accepted on the first try, which is rare apparently). I chose ‘International Markets’ mainly because it was $400 rather than more than double that amount if I wanted to focus only on the U.S. market. While choosing the U.S. may have resulted in better results, word on the street is that Bookbub deals may not reap the rewards they once did, no matter what market you choose. So, for that, I’m relieved to have saved some money. I did make a small profit from deal, but what was more valuable was the fact that it opened my eyes to other markets.
We also contracted a third-party company to help us with Amazon Ads. We trialled them for two months, but it was a bust. We learned quickly that we were doing better on our own, and we had deeper insight into what was going on.
Over the last year, we’ve far exceeded our budget of $2500.
At the end of 2022, we have determined that this is the year of learning with advertising. But learning can be an expensive endeavour.
The good news is, after two years of being an author, I feel like we’re finally getting a hold on the business side of things. We’ve learned a lot about Amazon and Facebook marketing in particular. And that has been a key factor in the sale of my books.
Double the number of books sold
If I take into consideration that I published an extra book this year, it’s easy to say I increased the number of books sold. But that wasn’t my goal. My goal was to double the number of books sold. I didn’t reach that goal. I sold 50% more.
What skews the number slightly is that Beneath the Surface was in Kindle Unlimited for several months during the year. KU is based on page reads, not on books sold. We pulled Beneath the Surface out of KU in July after limited success.
Now you’ll notice I haven’t set a goal of earning $x amount per year.
That’s because at this stage of my writing career, it’s unrealistic. If I were to put a number on it, I’d aim toward the average income that Australian authors were surveyed to make in 2022. Which, just to give you some context, is half the MINIMUM wage in Australia. Then I’d aim for minimum wage. 😉
Expand into new markets
I was excited to see what other markets my books might do well in. I focused on four markets: U.S., U.K., Australia and India.
As long as I’m running Amazon ads and engaging in Camino Facebook groups in the U.S., Camino Wandering sales are consistent.
Doing the Bookbub Ad in international markets helped a great deal with expanding into other markets, since it targets the U.K., Australia, Canada, and India.
I received mixed messages about selling online into India, but I tried it, nonetheless. While the impressions were very high, sales were non-existent. If you’re in the Google Play marketplace, it’s reported you’ll have better luck. But my books have never done well on Google Play.
I moved my attention over to U.K., and at home in Australia. In the latter half of 2022, I can confidently say the U.K. is my most successful market.
Overall, it’s been an enlightening year.
I’ve learned a great deal about my writing process, my business practices, but overall, what’s most important to me: Time spent well.
I look forward to continually learning more next year, and I’ll keep sharing as I go!
If you’ve like to read my reflections on last year (2021), check out my post here:
Throughout my daughter’s life I’ve always used thrown out the term “life lesson” when I wanted her to learn from what I was saying. I can’t remember when I started saying it, but it’s something that’s always been ‘our thing’.
Sometimes she listened. I’m sure most times she didn’t in those days. It was “just another of Mum’s rants…” At least that’s what I got from the teenage grunts, eye rolls and body language.
The day before she left home – and boy is that is still a hard sentence to write! – I gave her a letter with many of the life lessons I shared with her over the years. You know, in case she wasn’t listening…
It’s been five and half years now since she’s left home and – shock horror!- she has paid attention. Well, to the important ones anyway. So, I share them with you.
43 Life Lessons from Your Mother:
Life Lesson #1. There is no #1 lesson in life.
Life Lesson #2. Never ever settle. Live your dreams, in life and in love. Go with your instincts always and ignore whatever others tell you (excluding me, of course!).
Life Lesson #3. Travel far and wide. Don’t just exist in your life. Live it. (Yeah, I know, I harp this one too but I MEAN it.)
Life Lesson #4. Live in the country for part of your life. Be with nature for a while. Get in touch with your genetic hippy-ness. Seriously, it will make you appreciate life more.
Life Lesson #5. Never stop writing. It’s a great outlet. Never, ever stop.
Life Lesson #6. Perfect 5 recipes. That way you’ll be set for any occasion and you’ll be able to stick to a budget. And make sure it’s more than just pasta.
Life Lesson #7. Live beneath your means. ALWAYS. This will give you the freedom to live the life you want. Don’t be trapped by the credit card lure or keeping up with the Jones’ next door.
Life Lesson #8. Be open to true love. When it finds you, take it in, savour it and never let it go. It’s the best part of life there is.
Life Lesson #9. To know when green beans are ripe, they will be a beautiful, solid green, firm and when you’re ready them to cook them, snap off the ends. Don’t cut them. Same goes for asparagus.
Life Lesson #10. Don’t believe you know all the answers. Ever. Be open to others thoughts and opinions. Listen to what others say before expressing your opinion. Think about what they have to say.
Life Lesson #11. Make time to journal, meditate, think through things. Find quiet time to do this. It will help process everything before making any decisions in life.
Life Lesson #12. It doesn’t matter what exercise you do; just find something you enjoy and do it. Don’t let your body let you down to live the life you want to live.
Life Lesson #13. Make a menu for the week, so you know what groceries to buy. This will keep you from impulse buying at the shops and it will keep you on budget.
Life Lesson #14. For the freshest fruit and veg, hit up the farmer’s markets.
Life Lesson #15. Fresh sheets on the bed are a great way to start off a week, or if you’re stressed, a great way to relax you.
Life Lesson #16. Communicate with your mother. Constantly. Tell her what you’re doing, feeling, thinking, hating, loving, liking, confused about. Don’t make her have to ask. 😉
Life Lesson #17. Don’t be afraid to leap. Make mistakes because that’s how you learn in life. The key is not to have any regrets.
Life Lesson #18. Believe that you are just as smart, as beautiful, as capable as the next person. Everyone has their quirks and their insecurities. Even those skinny girls who look like they came out of the fashion pages and the kids that got 99 on their ATARs (they may not have any common sense).
Life Lesson #19. As soon as you start earning money, no matter what job it is, put some aside for your retirement. You may not think it’s important, but no one will be there to pay you when you’re 65 except you. And if you have no money by then, well, you’re screwed. Live life in the moment, but always invest in the future. Always. I can’t stress this one enough.
Life Lesson #20. Save a little of your pay check toward your ‘nest egg’. It may only be $1 in the beginning, but that nest egg will allow you to quit that insane job that you hate, that’s making you insane and sick, to live the life you want (sound familiar?). Without the nest egg, you’re going from one job to the next.
Life Lesson #21. Better yet, find what you are passionate about in life and go for it. Find a way to make money doing it.
Life Lesson #22. Always have medical insurance. You never know when you may need it. Shit happens. Best to be covered. This goes for travel insurance as well.
Life Lesson #23. Recycle. The world is going to flood if you don’t, if it doesn’t burn up first. Recycle. Recycle. Recycle. The power of recycling should never be underestimated.
Life Lesson #24. Be frugal. You don’t need all that stuff. Experiences last forever, stuff fades. Question your purchases. Throw out one thing before you bring in another. Seriously, don’t be that consumer.
Life Lesson #25. Keep your fridge clean and organized. There’s nothing worse than finding a science experiment in your fridge first thing in the morning. (I’m just going to hurl, brb).
Life Lesson #26. Don’t become addicted to cafés or smoothie bars. They will suck you dry financially. Find a way to have what you want at home and keep going out as a treat.
Life Lesson #27. Be creative. This is a left brain/right brain thing. You will find you’re more balanced if you keep a creative outlet.
Life Lesson #28. Your mother is not always right, despite what she thinks. Just make sure you have a good, logical argument to convince her though. (Yeah, this is a hard one to admit.)
Life Lesson #29. Being a control freak is not a good thing. Let go and let the universe guide you. Be in tune with your gut instinct and most importantly LISTEN to it. Always.
Life Lesson #30. Be kind. Always be kind. Life isn’t always rainbows and puppy dogs. Be kind to yourself and to others. Always.
Life Lesson #31. Baking paper will save cleaning your cookie sheets/baking pans and make your baking more even. Buy the huge roll and it’ll last a long time.
Life Lesson #32. Be aware of washing labels. This will make your clothes last longer. Don’t wash your darks with your whites. It’ll take forever for your whites to be white again.
Life Lesson #33. Be true to yourself. Don’t try and be like someone else or change so someone likes you. There’s only one of you in the world. Be authentic always.
Life Lesson #34. You don’t have to buy name brands. Most times, you can get away with generic. However, when it comes to clothing, invest in classics that will last and go cheap on the seasonal/supplemental.
Life Lesson #35. If you ever live somewhere that has a pool, invest in a pool service. While a pool is great to have, it is a time and money suck. Get a pool boy (and no, not THAT kind of pool boy- unless that really floats your boat…)
Life Lesson #36. Don’t be afraid to dance wildly to the music or sing your lungs out to a good song. If you get weird looks, who cares. The watchers are probably just jealous because they don’t have the guts to let go and do it too.
Life Lesson #37. Always follow a recipe to the letter the first time you make it. You’ll learn what you like, can omit, need to add on the second round (if it’s that good).
Life Lesson #38. Butter is better than margarine. Always. Invest in the butter.
Life Lesson #39. Steam/Grill your vegetables. Don’t boil them (except for potatoes for mashed).
Life Lesson #40. Buy yourself flowers. Splurge a little occasionally.
Life Lesson #41. Believe you can do anything you set your mind to. Because you can. If people knock you down, look at it as an opportunity to prove them wrong.
Life Lesson #42. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, especially ‘why’. Keep learning.
Life Lesson #43. Don’t look at the world like it’s out to get you. Contribute to life. Contribute in a way you think people should be. Be an example.
I have written about depression in some of my novels, because depression is all around us. The pain of depression is profound and it affects differently. I can’t begin to describe how horrible it is when a family member or friend takes their own life, either directly or indirectly. It’s something that stays with you forever.
Here is my truth:
❗I battled serious depression when my first husband left our marriage, three weeks after our daughter was born.
❗I battled serious depression again, falling into bad decisions, when my mother died when I was in my early thirties.
❗I had what was once referred to as a ‘mental breakdown’ when my stepfather and father-in-law died within three months of each other.
❗My step-father, a Vietnam Veteran, had a severe case of PTSD, exasperated by a traumatic personal event in his life that occurred around the same time. He lived with depression every day I knew him (since I was four).
❗My mother died of cancer when she was 56. I believe depression played a major factor in accelerating her cancer. (Try living with an alcoholic with severe PTSD and depression and see how you do.)
❗My stepsister committed suicide when I was sixteen. I’ve been told that she most likely suffered from an undiagnosed and severe case of bi-polar disorder.
❗I have had work colleagues who have committed suicide. Deaths that seemed preventable.
One of the last days of my mum and daughter together.
Here’s the reality: Depression is all around us.
I struggled when my (now) ex-husband left. I had friends I could talk to, but I also saw a therapist. Not many of my friends could understand the position I was. Hell, I couldn’t even understand the position I was in!
When I joined my (ex) husband for what I believed to be marriage counselling, the counsellor spoke to both of us, then my (ex) husband, then lastly, me. As soon as I sat down for that final piece, the counsellor said to me: “Now this is off the record, but I must ask: Did you slap him upside the head when he said he was going to leave you with a newborn? Because I sure would have! The boy – and he is a boy – wants his cake and eat it too. Someone who does that to the mother of his child, to his wife of nearly ten years, is not worth sticking around for.” My (ex) husband gave me a ‘break up’ letter in the parking garage after that appointment. So, you can imagine how I spiralled afterwards.
When my mother died two years later, I spoke to a different therapist. I wanted to know if I was going crazy. Seriously. I was having a lot of confusing thoughts about my marriage. I also had a lot of anger toward my family around how my mother died, and what happened around her funeral. I was making really poor decisions. I was a serious mess. The therapist told me, quite simply, that I was grieving and “if people couldn’t see that, they could go jump in a lake”. Not quite the advice I needed to hear, but it made me realise I was going to be okay eventually.
Those few years were the worst of my life. Therapy helped. So did amazing friends who checked in on me. What I didn’t know then (hindsight and all), was my mother’s death was the demise of my family unit in Australia. My mother had been the glue. I felt isolated and alone. If it wasn’t for my daughter, I probably wouldn’t be here today.
I had no clue what was to come…
So why do we always wear a mask to hide our depression?
It’s easy to wear a mask to hide depression – even just to hide our differences. Society struggles with different. We all want to portray the best of ourselves. It’s human nature. We don’t want to look like a failure because it seems too exposing. Let’s face it, it’s easy to show the world the best of ourselves. It’s harder to show the real story.
Perfection is a myth created by 1950’s television shows. It does not exist.
It’s our differences that define us. It shows who we really are. How strong we are. What we are capable of. We humans are astonishingly beings and, even though we are all different, we’re also all the same. We all suffer from down days. Many suffer from depression. Most are afraid to show their unvarnished self.
My Mum used to have a saying when she went out in public. How she needed to put her ‘face’ on. Yet my mother was beautiful. She had gorgeous skin and sparkling eyes. When she was happy, she radiated sunshine. But I also knew of her struggles and felt her pain deeply. She felt more comfortable wearing the mask and not sharing her pain with the world. I wish she had. When she struggled, we tried to help her. But she didn’t want to look like a failure, or to look weak.
I hope times have changed since then.
My mum and stepfather together.
We need to do better. Here’s how.
We need to reveal our true selves. It’s time to shed the mask
and share how different we are, to celebrate our quirks but also not hide our pain.
Let’s be honest: ‘Thoughts and prayers’ are bullshit.
To help someone, you need to be there for them. Listen. Ask questions. Actions speak louder than words ever did. If you see someone struggling, offer a way to ease their day. Don’t bully them if they’re not acting as you would expect, or how to feel. Certainly don’t tell them what they are feeling is wrong! Everyone reacts, grieves, and deals differently in different situations. All we can do is be there.
Take the time to ask those in your life if they are okay. Do something that will make them feel special. Do something that shows you care. Show them some way that you are there for them. Be their person. If they don’t seem quite right, talk to them directly about it. Most importantly, listen.
Knowing someone is listening makes all the difference. I know it did for me.
My daughter, Natalie, and I. 2020.
Why am I talking about depression?
Why am I, as an author, talking about a topic so serious? Because I write about mental health and societal issues in my novels. I don’t write fluffy feel-good novels. I think it’s time these things are talked about. We need to normalise these topics in every day conversations.
There’s a bit of a discussion floating around the internet lately as to whether authors get paid when books are bought through charity shops, second-hand book shops etc…and how readers feel about that.
The short answer to that question is: No, we don’t get paid when readers buy second hand books.
So how do I feel about it? Hmm… that’s a complicated answer.
As an author: I cringe. The work an author puts into their novel isn’t rewarded when people buy books this way.
As a reader: These places are a great place to find new authors. But when I buy a book through a second-hand bookshop or a charity shop – and I do – I always post a review on Goodreads and/or Amazon afterwards. I do this because any review, good or bad, helps the author gain traction through the sales channels they use. As the old adage goes, ‘Any publicity is better than nothing at all.’
We want to support the charity selling the book, but we want to keep food on our own table too.
So how do authors get paid?
Royalities – Traditionally Published
For those who publish through the larger publishers like Simon and Schuster, Little, Brown and Co., Harper Collins, etc, it is a long and arduous process. Authors have to first submit their manuscripts through a literary agent, who then pitches the manuscript to publishers.
When a publisher accepts the contract, which may take months or even years, the contract may or may not include an advance. The publisher determines how many copies will be printed based on how many copies they believe will sell. New authors may not receive an advance at all and, if they do, it may only be a few hundred dollars. Famous authors, such as Nora Roberts and Kristen Hannah, may receive five, six, sometimes seven figure advances. An advance is not free money, but rather money that is earned. The author does not receive any additional royalties until the amount of the advance is reached.
With the traditional route, an author’s royalties will be anywhere from 5-10% of the recommended retail price of the book. And that royalty may depend on where the book is sold. Some contracts may stipulate lower royalties for discount markets (like Walmart or Big W) and a higher royalty for high-end bookshops (like Barnes and Noble or indie bookshops). The author may receive their royalty cheque once a quarter or it may be once a year, depending again on the contract terms.
The traditional publisher owns the rights of the book for the contracted period of time, which may be three to five years.
Royalities – Hybrid Published
It’s still a long process for Hybrid publishers, but the author pays the publisher money up front to publish their novel. Yes, you read that correctly. The AUTHOR pays the PUBLISHER to publish their book. The publisher owns the rights of the book for anywhere between one to five years, and the author doesn’t get paid until after a six-month holding period when the book is published. Royalty payments from there vary. They may arrive quarterly. They may be annually. It’s all dependent on the hybrid publisher.
Do you see the red flags with the Hybrid model? I do. My advice? Run. Run away as fast as you can from a Hybrid publisher. An author should never pay what can be thousands of dollars to have their book published.
If you’re tempted to go the Hybrid route because it’s ‘easier’ and find yourself too nervous to take a different route, I urge you to do more research. I’ve heard of authors paying thousands of dollars to a hybrid publisher only to find themselves ghosted, wondering where it all went so wrong If self-publishing is attractive to you, there is information everywhere on self-publishing and it’s really not as daunting as it seems.
Which brings me to…
Royalities – Self-Published
This is my area of expertise.
Self-published authors do not get advances. They manage all parts of the publishing process themselves which is one of the main reasons authors like to self-publish. They keep control of their book, as well as the rights. Self-published authors receive royalties on a monthly basis, with a delay of about three months on the sale. eBooks bring in more royalties than print books, so you may find a lot of self-published authors only offer that format. (Did you know you can buy eBook formats of my published novels, directly from my website?)
Most self-published authors will publish on Amazon via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) at a minimum. It’s by far the most accessible for most writers. But if authors want to sell their books in bookshops, they need to go through a distributor like IngramSpark. There are are other distributors, depending on locale, but IngramSpark is the largest distributor in the world, and the one most bookshops purchase through.
Yes, the royalties are higher than Hybrid and Traditional publishers, as there is no middleman, but this is where I burst the bubble. The amount self-published authors receive is not significantly more, especially since printing and distribution costs have dramatically increased over the last few years. As much as we would love to increase the price of our books to cover these increased costs, that puts us out of market range. The printing and distribution costs make up the majority of the fixed expenses we incur, but there are other costs to factor in: editing, proofreading, cover design, copywriting, typesetting, marketing, advertising, and publicity. You don’t want to know what I make on an hourly basis right now.
Other ways authors make money
Because we can’t rely solely on book sales as our only means of income, authors have to get creative in other ways.
Libraries buy the copies of books to put on their shelves. They do not get these for free. The books are purchased either from local bookshops, or through distributors. Authors can get paid when you borrow a novel from the library IF the author signed up to receive this payment (it’s not automatic). These payments are paid to the author and publisher annually.
There are two very important points to be made here – and this is where you can help.
Authors and publishers do not get paid for eBooks or audiobooks, only print books.
Authors (and publishers) are only paid if they have a certain number of books in the library system, and if their book was borrowed a sufficient number of times. That means, if the book you want is not showing in your local library, request they order it in.
Special Events
Some authors can make money through special events, like writer’s festivals or library tours. This isn’t common, but the more popular authors do get paid appearance fees. The Australian Society of Authors recommend authors get paid over $300 for interviews, over $200 for a panel discussion and almost a $1000 for workshops, but I have not met an author yet in the self-publishing world given this type of respect.
Writing Classes/Workshops
Some authors may create writing classes or host workshops on their own and publicise these in their local communities. There is significant time and effort that go into these, and they aren’t profitable timewise, but if it helps to pay the bills, we will happily share our knowledge. I’ve known a few authors who do this to supplement their income.
Freelance Writing/Selling Short Stories
Many writers work freelance. They may write for magazines, websites etc. Others sell short stories and sell them as part of anthologies or direct from their website.
Affiliate Sales
The dreaded commission. I have these on my blog because it’s a way to earn a passive income. Any time someone signs up for a writing/publishing/marketing tool like Scrivener,Vellum or StoryOrigin via my website, I get a small commission. But for all of these, we’re talking pennies. Certainly not enough to buy a cup of coffee. Which brings me to…
Patreon, Buy Me A Coffee etc… Services like these give readers a simple way to support their favourite authors to keep them writing.
Some authors offer Patreon to their readers and deliver behind the scenes insight into their writing in exchange for sponsorship.
You’ll see ‘Buy Me A Coffee’ on my webpage as a way for readers to ‘tip the author’ as my blog posts share (hopefully useful) information without making any income from them.
A reality check about how much author’s make.
Last financial year, I sold about 1100 books. I’m hoping to double that number this financial year. But if you break that figure down, factoring in I work six days a week, seven hours a day, I make less minimum wage – AND that doesn’t account for expenses.
A 2015 survey* of Australian authors conducted by Macquarie University revealed that the average Aussie author earns less than $13,000 per year from their writing. I wish! But the fact is, most authors earn less than the minimum wage. *A new survey was conducted in early 2022, results are pending.
I can hear that question screaming in your head: So why do publish books at all?
Here’s the easy answer: Because we LOVE what we do.
How you can help an author:
I am fully aware that buying new books is a privilege, especially considering books in Australia can retail for $30 or more for a paperback. Joining your local library is a great way to save money and discover new authors.
Consider borrowing from your library instead of buying from a second-hand shop. If there’s a book at the second hand/charity shop that you love, one you can’t resist, take the time to write a review of the book afterwards. You can share your thoughts on Amazon or on Goodreads. Goodreads is the largest free website for readers, and you can find some amazing recommendations there. Reviews do not have to be long. Two sentences work just as well as two paragraphs.
Share the book on social media.
Tell a friend or suggest it for a book club.
Buy new books from new authors and borrow the blockbusters.
Sign up for your favourite author’s newsletter. You may receive some special promos, gain information on a new release, or even learn a fun new fact. By having a strong following, this allows the author to gain more credibility with bookstores, as well as with podcasters and magazines etc for interviews.
Pre-order books. Authors do not get paid more for pre-orders. They are set up only to create interest. If the author sells a high number of books before the day of release, that may bump the book up into the best-selling category, which garners more interest.
The more books are seen online (and become popular), the more likely bookshops will order more books. That’s why authors love readers who share the books they read on-line and social media influencers. #Bookstagram is a serious business and if a popular ‘bookstagrammer’ touts our book, that helps increase book sales.
Ten years ago, I worked for a large corporation, working up to seventy hours a week. My mental and physical health suffered considerably as a result. When I left that role, I promised myself that I would never put myself in that position again.
I work just as hard today but I kept my vow. I’ve learned to listen to my body and work when I’m most productive.
But here’s the crackpot thing: I work about the same number of hours.
Working from home in 2010
The stress is different now. I don’t have seven bosses breathing down my neck. I don’t have to do (stupid) status reports that are never read. The ridiculous deadlines are now of my own volition. (I’m really trying to get better at this one). And when I feel like I’m approaching overload, I take a break. It could be for 10 minutes or ten days. But there is not a day goes by that I’m not working on something. That’s just part of the writing life.
Call me a workaholic but this works for me.
Working from home in 2021
When I sat down at the end of the year to evaluate the year’s work, I was shocked at what I had accomplished in twelve months. I had written three books, published two. I had set up a publishing company. I had taken on a few side projects. I had set up a separate business, then closed it. I had learned a lot about marketing – what to do and definitely what not to do. Not to mention the short stories and blog posts I’d written throughout the year. My list of accomplishments was long.
Then I remembered that working successfully as an author is a long game.
The brain needs time to process. The characters need to evolve – and mine certainly like to evolve on their own timeline. You need to test and revise, then be flexible and adapt as the images floating around in your head zip around like fire flies.
When planning out the year, I decided to slow things down a bit. I’m continuing with a lofty goal of publishing a new book every 6-8 months . But I need to find balance between work and play. I need to listen to my heart, as well as my mind. I also need to tap into what I already know and leverage my resources better, in a more productive way. (I’ll have more on that in a future blog post)
Sounds like I’m trying to convince myself of all this, doesn’t it? Not the mindset at all of a workaholic!
Maybe that’s part of it. This is a challenge for me as I feel like I have a deadline against myself. I wrote about it in this post: How Grief Has Guided My Writing.
I read somewhere that Nora Roberts writes 6-8 hours every day. Alice Munro writes seven days a week. Stephen King writes for about four hours every single morning, vowing to write two thousand words. Ernest Hemmingway wrote in the mornings until ‘you still have your juice and know what will happen next and you stop and try to live through until the next day when you hit it again.’ Now you can’t tell me that those authors aren’t workaholics!
So, it’s not just me who feels the compulsion to keep writing. Just as each writer has a unique method for getting words on the page, their practice is just as dynamic. Whether an early bird like Hemingway or a night owl like President Obama, the difference for me is that I keep working when my juice glass is empty. And that needs to change.
It’s a different game for an indie writer compared to those that want to be traditionally published. I wear all the hats. I’m the writer, the media specialist, the promotor, the admin. The list goes on and on. It’s a never-ending cycle, but I’m not complaining.
I have the privilege of creating work that people are enjoying, and I’m living my life on my terms now. For me, that means creating SMART goals (thank you, corporate life), outsourcing what doesn’t bring me joy, so that I can focus on the things I love.
PLEASE NOTE: Affiliate links were used in this post. I do not promote anything I have not used or experienced myself. All opinions are my own. Please follow our advice at your own risk. By clicking these links allows me to receive a small commission, which in turn keeps website running. For that, I thank you.
It’s been one year since I published my first book, Camino Wandering.
Did you read that word? Published! I put a book out into the world! Check Amazon—it’s there. The local bookstores stock it on their shelves. They’ve even asked for more copies. How great is that!
I’ve always been a writer and had only dreamed of being a published author! But now, I can say the words: I’m an author.
Oh, but wait! I published two books! I can’t believe I did that – in one year.
(Bubble bursting)
Ah, but it wasn’t easy. There was no magic wand involved. It boggles my mind how much I’ve learned in the last year, but there is still so much more to learn. As much as I would like to ‘just write’, I’m still trying to work some kinks out of the business side of things. It’s great to be on Amazon, but not so great if I’m the only one that knows I’m there. With the holidays approaching, I want to make sure that Santa knows where he can pick up a copy of Camino Wanderingfor Mrs. Claus.
Speaking of the holidays, this is usually the time when we humans like to think about all the nutty stuff that happened over the last year. Lots has happened so let’s get to it.
Finding a silver lining in the pandemic
2021 was a stupid year for so many reasons. Melbournians suffered lockdown for months on end while the rest of the world went in and out of lockdowns at a dizzying pace. And, we’re still not even close to recovered from the horrors of 2020. Let’s get vaccinated people! PLEASE!
Here in Tasmania, we’ve been lucky. Strict government directives have kept us relatively safe. Not safe from individuals that think the rules don’t apply to them, but we’ve had very few cases in 2021, nevertheless. For us, it’s been pretty much business as usual, except for travel. Our borders have remained closed for much of 2021 and for a person who loves to travel, that’s been tough for me. But I’ve managed to keep my itchy-feet syndrome in check by placing my bum in a seat and writing. The world is your oyster if you can keep an active imagination.
Understanding it’s an ever-evolving writing process.
Over the course of a year, my writing process has evolved dramatically. I learned a lot when writing Camino Wandering, even more when writing Beneath the Surface, and then more when I drafted my third book (late 2021).
When I wrote Camino Wandering, my process was whacked. I really had no clue what I was doing. “Just write the book,” resounded in my head. If only I knew then what I know now. But I wouldn’t know what I know now without those challenges.
It began by learning about POVs – Point of Views.
Camino Wandering started out as being written from Aubrey, Pam and Georgina’s points of views, alternating the points of view with each chapter. I almost gave up early on, trying to keep it all straight. About a third of the way into writing the book, I knew the reader would toss that book across the room by Chapter Six if I kept writing that way.
So, I learned more about that piece of my craft. POV is something I’ll be blogging more about in 2022.
I learned the power of structure.
Writing fiction is a lot different from writing non-fiction, which is something I had been doing for years.Structure exists in both forms, but the difference is like comparing an orange to a skyscraper. Switching gears took some serious mind grinding. I dug through the enormous amount of content there is online about writing fiction. Here are a few resources that worked for me:
When writing my third book (untitled at the time of this writing), I learned that while I may have a clear idea of who the characters are, unless they have a name, I can’t ‘see’ them. Two of the characters had their names auctioned off before I began writing the outline. Even though I had their descriptions and detailed characteristics in black and white -I had to wait for their names to fully understand who they were.
Understanding the need for a solid outline.
At the beginning of 2021, I delved into a complete rewrite with Beneath the Surface. What was published in September 2021 is completely different from what was drafted in 2016. It was rewritten at least ten times and what saved me there was knowing how important an outline was.
In fact, I realised even a basic outline was not good enough. I was halfway through rewriting Beneath the Surface when my characters started (finally!) chatting to me. I had one character who was not coming through, but the other two were loud. I realised then that I needed to make that third character a tertiary character. They didn’t really need to be in the story, but they added some conflict for the main character, so they remained. That’s when I decided I needed to stop (re)writing altogether and create a solid outline for the book – and start over, yet again. With the solid outline created, I was able to complete the (final) draft two weeks later and I was thrilled with the outcome.
When I wrote my third novel, I didn’t start writing until I had a detailed outline. But, one day, I went completely off-script chasing the writing fairies. Then I spent almost a week trying to rein it back in. The characters were working but I had lost where the story needed to be.
I ‘nap’ a lot when writing. I lie down with my eyes closed and quieten my brain for a while. It’s usually in this relaxed state that the characters chat to me, or I can unravel a complexity I can’t resolve while staring at a screen.
I also bake, paint, or doodle. Not at the same time, of course. It’s another way to ponder storylines.
I’m different from most in that I can’t write every day when I’m working on a book.
There’s a train of thought in the writing world that you must write every day, even if you force yourself to do so. That works for many people, but it doesn’t for me. It’s not to say I’m not thinking about my current work in progress. That’s constant. But I need to have all my ducks in a row before the story flows out of me.
With NaNoWriMo, November is all about getting words on the page. For me to be successful, I need a plan, a solid outline, my characters complete, before I can churn the words out.
My love/hate relationship with marketing.
Before I could do any marketing, I needed to understand who my reader was. Who was I writing my books for?
Marketing practices for these books are completely different. I had to know where the readers were.
Camino Wandering, while easier, has limitations. I can jump on Facebook and delve into the Camino groups and pages, but I can’t promote on those. When people ask if ‘anyone recommends a good book on the Camino?’, I can’t raise my hand… and that’s challenging. So, I stay engaged in the groups and advertise on Amazon, promoting the books to people looking for Camino books.
Selling Beneath the Surface has been like looking for needles in a haystack. It’s not YA, but the protagonist is a teen. It’s a thriller, set in Sydney and Melbourne. It’s a book amongst a million others just like it –even the title gets buried on Amazon. I’ve had to be creative with marketing Beneath the Surface. (Facebook Ads have been the thorn in my side, but they’ve been necessary.)
I also learned that consistently posting on social media is key to selling books.
I have one day a week where I focus ONLY on scheduling marketing. I’ve streamlined this process and now I spent two days a month on it. But I still check in every single day on my social platforms, to comment, like, share. Engagement is key, but it can be time-consuming too.
Seeing my book on the shelf of local bookshop has always been a dream for me. I guess it’s validation that not only did I write a book, but bookshops want to sell it. The buyers deem the book good enough that they know there’s readers will buy it.
I discovered that the Tasmanian bookshop community is very welcoming to local authors and everyone one I approached were eager to stock my book within minutes of looking it over. The mainland bookshops too – but only with their own locals. The reason: The pandemic. I can’t do book tours at the moment other than in my own state because of closed borders. The pandemic is also bringing writers out of the woodwork.
I did not have success selling paperbacks in mainland Australia. I queried over two hundred bookshops. Two replied. One was open to commission and ended up sending books back to me, so I lost money there. The second one tried to order through Ingram Sparks (distributor) but Ingram price their shipping so high that I have to discount my books so deeply, that I end up making literal cents on each paperback. In Tasmania, most bookshops opt for direct distribution. It works out much better for them and for me financially.
Selling to large booksellers internationally, like Barnes & Noble or Waterstones is a tough nut to crack. Unless you’re traditionally published, it’s rare to find your book on the bookshelves unless several people request it. I have had one bookshop in the U.S. interested and it’s only because I know the owner personally.
I will say it: Thank God for Amazon.
Constantly learning about the Amazon Advertising game.
For better or worse, many people buy their books from Amazon.
As an Indie Author, you can easily get buried in the mix. Enter: Amazon Advertising. I love it because it brings in about 75% of my book sales. But understanding how it works is an ongoing endeavour. I learned a lot through Bryan Cohen’s 5 Day Challenge – the basics, anyway. The rest is trial and error. We’re just trying not to bleed money.
Investing in Amazon advertising allows my book to show higher in the rankings and get in front of people looking for similar books. They may not see it otherwise.
Wow, there are a lot of snake oil salespeople out there.
Trying to navigate through the immense amount of information there is about marketing can be daunting. I’ve signed up for several webinars this year. At one point I was doing one a week. I can usually get some new tip out of them. The one certainty is there is always a sales pitch at the end about how this program will solve all your problems and you’re on your way to the life you’ve always wanted.
Since I know the basics now of marketing, I’m ready for the next level. I want to know more. I want to do a deep dive. This is where the snake oil salespeople live.
We invested in a $600 course this year (I heard your gasp! Trust me, I had heart palpitations hitting that ‘buy’ button!). It seemed like everything we were looking for. The reviews were positive, and by all indications, the guy looked like the real deal. I signed up KNOWING there was a 30 day return policy. It was a good thing too. I went through the detailed course outline, the course material, and the additional offerings, and thought, there’s nothing new here. I either knew most of it already or it was everything he’d covered in the webinar. The clincher was, he kept saying, ‘but we’ll get to that’… and never did. I was two days from the deadline, but I sent that email requesting a refund. Thankfully, they honoured the money back policy…not all of them make it so easy.
Having a supportive writing community is key.
When I moved to Tasmania in 2019, I was eager to find ‘my people’. It just so happened that by the time I was looking, NaNoWriMo was just around the corner. I met with the NaNoWriMo chapter in Hobart, and what an incredibly supportive community! Not only is it a place to talk freely about writing, but we share ideas about what we’re learning too. If it wasn’t for this community, I may never have discovered Vellum or the local Indie Author community.
I look forward to continually learning more next year, and I’ll keep sharing as I go!
PLEASE NOTE: Affiliate links were used in this post. I do not promote anything I have not used or experienced myself or had recommended highly to me. All opinions are my own. Please follow our advice at your own risk. By clicking these links allows this website to continue running. For that, I thank you.
Most writers love nothing more than to hole up in their special space and simply write. It may be at home, on a writing retreat, or surrounded by the sound of coffee machines and chatter in a café. While we love writing, most writers have an aversion to anything related to marketing. And public appearances? Book signings? Ooh, that’s a form of torture all on its own.
Unfortunately, the reality is we have to get out of our comfort zones once in a while and (*gulp*) … sell our books. Indie authors and the traditionally published all have to tackle the marketing beast at some point. We need to connect with our audience and continue building it if we want to earn a living from our craft.
This year, with that in mind, I decided to contact some local booksellers and ask if they would be interested in stocking my paperbacks.
Some authors offer their books solely in digital format but for me, it’s been my dream to see my books on the shelves of a bookshop. I love a fresh new paperback. The weight and feel of it nestled in my hands brings me joy. And the aroma of those fresh pages? It’s like the book is begging you to indulge in its juicy words!
To say I was excited when the first bookshop said yes is a major understatement. I did a happy jig around my office. But the bubble was quickly popped when they asked if I would come in and do a book signing as well. Well, shit. I hate speaking in public.
I may be completely comfortable with whatever subject I’m discussing, but my body contradicts me.
A lovely ruddy rash sprouts from my neck and plants itself boldly in my cheeks. I end up looking like an old Irishman with too many whiskies in his system.
We’ve all heard the horror stories of writers sitting for hours at a signing watching a distressingly high percentage of patrons pass by with casual indifference. How do I avoid looking like a raving lunatic with a goofy smile plastered across my face, eager for the attention of someone to show interest in my book? You feel like a lame duck, ready for the slaughter. It’s especially terrifying for the first book. That’s your baby people are judging you on.
With my first signing, I arrived with sweaty palms and a racing heart. It was like going on a first date with your first crush.
My goal was to be approachable and professional, avoiding any hint of smarminess. No raving lunatic here. I’d wait for people to approach me. It would be fine. After all, I have one major thing in common with people who visit bookstores: we all love books. Yes, it would be fine. F.I.N.E.
Except that first signing coincided with a torrential rainstorm and the after effects of a snap lockdown. In other words, it was a great day to stay home. And people did. Very few visited the bookshop. As embarrassed as I was, squeezed into the back of the bookshop, the only space available inside for my signing, I felt equally bad for the owner who kept apologizing for the lack of traffic. It wasn’t their fault. In normal circumstances, both the city and the bookshop would be buzzing on a Saturday. Still, standing there, waiting for someone, anyone, to walk to my table…Well, it gave me a lot of time to think.
I thought of the photos I’d seen of famous authors with hordes of readers stretching out the door. I felt like a failure. I began to second guess myself. What do I need to do to have that kind of experience? My mind whirred. If I don’t have lines out the door, that means I’m not doing something right. I’m not getting my book in front of the right readers. Maybe I wasn’t doing enough marketing, enough advertising. Then it hit me. I would have to put myself out there even more. It meant I had to do things like …. interviews. And that’s a WHOLE other nightmare. Nightmare scenarios began racing through my head. (Remember that rash I told you about?)
And that’s when someone walked to my table and asked me to sign my book before they purchased it. In that moment, everything was great in the world again. My racing heart quietened.
Between the signings I’ve done since that first time, I haven’t had to experience an empty table for too long. I usually have someone who has walked the Camino de Santiago or knows someone who has. Sometimes someone approaches who is trying to write a book themselves and is curious about my writing processes. And now, with Beneath the Surface out in the world, I have people telling me how much they ‘love a good thriller’ and they’ll ‘give it a go’ Most of all, I am lucky to have amazing book shops who’ve opened their doors to me, promoted my books, but best of all, kept some of that stock to sell later.
So, my goal in the end has been accomplished despite my initial anxiety attacks. My books are stocked on bookshop shelves, and I sell more books at my signings. Now I just hope that those buyers will leave reviews (!!!).
It’s a great reminder that we writers need to come out of the woodwork every once in a while. Even if we go kicking and screaming.
Here’s what I’d like to ask you:
If you’re ever at a bookshop and there’s an author sitting alone at a table, please go talk to them. You don’t have to buy their book if it’s not your thing, but talk to them. What I’ve found is this: having one person at the table piques other people’s interest. Others want to know what’s so interesting, so they will come over and casually look at what’s on the table. So while you may not be the buyer, that curious person may be. And maybe you’ll meet a very interesting introvert who is just hap
I write a lot about my writing process on this website and one of the key parts before writing ANY story for me is knowing who my characters are. And I realised, maybe you don’t know THIS character, Me. The Crackpot Writer.
I’ve written only a little about myself so I thought I’d share a little of my own backstory.
So here goes…
I am an Aussie ‘girl’ who was born and raised in New South Wales (Australia). As an army brat, I spent much of my childhood moving around. Usually every eighteen months or so. When my Dad finally retired from the army (after twenty years in the service), we moved to the Upper Hunter Valley, to live on a 140 acre farm. The school I attended from Year 9 onwards was (is) small. So small that my Year 12 graduating class had eight students.
After a short stint living and working in Sydney, I moved to America in my early 20s. I wanted freedom from the small town life and I wanted, more than anything, to travel. I started out in California, but quickly moved to Austin, Texas. The plan was to stay in the U.S. for five years. It ended up being twenty.
For the majority of my time in America, I worked for a large corporation. By the time I was forty, I was spending 70-80 hours a week in a job I liked, but didn’t love. To be honest, I think it was the people who kept me there (and the regular paycheck).
Given that my management team was scattered all over the world, I was constantly working. I’d often respond to requests from my family with “give me five minutes. Usually I’d get back to them HOURS later. When I finally found my ten-year-old, bawling her eyes out because she wanted only five minutes of my time (and my husband confirming I’d been too distracted with work to see she was missing me), I knew something had to give.
So, I took a 13-day, 11-state road trip with my daughter Natalie in 2010, and my life changed completely. My eyes were opened to what I was missing. I looked at my daughter and saw a young woman beginning to emerge and I didn’t want to miss any any of it.
2010 – Colorado. The roadtrip that changed my life.
That road trip changed my life. Possibly even saved it.
I was experiencing some health issues, both mental and physical, and I realised I was failing at living my life. I knew I wasn’t living. I was existing. And barely existing at that. But I didn’t do anything about it at that point. I kept soldiering on, telling myself I’d make changes.
In 2012, my father-in-law and my Dad died within three months of each other. I was close to both of them and I realised then – smacked-in-the-face kind of realised – how short life is. I discovered the time I was giving to myself and to my family was non-existent. I decided it was time to get off the corporate ladder and take my life back. On MY terms. So, I ditched the desk and became a freelance travel writer and photographer.
In 2013, I moved home to Australia with my husband and daughter. It wasn’t quite what we expected, but we made it work. I continued with the travel blogging, branching out into freelance writing and side gigs to keep the wolf from the door.
In 2017, when the nest became empty, my husband and I decided it was time to donate all of our worldly goods and fly the nest too. We packed up the car and began to travel full time. We liked to say we were ‘keyless’.
2017 – Wilsons Promontory – Victoria, Australia.
After a 10-month road trip through Australia, I left Australia again in early 2018 to wander the world on my own. I needed space to work out what I needed moving forward. I spent the first three months road-tripping through New Zealand and the U.S., before to I flew to Iceland for five incredible days. From there, I continued on to Europe.
To begin, I reacquainted myself with England. Then I headed to France to walk the first of two Camino wanders. After that, I hid out in England to get used to the world again. (Seriously, it was hard after living in a bubble on the Camino Frances for two months!). Eventually I flew to Japan to meet my daughter for her dream trip.
(Side note: my daughter is now in her twenties and living her own life on the mainland of Australia. I’m happy to say my daughter and I are now as thick as thieves. No matter where we are in the world, we text/talk every day. I’m not kidding when I say that 2010 road trip saved my life. It saved the relationship with my daughter at the very least.)
I returned to Australia in late 2018 and by early 2019, my husband and I were back in Northern America, housesitting. By then the fictional writing bug had infected me. Before it really took hold, I managed to get back to Spain and walk another Camino. This time with my husband.
Now, we live on the east coast of Tasmania. Travel is still part of our lives, but we’re happy to be based here.
So, did I win the lottery or something to live this life?
Ha! No. I wish! I managed to do the full-time travelling by housesitting mostly. I’ve housesat all over place – all over Australia, England, the U.S. and Canada. It’s an incredible way to meet new people, make new friends (both of the human and animal kind), and save a ton of money while travelling. It’s something I would recommend to anyone doing a long term travel experience.
Finally, in July 2019, my husband and I found a place to live in Tasmania. Of all the places we’ve been in the world, Tasmania is the one place we both really love and feel most at home together.
It’s also where I find I’m most creative.
Granted, I’m back to constantly working again, but now it’s because I want to. I feel compelled to write these stories I keep dreaming about. I have a constant buzz in my head, with characters chatting to me, while I think of new ways I can add some mystery into the story.
The best part? I can walk away at any time and take a nice long wander. Or whatever it is I want to do.
I think the one thing I’ve learned over the years is I need to experience life slowly and on purpose.
And now, with the pandemic around the world, I feel (and I’m groaning as I say this) blessed. Lucky. To have found a spot in the world that is mostly unspoiled and mostly unaffected by the pandemic, I wonder somedays how this all lined up. Through hard work and planning, of course, but somehow it all came together. And I’m living the life I always dreamed of. Well, almost. There are still a few things I want to do…
UPDATE: The character names have been chosen after two successful bids at MPower Alliance’s 2021 Gala. Stay tuned to learn what they are in my next book, releasing in 2022!
In August 2021, I was approached by an old friend, who is on the board for an amazing charity called MPower Alliance based in California. Because of COVID, MPower Alliance have struggled to find donations, so they are thinking creatively.
MPower Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting birthmothers after they place a child for adoption. The birthmothers we work with are primarily in California, USA, but our reach is across 39 states and four countries.
Birthmothers choose to place for a variety of reasons, none of them easy decisions. At MPower Alliance, they provide community where birthmothers can discuss their experiences with others who can understand and empathize. They also provide opportunities for grief counselling and financial assistance. To learn more, visit https://www.mpoweralliance.org/.
So, where am I going with this?
In ’Camino Wandering’, I include a secondary character, Hannah, who reminds the three main characters of who they used to be and the decisions they have made. This young woman is eighteen years old, taking a gap year before she heads to college and yet she faces a life-altering decision when she discovers she’s unexpectedly pregnant to her high school boyfriend. It’s not until we read the epilogue, an upcoming short story called ‘Camino Wandered’, do we find out the path she ultimately takes.
My friend read Camino Wandering and, going back to that creative thinking, asked if I would be willing to auction off a character name in my next book for the charity she’s involved in.
My answer? Yes, Yes and Hell Yes! Especially after hearing more about the charity and all they do.
But I decided I’d do a little better than that. I’ve offered to auction off two character names!
In October 2021, I will be start a new series in which ’Camino Wandering’ will be the first book in that series. These characters will be included in this next book, key to the storyline, but they are not main characters. I can’t write the story without them though.
How to get Involved:
Do you want to bid on the names of these two characters? You can choose either a female or male character – or both!
MPower Alliance’s annual gala is October 3, 2021, 5:00-6:30pm Pacific Time.
This year, we are extremely excited to offer the opportunity to name two characters in Tara Marlow’s Camino series. “Camino Wandering” is the first in that series and these named characters will be integral to the next book. You will be credited with the name in the book’s acknowledgements (along with MPower Alliance) stating the auction’s involvement. This is a rare gem of an auction item and we invite you to purchase a ticket, join us, and bid on this unique item (female and male character option).
A seventeen year old Australian girl in her final year of high school.
She is named after her father’s grandmother.
She will be in a semi-serious romance with an Irish lad, who is in Australia on a working holiday authorisation.
Once she finishes high school, she will travel with this Irish lad, much to her mother’s dismay. (Her mother is a single mother, after her husband, and father of this unnamed character, died four years prior. Her mother is a bit of a laid back, ‘hippy’ kind of Mum. Her Mum’s name is Sam.)
This young woman is strong yet stubborn, and thinks she knows everything (as all 17 year olds seem to do).
She has shoulder-length, brown curly hair, with hints of red through it, that she wears up in a ponytail much of the time.
She wears minimal makeup – just a little eyeliner and gloss. Her lashes are thick and she has to use an eyelash curler, otherwise her eyelashes stick straight out.
She has incredible skin, thanks to her father’s good genes.
Her eye colour is whiskey brown.
She is about 5’7 inches and lanky. She’s a little clumsy because of it.
She has long, skinny legs and knobbly knees. Her right knee has a long scar across it, due to a piece of glass she fell on when she was ten, when she was swimming in the local bay.
She loves to paint her nails, but her nails are always chipped.
She works part-time in the local café and helps her mother out cleaning local houses.
She likes to swear, not unlike typical teens, but not around the elderly neighbour, whom she adores.
She inherited her father’s olive skin.
The auctioned-off male character will be:
A thirty eight year old Australian man, living in Tasmania.
He was a commercial fisherman, who died four years ago in an accidental workplace accident.
He was the breadwinner in the family.
He was a dreamer rather than a planner.
He enjoyed playing rugby with the local team and was always the one to show up early for the game.
He was always offering to help a neighbour out, should they need it. He was very much part of the small community.
He was a member of the local State Emergency Services (which is a volunteer based organisation that responds to natural disasters in their local area).
He adored his daughter. He taught her to fish and encouraged her to dream.
He had a good relationship with his wife (Sam) but there was tension leading up to the accident. (She was feeling resentful for him not supporting her career dreams.)
He’d been married to his wife (the main character), Sam, for ten years but they had been together for nineteen.
He met Sam when he was 19 and he was hooked (as it were) right away.
He was 5’10, solidly built. Fit and weirdly limber.
He had olive skin and was darkly tanned from being outside so much. If he hadn’t died of an accidental fishing accident, he would have within twenty years of melanoma.
He had short brown hair, close cut. His hair was parted on the right and stuck up in a cowlick if he didn’t manage it with product (which he never did because he was always wearing a hat of some kind – usually a skull cap since he was out on the water so much).
His eyes were whisky brown and his eyelashes were thick. He had a small mole just on the outside edge of his left eye.
He had laugh lines around full lips but always seemed to have stubble.
He had four tattoos – a Tasmanian devil (not the cartoon, but the animal) on his left forearm. His wife’s first initial on the inside of his wedding ring finger (since he could never wear a ring to work). His daughter’s name and birthdate on his chest. And a large compass on his right shoulder.
He was up at 4am and often fell asleep on the couch by 8pm.
Ready to name the character(s)?
Power Alliance’s annual gala is October 3, 2021, 5:00-6:30pm Pacific Time. (Convert to your time zone here)