Monday, October 28, 2013

Why I Need Your Help, but Won't Demand It.

Thanks so much to the people who nominated me to some Goodreads lists. You picked some ones that really made me blush with pride.

The first two lists are sort of obvious, since they're my publisher's: The Vanished Knight is 11th on Fantasy and Paranormal Fiction from Etopia Press. It's 8th on YA Books from Etopia Press.

Awesomely, though, someone AMAZING (and yes, I checked who you are) went and put The Vanished Knight on the Best Books of 2013 and Best Books of October 2013 lists. It's 1791st and 60th respectively.

I must say that this was a pleasant surprise and really it's icing on top of me publishing The Vanished Knight. 

What to do with this, though, I don't know. You see... I'm really trying to not pressure people into voting for me and writing excellent reviews. To me, it's about having people read and enjoy my book. If they don't, that's okay too.

Call me an idealist, but I want my reviews to be honest. I want people to vote for my book on the lists because they really enjoyed reading it. Maybe that's foolish of me to say.

It's just that I want to make an honest connection with my readers. I want to know who enjoyed the story and who didn't. And why. With social networking and technology as it is, I think we do have space as writers to form deeper bonds with our reader.

But we can't do that if we expect readers to fawn and squee about the stuff I've written.

So yeah, I'm leaving this one up to you. If you read my book, think it's awesome and deserves some exposure, please please please DO leave a review, or DO vote for The Vanished Knight on the lists. ESPECIALLY please tell your friends about the story. As many people as possible.

I'm counting on you. *grins* It's so funny saying this when I know a very few of you are reading this post. But it's true. I've written the best book I can. I'm blog touring the heck out of it. But the point is, my reach, while going farther than most bloggers and writers, can only go so far.

The rest is you spreading the word if you care enough for the story to want it read. And for that, I have to trust you, mystery Wo6C fan, even if I'm not even sure if you exist yet.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Who I am and what I'm working on right now.

Hi again!

Sorry for being so sporadic in my postings. I'm still busy finding my stride with blogging (both profiles and all four blogs), writing and... well, living a life.

Good news is that at least I'm getting into the writing swing again. After I put up my previous posts, I had some issues with getting back into the groove.

Now, though, it's getting better. I'm just giving myself a bit of a break, reading as much as I can while still writing here and there. Slowly but surely, I'll shift my priorities back into their normal order, where writing is higher up than most of my other activities.

So what, you might be wondering, am I working on at the moment?

Not the sequel, just yet, although I'm expecting edits to start quite soon. The sequel to that's drafted already as well, so please please please tell your friends to buy The Vanished Knight! If sales are good, I'm pretty dang sure I'll get a contract extension to cover the rest of The War of Six Crowns. 

Right now, though, I'm pretty much working on getting a slew of different stories, ranging a variety of genres. I decided to put priority on a spy school story, which I'm enjoying as well. Then there's a YA Pirate story (a bit like Pirates of the Caribbean, but without the supernatural aspects), a Time Travel Sci Fi which I might just end up publishing under my current pseudonym and what might become a YA urban fantasy that would definitely be published under it.

Incidentally, in case you were wondering, my name's Misha, and yes, that's what the M. in my pseudonym stands for. You'll probably be able to find my real identity profile with a bit of smart googling. Or, if you're a writing blogger, odds are, you found this blog through my other one.

I basically picked a pseudonym as a branding strategy, so that readers could figure out which of my books are in the same vein and which ones aren't.

Now I'll be stopping, but before I go, what sort of stories do you like to read? What are your favorite books? Feel free to list ten, if you can't pick one. ;-)

Monday, October 7, 2013

Getting back to writing...

It's an odd thing, being published.

After years of work on The Vanished Knight, I thought that finally publishing would be a great buzz.

Honestly, it's not.

The buzz came from actually finishing it. From knowing I had an editor who understood me. And now, from getting great reviews from people who read my books. Some from supportive friends (These give me the warm and fuzzies, by the way), others from people I never met before.

At the moment, I constantly feel like I should be checking my Amazon sales rankings. As if that would make any difference whatsoever. I can't really. It's not healthy. And it's stealing time.

So starting today, I'm going to get back to writing. Yes, I'll still visit blogs and I'll still respond to comments on guest posts etc, but I need to focus on my first love.

Creating stories is it. I still hope that The Vanished Knight will do well. Part of me believes it will. But I can't get transfixed by the scent of money.

Getting enthralled by a new story... Now that's another thing altogether...

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Welcome Welcome!

Hey all! Welcome to my blog on the War of Six Crowns. At the moment, the look isn't quite what I want it to be, but as soon as my full blog is up and running, I'll have a back-ground and banner for the blog that'll match.

In the meantime, I thought today is as good a day as any to get started. I guess the best way will be to start at the very beginning... a very good place, to start.

Come on, don't tell me you didn't just hear Julie Andrews.

Anyway. I think the best place to start is... well. Me.

My official bio says that I live in South Africa close to Cape Town. (True) And yes, I can see Table Mountain from here. Today's sunny, so it looks like I can touch it. Of course, I'm actually about an hour away.

I started writing when I was thirteen, but it took me years to actually finish a book. I finished the rough draft to what would become The Vanished Knight and its sequel The Heir's Choice when I was 22. The rewrite was done by the time I was 23, and I signed with Etopia Press when I was 24. Incidentally, I had the idea for the book aged 19 and started writing it about six months after that.

You'll be relieved to know that, now that I'm out of university, I write a lot faster. And the sequel to The Heir's Choice has already been drafted.

I guess I learned how to manage my time better. And... in a way, finishing my first ever book made me see how it all worked, so I've been able to finish books repeatedly since.

I think this is a good place to stop for today. Wouldn't want to make your eyes glaze and all that. But if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. And let me know what you think of my book!