El Andalous - Writing

El Andalous - Shisha Area

I guess it’s about time I wrote about my writing, since that was one of my proclaimed reasons for coming over here and I haven’t really talked about it at all. Most writers have blogs to help sell their books, but my one is really as much for me to have a record of what it was like to settle over here than anything else.

Anyway, how’s my writing going? Well, as I’ve mentioned, last November I did write and publish “25 New Year’s Resolutions – for Dogs!” However, I didn’t have time to market it before Christmas and I really want to get a few other similar books out before plugging it too much, as it’s better to have a series to sell than just one. That way, if you make your book available for free as a marketing strategy (this can get you higher up on the “most popular” rankings), people who like your freebie may subsequently proceed to buy one of your other books. Consequently, if you don’t have any other books to sell, you’re a bit stuffed.

So, I’m in the final stages now of “25 New Year’s Resolutions – for Cats!” and I’ve drafted out some ideas for “25 New Year’s Resolutions – for Fish!” They may never sell, but they’ve been fun to write. In September, I will probably be working at marketing them properly this year. I may even give the Dogs book a bit of an overhaul.

I’ve completed the second draft of my debut novel, “Time Tells”. Unfortunately, I’ve got a major hole in the plot that I somehow need to overcome. Still thinking about that one! Recently, I’ve started an initial draft of “Space Shapes”, my second novel (I’m currently up to Chapter 6). Like the “New Year’s Resolutions” series, I want to have at least two novels out at the same time before I publish anything. Whereas “Time Tells” is very plot driven, “Space Shapes” is very character driven. Unfortunately, I don’t think characterisation is my writing strong point, so I’ve been taking a few courses.

There’s one run by the Open University (OU), which has about another two weeks to run. They’ve had something like 25,000 people taking this online course, so it’s a bit overwhelming with all the people contributing, but it’s brought a few things into focus for me that perhaps I’d missed, so it’s been useful. In addition to this, I’ve enrolled on two courses by Dean Wesley Smith, recommended to me by a friend. He’s based in the US, the courses are a series of videos followed by weekly assignments on the course topic. Each course has a maximum of 12 participants, so it’s more personal, and a lot more specialised and intense, than the OU course, but you have to pay for it!

I’ve been taking the “Character Voice and Setting” and “Depth” courses (one is just finishing, the other is just starting). It’s been very useful to spend some time thinking about what it is that I’m doing and to understand the sheer variety of techniques available; it’s almost overwhelming. Again, it’s also helped to bring things into focus. I hope I manage to improve my writing as a result.

Anyway, as you can see, I’m not spending my entire life swimming and socialising! Also, just because you may not see me publishing anything for long periods, this doesn’t mean that I’m not beavering away in the background. It’s all going on, I promise!