John Locke

I got in the car today, drove to my local Barnes & Noble, and noticed the special display where John Locke’s book, Wish List, is featured all by itself, not just alongside books by world-famous authors, but in a special section. I felt a burst of pride because I remember when John and I first met, and the dreams we shared, and how he was so happy and proud to be self-publishing. As many of you know – those who have followed my posts through the years (for example, “No Longer Waiting For The Call That Will Change Your Life”), John’s commitment to independent publishing changed my life, as well as that of many, many other writers.

Even though I’ve read Wish List several times (I edited it, in fact!), I still plunked down $4.99 and bought the book and took it to a friend, who doesn’t yet own an ereader. I considered it a great gift because I’m not only helping John (and my friend – it’s a furiously fast, fun, thrilling read), but I’m also helping the whole indie author community.

This is why:

Last summer John Locke, the New York Times bestselling author and the first self-published author in history to sell 1 million ebooks, partnered with Simon & Schuster in a first-ever “Indie sales & distribution agreement.” His print books are now published by John Locke Books, under the Simon & Shuster distribution umbrella (Telemachus Press continues to publish his ebooks). This means that beginning this month, his novels are available for purchase wherever physical books are sold, including Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and airports. Wish List, the first book being published, is expected to have an initial press run of 750,000 copies.

Most importantly in this mind-blowing publishing deal is that John retains 100% of the rights to his books.

John’s publishing deal with Simon & Shuster could be a game-changer for independent publishing. Putting a deal like this together was a huge thing, and not many authors would have been equipped to recognize, understand, and take advantage of an opportunity like this. Because of his extraordinary business acumen, John was uniquely qualified to appreciate all the ramifications. Right from the beginning of his self-publishing adventure, when he found out he could sell an ebook for 99 cents and get a 35% royalty, he worked on publishing strategies to be successful as an author.  Throughout it all, he never gave up any of his rights or control.

I hope other indie authors will realize how important this milestone truly is. An indie book has hit the shelves of major retailers, untouched by publishers, and unaided by media publicity and multi-million dollar marketing campaigns! We need to get behind Wish List and rally our support. Because if this book makes it, the door will be opened in ways we never imagined. John wanted to show the world that indie books belong in retail stores! This is what he is hoping to achieve, what he has always wanted to accomplish: to bring prestige and publicity to indie work. It’s truly the opportunity we’ve all been waiting for – an indie author has gotten in the mainstream publishing door, but we need to make sure that door stays open for all of us! We can do that right now by supporting John’s success in every way we can.

John has turned the publishing industry on his heels by his brilliance, his success, but, most importantly, his imagination. Not just in his wildly creative, laugh-out-loud thrillers, but in his business and marketing concepts. He thought outside the box, and he saw what could be instead of what is. Fortunately, a major publishing house was interested in stepping into the future along with him, and forged a different author-publisher relationship than any that has gone before.

John Locke has changed the rules, the players, and the game itself. From now on, the publishing industry may never be the same. I hope you’ll show your support the same way I did: by picking up a copy of Wish List and sharing this great news with your reader-friends.

Find out more:

SavingRachel.com

Telemachuspress.com

Your life is an adventure. Every morning you wake up and anything at all might happen! You can set off on a journey, speak your mind, buy something, sell something, look at a painting, take a walk, be chased by a wild boar … the possibilities are endless.

As a writer, you know this is true. You imagine experiences with the soul of an adventurer. You create things – you cast a magic spell and a world is manifested. A person is developed. A story unfolds.

The adventure is thrilling – but it can take its toll. Rest, pleasure, enjoyment in the journey is as important as charging into the fray. You need an oasis.

“WriteSpa – an oasis for people who love to write” is that refuge. It’s a place where you can feel rejuvenated and encouraged. It’s a place that’s fun, fulfilling, and will inspire serenity and nourishment in your writer’s soul.

“Writing through the Year” is a compilation of WriteSpas to carry you through fifty-two weeks of writing pleasure. It’s published in four volumes – Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. “Winter” is available now – Spring is coming soon!

WriteSpa, an oasis for people who love to write, is a place you can come for quiet, rejuvenation, and refreshment. In this oasis, Writing is your friend. Writing becomes a respite – the shade of a palm tree – the cool drink from a spring – a friendly encounter.

Photo: Arturo Mann

January 2012 – It’s time for a paradigm shift. How often have you looked at a sunset and said, “I love that sky!” Or you listened to the radio and said, “I love that song!”

Recently, I realized that it’s time to experience this differently. These past few weeks, walking on the beach early every morning, contemplating the years past and the years ahead, filled with intense emotion, relentless thoughts, and focusing on the steady rhythm of my bare feet on cool sand, I continued to long for stillness, peace, and even joy. It all seemed so
elusive.

But after several days I finally heard something – a voice, a feeling? I don’t know. But I heard it distinctly. It said: “Listen to the waves.” So I stopped and listened for a long time, hour after hour, hearing as though for the first time all the subtleties of the waves, the deep, booming roar of the ocean, the crashes, the whispers, the rustle of the foam on the sand, the sweeping in and the sweeping out of so much water, the endlessness.

The process was like getting to know a strange language I had never heard before. I realized the waves are not individual entities: they speak for the whole ocean. And this is what the waves say, over and over:  “I only want to love you. Let me love you.”

In that moment the world shifted. I realized that everything in the world longs to love us: the birds, the sky, the wind, the light. Even people! You might think that you want to be loved, but imagine or remember the joy of yourself being in love. And so with nature, or the sand under our feet, or the nose of a puppy. It all wants to love you, as much or more as you love it.

So the next time you look at a sunset, hear it say this to you: “I only want to love you. Let me love you.” And when you feel the breeze on your face, or you watch a star twinkle – let it love you. Because that’s all it really wants to do.

  Now that you have spelt your lesson,
   lay it down and go and play,
   Seeking shells and seaweed
   on the sands of Monterey,
   Watching all the mighty whalebones,
   lying buried by the breeze,
   Tiny sandy-pipers, and the huge Pacific seas.

  Robert Louis Stevenson
from ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’

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Writing Practice – You Are the Beloved

Photo: JaneArt

We’ve been programmed to think that selflessness and doing good deeds for others are vital for our wellbeing. We’ve been told that sticking with a lousy job, an abusive boss, and bleak sacrifice is what life is about. Self-denial is part of our existence.

That’s all true, to an extent. But it’s not the whole story. What matters most in the world is you. You need to care first and foremost about yourself. Everything you do and care and feel and think needs to be with you at your center, no one else. You are the dearest, the kindest human in your life. You are the sun – let the others orbit around you. And that way your light shines on them and they flourish and grow and shine as well.

By loving yourself, I’m not advocating selfishness or greed! It’s the opposite, in fact. Greed is not loving yourself – greed and selfishness will make you sick, just as it makes the world sick. Loving yourself means being as kind and loving toward yourself as you would be toward someone you love very dearly.

That’s all very well and good, I hear you say, But how can we do it? Years of conditioning, of people telling you the opposite or setting your value in terms of wealth or attractiveness or success makes it impossible. So what is the process? How can you practice this?

Since you love to write, begin by using Writing as your main practice. How often have you said, “I love that poem”” Or, “What a great word – I love it!” Now turn the experience around: Words, sentences, grammar, stories – they all want to love you. Let them. Let a word adore you. Allow a sentence to speak its pleasure in being with you. Enjoy the poem’s gift of loving you.

Look at a phrase or a paragraph in your story and surrender to it. For this writing practice, the effort is not to feel you are the master of your work. Let it love you. Let it pamper you, take care of you, worship you, adore you. Let the poem say, “This is for you. Enjoy!” Surrender to the love your words have for you.

Think of surrender not as giving up, but giving. Think of it in the same way the sun surrenders to its orbit and the moon surrenders to being a reflection in silver light.

Or the candle surrenders to being lit.

Or a flower surrenders to its own fragrance.

Surrender to being your own light, your own happiness, your own fragrance, your own beating heart. Surrender to yourself.

All else falls into place around you.

You are the beloved.
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Daily Happinesses

• precision as you cut the diamond
• belonging
• a flight of fancy
• nestled under the wing of a chicken
• what the raven said

Karin, my interviewer, asked me intriguing questions including whether the editing process forces me to remove a favorite scene. (Answer: Yes!)

She also asked about the kind of books I write, the publishing process I’ve gone through, and whether  my characters take on a life of their own and segue into different personalities or different situations than I originally thought.

Fun questions to respond to and I hope you’ll find it fun to read.

Pursued by Winslow Eliot

SAVVY THINKER (“You can’t control your thoughts, but you can control your thinking”) reviewed Heaven Falls a while back and so I bravely sent her a copy of Pursued.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Pursued is in the best tradition of Nora Roberts (or the worst, if you consider some of the elements of the story, including SM and murder, and Machiavellian elements on the part of several characters.) Wow. And I don’t use this comparison lightly. Her novels have been translated into eleven languages and published in twenty countries. That should give you an idea of how well she writes. Very well! Creepily well. I had to know how it ended on this one. So I skipped ahead. Then back again to the storyline. My bad. But that gives you an idea of how much suspense there is in this one.”

Thanks for the thoughtful review, Savvy Thinker – and I apologize heartily for creeping you out – I don’t ever mean to be creepy! I thought I was being romantic! Sort of.

Well, readers … you’ll have to read the review yourself – and then decide.

They say that the Sami people, who live in the land closest to the Arctic Circle, have over a thousand words for snow, but none for just ‘snow’ – as we refer to it. I’ve often felt that our word ‘love’ could use  at least 1,000 words to replace how we generally use it, and yet the closest I’ve discovered for  a more specific meaning is when I heard someone ask, “Do you love him or do you love-love him?”

We could do better!

And words don’t – can’t – describe the experience of grief. Since my mother’s death last summer, I often find myself breaking into sudden sobs. Yet I’m not “sad” – that’s not the feeling. Sometimes I’ll experience an intense rush of closeness, or of memory, or I’m flooded with passionate love.

We’re told there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Perhaps that’s so – but none of these words describes the actual, very personal, experience – it just describes certain stages.  Your anger is different than mine – yours may be felt through shrieks of rage; mine might be a white hot ache.

Your denial might be through dancing and singing; mine might be a catatonic numbness. We may share a process – and, as everyone knows who has experienced death, the process of grief is not linear. It’s more like an expanding balloon, those five classic stages layering on top of each other, now this one, now that one, and finally settling around us like a cocoon of acceptance – or at least an acceptance of the inevitability of it all.

Or perhaps when someone we love dies we are thrust inside an enormous cocoon of “grief” (what’s the right word?) and slowly those stages are lifted away and we’re back to being ourselves again.

How can the brief word “grief” encompass such an experience?

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Writing Practice – Making Up Words

Shakespeare made up hundreds of words – why don’t we?

The point is not that there are no words – it’s that there are too many. Or they are yet unnamed. Or they change – and now most words need to become verbs. I’m resialing. I’m grangering. Now it’s time to bergraner, but I feel too prussed.

I don’t seek peace – I’m peacing.

Make up your own words for an intense emotion you’re feeling. What does betrayal really sound like? What does anticipation really sound like – when you specifically anticipate something coming up soon?

I also recommend that you subscribe to Wordsmith.org. This daily word – along with its meaning and etymology – that shows up in your inbox is presented with such lightness, unusualness, and affection that you immediately get a sense that the marvelous Anu Garg has a love for words – not just an interest in them. Do you know what a “yob” is and where the word came from?

And what is a lacuna, after all?

Daily Happinesses

ENT – Ereader News Today

“Tips, Tricks, And Free Ebooks For Your Kindle”

Pursued
by Winslow Elliot
Rating: 4.9 Stars
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Price: $0.99

Pursued by Winslow Eliot

My first review of PURSUED on Smashwords, written by the murder-mystery author Bob Moats:

“I’ve never cared much for romance novels, but after reading “Heaven Falls” by this author, I know how well she can weave a thriller … From the violent start with a hurricane and the meeting of the hero and heroine, it grabs your attention. Then it continues with the travels around the world by the heroine, in search of a mysterious chalice that possibly hold a power desired by the villains. The plot was plausible and the dialog crisp, driving the story to its exciting conclusion. In “Heaven Falls” Winslow ties the chapters together with descriptions of essential oils, this book she uses the Tarot, an interesting choice and fascinating to read. The action and scenes change fast so pay attention. You will enjoy this book as I have…well worth the read.”

You can find out more about Bob Moats and his “Murder” series on his website.

 As I was conversing with a WriteSpa client, and we were discussing assignments and goals, I asked her where she wrote. She hesitated, then said, “It’s a bit problematic…I don’t have a laptop and my computer’s in the living room. I don’t really have a place for it.”

From the way she spoke, I could tell that using “the computer” was for her a chore, a bit of a nuisance, something that she ‘should’ turn on and use, like a vacuum cleaner, perhaps. I knew that for her to have a satisfying relationship with Mr. Write, the ambience surrounding the area where she worked was crucial.

This is not true for everyone. I have friends who are most inspired to write when they’re with a crowd of strangers at a Starbucks. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote on the dining room table, in the midst of a great deal of hustle and bustle. Jane Austen snuck her time in between morning calls (which happen, by the way, in the afternoon). Some authors write in their head, some in bed, some can only do it with a secretary on hand to take down the words.

You need to know what works for you in terms of place. You need to decide what makes you feel secure, at ease, and in a space that you can enjoy. Even if you have to squeeze in Writing between a cup of coffee and taking the kids to school, you’ll find much more pleasure if you surround that brief time with ritual, with some form of beauty, with its own mood.

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Writing Practice – Setting Up Your Space

Fragrance: No matter where you choose to write, decide on a fragrance that you will use exclusively for writing. Choose an essential oil that speaks to you – sandalwood, rosewood, jasmine … whatever you’d like, but one that is not too familiar. Save it for Writing. Smell this each time you’re preparing to open your document. You’ll find it helps enormously when, in the weeks and months to come, you find yourself stuck, depressed, or distracted from Writing, or if you find yourself traveling in another town, far from home, and yearn to write. Through your olfactory glands, your habit of finding pleasure in Writing will be triggered in your memory, and will be reignited. Create the habit now.

Do something that is beautiful in your writing space. A vase of flowers, for example. A crystal. A piece of colored silk. A pinecone. Something that harmonizes and centers you, and reminds you that this moment is between you and Flow and nothing else. If you’re planning on taking your laptop to the local coffee shop, wear a color that inspires, or slip on a pair of shoes you particularly like.

Personally speaking, I wouldn’t listen to music while I write. I know music inspires many people, but I think it undermines the relationship between your heart and your words, because your heart is pulled by the music on the machine, instead of the music of the spheres. Try writing without artificial music for a while and see what happens. You can always go back to it.

Dears, comfort is essential. A supporting chair, or soft couch, or a bed piled high with luxurious pillows – choose what makes you comfortable, but be comfortable. This exercise is about loving the experience of Writing. It’s about appreciating its worth in your life – not about angst, feeling scratchy, or suffering. It’s about wonder, awe, gratitude – and opening another window into what it means to be human.

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Daily Happinesses

• the loud sound of a leaf falling on a still afternoon
• a silver fish in a silver net that can talk and grant wishes
• swimming in a mountain lake in autumn
• a small favor that resonates
• meeting at the street fair
• scraping off the barnacles
• happy birthday wishes