Wednesday 24 August 2016

Relatable

Dedication taken from the novel 'Exactly 23 days' which is a story of survival for women.
When your heart has been shredded and you are left to pick yourself up to recover from lies, betrayal, trauma, emotional and financial abuse, to name just a few of the list of effects, bestowed upon us by partners who chose to be unfaithful and betray us, be it in reality or online, I just want you to know you WILL survive, you CAN do it.
It takes the seconds which seem like they are as long as a day, to eventually turn into manageable minutes, that then become a goal of an hour, followed by aiming to survive the never ending days and nights, when you don’t want daytime to come and you cannot wait for night time to fall once more, to allow you the peace of knowing you have survived another day. Believe me, you do have it in you. Dig deep and do what is required to get through those seconds, minutes, hours and days. It could be screaming as loud as you can, it could be dancing and singing like nobody can see or hear you, it could be power walking like you have batteries inside you, refusing to die, it could be a peaceful soak in the bath, it could be crying until you can cry no more, it could be grabbing precious time with your children, it could be choosing to drink a fruit drink and eat a yoghurt because that’s all you can face eating, it could be writing in your journal, explaining how you feel about those who chose to hurt you, it could be snatched moments of laughing with your friends until the tears roll down your legs. Whatever helps you, do it.
Just believe, have faith in yourself, trust your craziness, trust your recovery, trust your relapses, trust that you are doing great, as you are able to tick off another day in your head, knowing that your life is going to be so much more fulfilled without having somebody difficult in it, who just did not deserve to be there. I am a firm believer in Karma and the law of attraction. Whilst sitting in my garden watching the recent eclipse, it made me realise the level of the precision of the alignments of the planets, which brought such a spectacle of nature and how infrequently that alignment happens. I believe our lives are also about precision and alignment and that we are meant to be on the journey we are on and that better things are coming our way. Don’t let somebody who chose to walk out on your dreams let you believe your dreams are over. Create a new dream, a new goal. What have you always, always wanted to do? Go out there and do it. Right now. Start your dream machine but make sure that you have taken the time to ask yourself what you have learnt from the nightmare you have just emerged from first. There was a lesson to learn. Make sure you understand what it was and prevent yourself from reliving the nightmare.
Be good to YOU, all day, every day and goodness will come your way. Only you can mend you. Not your doctor, not your friends, not your family, not your work colleagues, not your neighbours and not your children. They might all want to be there for some of the journey, to help you recover but ultimately it is you and only you, who can do it. Look yourself in the eye, in the mirror and tell yourself no- body is worth keeping you in that place of pain and despair. Chose to smile and feel the wind in your hair, chose to laugh, chose to bath, chose to eat, chose a treat, chose a new look, chose a new book, chose the gym, chose to be slim, chose a walk, chose to talk, chose tears, chose to dispel your fears, chose whatever it is you need to get through the seconds, minutes, hours, days, nights, weeks, months to the ‘you’ that was there all along. You can do it and you will do it.
When you know you are finally mended, spread the word, hold out your hand, share some love from your heart and some laughter from your soul and be there for a new member of the sisterhood who needs your help. Let’s all help all our sisters worldwide to stand tall and know, they can and they will recover, survive and thrive, to live the life they deserve.

To all the sisters who reached out and held my hand in what ever way you could, who cried my tears with me, and laughed my laughter too, I thank every one of you. I survived. Jayne.
The above is taken from my debut novel Exactly 23 days and it warms my heart when I get messages from strangers telling me that the words I have written have impacted upon them in one way or another. One of todays messages via a third party says, 'Thank you so much for that book, I can relate to every word, it's like I was meant to read it to get my life in order'. There are a few recurring threads among the feedback and reviews for my book and they are: a need to know when my next book is out, 'unputdownable' comments and 'relatable' comments. I have said many times that my motivation to write the book was to help other women and I am so happy to hear the recurring message that people are finding the contents of the plot relatable, helpful, hopeful and inspiring. I am humbled and honoured that people choose to comment. It inspires me for sure. Thank you.

To purchase the book click the link or go to apple iBooks, Waterstones UK, Barnes and Noble or Amazon UK.  


SHARE:

Sunday 21 August 2016

Olympic standards. Nothing else will do.

Whenever I am introduced to people as a writer, I am usually greeted with something along the lines of, "Oh really? Published?" closely followed by, "How is it doing, sold any?" 

That's a strange question to answer because selling books, as I have said before, is NOT what motivated me to write this book. I was motivated to help other people, especially women to overcome betrayal but actually I have been pleasantly surprised that the men who have purchased and read my book are tending to send me personal reviews of their enjoyment of the book, thank me for writing it and to comment on the main character, Fi. Fi is a sensitive but cheeky woman, she embraces her sadness but she is also hilarious, is casual in her appearance but can be damn sexy too but more importantly she has a core of kindness and fairness until people choose to betray her and then her feisty side emerges! Is it any wonder she appeals to male readers too? 

I could answer the sales question by quoting the actual numbers, I could 'play the figures down' by trying to explain the slow start in sales or I could even 'big it up' by exaggerating the sales figures. BUT the sales figures are not what drives me to continue as a writer, otherwise I wouldn't be a writer for the right reasons. There is no question that I will be a writer forever. As I have said before, words have been in my veins since I was a small child. I am a writer. 

So how do I answer the question? 

Well writing is my passion and I have a flair for my craft according to my readers, many of whom have uttered the words, "can't wait for the next book," and as a matter of fact I too, believe I have a flair for writing. As with any passion that you wish to pursue, you have to practice and hone your skills. You hear of bands who have relentlessly toured the country, Europe or the globe, sleeping in a transit van and playing small gig after small gig before eventually emerging to have their music played on the radio, playing bigger and bigger venues and finally playing world renowned stadiums and festivals. Cold Play, REM et al come to mind. I have been honing my craft since I began studying again for my social care career, later as a court report writer in the probation service, by completing creative writing text book exercises sat at my desk, whilst sat on a beach years ago on Anglesey and even when sitting bolt upright in bed at 3am because an idea has been a part of a dream! 

I am that band member in the back of the van. I am that athlete who has dedicated years of relentless practice before finally standing on that podium. The difference being, I don't collect medals and I don't hear the crowd singing back at me as I belt out their favourite tune. I do however, appear to be consistently collecting (via my email, Messenger, Facebook and Instagram accounts) very positive feedback from people who have bought my book, who have really enjoyed reading it and then taken the time to send me their thoughts via a review. 

And so when people do ask me "How's it going, any sales?" My answer to the question is this, "I liken myself to the new band gigging in the pub at their first gig, or the runner out practicing in the pouring rain in the dark at the junior stages of his career. I am a self published writer dedicating my life to the marketing phase of getting my debut novel out there in the world."

Just as the band will have 3 people in a crowd and remember that gig as much as they will remember their first Glastonbury and the athlete will remember their first junior title as much as they will winning their first Olympic gold medal, I will remember all my emails, social media contact and face to face feedback that people so kindly convey to me about how my words have impacted upon them. I have made people laugh, I have made people cry, I have given people hope of a true and fulfilled love and I have people waiting for my next novel. That's not bad for a debut novelist.  
How's it going? It's going great. So thank you for asking. 

However, I won't lie and say I wouldn't like to break out into the big time! Just as the band member and the athlete does! But just like the athlete's who stood on the podium this past two weeks and told youngsters out their to follow their dreams and work hard for the gold medal, I too will continue to work very very hard to follow my dream of becoming an award winning author. And so I ask all of those who have read my book, please can you take the trouble to review it on Amazon, because 20-25 reviews means Amazon will include my book in their 'also bought' and 'you might like this' lists, which increases visibility on the site and may increase sales for an author. However, 50-70 reviews and Amazon then highlights the book for spotlight positions and it's newsletter feature, which could potentially mean a HUGE boost in sales for an author. Reviews really do help self published authors in particular to sell more books as part of their marketing strategy. And so this last paragraph was yet another 'music gig' or a 'pouring rain practice run' for me and I need the crowd to get behind me now!! 

To purchase the book click the link or go to apple iBooks, Waterstones UK, Barnes and Noble or Amazon UK. 

https://completelynovel.com/books/exactly-23-days
SHARE:
Blogger templates by pipdig