_ G'Day,

It seems apt that as I've spent the last three and a half weeks in Australia visiting my darling little grandson, my next featured author should live in Australia too. So before I leave these shores for Thailand please welcome Elita Daniels, author of Before Dawn, Tree of Life Book two.  As each and every author I've featured on here, Elita has her own unique way of writing and planning her next novel. Thank you for participating Elita...

 

The idea for Tree of Life came as an isolated scene in my mind of mother and son running from something or someone who wanted to hurt them. There was no story to speak of until my old dog passed away and the reality of mortality hit me. I became completely obsessive about death and I struggled with the idea of having to lose loved ones and that one day my life would end, too.  

With the idea of mortality a story was beginning to take shape. But it wasn't until I came across a picture of Murtagh (a character from Christopher Paolini's Inheritance cycle) that I realised who my main character was going to be. I decided he would be the little boy and that something terrible would happen to him, and he would have to be raised in the immortal elven realm where he suffers the enhanced realities of his morality. I wanted Nature and the elves to be his antagonists, and I wanted him to be his own enemy, not just the bad guys. I also wanted a love story weaved in there with a dark priestess, which he struggles with, so even love itself becomes an enemy. 

The story for Tree of Life came together very quickly then. I went through the process I always do when writing. I keep hundreds of notes. I find as I start writing  ideas just keep coming on their own accord, especially at night when I'm in that stage in between awake and asleep, so I try to keep a pen and paper next to the bed. I like to set my mind to dreaming about different scenes in the story, like a movie going on in my head. 

I also ask myself a lot of questions, starting with the main character - want does he want, what does he hate? If he wants something unusual, who else wants it and who are they? What world is he in? Who is he going to fall in love with? I find asking myself questions will just keep building and fleshing out the story as I answer them. 

I never, ever imagined I would become a writer, even though I've always had a fascination with stories, usually in the form of movies. The two things that motivated me to write were escapism from pain and wanting to be involved in the movie industry. I wrote a screenplay for Project Greenlight and made it to top one hundred with some pretty encouraging feedback. So I decided to try my hand at novel writing with hopes of one day having them adapted into movies. 

One of the reasons I wanted to become an actor was to not only lose myself in fantastic roles, but also to work with extraordinary people who share a passion over the same project and sort of become a little family. I'm experiencing a similar satisfaction being an author. Working with a small team of people who get excited over the same project, the story, the cover design, the videos, and everything else that goes into bringing a book to life. It's been a pleasure to work with my friends and family, and all of you who have supported me along the way. We still have a long way to go, but I'm looking forward to it!  

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Thanks Elita - and thanks everyone who has been following my seriesof featured authors. My next blog post should see me back in Cyprus at the beginning of March. 

May I take this opportunity to thank all of you fab people who have supported me these last few weeks. Both The Assassins' Village and Children of the Plantation, and not forgetting The Surgeon's Blade have done phenomenally well on Amazon. THANK YOU! You all rock!
Have a great week and weekend ahead everyone.

Faithx

Authors Mastermind: Featuring Tarek Refaat from Egypt.

Good evening and I am delighted to welcome today’s edition of Authors’ Mastermind and my delightful guest author. Could you please state your name and occupation?
Tarek Refaat

Thank you Tarek, I am so pleased you are here. And would you now please answer the following questions on your chosen subject. You have a maximum number of 250 words on each question. If you do not know the answer, say pass and we’ll move on to another question. The total number of passes will be counted and deducted against your final score.
Are you ready? Good then I’ll begin.

1.       How do you describe yourself; as a writer and as a person?
Tarek Refaat, well describing myself is quite a tricky question but here it goes. I am a traveller who’s on a quest to learn more about people. To observe and to learn.  As a writer I like to venture into different worlds and discover different colors and emotions.

2.       Do you do anything that would tell us you lead an interesting or indeed a crazy life?
Well I can say yes, I work in the field of information technology, which is a crazy and very rapid moving field, yet I love history and I love to write which is a world that takes me into serenity, so this mixture just makes my world more interesting. I combine between speed and an endless world of dreams, thoughts and emotions.

3.       Briefly, describe your journey into writing your first book and what or who inspired you.
‘Ruptured’ has quite a story...A year ago I read and heard about the trial of a criminal condemned with rape, and it was the first time a woman steps forward and brings her assailant to justice. He was sentenced, but I kept an eye out for how people talked and reacted to the matter. And a few months later I wanted to write something that would be evolved around a rape story but I wanted a different angle, I didn’t want the regular “How to get the devilish culprit” but I wanted to venture into a more human aspect. “How do people deal with the victim afterwards?” And a I found myself one day on my way to work picturing Farida. The heroine in ‘Ruptured’. And so it began

4.       Are you working on anything right now?
Not at the moment but I do have another finished story.

5.        Do you ever struggle with parts of the book you’re working/writing on?
Sometimes I do, but because my writing is mostly based on seeing or visualising something, I just write it on the spot. Sometimes I find conflicts or contradictions and then it’s where the problems usually begin, but normally not much

5b. What is your next book about, and where do you get your ideas from?
My next book is about the story of four women who lead four different lives that are friends and you tend to see the relationships and the emotions they go through each in her own life.

6.       How would you define your writing working day? Give us some indication of where you work, and the length of time you spend on your project.
My writing day used to be going very early to the office way ahead of working hours, fix my cup of tea and begin to write instantly a dedication of 15-25 minutes a day, which I can get anywhere between 3-5 pages a day. And my projects so far take somewhere between 1 to 2 months. Ruptured took 1 month.

7.       Tell us about characterisation. How do you develop your characters? Do you feel they are important in the overall picture? Do you ever base them on real people?
My characters are usually people I see in my visualisations because I see the events taking place in my mind, I can see the characters, hear them and even see them move.
My characters are the body of my story, without them or without proper construction of their personalities I believe my story or any story wouldn’t be as interesting.

Sometimes they are based on real people or a mixture of characteristics from different people. But usually I work on making my characters very close to people you meet, because what I find important in my stories, that when you do actually read about a specific character to which you can relate it makes the story more personal, and gives you a real feel of involvement, you become more attached to the story.

8.       What about the editing and redrafting process? When do you do this?
Well am not very good with the editing part because if I try to edit my stories, I will usually end up basically dissecting the story into something I do not like, so basically I just re-read the story and make sure there are no inconsistencies and let the editor do the editing

9.       How have you overcome any trials and tribulations of rejection?
Well, I always believe that life is about a set of constant trials, some will work out, others won’t, it’s all about keeping it up and not losing the faith. I’ve come to terms that I do have a skill, am not the best nor the worst in what I do. I just need to learn and take critique and criticism positively and even those who are negative towards what I do, I attempt to take anything from what they say that might seem useful and use it to my advantage, we never advance and become better unless we learn from our mistakes.

10.   If you were not writing, what would be your choice of employment?
Well writing is not my employment, writing is my joy , so I am currently doing what I like as an IT business development executive, but I do one day dream of having maybe my own column in a newspaper or so.

Thank you. Your score on your chosen subject is 10

Now for the General Knowledge section.

1. Which book(s) are you reading at the moment?
Mainly a set of history and mythology books

2. Name your five favourite authors.
Paul Brickhill , Tom Clancy (Ed’s note -1 – should have named 5 authors).

3. Who, out of your five favourite people would you like to invite to dinner at your house. You will be doing the catering. What is your ideal menu, you would provide? (You must be able to cook this!)
If I would be able to invite , I’d invite Sir Douglas Bader a world war 2 British veteran ace, and I’d invite him over for a typical Egyptian dinner, of (Molokheya [ a type of green leaves soup] , A vine leaves dish, and my special recipe chicken! (Ed’s note – 1, needed 5 prople).

4. Do any authors inspire you? If so, which ones?
I believe Tom Clancy would be my inspiration

5. What things in your life would you love to do that you haven’t yet achieved. Your answer should NOT be ‘become a rich and famous author’. If you fall back on this answer, then 3 marks will be deducted from your overall score.
My greatest aim is to be able to help others through my writing perhaps successfully inspiring people into getting out whatever talent they have. I love to help others and believe very much in people’s potential. And also my dream is to tour as much historic sites of my favourite eras as possible, I dream of reliving these eternal moments of history by just being right in those spots where they took place.

6. Describe your ideal day; working and leisure (only clean answers please).
My work day usually starts at 7 to 7:30 am, but now due to the current situation in the country it starts a bit more on regular working hours, work till 5 pm, go back home , help in cooking, play with my daughter and watch some of my favourite TV shows ( mostly crime shows [CSI , Criminal minds , Bones etc..] or my favourite History Channel shows, then head to bed at a max of 12:30 to 1 am.

7. What has been the most memorable thing that has happened to you in a, your writing career and b, in your private life (again, only cleans answers will be accepted).
My memorable moment in my writing career was the first day I saw my book on a shelf in a bookstore here in Cairo as well my first literary reviews by Bernard Schaeffer and Sandra Schwaider. My most memorable moment in my private life the day I knew my wife was that person I was looking for!

8. Are you a disciplined person in everyday life? How would/does this reflect in your writing?

Am a disciplined person in my overall attitude towards life, I like to set things I  know are right and stick to them , I like to respect others personalities and characters and learn as much as possible from people and from life. This has helped me greatly in being able to dedicate more of my time to writing.

9. Do you keep a dart-board handy with rejection letters from Publishing House editors’ photographs pinned to it? If so, what is your highest score?

Unfortunately I haven’t had these much rejections but usually yes I do keep the rejections and read them thoroughly every now and then to know what I might have missed and what do I need to work on and improve!

11.   What are your five desert island books?
Reach for the sky & Fly for your life (Ed’s note – 1 needed 5 books here).

Tie-breaker question. Tell us the most outrageous/embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you. What were the consequences? A bonus of 5 extra points will be awarded to the best answer from contenders to the Authors Mastermind Crown.

Well. How to put that? I was about 11, I had cut my recently stitched injured leg because I wanted to play soccer and I shouldn’t have in order not to put pressure on the wound and keep it from re-opening but I did play! So I went home and I lied about it to my dad. For some reason he sensed I was lying and gave me a good spanking and caught me off guard while undressing, and actually threw me out of the house, and instead of going to my grandmother who lived in the floor right above us in the building I ran to my mom whom I knew she was at my school half dressed (mainly from the top!). Lucky for me there weren’t much of people on the street and I was so fast I don’t think anyone would notice me except the few guard soldiers who were around!

Thank you. Your time is now up. You managed to complete all questions with no passes. Your overall score is 17 – a very good score. We shall see how you do against the other contenders.

Well done and thank you.

 Tarek Refaat’s novel, ‘Ruptured’ is available on Amazon US http://amzn.to/pv661Y

Amazon UK http://amzn.to/pF7mv4

Good Day.

What a busy couple of weeks! Wednesday 28th September saw the official launch of, Children of the Plantation and by popular demand it shot up to lofty heights on Amazon.com and especially Amazon.co.uk. So a huge THANKS to everyone who supported me by spreading the word and to those who had enough confidence in my writing to download a copy. Thank you – I couldn’t have done it without you, no way!

We’ve just returned from a long weekend away with a group of friends. We stayed in a hotel in North Cyprus and had a great time. I’m a hasher and if you don’t know what that is I can tell you. Hashers can be found all over the world. Basically we all love to run or walk over some hard terrain following trails of coloured flour. The trails are pre-laid by a ‘hare’ and he or she does their best to make the run as interesting and tricky as possible with lots of false trails and check backs. At the end of our run we gather together in a circle have a few drinks and do some daft things – each ‘hash’ having their own favourites. Look us up on the ‘net if you’re interested under ‘hashing’. You might join a group yourself!

Now for something totally different. I’d like to share something that I think is rather special with you this week. I truly can’t remember where I found it on the internet but the message really got to me. I believe it was written by a father before he passed away. This is a beautiful piece with some lovely pointers towards a rich and fulfilled life – please read and share with your own good friends.

A FATHER'S RULES FOR FINDING FULFILLMENT

    Be courteous, be punctual, always say please and thank you, and be sure to hold your knife and fork properly. Others take their cue on how to treat you from your manners.

    Be kind, considerate and compassionate when others are in trouble, even if you have problems of your own. Others will admire your selflessness and will help you in due course.

    Show moral courage. Do what is right, even if that makes you unpopular. I always thought it important to be able to look at myself in the shaving mirror every morning and not feel guilt or remorse. I depart this world with a pretty clear conscience.

    Show humility. Stand your ground but pause to reflect on what the other side are saying, and back off when you know you are wrong. Never worry about losing face. That only happens when you are pig-headed.

    Learn from your mistakes. You will make plenty so use them as a learning tool. If you keep making the same mistake or run into a problem, you’re doing something wrong.

    Avoid disparaging someone to a third party; it is only you who will look bad. If you have a problem with someone, tell them face to face.

    Hold fire! If someone crosses you, don’t react immediately. Once you say something it can never be taken back, and most people deserve a second chance.

    Have fun. If this involves taking risks, so be it. If you get caught, hold your hands up.

    Give to charity and help those who are less fortunate than yourselves: it’s easy and so rewarding.

    Always look on the upside! The glass is half full, never half empty. Every adversity has a silver lining if you seek it out.

    Make it your instinct always to say ‘yes’. Look for reasons to do something, not reasons to say no. Your friends will cherish you for that.

    Be canny: you will get more of what you want if you can give someone more of what they desire. Compromise can be king.

    Always accept a party invitation. You may not want to go, but they want you there. Show them courtesy and respect.

    Never ever let a friend down. I would bury bodies for my friends, if they asked me to . . . which is why I have chosen them carefully.

    Always tip for good service. It shows respect. But never reward poor service. Poor service is insulting.

    Always treat those you meet as your social equal, whether they are above or below your station in life. For those above you, show due deference, but don’t be a sycophant.

    Always respect age, as age equals wisdom.

    Be prepared to put the interests of your sibling first.

    Be proud of who you are and where you come from, but open your mind to other cultures and languages.

    When you begin to travel (as I hope you will), you’ll learn that your place in the world is both vital and insignificant. Don’t get too big for your breeches.

    Be ambitious, but not nakedly so. Be prepared to back your assertions with craftsmanship and hard work.

    Live every day to its full: do something that makes you smile or laugh, and avoid procrastination.

    Give of your best at school. Some teachers forget that pupils need incentives. So if your teacher doesn’t give you one, devise your own.

    Always pay the most you can afford. Never skimp on hotels, clothing, shoes, make-up or jewellery. But always look for a deal. You get what you pay for.

    Never give up! My two little soldiers have no dad, but you are brave, big-hearted, fit and strong. You are also loved by an immensely kind and supportive team of family and friends. You make your own good fortune, my children, so battle on.

    Never feel sorry for yourself, or at least don’t do it for long. Crying doesn’t make things better.

    Look after your body and it will look after you.

    Learn a language, or at least try. Never engage a person abroad in conversation without first greeting them in their own language; by all means ask if they speak English!

    And finally, cherish your mother, and take very good care of her.

I love you both with all my heart.

Daddy x

Beautiful, yes? What do you think?

What Does an Author do All Day?

Good Day!

Well autumn has definitely kicked in, even here in sunny Cyprus we’re experiencing cool evenings and it’s time to throw an extra cover on the bed at night. For me, the summer seemed to rush through. We had our usual hot weather beginning in June and we’ll most likely have perfect temperatures right up until Christmas. But what have I achieved during that time?

I think I’ve achieved quite a lot.

April heralded in the arrival of my second novel, The Assassins’ Village, in June I wrote a short story, The Bamboo Mirror. July produced my short story collection, Echoes of Life & Love to which I added extra content in September, and the latest, Children of The Plantation, was newly released on September 28th.

So apart from thinking, planning, plotting, writing, editing and more editing and then the publication the rest of my time is spent in marketing. Oh and I have a husband, family and hundreds of friends to spend ‘quality’ time with. Phew.

What staggers me most is not the writing –that’s the easy part – no, it’s the marketing.

I’m sure lots of readers think it’s easy to write a book, do a spot of editing and then publish it – especially as it is so easy nowadays with the advent of Amazon and its ‘self-publishing’ arm. Uh-uh.

The hardest part and the longest part is the marketing. And I firmly believe it’s not the book you’re marketing, but you. You, yourself, the writer and author.

Over the few years I’ve been writing (which is my choosing and I dearly love what I do), I’ve come to understand that my biggest fans or followers are those that I get to meet or correspond with. I’ve built up a steady following on Facebook and Twitter and have some great rapport with friends on there – all good stuff. And then there are the paperbacks.

I regularly attend fairs, fetes, shows and give talks to local societies. Meeting people and making friends, opens your eyes to all manner of things. I was recently exhibiting at a large show and sold many paperbacks. Some were bought by old friends/customers and some to newcomers. It was truly fabulous to get talking to these people and hear the real feedback they gave me.

Unknown to me a lady on the next stall was observing how I dealt with visitors old and new. She said that she’d never really appreciated just what benefit meeting your public, your followers and friends did for your product.

Well let me tell you it is 100% benefit. People love to meet you, interact with you. And for me it’s a big deal. I enjoy listening to what they have to say and the advantages far outweigh the time I spend doing so. Good PR is vital. These people can make or break you. They deserve your time, after all they may have bought one or more of your books and don’t forget they too might have friends that love to read.

So the next time somebody takes the time to write to you, or leave a written review somewhere, telephones or bumps into you at a fair, never forget YOU are on show 100% of the time – be nice to them, it pays.

Good reading and thank you everyone, who has bought one of my books, written a review or simply sent me a nice message – I appreciate it!

Faithx

Pure and Magical ~  Beautiful words.

When I gave my latest novel, Children of The Plantation, its final edit I came across a line I’d written that made me stop and think for a moment. The line goes something like this. “Some moments define us—define a place and time, who we are to ourselves and to each other.” Thinking about it I realised these moments we hang onto desperately, because they come unexpectedly, they are so fleeting, and if lost, we lose a part of who we are with them.

Planning my writing for that day, I considered how many memories would slip away during the course of my life, and realized how many of them would be memories that really mattered. Memories that define us and how much we would lose if we lost them altogether.

One memory came sharply to mind. My oldest child was about four or five years old, and he had been playing a childish game of doctors and nurses with his younger sister. They were dressed up in play clothes and fussed over a toy case containing plastic thermometers, bandages, swabs and a stethoscope. At the time I was still a practicing Registered nurse and I possessed a real stethoscope. Both children were fascinated by my shiny scope and I thought the oldest might like to hear through one that worked.  I draped the scope around his shoulders, fitted the earpieces into his ears, and held the stethoscope bell end to his heart, and let him listen. The picture on his face was enchanting as he grinned at me when I said, “That’s your heart.”

“Mummy can I hear yours?”

I put the stethoscope over my heart and he listened. He stood there, spellbound as an expression of wonder crept over his face.  I watched him, pondering at the serious look in his eyes. After what seemed a long time, he said, simply, “It’s beautiful.”

Just five years old, innocent and sweet. With tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat I realised he was hearing the music that had been his first symphony. He was hearing the sound of his existence before there was light or air, of which had been echoed again and again while I nursed him.

I don’t believe I’d heard him say those two words about anything before.

They were, simply, his words for that moment—for the two of us and who we had been to each other before we saw each other’s faces and who we were now.

How we see the world, changes in these defining moments, and it never goes back to the way it was before. For me, forever more, the words “It’s beautiful” will conjure the face of my five-year-old son, wide-eyed and stock-still, listening via my stethoscope to the beating of my heart.

Pure magic.

Children of The Plantation  available on amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
smashwords

A Silver Lining at the Magic Teapot

Good morning or evening depending on where you are in the world. I say this every week – but where does the time fly?  0730 hours saw me frantically pulling on clothes, brushing my teeth, feeding the cats and endeavouring to eat a bowl of breakfast cereal; remembering we’re off to a party later this afternoon AND I still have a weekend blog post to write. And I confess I’ve not given it much thought.

After scanning Facebook, I noticed a fellow author Lia Fairchild asking what we all did for a living if not a full time writer- my initial response was ‘who has time for a job?’ For me this week has been particularly hectic and fraught at times.

We’ve had two different groups of friends staying for two nights on separate occasions. Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends and enjoy them to stay, but it necessitates extra house cleaning, laundry, shopping for food/drink and preparing some tasty meals –just for starters. I found myself sneaking off on odd occasions to check Facebook, Twitter and see how my books were faring (well!), but felt really guilty especially when the husband called me sad and to stop neglecting my friends. OK,OK.

Then we’re still suffering from the explosion that recently rocked Cyprus when 98 tankers of ‘impounded’ explosives detonated from a bush fire. Every day sees us with one or more power cuts  lasting for about three hours at a stretch – no electricity, no telephone, no internet. Apparently there is another pile of ‘arms’ lying in an army camp not from my village – are these stored properly? I have my doubts…

I was the featured author in Ereader News Today, on Thursday. This entailed more work, letting friends and fans know and sending out tweets and a blog – I apologise now if I overdid it but I thought I had to strike while the iron was hot, and judging by the sales it was well worth it!! The Assassins’ Village has soared on Amazon.com.

On top of that, with no air con or fans to keep us cool in temperatures well into the 100’s, I am plagued by the husband as he goes over new material for his gig on the 30th! Apparently he has a couple of numbers included  in the programme that I am expected to sing with him – er yes, I enjoy and regularly act on stage but I’m not so keen on singing in front of a large audience on my own, and I don’t know how to get out of it. Help - any answers please?

So you could say, well what a bummer of a week!

But wait a minute… going back to Lia’s question, I am ‘officially’ retired. My time is pretty much my own and yes, I have some commitments but I can mostly do what I like – acting, writing, walking, hashing, partying, reading John Locke’s new book on ‘how to sell a million books’.

Having friends to stay was great in itself and they all bought the new paperback edition of The Assassins’ Village, for their friends as well.

OK. So we have no power at times, but this gives me three hours at a stretch when I can’t do anything else much but crack on with novel number three, Children of The Plantation. Already I’ve written an extra 30,000 words and I’m getting near my first major edit.

As for the husband, well he’s performing at The Magic Teapot. This is going to be packed with friends, fans and summer visitors, most of whom have not yet seen or bought my new paperback! OK so I’ve got to sing, but I’ll have a captive audience!

So, I have to say that for me, everything that’s happened this week has a silver lining. What about you? Have you had a good week?

Thanks everyone for reading this and supporting me – you’re great!

Faithx