Building an ark...

That's it, I'm building an ark...! I've managed to trick the monster in the corner into doing a couple more loads of washing, though it's doing its best to create more washing than it washes as it dribbles out of a pipe at the front into a bowl. It's blocked somewhere. but refuses to let me pull the coin trap out to check, maybe there's enough money to buy a new washer in there - or at least to buy timber for the ark...

I'm getting quite taken with the idea of a an ark now...  ok if anyone needs me I'm sailing away in an imaginary ark, you may have to shout quite loud to get my attention...

author rambling on again...

Hi, you found me - I sometimes think I'm typing into an abyss... almost like trying to sell books in a bookshop with all the lights turned off. But I'm working on it, I've read articles, read the rules, but I don't like rules, especially when it comes to writing. Aren't the laws of grammar enough...? Surely creative writing is all about there being no rules...

So what does an online bookshop look like?

No I don't mean how it appears on your screen, work with me here - it could be any shape. It could be in a giant Teepee... with bookcases spiraling up as far as the eye can see... and sheep - why do the sheep keep popping up everywhere? Well they seem to be here to stay now. There'll probably be cats too, they'll be taking up all the sofas and beanbags, forcing everyone to sit on the floor to read their books, with that down the nose stare that cats are so good at...

Christmas countdown in October...?

OK I know it's still October - but I'm already on a countdown to my first Christmas fair of the season...

On November 1st I'll be in Wetherby at the town hall. There's an exciting list of other traders and crafters, which always makes for a fun day - and there'll coffee and cake - what more could you want?

In my little corner of the fair I'll have books and sheep, possibly a few cats (not real ones - they'll be staying at home), and some of my new quiet / busy books, talking of which... I feel another one coming on.

I wonder what I can come up with this afternoon...?  something festive maybe...

The secret to selling lots books,..

The secret to selling lots of books is to write the book that everyone wants to read - but what subject does everyone want to read about?

It seems that everyone wants to be told how to do something, mostly how to achieve massive sales and success. But what they don't realise is that just because one person has achieved massive sales, copying their formula won't necessarily do the same for someone else...

And who knows what the next best selling genre is going to be...? A reader doesn't always know what they want to read until they start reading, and get totally caught up in a new story. If all books were written to the formula of the current best seller, we'd never have anything new to read...

So what should you write...?

• Something amazing
• Something new
• Something that you love - others will love it too
• Something, anything... just write...

Is it just me...? I don't want to fit my writing between the lines...

Is it just me...

I quite often like to go back to basics and write with a pen, in a notebook. And given the choice I would rather have a notebook with plain paper - I don't like the idea of someone telling where to write on the page - isn't it enough that writing on a computer screen is in straight lines, with every possible error pointed out with coloured squiggly lines...?

It's quite therapeutic to have a blank page to do as I please - I might want to doodle a picture while I'm writing, and I might want to choose what size my writing is going to be - not have to force it to fit between predesignated lines...

I might even want to write in a wavy line - I haven't done up to now, but now that the thought has struck me, I think I might give it a go...

Books, book signings and sheep...?

Here's a little excerpt from my home page, where you'll find a little bit of cyberspace which is dedicated to books - good old fashioned print on paper books that you can hold and read with no worries about batteries running out... but you will need a light to read by as it gets dark...

  

There's also a bit of a sheep theme running around this month, as woolly escapees from my bestseller But I'm Not Sleepy vie for attention among the books...

For a limited time I am offering my sheep knitting pattern absolutely free... 

Free knitting pattern now you can knit your own sheep, or knit a flock and then you can really count sheep...

 

My little bookshop in cyberspace is always open. It's a book signing that's always there waiting for you. There's even some first editions and a special short print run...

So have a rummage in the bookshop - there's my new true cat story: Outnumbered by Cats for adults. There are picture books to share and read aloud, and the Doodle series to read aloud or to encourage early readers to discover the joy of reading alone.  

Priceless: being told that a copy of The Monster Under The Bed has been read until it's shabby - it's been a loved book, just like a favourite teddy.  

For the rest of my ramblings pop along to my website. 

Is Etsy the new answer to the craft fair?

Is Etsy the new answer to the craft fair...? Certainly it seems to be where all the craft people are gathering right now, and there are some beautiful and unique items in there

As my own website shop seems to be on a back alley that no one can find, I have been re-stocking my Etsy shop - there's books, there's sheep... what more could you want? And all nestled in the comfortable environment of this online craft fair... so pop along and see what you think.

Meanwhile I'll be putting my thinking cap on (oh no another excuse to wear a hat...), and planning how to renovate my shop, or dragging it into a more prominent position...

Designing a marketing hat... letting loose your imagination

I've got my marketing hat on this week, and trying not to get distracted by designing a hat instead of trying to figure out the witchcraft that is internet marketing - maybe a witches hat... oh, that might send the wrong message, especially as there's a black cat here somewhere among the tabbies...


But maybe a witches hat with a twist... yes, everything has a twist these days - you see this is what happens when I try to bring my brain onto a sensible subject like marketing... it gets all creative and goes off at a tangent.
So... lets go with that - lets design a hat... 
I'm thinking a witches hat, but in purple instead of black, and a tabby sat on the brim instead of a black cat - reaching up for the pom pom on top, ooh ooh and streamers flowing from the top. This is sounding more like a cat toy than a hat - hey it's duel purpose...
Any ideas anyone? Come on lets get creative...


I'm thinking something a bit wacky, that'll stand out and get noticed...

Monday ramblings

Monday ramblings are on time this week, and not delayed to Tuesday like last week...

So what am I rambling about today? Well I've got my marketing hat on again, and trying my best not to get sidetracked into designing a suitable hat for the job... not that I'm a milliner or anything, and the last thing I need is to start off on a new and unrelated project...

So, trying to stick on subject - I've been getting more views on my various internet sites, but people seem more interested in my random ramblings than in my books, so maybe I'm attracting the wrong audience.

Where, I wonder can I find the audience who are going to buy cat books - wouldn't some of you lovely readers like to read about my life with a house full of kittens...? You can share such crazy moments as me wondering around the house in the middle of the night with my cat, looking for her kittens... You can see what drove a normally sane person to hiss at her cat in the middle of another night, or how we shared the job of weaning the kittens - me messing up the kittens with kitten slop, and her washing them... t

©anne m stephenson from Outnumbered by Cats

Monday ramblings on Tuesday...

Yes I know it's Tuesday, but Monday was pretty much taken up by 'stuff to do' which included a failed shoe shopping trip resulting in my usual shoe shop problem - me surrounded by shoes that don't fit, shop assistants trying to help, against all the odds, and me reaching for my trusty cowboy boots where my feet can hide away again in comfort. Yes I know it's June - but it was a thunder storm outside - which just goes to show that boots are the ideal foot wear at any time of year, so why fight it...?

So this week's dilemma is whether to carry on with my online campaign, book another craft fair,or work on the next book in the hope that my books will sell themselves... At the same time as all this, I seem to have developed tennis elbow even though I don't even watch tennis, let alone play it, and now everything I do seems to aggravate the condition, yes even typing. Of course I could put myself on sick-leave and read a book until the pain goes away, but I probably should achieve something tangible with my day.

Just putting the kettle on...

...ok now mustn't get carried away or the tea will go cold - yes it happens all too often. So I think my website should maybe be more fun, buzz words like retail theatre spring to mind - but how do I translate that into a website - oops must take the tea bag out - I don't like strong tea... caught in the nick of time.

So retail theatre seems like a dead end - for now, so what can I take from my experiences at book signings? Well people like to talk to a real live author - well they can always message me ...  OK what I actually take from that is that I still need to do book signings, and can't just hide behind a computer.

Apparently people like to rummage - so how can I translate that to an online bookshop, mess up the shop a little maybe...?  hmm any ideas anybody?