StoryFinds features the World Wise Writers

The wonderful Renee Fields has agreed to run a post on her awesome blog publicising Ro's promo of her biggest seller Fox Among Wolves FREE in the US, UK and everywhere else in the world on the 26th and 27th of June. And she didn't mind that Ro snuck in mentions of all the other wWw ladies and their fabulous books.
What a super, shiny star. «

My Old Frenemy: Patience

You know the worst thing about being a writer? An independent, self published writer, that is. Listen children, lean in close and I will tell you a secret.

The worst thing? Hands down?

Patience.

Now for those of you who don't know me: I am not known for my patience. In fact, I might be one of the most singularly impatient people ever. And that is not a character trait that is very helpful in the writing world.

So you have a story idea. Good, great, FANTASTIC. Now you have to write out the thing. The whole blasted thing. And then you need to edit it. And edit it some more. Then send it to some trusted beta readers so they can shred it to bits. And then ... you guessed it, edit some more. Plus, never forget the extra time necessary to fix everything your edits may have broken. Okay, now you have a manuscript.

Next comes book cover design. Formatting. Such simple words- but the process can take forever. Even when these steps are finally (FINALLY) finished, you still have to wait on the uploading process for whatever distributor you choose. And believe me, this takes at least a bazillion times longer than you would expect. There will always be some formatting gremlin mucking things up. 

Formatting? You think you did it right? Ha. 

But then comes the day when your fresh, shiny book is released. Want to know what comes next? More waiting. And you guessed it, patience. It takes a lot of time to build up a reader audience. A fan base. So you will probably find yourself obsessively checking your sale numbers and reviews, hoping against hope that your book finally "made it."

The sad truth is that pretty much every step of the writing journey involves patience. Or even worse, waiting for someone else to do something.

Now after all of this, you may think I'm trying to discourage you. Or you think: This gal is doing a HORRIBLE job at encouraging us. But I am trying to be honest. And I am, strange as it may seem, trying to encourage you.

At the end of the day, the only thing we have control over is our words. The story we tell. If you get caught up in too much of the other stuff, you forget what is important. You have to focus on writing: Keep it up and never stop.

 I know what I'm talking about. Not because I'm a shining example of what to do, more the other way round. I have a tendency to get so lost in the other stuff, that I forget the importance of putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). It is very hard to rip out a piece of your soul and put it out there for the world to judge. When the world seems a little less than enthused, or if it doesn't really even notice in the first place, it is really hard not to let that get to you.

Please, and this is for you and me: Don't let it get to you. Don't stop writing. This writing journey can be a lonely one, but don't give up. Find a lovely group of friends who support you and never stop believing in the story you have to share. Spend the time necessary to promote your book and gain readership. But at the end of the day, block it all out and get back to the words.

Because the story is important enough to never give up on.

Celebrate the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge

So, if you are lucky enough to live in the UK, you can pootle down to the stones in around 90 minutes (and spend 3 hours queuing to park), spend the night in a freezing field, then watch grey clouds obscure the sunrise! If not, you can share the experience vicariously through Slater.

Slater gets to watch an awesome celebration with fire dancers leaping over a bonfire (ok, this is based on Solstice celebrations at Avebury and in local events - no fires at Stonehenge today). But even better, he gets to go back in time to when Stonehenge and Avebury were being built under the auspices of powerful (and dangerous) shamen who only seem to want one thing from Slater - his death.

You can find out more about this truly spectacular summertime ritual by downloading Slater for FREE in the US or  FREE in the UK.
Read more about this awesome deal below:

Busy, Busy Bees

What can I say? It’s June. There are a lot of bees in my garden, so I can’t help but notice them. ♥♥♥

From Colette Baron-Reid’s excellent Wisdom of Avalon oracle cards: “The bee is a symbol of luck, but you create your own luck. Effort is essential as you progress along your path to make your dreams a reality and the industrious bee is always making honey.”

From Stephen Farmer’s awesome Animal Spirit Guides book: “If a bee shows up it’s time to involve others in a co-operative and self-affirming venture, one in which everyone who participates will benefit – and if possible, one that includes the whole community.”

Both of these describe the World Wise Writers to a “T.” Seriously, there are so many things happening that between us (and a couple of our writer friends), we have a new release (or promotion) pretty much every week from April until August. So Ro thought it was time this kinda news got out there to all our lovely fans who buy our books and put them in the Amazon bestsellers lists. And here it is – a newsletter packed full of info about the latest, releases, deals, promotions and other events. How cool do the 1st two issues look?

You can read the previous issues by following the link to subscribe. And the cost? Absolutely nothing, just the time it takes to fill in your email and where you heard about us.

Hope you enjoy the articles about these awesome scribes, their books and characters. If there is a feature you would like included, contact Ro at rowannagreen7@gmail.com or simply leave a comment at the end of this post.

Here’s one of the features from this month’s newsletter to whet your appetite.