Comments on Thursday’s Child
February 24, 2018 at 8:05 pm | Posted in Australia, Gratitude, Publishing, Writing | 2 CommentsTags: book reviews, books, dealing with trauma, feedback, YA writing
It is wonderful to receive feedback after somebody has read your book. I know that most readers will not write a comment or, even less likely, a full review. However, after the first three weeks since my book went live on Kindle and also as a hard copy, a few people have told me what they think of it and, I am pleased to say, they are all positive.
The first comment on Thursday’s Child was only two or three days after the Kindle version became available. Janet Lang, the wife of a retired Presbyterian minister, sent me two words: “Brilliantly written!”
The next was from Jan Mitchell, a member of the writing group I belong to; our local Fellowship of Australian Writers group. “I loved it!” she said. “Well done.”
Then came a comment on my Facebook author page from Sirpa Agyik in Queensland: “Two days ago I received my book “Thursday’s Child” from Amazon. Well Linda, once I started to read it, I could not put it down. EXCELLENT , BRILLIANT. Loved every page. Linda you are very talented author. Thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.”
The latest is a Customer Review on Amazon:
5.0 out of 5 stars Unflinching
By Alfergus on 21 February 2018
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“This young adult novel tackles the tough issues faced by a typical teenager in the early 1960s following rape and unwanted pregnancy. The story plays out against a backdrop of a society at the cusp of social change. The events are portrayed unflinchingly yet in a way that is suitable for the target readership. I enjoyed the way that Tori, an impetuous hot-headed teen, learns to trust the kindness of strangers and, eventually, herself.”
Many thanks for these comments. As they are for any writer who puts their creations out in the world, they are validation of all the time and effort and creative endeavour that I put into Thursday’s Child. I hope there are others who will let me know what they think of it.
Linda Visman
Thursday’s Child is now available!
February 1, 2018 at 9:59 am | Posted in Australia, Growing up in the 1950s and 60s, historical fiction, Publishing, Society, Writing | 7 CommentsTags: books, challenging expectations, coming-of-age story, discrimination against girls and women, gender roles, new publication
Today, my novel for Young Adults, “Thursday’s Child”, is ready for download. If you have already ordered it on Kindle it will automatically download.
If not, you can order your copy now and get yourself or someone else who loves a coming-of-age story a great read. It is available on Kindle here, and as a print-on-demand book here.
If you don’t have a Kindle, there is an app on Amazon that allows you to read it on any platform.
Settle in for a great story.
Linda Visman
How I came to write Thursday’s Child
January 29, 2018 at 7:30 am | Posted in Australia, Growing up in the 1950s and 60s, historical fiction, Promotion, Writing | 4 CommentsTags: books, naming characters, strong female character, telling stories, Young Adult fiction
Many people who liked my first Young Adult novel, Ben’s Challenge, requested that I write a follow-up to it. They wanted to know what happened to the characters after the book ended. So, when I finally got around to writing a second novel, I began it as a sequel to my first, expecting Ben to carry the story along.
I was a couple of months and fifteen chapters into the story when I realized it wasn’t working. The situation, theme, characters, plot couldn’t be played out with Ben there. I’d had a strong new character called Jessie in that aborted manuscript and she made me very aware that she had her own story to tell. I had to completely start over so it could be told.
I didn’t know much about Jessie at first, or what her story was. I just knew that she was a bright, ambitious girl from a large but poor Irish Catholic family. I knew what the opening chapter would be about, but even as the new chapters grew in number, I didn’t really know where it was heading. I also discovered I had given my character the wrong name. She wasn’t Jessie; she was Victoria – Tori Delaney.
From that point, Tori quickly showed me that she was quite happy to let my fingers be the instruments to tell her story, but that she would be telling it herself. And that is how I ended up with Thursday’s Child.
© Linda Visman
It’s Getting Closer!
January 8, 2018 at 2:15 pm | Posted in Australia, Growing up in the 1950s and 60s, historical fiction, Reading, Writing, Writing and Life | 8 CommentsTags: books, coming-of-age story, literature, social constructs, status of girls and women, young adult books
The second proof copy of my novel ‘Thursday’s Child’ arrived today. It took less than a week from when I ordered it.
It looks great – the cover, the font, the setting out are all wonderful. I don’t expect to find any issues, but it is always better to be sure than sorry. So, after a final check, I will be able to make it available on Kindle, and as a Print-on-demand paper copy.
I have also begun work on my third Young Adult novel, as yet untitled.
Exciting times!
Promoting your book online
November 7, 2012 at 9:00 pm | Posted in Promotion, Publishing, Writing | 5 CommentsTags: Amazon, author, blogs, books, e-books, Goodreads, promote, social networks, website
The internet, with its abundance of social networking sites, makes it easier than ever before to get your name in front of prospective readers. However, you must remember that you are competing against millions of other writers to get your name and your work noticed. It takes time, effort and commitment to create and expand your on-line connections. Here are some suggestions on what you can do to establish an on-line presence.
Set up an author website:
– this must be as professional and easy to navigate as possible;
– create a page for each of your books, as well as an About page;
– include book reviews and any recommendations about them;
– add links to where the book/s can be purchased;
– you can set up a blog on your website that will help you to get noticed;
– if you are technologically savvy, upload video promos, readings, interviews, etc.
– include links on your page to those of other websites or blogs that you find helpful.
Set up a blog:
– as a stand-alone site, or as part of your author webpage;
– make your blog posts interesting and relevant:
o about your book – the characters, setting, theme, anything that is relevant and interesting; include items about place, any related special interest, eg historical era, a medical condition, a war, poverty, travel, etc.
o why you wrote it; the writing process, the frustrations, your research, etc;
– let people know when you have been interviewed, and provide links if possible;
– include a Comments option for feedback (and hopefully praise) and to create interest in what you write; always answer all comments;
– have Share buttons to social media sites you are a member of – Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Goodreads, etc;
– host guest bloggers on your site, so you can then be a guest on theirs;
Become part of an online community:
– read and comment on others’ blogs;
– sign up as an author (apart from any personal membership) on social network sites and get as many Likes and Shares as you can;
– register as an author on Amazon, Goodreads, etc;
– mentor other writers – online or offline.
Go on a virtual book tour:
– this is aimed at getting your name out in the virtual world; you want to be involved in as many other blogs, websites, radio and TV interviews, social network events, contests, giveaways, etc as possible;
– these virtual tours take a lot of preparation, commitment and good organization;
– you will find information online that will tell you how to set up a virtual book tour.
* * * * * *
Linda Visman is a member of Lake Macquarie Fellowship of Australian Writers, and loves to help other writers improve their skills. She writes fiction and non-fiction, and has a go at poetry too – with varied results. Linda has been published in several magazines and anthologies and is the author of Ben’s Challenge, a novel for Young Adults, set in the 1950s, that Baby Boomers love.
Paralyse or Galvanise?
May 30, 2012 at 10:37 pm | Posted in Mental Health, Writing, Writing and Life | 4 CommentsTags: analysing motives, books, desire to write, incentives, interruptions, time stress
I am finding it difficult to write. I am tired and lethargic a lot of the time – stress? I am also angry at myself that I haven’t got my Dad’s story written before now, yet my nephew, who has so much more activity and responsibility in his life, has included his version of part of Dad’s life in a published novel. If and when I do get mine written, my story will be different to his, with a very different focus, but that doesn’t negate the fact that he’s done it and I haven’t.
Trouble is, that fact has paralysed, rather than galvanised me, and it shouldn’t. It should encourage me.
So I ask myself:
How much do I really want to write Dad’s story? How much do I really want to finish Ben’s Choice? How much do I really want to re-write my Northern Territory children’s novels? How much do I want to write the memoirs that people say I should write?’
Anyone looking at what I do every evening and often, during the day too, would think I had no ambition to write anything more than Facebook entries and an occasional blog entry – because that is all I do write.
Sure, I have made myself do a bit here and there now and then, but it doesn’t last. I get lethargic and I can’t write. Or at least, I tell myself that I can’t write.
But I am realising that the real problem is that I WON’T write. And why? These are my thought:
* Because I can’t make the effort to do the WORK that is involved;
* Because I talk myself into believing I can’t write anyway;
* Because I cannot get enough time alone, without feeling that I have to do things for others first. There are so many interruptions that I feel like it’s not worth starting to write.
* Because I am AFRAID that it won’t be good enough – it won’t be as good as Ben’s Challenge; it won’t be perfect.
* Because I am afraid that the story won’t even come to me.
But looking at it realistically, the facts are:
* I have done the work before (part of it whilst undergoing chemotherapy), so I can do it again;
* I should know that I can write, and write well – my previous writing demonstrates that;
* I can always shut the door to my study, or go out of the house – go somewhere else to write where I will not be disturbed;
* I can make the sequel BETTER than Ben’s Challenge, because I have learned so much more than I knew when I was writing that first book.
* the initial writing doesn’t need to be perfect – it just needs to get the story down. I can work on it later. Just because I edited Ben’s Challenge and the other stories as I wrote them, doesn’t mean I can’t write any other way.
* I won’t know whether the story will come unless and until I start writing it.
So, the action I must take? I have to put aside my doubts and my lethargy and get on with writing. It sounds easy, but I know it isn’t and it won’t be.
What I do over the next little while will demonstrate to me just how much I really do want to write. And I am putting this up as a blog post to give me the incentive to get it all going. I hope you will ask me for updates on how much progress I am making so that I will have the incentive to do it.
I want to be galvanised, not paralysed.
(c) Linda Visman
My second Y.A. novel
Available from Amazon.com
My self-published novel for Middle Grade and Young Adult readers. Older readers love it too.
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