after_the_light

Just back from midnight mass :) Happy Christmas everyone!

... I've been thinking about this for a little while now. In the news recently I read about John Locke, who became the first self published author to hit the New York Times Best Seller list. Amazon have made self publishing relatively easy via the Kindle and they are also offering a printing service, too. Amazon.com even has a specific "indie" section for the kindle store.

However, I always felt that, if I was good enough to get published, an agent/publisher would pick me up and invest in me. That said, getting published is 9/10 luck and only 1/10 talent (seriously, there's a lot of rubbish being published) and the notion of "good" is so subjective when it comes to any art form, that it's really hit and miss. I'm sure I read somewhere that it took JK Rowling 8 years to get the first Harry Potter book published. Personally, I don't like Harry Potter, but millions of people obviously do and I bet all the people she sent the book to during those 8 years spent a long time kicking themselves.

Recently, I finished the best book I've ever written. That doesn't necessarily mean it's good enough to get published, although I'd like to think that it is. I suppose a lot of aspiring writers think that too, don't they? People have read my work and they always seem to enjoy it. On the other hand, that could be friends and family being nice and telling me what they think I want to hear (although they promise me this isn't the case, I do often wonder). I'm also currently working on the first book in a YA series. As an unpublished author, there's no point in trying to write anything other than stand alone novels (or so the industry will tell you), because it's too much of a gamble for publishers. However, I got inspired and I'm having a blast with the writing, so I'm continuing, even though there's no point.

In short, I'm not sure where I stand on self publishing. 'Trinity' is probably sitting on the desk of an agent as I type this. When I get rejected, I'll send it out to the next one and keep trying. What I need to remember is, just because I get rejected it doesn't mean I'm not good enough to sell books. The problem is, unless I get picked up OR self publish and manage to sell books, I'll never actually know if I am good enough.

Clearly, a lot of people out there do think they are good enough and are self publishing ebooks. Is that a good thing? I'm not sure. What I do know is that I pick books on certain criteria: firstly, does the blurb/cover grab me? If I can read an extract and I enjoy it, great. Finally, I look at reviews and read both the good and the bad. If I'm still interested, the chances are I'll buy it. I've bought and read some truly awful books that have been published traditionally (that's both awful in my opinion and awful in terms of riddled with errors and poorly edited). Buying books in any format is a bit of a minefield. Why shouldn't some of the self published books be every bit as good as some published books?

Where does anyone else stand on the concept of self publishing? Do you think it will ever be considered as anything other than vanity publishing? Do you think it's a viable route to take, rather than wasting time and effort on getting lucky by going down the 'traditional' route?

Just watched the first episode of 'Sherlock', a modern reimagining of Sherlock Holmes, on BBC1 on Sundays. There's only 3 episodes, but if they next 2 are as good as the first, it'll be ace. I really enjoyed it :)

Happy first birthday, Eleanor.

In memory of family and friends who have lost the battle with cancer; and in support of the ones who continue to conquer it! Post this on your LJ if you know someone who has or had cancer. 93% won't copy and paste this. Will you?

Have a great day, everyone :)

I've been toying with doing a 10 week photography course with the OU, starting in October. Cost £185. It's as much about how to manipulate photos digitally to make them better, as it is about learning how to use a camera and take good pictures. The course gets good reviews, though.

However, as we're (hopefully) moving house, my thoughts turned to taking up spinning wool. I had a go at it one holiday in Ireland (on Clare Island!!) and enjoyed it, but I've never had the space or need to take up the hobby. At the moment, my mum, friends and myself are all knitting/crochet factories, so it would be nice to have some hand spun yarn to use, rather than acrylic wool all the time. Taking up wheel spinning isn't cheap! You can do it much cheaper by hand spinning, but obviously the output isn't as fast and the results aren't as consistent.

So basically, I figure I can do one or the other, but not both.

So which should I do? What do you think?

There's something to be said for going to the cinema for morning showings, 9:50am on a Saturday to be precise. The cinema was practically empty, so we were able to feed Ella before the film started and it was a chilled out atmosphere.

The film was ace! Really nicely done and some fantastic retro quotes including Kyle Reese's immortal "come with me if you want to live", line. I have to say, Anton Yelchin was completely wasted in the latest Star Trek movie. He was far better as a young Kyle.

Anyway, I won't say anymore except - go see it! It might have been one of those films I would have paid to see more than once (Transformers being the only other one... 3 times...), only it isn't entirely possible with a baby!

Ok.. my first attempts at crochet...



Sorry the picture quality is a bit blurry!

I was talking to my mum last night and she said the weather looked awful and that we might get snow. Snow? Snow? I can't remember the last time we had a decent snowfall where I am! Of course, on waking up this morning, we do indeed have nice soft fluffy snow. Not a huge amount, enough to have laid on cars but be all but gone on the roads :( Certainly not enough to cause any issues getting anywhere, but hey... snow!