Bells ring when I read Michelle Muto’s story of how she came to be published. I often say of my books, when I see a wonderful spike upward 
in their sales, that they remind me of the little engine that could, puffing up the hill and saying ‘I think I can, I think can.’
Life can be painful, there’s no doubt. There can be moments that halt the creative flow, moments so annihilating you wonder if you will ever get the flow back. However as Talia Jager says ‘when life hands you lemons…toss them out, grab your stash of chocolate, your writing materials, and head for the bathroom. You may just end up writing a book.’
Wise words. If we all gave up at the first sign of a struggle, deciding it was all to hard, then we’d be doing ourselves and our dreams no favours. Christine Kersey never gave up, she moved herself forward, writing all the time – mainstream published and then choosing to go the indie route. She’s happy with her choices and explains why…
Mel Comley is astonishing. After re-establishing her home, her life and her business in France, she became bored and began writing. And writing and writing! She has never ever looked back, or if she does, it’s purely to find added inspiration for characters and settings for her works. Read on…
With 200 rejections under her belt, Sibel Hodge is in good company. There wouldn’t be a single writer abroad who hadn’t at some stage scored mega-rejections and wondered whether it was worth continuing. But continue she did and look what happened…
When I first read Cheryl Bradshaw’s revelatory piece in the Indie Chicks’ Anthology, it was these words that drew my attention:
‘There were times when I felt like my life was like a shattered mirror, and I was on my hands and knees desperately searching for all the pieces of myself so I could glue them back together and feel whole again. During those times I wondered how many other women out there in the world felt the same exact way. ‘
It’s a great saying: ‘a well made flour sack stands on its own.‘ And the most perfect way to describe any good narrative. Dani More is a thriller/crime writer and here’s her take on the whole indie writing journey.
There’s something unerringly familiar about Sarah’s epiphany. Who amongst us hasn’t burst into tears at the realisation there is another life, a dream that could become a reality if only the fairy godmother would wave her wand. The trouble is that the fairy godmother is actually hidden deep inside our own psyche. Sarah tells us her story, showing that is entirely possible to wave a wand and step out of the kitchen into a world we can only read about in books…
Whilst its summer here in my country and we are lying around on the beach or on chaises under the willows, Cheryl Shireman is staring out at a snow white scene on the edge of a iced-over lake in the middle of a blizzard. Cheryl is the person who conceived the idea of a group of indie writers putting together an inspirational anthology about their writing life. She’s a grounded person with a huge heart and the idea that we are all in this world to help one another as best we can. To say I admire her seems ordinary but I do. To say I wish I had her energy to enact those things in which she believes is an understatement. To say I wish I could have one more day with my children as children is a truth… read on and see what I mean.
One of my fellow Indies Chicks is a woman after my own heart. She’s a late bloomer… just like me. We’ve reached ‘a certain age’ and I think the whole age thing empowers you. You realise that there is so much yet to achieve and come hell or high water, you going to have a go at achieving it. Linda Welch says it’s …
