Day: April 19, 2016

Writing as Therapy

perplexed woman using writing as therapyMany of us might consider what we do when we write creatively to already be therapeutic; after all, if we didn’t get that story and those characters out of our brains and down on paper, we just might go nuts. But I’ve found a huge therapeutic benefit from writing when I need to vent, when I need to puzzle something out, and when I need to get a grip on some issue so I can quit obsessing about it.

I was reminded of that recently. I was having a problem and needed to write a letter to get it resolved. The sticking point was that I could not lay the problem solely at the doorstep of the people I was sending the letter to; I had a hand in it, as well. Although I had acted in good faith, I had made a weird situation worse, and I had to own up to that. But the overarching problem began with these others. Continue reading “Writing as Therapy”

William Kowalski – Straddling Trad and Indie Publishing

indie heroes logo darkSeveral years ago I read William Kowalski‘s novel Eddie’s Bastard. For me this was a book that made an impression and stayed with me. Mr. Kowalski contacted me recently because he’d picked up my self-publishing guidebook and wanted to chat Indie publishing. When I discovered that he’d gone the Indie route a couple of years back, I knew I had to interview him. And when I heard what he’d been working on for Indie authors I knew I had to let you guys know.

Martin: Mr. Kowalski, thanks for doing this. I’ll get my fanboy moment out of the way right off the bat – thank you for Eddie’s Bastard. It’s one of my favorite books. Continue reading “William Kowalski – Straddling Trad and Indie Publishing”

K.S. Brooks, My Indie Hero

indie heroes logo darkWhen I was a little newbie and didn’t know SEO from a hole in the ground, I wandered into a Facebook group and met a smart, sassy author and photographer named KS Brooks, also known as Kat. At the time, I had a manuscript I was thinking of self-publishing. And a lot of questions. Kat answered them. She was funny and had a very long list of titles to her credit: two thriller series and the delightful Mr. Pish books. I could only dream of having so many books on my shelf one day. And she shared her bounty of knowledge. I read the articles she suggested and paid attention to the discussions. She and Stephen Hise ran a website called Indies Unlimited, and it was rife with people doing what I wanted to do. I felt like I’d found my tribe.

As I moved from a casual reader of the blog to a guest-poster to a full-fledged minion, Kat was always there to help me. Continue reading “K.S. Brooks, My Indie Hero”