indie – Page 2 – Sam Russell

The Lake District – rustic romance to inspire

June 28, 2016by Sam Russell2 Comments

I’m blown away by the rustic romance of Cumbria this week. Even the barns are enchanting, and then there are the hills, the rocks and the lakes; forests and waterfalls. There are lambs in the fields (and on the narrow lane to our cottage); calves with doe eyes grazing behind dry stone walls. The foxgloves in bloom, poking pink flowers through bright green fern…

Catch your breath in amazement stuff around every corner. And I’m inspired. Land Rovers and collie dogs working for their living. Farmhouses and cottages, keeping centuries of stories behind stone walls. And a countryside so rugged that just getting by must be a challenge for the people who live there after the tourists have gone home. When the rain pours off the mountains and the lakes overflow, or the roads are blocked by snow drift. When swift cloud engulfs the rocky hills and valleys to leave you isolated in a world of mist.

Across the field from our holiday home stood our nearest neighbour; a white-washed stone cottage with a grey slate roof and a wooden gate to the front. The red Mini Cooper outside, with it’s personalised number plate, tells me that this must be Hayley’s house. There’s no sign of children, so I’ve decided that Hayley is in her mid twenties. And she lives alone, because the house is empty when Hayley has gone to work. No regular visitors either, but one irregular one: Late in the evening a Land Rover parks beside the red Mini. It’s gone before dawn. A proper working vehicle, this, with winches, and muddy tyres. Long wheel based and laden with gear. No personalised number plate to help me out here, but I’m going to say that this Landy is driven by a man who works on the land. A farmer or a gamekeeper, maybe even a vet. Occupations which might explain why he turns up so late and is gone so early. Or could it be that there’s an altogether different story unfolding in that cottage…

Hmmm. I think I can feel a Cumbrian rustic romance coming on.

Chewing the Cud, Farm and Family Life

Road Trip!

June 20, 2016by Sam RussellLeave a Comment

A quick one this week, because we’re off on a mini UK tour, and I really ought to be packing, or editing, or cleaning the house. Because you have to leave the house extra-clean when you’re not going to be in it, don’t you?

I’ve just spoken to the mates who are coming with us, and we’ve sorted our packing lists: Wellies, waterproofs, sun-cream and sandals. So, pack for all weather, basically. I’m glad the car doesn’t have a baggage allowance.

A pre-harvest jolly to Yorkshire, Scotland and the Royal Highland Show (which I’m weirdly excited about). Home via the lake district, by boat if necessary, seeing as nature is filling those lakes up as I write. I’d quite like to bring a Highland cow back with me, but only one that can swim.

I’m taking the editing with me (who am I kidding?) because I’m about to bust my latest self-imposed deadline, (final re-writes back to the editor before I go away, oh dear). And I’m stressing about the ancient terriers, or stressing about the poor souls who I’m leaving in charge of them, actually. They’re standing outside in the rain at the moment (the terriers, not the carers), looking ancient and mighty bedraggled (I won’t humiliate them by sharing a picture here). But, for some reason which I really can’t fathom, they do come back in to pee. I might lay a shavings bed in the boot room , then the carers can just muck them out.

Here’s wishing for some sunshine, (and an England win tonight). COME ON ENGLAND/SUMMER (delete as required) – let’s be having you!

Chewing the Cud, Farm and Family Life

A shaggy dog story to start your week

June 13, 2016June 13, 2016by Sam RussellLeave a Comment

So, we went to the coast this weekend, with two of our oldest friends (the Bridesmaid and the Best Man actually, although that was thirty-plus years ago). Bear with me, the story gets funnier. We girls (I reserve the right to calls us girls, despite having given away the fact that, if I married thirty-plus years ago, I’m actually anything but) went potter-shopping. You know, the sort that men hate, when we wander in to every shop, not intending to purchase, and end up with quite a lot of shit which we didn’t really want. The Bridesmaid got a new handbag, and some decoupage paper. I bought two, very luxurious, beds for my ancient dogs, and a clingy top (which I made unclingy by buying two sizes too large). It’s nice, I’m wearing it now. And the dogs have managed to find their new beds, without too much confusion. So, all in all, a surprisingly good result for a potter-shopping trip. My apologies to the charity shop (although I doubt they’ll have to wait donkey’s years to get their hands on those pet beds…)

Anyway, let me back up a bit. We sent the boys (ditto, above) off to find their own fun, and they decided to hunt the coast for old military defences. (I’m not making this up, and you’ll get no comment from me, because at least their choice was less costly than potter-shopping was. Venus and Mars and all that…)

They had a successful trip; after a bit of a drive and a bit of a hike, they managed to track down a WWII Emergency Coastal Battery (I only know it’s called that because ‘we’ Googled it later.) Here’s some blurb that I’ve lifted from the Norfolk Heritage Explorer (link here, for those of you [men] who might be interested).

A World War Two emergency coast defence battery survives largely intact together with two ancillary structures on the cliff top … It is also visible on aerial photographs; the latter indicate that it was constructed between 30 July 1941 and 4 January 1943. It consists of two gun emplacements which held ex-Naval 6-inch guns, projecting off an integral, semi-subterranean accommodation and storage block. Three ancillary buildings (two of which survive, one as a garden shed)

Phew! (I do like the bit about the shed though) here’s a pic:

Very…symmetrical, isn’t it. Alas, you can’t get inside. Our boys peered through the teeny-tiny gap in the structure (if you look at the picture closely, you can see the mini spy-hole by the corner on the left-hand wall). Too dark inside to see anything, though. Undaunted, The Farmer and the Best Man took a snap through the hole.

Now, I really enjoyed my potter-shop, but I’d have laughed until I peed if I’d witnessed their reactions when they looked at the picture they’d taken:

Scroll down and take a peek if you dare

Priceless.

Inspiration, Writing Romance

Mood setting – painting a picture in words #amwriting #amediting

May 29, 2016by Sam RussellLeave a Comment

As writers, we have a rich selection of words we can use to set a mood; an emotion; a moment. The art of good writing (and the joy of good reading) takes us right in to a time and and a place – and sets the mood of the moment – without telling us.

There’s a scene in the novel I’m editing (A Bed of Brambles – the sequel to A Bed of Barley Straw) where the hero (Alexander) is sitting above cliffs, recovering from the hurt of an emotional upset, and being soothed by the landscape around him. So, that’s me telling you what’s happening.

Amidst her pleas of “Show us!” My editor queried my choice of words in this scene – “would he be calmed by the waves crashing against the rocks?”

Good point; crashing and rocks are hard, angry words. How about “calmed by the waves washing across the pebbles on the beach?”

Here’s one picture of the landscape, similar to that which I’m seeing when I’m writing the scene:

It is angry isn’t it? The waves are crashing against the rocks. It’s moody, and melancholy; in turmoil. Blacks and greys and an unsettled sea – all very Poldark! Passionate, oh Lord, there’s all sorts of angsty words I could use (and a risk of becoming clichéd)

Here it is in sunnier mood:

Now I’m uplifted. The sun warming the cliff-face, ripples on the grey-green water… and I could talk about the clouds, but I mustn’t overdo it. I’m falling into that cliché trap again (frothy and fluffy, the ocean tumbling over the rocks).

The same coastline, different angle – let’s do serene:

I’ll let you chose your own words, I’m not sure Alexander is ever quite this peaceful, still, enticing. Oh, hang on, he is enticing, just not in such a clean way 😉

It’s a maze and a labyrinth, feeling your way to the right words. And that’s before I’ve even told you how he’s sitting on the bench… Is he leaning forward with his head in his hands? Is he lounging back against the salt-bleached wood with his long legs stretched out in front of him…

It’s a mood, a moment in the novel. It’s why editing fries your brain.

Farm and Family Life, Inspiration, Our Barn Conversion

Sorting the chaff from the wheat

May 22, 2016August 4, 2017by Sam Russell1 Comment

The chaff house door, and I wonder how many farmers have grabbed that rusty handle and pushed the rickety door. Although it wasn’t always rusty and rickety of course, it was a new barn once, built to house the hand-worked chaff machine, to strip the chaff from the grains grown on the farm.

The barn is charming, romantic and rustic, but that must have been back breaking work. Back in the days when the farm employed most of the men in the village, and a land army of women when the men were sent to war. Heavy horses working the land alongside them, and then the steam engines came along, moving from farm to farm to power the threshing and baling machines. Still loaded by hand of course.

Quaint in the photographs, great to watch at a country show, but my nostalgia isn’t such that I would want to live the farming life of the days before mechanisation and combine harvesters.

We watched a steam engine working a baling machine at our local steam-up. That particular engine had broken records for hay baling, back in the day. The hay it was baling then went to France, to feed the horses who who were fighting alongside the men. That makes you think.

In my time on the farm, our chaff house has stored hay and straw, the clay pigeon pull and an odd collection of random wood and bits of farm machinery. I think there’s some furniture in there too. Right now, it’s a store for the plastics; the spray cans and fertiliser bags which are waiting to be recycled. Which may be it’s least romantic job yet, but that’s progress for you.

Farm and Family Life, Uncategorized

Changing hats and waiting for sunshine

April 9, 2016by Sam RussellLeave a Comment

Mercy, it’s a while since I’ve been on here. So long that my rustic romance link has dropped right off of my ‘frequently visited sites’. It’s been replaced by pages from my other, less interesting life; HMRC, bank accounts and office supplies. How I love the end of the tax year.

I’m still a frequent visitor to Pinterest though; this year (and next, and probably the one after that…) we’re converting a barn on the farm. My input so far has been looking at pretty pictures. I’m good at that. This is what our house-to-be looks like at the moment:

Oodles of rustic romance, the inside isn’t so pleasing to the eye – yet.

Ditch clearing on the farm this week, and stocking up the woodstore. I’m beyond happy that my new hip lets me walk far enough to check up on progress…

And still editing of course, lots of red pen marks on the final draft and I really need to get it finished before the sun comes out, those chairs on the decking are calling.

Happy April guys.

Writing Romance

Springing into March, and still editing

March 10, 2016by Sam RussellLeave a Comment

So, I’m still editing, although I had hoped to be launching A Bed of Brambles about now; a year after A Bed of Barley Straw hit the shelves. Ho hum, it’s got to be right. Deadlines and launch dates are secondary to the life of the story, so I’m letting myself off the hook. But I’m still working hard, setting deadlines, but avoiding naming a launch date yet.

I’m editing on the sofa, because the new hip complains if I spend too many hours at a desk. Painting scenes with my pen (keyboard actually, but pen sounds more poetic), creating characters for you to meet, hoping you love them enough to want to dive in. Telling stories to make you laugh, gasp, cry (and get a bit hot under the collar). That’s important stuff. I sweat over the detail so you can be swept along, without being tripped up by disbelief, clumsy words, wonky timelines… That’s the hope, anyway.

I’ve got an editing mate with me, he’s just chillin’ in the warm.

By coincidence, in Chapter 25B (rewritten/edited from chapter 25draft1, 25draft2, 25A), the chapter I’m currently working on, they are heading into March at Draymere Hall too. They’ve had snow, (so we’re doing better in the real world), Alexander is lambing, and Hettie… well, I won’t tell you what Hettie is up to, three quarters of the way through the book, but here’s a sneaky scene setting excerpt…

Hettie was at her mother’s old house, to clear out her bedroom. She’d been putting the job off for weeks, but the ‘for sale’ sign was up now, she really couldn’t delay it any longer. She found the key in the usual place; third flowerpot from the left under the larder window. Easy to find in daylight hours, she remembered it being more of a challenge in the days when she had stumbled home in the dark, from whichever pub her and her mates had spent the evening in. Her mum’s absence was obvious, even in the garden. The paths hadn’t been cleared of snow, shrubs bent underneath it. Hettie shivered. She had to give the door a shove to make it open. Empty room, squares on the walls where pictures had hung, undressed windows. Swept and hoovered of course, but the house looked sad and worn out. Someone would buy it as a renovation project. Hettie wandered through the rooms, reached her old bedroom. The furniture gone, most of it to the bungalow, but the floor stacked with boxes; old clothes, school books and knickknacks. It could probably all go straight in the bin. She sat on the floor, cleared space around herself for three heaps; rubbish, charity, keep, and got to work.

At the bottom of the last box she found her old diary; pink and grey stripes, broken padlock, dog-eared cover. “HETTIE’S DIARY – KEEP OUT!!!” She threw it on the rubbish pile, scooped the heap into an empty crate, picked the diary out again and shoved it into her shoulder bag. It was cold in the house, and the dogs would be wanting their dinner. Hettie carted the boxes down to the Landy, wrenched the back door shut. Slid the key into its hiding place; third flowerpot from the left, under the larder window.

… A Bed of Brambles, coming soon, I promise.ps If you haven’t read the first one yet, it’s free on Kindle at the moment.

Writing Romance

Writing romantic bad boys

February 17, 2016by Sam Russell8 Comments

Rogues and scoundrels, womanisers, damaged souls. Tall, dark and brooding… there are almost as many clichés to describe our romantic bad boys as there are bad boys in fiction.

And it’s a conundrum isn’t it? That characters in stories can get away with murder (literally, or should that be literarily) and yet still win our love.

From Heathcliff to Rochester, Rupert Campbell-Black to Christian Grey; romantic bad boys have drawn us in since stories began. Personal tolerances vary, but if you have loved fiction, film or theatre I’d be willing to bet that you have loved a bad boy too.

“Mad, bad and dangerous to know” these guys are not always easy to love. They’re not easy to master as characters either. Writing a bastard is simple, asking readers to fall in love with him…not so much. Clearly it can be done, and when done well the lovable bad boy is a wondrous thing. The fictional scoundrel can be gloriously addictive, and its an addiction which you don’t even need to feel guilty about.

There are degrees of badness; from the endearing Lothario through to the downright criminal badass. If the writing is good enough there are few ‘crimes’ that cannot be forgiven. But therein lies the rub of characterisation; a badly written bad-boy can easily become just a nasty bastard. No one loves a nasty bastard.

There aren’t any rules, but I’ve got some thoughts on writing that most elusive of creatures – that frustrating, unattainable but heart-breakingly desirable hero, the romantic rogue who will carry us away on a carpet of magical fantasy.

The scale of the sins or crimes: It would be a brave (or foolish) writer who asked their hero to commit the unforgivable. There are acts which shouldn’t be forgiven lightly, and they don’t belong in romance.
Physical beauty: With romance it’s all about the desire, and if you’re already dealing with emotional flaws a flawed appearance would add a layer of challenge to the writing. I’d read it though. If you’re up to this please write it.
Why are they bad? Be it history, trauma, betrayal or misfortune, do make the reasons for their behaviour believable, and adequate excuse for their misdemeanours. I recently read (part of) a series where it was revealed late on (after much hinting and allusion that our hero was justified in behaving like a royal wanker) that his sins were due to a virus he’d caught or somesuch nonsense. I’m still miffed about that.
The good, the bad and the ugly; There must be redeeming characteristics – sufficient to match the ‘bad’. And the reader has to know about them. We’ll forgive his dark brooding if we know in our hearts that he’d jump in a freezing lake to save our drowning puppy.
Can he be saved? Well as writers we must have hope! And mainly we hope that despite our rogue’s bad behaviour, our readers will really want to save him. He may be bad, but he’s got to be good enough to deserve his happy ever after.

I’d love to hear about your favourite fictional bad boys, or if you’re writing one yourself let me know how you go about developing their character.

Marketing and Promotion

Book Promotion – what I got up to in 2015

January 29, 2016January 29, 2016by Sam RussellLeave a Comment

So, here’s the book promo chart which I linked to in my earlier post ‘So does the marketing work?‘ – my efforts to make my book visible over the last ten months, and the chequered results. Read and enjoy, and if you’ve got any better suggestions please drop me a comment below.

ps The link was there last time because I hadn’t worked out how to insert a table into a WordPress post (without a plugin). Well I have now, sort of, but if anyone knows a tidier way of doing this I would love to hear from you!)

and a pps to The Sister – so yes, everything is possible if you try hard enough! Not perfect, but possible 🙂

Promotion	Cost	Time consumed	Enjoyment/ bad taste in the mouth	Result	Profit
Start a blog	£0ish (I got led astray with domain names and pretty backgrounds but it doesn’t have to cost)	Quite a lot	Great fun! I’m a writer, of course I want to write. WordPress & HTML sometimes do my head in	Met lots of nice people in the blogosphere. Learnt new skills and generally enjoyed myself. Had some lovely feedback from readers Recommended	No idea. Probably not, but I have sold a couple of books to people who were able to contact me through the website
Twitter	£0 no ifs, no buts	Ate up my life in the early days but I’ve got a grip on it now	Some laugh out loud moments. Bad taste in the mouth? Depends who you follow!	Met a lot of nice people in the twittersphere. Even made friends – yes really. A lot of generous sharing going on out there. Recommended (if it’s your thing)	Would have to be, because it didn’t cost me a penny and I have sold books to twitter pals.
Facebook Page	£0 to £Any limit you set (if you pay FB for ads or boosted posts)	As much as you want to give it, but you will disappear if you don’t keep at it	Meh. I don’t spend enough time on the page – no real interaction with followers	Boosts and ads can be directed to people who are likely to read your books, but you are paying for it	No idea, but somehow I doubt it
Feature in Good Housekeeping Magazine	£0 + A lot of luck	1 Day	Bloody brilliant. Best day out ever (read all about it in This Weeks Shenanigans)	A trip to Londinium, a make-over, posh clothes to try on and a free lunch. What’s not to like? Recommended 🙂	Definitely sold a number of books, and it cost me nothing
Visit the local bookshops	£0	Roughly half a day begging, ongoing sucking up	Great once I’d talked them round. Lovely people. Sticking the neck out was uncomfortable. Bookshops hate Amazon	Sold lots of real, paperback books. Great buzz seeing my book on the shelf. Became the ‘local bestseller’ (briefly!)	Absolutely. Or it will do when they pay me for the books…
Feature in the local press	£0	Roughly half a day finding photos, talking to reporters and writing a press release	Mild embarrassment when the headline read ‘Saucy Farmer’s Wife’ (or something like that)	People stopping me in the street. A run on the local bookshop (which of course I mentioned in the feature.	Yes. Bookshop and Amazon sales
Kindle Free Promotions	£0	15 minutes to fill in the form	Fun watching the download graph rocket. Not so fun that you’re giving the book away.	Hundreds of downloads, gets the book seen by readers.	Yes and no (the download is free) but it cost me nothing and I’m hoping the same readers will buy the next book. More pages read on Unlimited, which I do get paid for.
Goodreads Giveaway	£0 for promo, cost of books + postage to mail the books to winners	15 minutes to fill in the form, a trip to the post office	Another chart to follow!	A few reviews of the book	Not sure/not really BUT reviews grow interest in the book. Postage costs can be high if you run worldwide (you don’t have to)
Public speaking	£0 (some authors charge, but I’m not there yet)	3 days stressing + however long the event is	More fun than you would think (or more fun than I thought it would be) once you get over the nerves. People are nice.	A good laugh, and usually good sales.	Yes – best sales day ever of the paperback was after my talk to the WI!
Paid email subscriber lists (I’ve done BookBub and Fussy Librarian)	££ depends which countries you target. USA is spendy, I went UK – less than £100	An hour or so submitting (with a good chance you will not be accepted) A fair bit of time faffing with time zones and price drops	Watching the money roll in… … oh wait, I’m giving the book away again.	Lots of lovely downloads	Yes when I price dropped to £0.99, no when I priced at £0.00. But there’s always that second book that their tongues are hanging out for…
Start a newsletter/ email sign up	£0 so far	I reckon quite a lot, but it’s early days for me with this.	People really need more crap in their inboxes… … luckily for them my Newsletter rate is scarce/non-existent	I’m told the potential is huge…but how the hell do you persuade people to sign up? Ps – do please sign up for my Newsletter here 🙂	Watch this space. The idea being that every faithful fan who has read your book will be running for the shops the minute you tell them a new one is out.

Self-publishing, Writing Romance

When you can’t see the wood for the trees

January 10, 2016January 29, 2016by Sam RussellLeave a Comment

I am editing. Argh!

I’m deep in the thicket, with 100k words between me and the timber of my finished novel, and every one of them has to be tested to earn its place in the manuscript.

Do my characters have, well, character? Is the plot believable? Am I consistent with point of view? Have my scenes got structure and motivation. Shit…am I actually writing scenes at all?

If you thought that writing a novel was hard, try a substantive edit. I believe I could knock off 20k words in the time it takes to edit a paragraph (10k of those words will be cut later of course). I’m learning on the job, and I figure I always will be. There may be writers out there who find it ~~a piece of cake~~ (cliché) easy, and wield their cutting pen with stern, ~~orderly~~ (adjective+adverb) precision. Who get that perfect story arc and place their reactions/dilemmas with ~~pin-point~~ (you work it out) accuracy within it.

I’m not one of them (she ~~sobbed~~, ~~wept~~, ~~cried~~, ~~sighed~~ SAID!). This is damn hard work, and right now I really can’t see the wood for the trees (yet another cliché slipped in there).

But it’s also exciting. I’m writing, I’m learning, and learning is good isn’t it?

I’m off to find the path through this forest now.