Sharon Maria Bidwell

If you’re in the mood for something surreal then please pop along to read a short story of mine entitled 
’Arachne’s Labours’ now available to read online at Full of Crow 
fiction: http://fullofcrow.com/fiction/2010/06/sharon-bidwell/

I guess I have something to um…crow about. Sorry! I couldn’t resist.

I am currently away in one of my favourite places on earth: Tintagel, Cornwall. I’ve walked, walked, and walked…which is good because that means I can have a pasty and a cream tea (a cream tea is a scone, strawberry jam, and fresh clotted cream served with a pot of tea), and I don’t have to make an excuse for the couple of ice creams I’ve had so far this week. The weather has been glorious, just perfect. Anyone with an interest in the legend of King Arthur should have heard of Tintagel. There’s no proof that King Arthur ever existed, of course,and if he did that he ever came to Tintagel, but it’s thought that the ruins of the current castle could have been built on the ruins of a much-older one. Anyway, those that love the area don’t care about proof.

Am I thinking about work? Can’t say that I am. I am thinking about the writing projects I’ve got to finish when I get back, but when surrounded by this kind of scenery I’m more than a little distracted.

If you’d like to be bored (or maybe not) by a few holiday photos, you can see the scenery that’s right now on my doorstep. If only. If only I was a rich famous author I would have a summer place here. Oh well, one can dream. LOL.

Coastal Walk:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14189&id=100000653196764&l=6536948a9

Bossiney Beach:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14096&id=100000653196764&l=83fb8ec106

Shaz x

Once again, April Martinez is the cover artist for those titles of the Swithin series that are available at Loose-Id. This is the cover to A Swithin Spin 3: A Princely Passion, anticipated release date sometime in July!

More details coming soon!

I’ve been asked this numerous times for my book ‘Snow Angel’ and it’s shorter sequel ‘Angel Heart’ (see the relevant page of details by clicking HERE), and I’ve never been able to give a satisfactory answer. I’m amazed that so long after publication, I still receive messages asking this question to this day.

So, for anyone still wondering, the answer is…maybe. No, seriously, that’s the best I can do. The simpler answer is yes, because if all else fails ‘one day’ I will self-publish the book myself. The trouble with that is I cannot tell you how far away ‘one day’ may be.

It’s official and Snow Angel is a bestselling book, doing better than many conventional printed paperbacks, with its sequel closely following in the rear. So why hasn’t the publisher taken these titles to print? The reason an ePublisher chooses to produce a print book is long and convoluted, and as easy to answer as how long is a piece of string. There is one answer I can give and that’s because both books fall out of the range of the publisher’s ‘normally accepted’ length for a print book — one being too long, the other too short, and together being completely impossible. So will the current publisher ever likely take the book to print? The answer to that is no.

In fact, the print option in the contract has long since run out and there’s nothing to stop me trying to find a publisher that will print the book. This is difficult and unlikely. The markets most willing to print this book will likely want electronic rights too. Fine, if I can find someone to do that, but then I’d have to work to negotiate with the current publisher and remove the book from them at the first available time — a thing I can only do once a year when the contract comes up for renewal. When a title is still selling, it’s a fine balance to know when to pull a book from the existing market. I could, of course, inform them that I plan to put the book out in print myself, but they could then decide not to renew the electronic option, and once I self-publish it could though won’t necessarily make it more difficult should I wish to try another publisher in the future. Once upon a time books were forever, but nowadays many have a more immediate shelf life — a commodity just like a loaf of bread.

It’s not easy is the thing, and it’s a fine balancing act to know what to do and when to do it, and I’m a ditherer at the best of times.

Yes, I’ve been quiet. I’m recently back from holiday. We went to Germany and saw Neushwanstein Castle. I’ve always wanted to see it and now I have! Yayyy! Home of King Ludwig II although he only got to spend a few days in it before his death (murder?) the 16 finished rooms are wonderfully eccentric. And yes, you do know the castle. Think of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; it’s where the car landed, although that’s not why it’s been one of those things on my list ‘to-do’ before the inevitable. We also took a boat on the Rhine and we’re definitely interested in looking at River Cruises now: it was so peaceful and relaxing. I jotted down a few local stories but otherwise I took a proper break even from writing. Bliss.

No trip is perfect and it was tiring. Very tiring. We opted to go across country, which being as there have been so many problems with the ash cloud and BA strikes this year was probably a good idea, but in truth I just couldn’t face an airport this year. Also had one terrible meal among so many delicious ones. So the road was long, though not necessarily dusty. Saw snow in the Black Forest.

Have a couple of small announcements. Seems owing to scheduling, I’m getting a new editor at Loose-Id for future work. As my current work is at the line edits stage I presume my last editor will finish that. With some publishers you have a new editor on each work but with others you keep the same one and LI tend to lean towards that philosophy. Still, sometimes things have to change or an editor leaves. And I may have mentioned before but in case anyone missed it, LI want all US spelling now. Damn! Spelling was the one thing I’m very good at; my punctuation is the part that’s sometimes dodgy, although again, that’s because there are UK/US differences. I’m more confused now than when I started.
And lastly, something I ‘dusted’ off and submitted to Paragraph Planet can be viewed for your reading enjoyment. This slipped me by so it’s a late announcement and you’ll have to look in the archives: http://www.paragraphplanet.com/archive.htm

Search for April 2nd. It’s called: Ashes to Ashes; Dust to Dust.

Enjoy!
Sharon x

So you dream about being a published author one day. Or you imagine someone whose work you adore living the publishing dream. You think writing is about the ‘hideaway’ at the bottom of the perfect garden in full bloom on a summer’s day with bees gently buzzing between the flowers. Or maybe you picture a long desk with a deep leather chair set in front of a panoramic window showing the view of the beach and a long stretch of sand leading down to the palest blue water you’ve ever seen. You see the writer tapping away at the keyboard, making notes on paper, taking the occasional call from his or her agent and smiling in ill-disguised pleasure over a glass of wine at the end of a writing day while he or she reads the latest heartwarming review over the last release.

Think again. For a start most published authors still need to work on a part-time if not full-time basis. Even if they can write full-time, life isn’t all roses and champagne.

Sometimes I read something I wish I’d written myself. Usually it’s a book. This time it’s a blog. No one can express what a day in the life of a writer is like better than Kate Douglas has done so I’ll let her speak for herself:

http://lisapietsch.com/2010/04/20/kate-douglas-delivers-the-essential-author-101/

Out now!

Sometimes even the universe has to step aside…

When called into her editor’s office, Gayle Winter imagines many scenarios, but not one of them involves an order to spice up her latest manuscript. Unknown to Gayle, the universe has decided a visit by her muse is just what’s needed, and having set eyes on her, the muse is only too happy to oblige. Gayle’s attractive, and it seems an easy assignment. All Gayle needs is to remember what it’s like to have a sex life… something Roeman can certainly work on.

Little does the muse expect her to have such an immediate and disastrous effect on him. Not only does he fall headlong in lust (and love), Gayle does the unimaginable. The one to be inspired inspires the muse so that he finally “discovers” his true name. Doing so changes his importance in the universe.

Only one question remains. Will Roeman have to leave Gayle forever to fully realise his potential and fulfill his destiny? Will either of them survive without the other if the universe refuses to step aside?

Available from Changeling Press.

Okay, so edits have gone back to Changeling Press on ‘Amuse Muse Me Do’. Now I just have to wait for it to go through proofreading and see if that turns up any, usually minor, corrections. Have seen the draft cover and will likely get the files over the weekend.

I’m on my first round edits for ‘SS3′ for Loose-Id, and that’s been interrupted with the Changeling Press edits taking priority owing to the release date. The first round of edits is by its very nature of being ‘first’ edits usually the most extensive. Not only that I want to add to/rewrite the ending of the book a little and I’ve needed to do a little research for this. So…next week my priority is these edits. No matter that my WIP is calling to me. I’ll have to ‘begin again’ as such when I get back to it as I’ll need to read through to refresh my mind.

I also have a ‘possible’ Del Fantasma idea for AMP, but I’m not saying too much at present as a) it’s only a vague idea and b) IF it gets done I don’t know when I’m going to have the time. After my WIP I have my m/m contemp to work on. This project is driving me a little nuts. The second half of the book is damn near perfect. The first half is a little off, partly because I’ve yet to get the pacing just right and partly because it doesn’t meet the publisher’s requirements. They are interested, but it’s up to me to get this done ASALA (As Soon As Life Allows).

THEN or sometime during (Ha!) I’ve promised myself to work on and send some shorter non-romance works out. In other words, look at some publications and see if I have anything suitable for them and if not, try to write a story for those markets. And later in the year I still want to do some reading for ideas to rework an old fantasy trilogy of mine and then… Then I have so many things in mind I’m too busy for my own good. I am going to take the occasional day off here and there this year. I have to. Writers truly never get a day off. If we’re not writing, we’re thinking about writing, even making notes, but I need a day off from the keyboard. I need to go read, or draw, or ‘anything’ rather than write no matter how much I love it.

‘A Stranger’s Touch’ by Anne Brooke has a haunting, unsettling quality. My one negative feeling is that maybe it’s a little too short to achieve what it sets out to portray. Although a strong emotional ‘pull’ is attained in very few words, I would have liked this drawn out and heightened still more, so that I as the reader could equally fall under the ‘stranger’s’ spell as does the prostitute, Red. Unlike some other comments I’ve seen regarding this story, I fully believed that Red and Robbie could come away with a clearer understanding of what they mean to each other; however, I would have liked to feel that Robbie had a lot more to lose. Even so, the story is intriguing and thought-provoking enough to make it memorable. Another good story from Anne Brooke.

Read more about it at her website.