My latest novel, "Bloodlines: Brenda's Revenge" has now been published and available on Amazon for a month. I am happy to report that sales are coming in, the Kindle Unlimited members are downloading the e-book in healthy numbers, and the reviews have been very positive. The progress of my first audiobook, "Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor" is continuing despite my narrator battling this rather virulent flu that is moving through North America. The launch date of the audiobook is still scheduled for this month, but the health of my narrator comes first. If the book is delayed, it will be delayed; it will be worth the wait though, as Bill is bringing a new depth to the story. Now that "Brenda's Revenge" is out and selling, I have decided to write the next book in the Bloodlines Series: "Legacy". This new book will be a prequel to the first three books and will tell the story of the Farnsworth family, and their Gilded Age triumphs and tragedies. "Bloodlines: Legacy" is a journey that I am excited to embark on, and I will keep my readers updated as the story progresses.

I have been a published, indie author now for a little over a year. In that time I have published 3 novels making a series of my original book, "Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor". My original intention was to have only 2 books with the same characters and theme, but after reading the feedback of my readers, I decided to write the 3rd book, and brought back several of my reader's favourite characters from the original storyline. The reader feedback that has been provided has proven very valuable to me as a new author. My readers have pointed out grammar and formating issues, as well as what they did and did not like about each of the first 2 novels. The end result for me has been an improved editing and formatting process, as well as ideas for a continuing storyline. I have to admit that receiving criticism is not always easy, but once you learn to put emotions aside and pay attention to what your reader is saying, it can be extremely helpful. I fixed the formatting and grammar issues in my first novel and republished a corrected version. This ended comments about formatting and grammar (except for 1 "troll" who's comments clearly indicated they had NOT read the story) in the original book, and by the time my 3rd book was published, similar comments had disappeared. My 3rd book, one which I had never considered writing, was written in response to reader's requests for more of the same storyline, and in it I brought back several popular characters from the original story. Additionally, the lessons learned from publishing the first 2 books served me well, and the formatting and grammar issues now seem to be behind me. Reader comments provide the author with valuable information. Their comments let you know what they do or do not like about your story, and often point out issues that you and your editors and proofreaders may have missed. Use these critiques wisely, make changes that will satisfy your audience, and apply the lessons learned to your future writing. I am now faced with an interesting dilema as an author: do I continue writing more novels in the Bloodline's series, or write something completely different? I have a solid audience of readers who love the Bloodlines series and the characters I have introduced to them. My readers have told me that they want more of Alex and Maggie and their adventures both in the physical and supernatural worlds I have created. As an author I am tempted to write different stories, but I also do not want to disappoint my readers. I had originally envisioned writing individual stories with new characters, but have to admit that I have grown attached to Alex and Maggie and the world I have created for them. It is a little hard to explain, but to me, Alex and Maggie are real; they are my "children", and I am curious to find out what other adventures await them. I have not yet started on my 4th novel, although I do have some ideas running through my mind. I have had several readers tell me that they would like to learn more about the history of Alex's family, and Cove Point Manor, and I am seriously considering the idea of writing a prequel that will better explain the Farnsworth dynasty, and the building of Cove Point Manor. If you are an author, pay close attention to your reader reviews. The feedback that your readers provide is invaluable and will almost certainly make you a better author, and will help you to write stories that will keep your readers coming back for more.

Today marked a new milestone for me when two of my books, Bloodlines: Of Noble Blood and Bloodlines: Brenda's Revenge both hit the top 100 list of paperback books on Amazon.ca. Both books landed on this list in the genre "ghosts". They are in very good company with well established authors such as Stephen King, George Saunders and Amy Cross. Brenda's Revenge, the third book in the Bloodlines Series, has only been out for a few weeks but so far sales have been good. What is more suprising is that my first and second books in the Bloodlines Series have seen a sudden up-tick in sales and Kindle Select page reads.All three books are now in the top 1,000 lists on Amazon.com as well, which, as everyone knows, is the largest book market (USA). I am not sure if launching a third book, or whether increased marketing is responsible for the sudden sales increase, but whatever the reason, my books are selling. Feedback also continues to come in, and the reviews I have received from my readers are positive. Today also marked the 1 year anniversary of my first book, Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor, being published. While this novel is not on the top 100 list, seeing 2 of my 3 books in the company of such well known horror authors is a great way to celebrate this anniversary.

In 2007 Amazon shook up the publishing world when they made it possible for anyone with a story and a computer to publish their work. This was done through the introduction of Kindle Select where an author could publish his or her story as an e-book. Amazon's sister company, Createspace, made it possible for the same authors to publish their works in a more traditional paperback format. Traditional publishing houses initially dismissed this new form of publishing. Some described these "amateur" indie author's works as unpolished, unprofessional, full of grammar and spelling mistakes and unworthy of a reader's time. This rather negative opinion may have had a ring of truth to it, but it didn't last for long. As new authors learned how to hone their craft, and as self-publishing platforms became easier to use, the end result of the indie's work also improved. Indie authors are entrepreneurs who are, in effect, running their own business. Unlike an author signed to a traditional publishing house, the indie is author, proofreader, editor and marketer all rolled into one. The indie author who truly cares about their story (which is most of them), soon learns from their mistakes and improves with each new book. Learning how to effective edit your story, proofread (with the help of beta readers along with special software), and format both the e-book and print versions of their books is all a part of being an indie. Indie authors must also design their own cover art (or work with a graphic artist), write their own book blurb, become active on social media, design and set up a website and blog, and then find a way to get their stories "discovered" by readers. It's a lot of work, but the rewards, when done correctly, are well worth the effort. The end result has been a disruption in how new stories are being made available to readers. No longer are readers restricted to only a select few authors and a limited number of books. No longer do readers have to go to a physical bricks and mortar store or library to find a new book. For readers it is now as easy as logging on to your computer, searching and previewing millions of books, and making your purchase. E-books are then transmitted directly to your preferred device almost instantaneously, and at a fraction of a traditional paperback or hardcover book. A reader can still opt for a traditionally printed book, and do so from the convenience of their computer or mobile device, and in a few days it will arrive by mail or courier. Indie authors now make up approximately 35% of all e-book sales in the USA. The Big Five publishing houses have a 25.6% share according to the January, 2018 Authors Earnings Report (http://authorearnings.com/report/january-2018-report-us-online-book-sales-q2-q4-2017/). The Big Five publishers still maintain control of the traditional print book format, with indie's making up only 4.7% vs. 43.6%, but over time, that statistic may also change. While traditionally published author still make up the majority of the top 100 e-book sellers in the USA, it is interesting to note that 7 of the top 100 are now indie authors. Of the top 1,000 e-book sellers in the USA, 284 are indies. In the world of the indie, there is a lot of work that has to be done by the author that a traditional publishing house would normally do. The editing, proofreading, cover design, marketing, etc. all has to be done by the indie author (or farmed out, at the indie's expense). In the end though, the indie maintains control of their work and, if done correctly, can be financially rewarding as well. What is more important to most indie authors than money is the ability to quickly get their works published and read, something which was almost impossible through traditional publishing houses. The choice to be an indie author is a personal decision. No one can say what is right for you, the author, other than YOU. There is nothing wrong with traditional publishing, but it is a lot more difficult path to becoming a published author. Being an indie author isn't a walk-in-the-park either, but if you have the drive, skill and desire, it is a faster way to get your stories published and read. Without Amazon and their wonderful, disruptive business model, the world would be missing out on the opportunity to discover talented new authors. Indie books may not always be perfect, but they are genuine, and they have brought many fantastic new stories to readers that otherwise would have gone untold. #publishing

It's funny how life sometimes works. A little under a year ago I started writing a story, more for the amusement of myself and some close friends. I was hypothesizing what would happen if I had found that one of my (many!) famous and wealthy relatives had an estate to which I had a claim. What started as a conversation on Christmas Eve grew into a written email exchange and then morphed into the novel "Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor". While I had always wanted to write a complete novel, I thought that would wait until I retired, several years in the future. I had been engrossed in my family history research for the better part of 15 years and that was my passion which engaged what little spare time I had. As my "what if" story grew, it quickly took on a life of its own. Within a few months, I had what I thought was a fun little story, mixing in realistic characters in an exciting setting, and just to make things more interesting, I threw in a ghost and a strong back story for good measure. With editing and rewriting, I found myself with "Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor". The story takes DNA testing and family research to an extreme, and then adds the reality of greedy "friends" trying to stake claim to a massive inheritance. Once I had finished and published "Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor", I found I had another storyline running around in my brain. I also found I was now bored since I was no longer writing after months of doing so in every free minute I could find. My second novel, "Bloodlines: Of Noble Blood", took the two main characters from my first novel and placed them in a different setting but still following the basic DNA mystery theme from the first. The second storyline was darker, and had more of a sinister feel to it, but I thought it had worked well. My readers liked the second book, but they missed the antagonists from Cove Point Manor, Brenda and Connie. From my viewpoint, I had written the two novels revolving around a DNA mystery that I wanted, but my fans were clamouring for more: they loved the characters and didn't want to stop reading about them. After some consideration, I figured out a new storyline and wrote "Bloodlines: Brenda's Revenge". This book resurrected the two bumbling and nasty antagonists, Brenda and Connie, the mother-daughter duo from "Cove Point Manor" and combined them with my protagonists, Alex and Maggie, and wrote my third novel. The third novel allowed me to expand on the original story in many aspects, providing my readers with more background and insight for several of the characters they knew and liked. After months of writing, editing, re-writing and formatting, "Brenda's Revenge" was published earlier this month. Sales have started to come in for this new novel, but to my surprise, sales of my first and second novels have started to increase dramatically. Since all three books are also enrolled in Kindle Select, I am also seeing a significant boost in borrows and reads from Amazon customers enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited or Kindle Owners' Lending Library program. The increase has been noticeable and the addition of the third book in the Bloodlines Series seems to have breathed new life in my earlier works. While "Brenda's Revenge" is still a new release, things look promising so far. It seems that tying the three novels together in a series has been welcomed by my readers and has also generated interest from new readers. As a reader myself, I have to admit that some of my favorite books have been part of a series, although I also enjoy stand-alone stories. With a series of books that I really enjoy though, I found myself quickly hunting down the next book in the series and then reading it. If you think of the old Hardy Boys series, Nancy Drew series or even the more recent Harry Potter series and Twilight series, each book left the reader wanting more. I'm not comparing my own books to any of the above series, but I think that readers like, and are more likely to buy, books that they enjoy when they are offered in a series. Only time and experience will tell, but I'm already outlining additional adventures for Alex and Maggie and, of course, some of the more "interesting" secondary characters that my readers have enjoyed. What do you think?

Several months ago some friends and business associates started to suggest that I turn my first novel, "Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor", into an audiobook. At first I dismissed this idea since I had not purchased an audiobook myself since the late 1980's (it was on cassette!). However, my friends soon pointed out that audiobooks were quite popular today, and also would allow me to bring my story to an audience that my e-book and paperback could not reach: the visibly impaired as well as those too busy to read a full length novel. I started to research audiobooks, first to see if they were popular (they are!), and secondly to see how expensive it would be to produce an audiobook. I started my research and found that producing and marketing an audiobook could be VERY expensive. In my case, turning "Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor" into a traditional audiobook, using a professional narrator and editing, would be in excess of $10,000.00 - too rich for my little indie book. The idea of turning my first novel into an audiobook didn't leave me however, and I kept searching for a way to produce a quality product at an affordable price. Then I discovered Audiobook Creation Exchange, or ACX. As luck would have it, ACX is an Amazon company and, like Amazon, they have been set up to help indie authors turn their work into professional quality audiobooks at an affordable price. ACX offers several services, matching rights holders (the author, in my case) with voice actors as well as distributing the finished product. An author, or rights holder, can choose to hire a voice actor at a set hourly rate or they can enter a partnership arrangement with a voice actor whereby royalties from the sales of the audiobooks are shared 50/50 between the two. Deciding which type of contract works best for you is purely a personal decision, but choosing to pay for the production of the audiobook is faster as you can choose the voice actor of your choice, and if he or she is available, you can start immediately. The per hour rate depends upon the actor, but it can be expensive. With the 50/50 royalty split option, the process can take longer. You don't get to choose from a list of voice actors in the same manner as you do when you hire and pay the actor an hourly rate. Instead, you post your project, give basic information of the type of actor you would like (male, female, accent type, voice styles, etc.) and then wait for interested voice actors to audition. If an actor finds your project to be of interested, they will submit a 15 minute audition, using the 'script' you upload (based on a section taken from your book), and then you listen and approve, reject or suggest modifications. It may take weeks or months before an author auditions, and even when they do, you may not care for the way they narrate. If the narrator is not to your liking, then you will have to wait for the next audition and so on, until you find a narrator that best fits your vision of how to bring your book to life. Once you have found a narrator, and you and he or she come to an agreement, the production process begins. You set the time period for completing the project and work with the narrator to ensure their performance is acceptable for you. When the final product has been completed, ACX can then look after distribution of your audiobook through their distribution channels. ACX will set the price of your book, which is based on the finished length, and then pay you a 40% royalty (if you choose exclusive distribution) or a 25% royalty for non-exclusive distribution. The 40% royalty, if you enter a 50/50 royalty share agreement with a narrator, is paid out at a 20% rate to the rights holder (author) and 20% rate to the narrator by ACX, eliminating the need for you to issue a separate payment to the narrator. With the exclusive distribution agreement, ACX will make your audiobook available for puchase through i-Tunes, Amazon and Audible, all industry leaders for audiobook sales. The price of your finished audiobook is determined by ACX and is based on the finished length of the audiobook in hours. The longer the audiobook, the more expensive the final selling price will be. In the case of my novel, "Cove Point Manor" is estimated to be just under 7 hours in length so the price will be somewhere between $15.00 and $25.00 which translates to a royalty of $6.00 - $10.00 per audiobook sold. With the 50/50 agreement, the rights holder (author) and narrator will each receve $3.00-$5.00 per sale. Royalties are paid monthly by ACX so there is no minimum royalty threshold to reach before you receive your payment. Royalty potential aside, the process of having my first novel converted to an audiobook has been an exciting one. From the initial audition to subsequent chapters that have been submitted for my review, hearing a story that I wrote being brought to life has been quite interesting. Listening to a story, rather than writing or reading it, has modified how I had pictured the characters, their interaction with one another, and the scenes in which the story takes place. In short, the audio version is adding a new dimension to the story I created. Only time will tell if the audiobook version of "Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor" will be a financial success or not. However, knowing that this new version of my story will introduce my characters and settings to a whole new audience, one which otherwise would never have been introduced to my story, is very satisfying. Maybe a movie or a television series will be the next step in bringing the Bloodlines story to life!

I have just finished publishing my third novel, "Bloodlines: Brenda's Revenge". This is my third novel as an Indie author in the last 12 months, and I would still call myself a 'newbie' when it comes to being an Indie. First off, I would like to say that I write because I enjoy writing, and I also enjoy bringing pleasure to others through my stories. I never thought I would sell more than a few books, if I managed to sell any at all. However, I have been lucky enough to have had enough success with my first two novels that I wrote a third in the series, albeit after receiving dozens of requests from my readers to do so. Sitting down and writing a novel is hard work. Don't get me wrong, I love to write, but when you plan to publish your work for the world to see, it is vastly different from just sitting down and writing for yourself. My first novel was far from perfect. It had layout issues, grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. All of these issues were eventually corrected and for my second novel, a lot of the problems disappeared. It still was not perfect, but it was better. As I found errors in my published work, or if other people brought them to my attention, I made the necessary corrections. Still, it bothered me that the error had gotten past me and my beta readers in the first place. For my third novel, I spent an inordinate amount of time making changes, ensuring that the grammar was correct (except where it was intentionally incorrect, such as in certain dialogue between characters) and checking spelling and layout umpteen times over. I ran the story through several different grammar and spelling programs (which, by the way, are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination) and finally I was ready to publish. I am sure that there will still be a few mistakes - I am not perfect - but hopefully none so glaring that it sends the Grammar Police my way. I previously wrote about constructive feedback and maliscious feedback. Constructive feedback most Indie authors welcome, but there are some people out there - in cyber space - who take some sort of demented pleasure from being nasty and trying to derail another human being. This is not unique to the world of the author; you can find these trolls everywhere - at work, on social media, in school, at social gatherings, and even within your own family. These people are toxic and feed on negativity. One has to simply learn to ignore these toxic trolls and push on. The Amazon Kindle author board has a lot of discussions about these issues and one can take solice in knowing that errors and criticizm happens to everyone, whether a new author or a seasoned author. Indie or professional, we all make mistakes, and not everyone will like our writing. This is true with all art forms: music, dance, acting, painting - you can't please all the people all the time! What one must remember about a good indie author, one who writes because they love writing, and love telling stories, is that they are bringing a gift to the world. It wasn't long ago that readers could only read books that were approved by large publishing houses. We could only read opinions that were authorized by newspapers. We could only watch and listen to TV news topics from the TV networks. We only heard the music that radio stations played.We were told what to read, what to watch, what to listen to and how to think. Things have now changed, courtesy of people willing to shake up society, sometimes for the better, other times not, but it has given us many more choices. We can now listen to music that is not recorded on a major label. We can watch webcasts of news and opinions we would not have seen. We can listen to opinions on podcasts. We can read works from authors who otherwise would never have shared their stories. Being an Indie, whether author, musician, artists, actor or singer means we, the little people, the previously unheard masses, now have a platform. We can use this platform to entertain, inform and change the world. Indie authors, myself included, are bringing our stories to the world. People may like our stories, or they may not, but at least readers now have a choice. We may not be perfect, and our work may not be as polished, but wouldn't you rather read something with a few errors than never have the chance to have read it at all?

It has been almost a year since I published my first novel, and in that time I have learned a lot about the process of being an Indie author. With my new-found knowledge, I have attempted to improve each story and have even gone back and made modifications to existing stories when I discovered some 'newbie' errors in formatting. I have also spent a lot of time working with graphic artists to improve my cover designs, and have educated myself on what does and does not work when marketing an Indie published book. The results have been encouraging and the sales and Kindle Select reads continue to climb each month. One of the hardest things to learn is how to deal with criticism, both constructive and, sadly, sometimes just nasty comments about your work. While participating in author forums, I also heard about "trolls", not the type that live in fairy tales, but ones that live on the internet, and prowl about, trying to make other people's lives miserable. The author forums offer some excellent advice on how to deal with critics, and also how to deal with trolls. Critics, people who honestly have an opinion that they have taken the time to share with you, are helpful. Some critiques of my work resulted in a re-read and a re-write in order to fix issues had been overlooked during the editing process. These comments, while hard to read at times, were helpful. In each comment, no matter how critical it was of grammar, spelling, formatting, etc., they always indicated they enjoyed the story, which was encouraging. Then, out of the blue, I received a review from what can only be described as a troll; someone who had obviously never read the story based on their comments, and did not have the guts to use their name. I was annoyed when I first read the 1 star review - it is human nature to be defensive after all; but then I started to laugh as I read some of the comments as they were baseless. For instance, this particular troll stated that I had written about two characters in my book that hated each other, and then passionately kissed. Never happened. Nope, not a chance. The book in question has no characters passionately kissing so I have no idea what they were talking about. The troll goes on to make all sorts of derogatory comments, sounding very much like Brenda, a nasty, negative character from Cove Point Manor. Maybe this particular troll is someone I know that doesn't like me (hey, it happens!), or is just an unhappy person who takes pleasure from trying to tear down others. The author forums are full of stories of such people, and the pattern fits the review this person left for me. I don't mind constructive, honest criticism, and I will be the first to admit my book isn't perfect, but I find it hard to believe that hundreds of other readers who enjoyed the book and the story were lying. Why would anyone take the time to rate a book with a 3-5 star rating, or take the time to send an email saying they liked the story, if they didn't? The author forums abound with advice on how to deal with trolls, and the consensus is "do nothing". Some authors have made the mistake of trying to reach out to the negative commenters for clarity, only to find themselves in a nasty battle with an unknown trouble maker. For some reason, trolls are looking for a reaction, and once they know they have your attention, they feed on it. This is a no-win situation, and as much as you would like to be able to call out the troll, there is really nothing that can be done. However, like a child having a temper tantrum to get attention, if you simply ignore them, they eventually calm down and return to normal (the child that is, not the troll). The troll will eventually move on. The other thing to consider is that a potential reader who sees a lot of positive reviews, and then 1 or 2 really negative and nasty reviews will probably ignore the negative reviews. People are smart enough to decide for themselves what they will or will not read, and the Amazon "Look Inside" feature will let them read some of the story before making a purchase. Trolls: they are the plague of the internet, but they are real, and they are out there, searching for YOU!

As an Indie author, there are several choices for bringing your book to the market, both in traditional print (paperback) and the new e-book formats. Globally there are many companies which will allow you to join and sell your books, but few compare with the global powerhouse, Amazon. Prior to publishing my first book, I researched the internet and reviewed the different ways I could bring my "masterpiece" to market. After much consideration, I chose to use Amazon due to their large client base and the ease with which I could upload my documents and have them converted into an e-book. For the print version, I chose Createspace.com, which is also an Amazon company. Createspace is a print on demand publisher that is also easy to use and offers assistance and advice on formatting. Createspace allows you to print as few as 1 copy or as many copies as you wish. They also offer expanded distribution meaning you can advertise and sell your print books on numerous online retailers around the globe. When a customer purchases your print book on Amazon, it is printed and shipped through Createspace. With Createspace, the cost of printing a paperback book is reasonable and the royalty rates are high. I also found using Createspace to be a relatively easy process, especially as a newbie to publishing. Once I had my e-book formatted and ready to sell on Amazon, I was offered a chance to enroll in their KDP Select program. KDP Select (Kindle Direct Publishing) is a program for authors that allows Amazon's Kindle Unlimited subscribers to "borrow" their e-book and then receive payment based on the number of pages that are read. Kindle Unlimited subscribers pay a monthly subscription fee of $9.99 and are allowed to borrow up to 10 e-books at any given time. When they are finished reading the book, they "return" it to the lending library and are free to borrow another book. The author of the e-book will then receive payment for each page of their book that a Kindle Unlimited subscriber reads. Normally this works out to be around $0.0045 per page (yes, less than a half-cent per page!) based on a formula Amazon uses to share their global KDP Select fund (normally around $19 million/month). This fund is divided among all authors who have had books borrowed and pages read. Amazon also has an All Stars program which rewards authors with the most number of page reads per month with substantial bonuses ($25,000.00 in some cases). Achieving this All Star bonus is a significant feat, with page read requirements being well over 2 million (based on KDP Select board comments), but if met, would be a nice bonus and provides Indie authors with a goal to reach. As part of your contract when you enroll your e-book in KDP Select, you allow Amazon exclusivity to your e-book which means you cannot sell or give away your e-book anywhere else. At the end of the 90 day period, you can enroll in KDP Select again, or opt out and offer your e-book through other retailers. Now receiving only $0.0045/page read by a customer may seem like a pittance, and it is, but it can really add up. I currently have 2 novels published and enrolled in the KDP Select program. Each month the amount of page reads usually generates about 50% of what my e-book sales (sometimes more, sometimes less) royalties are. So why would I allow someone to borrow my book when I could sell it to them and get a larger royalty? The answer to that question is really quite simple: people who are enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program, who pay $9.99/month to read e-books, do NOT purchase and pay full price for e-books. With millions of e-books enrolled in KDP Select which Kindle Unlimited readers can read for "free", why would they pay full price? They won't. Ultimately the decision to enroll in KDP Select is entirely up to the author, but for me, I think that being enrolled in this program is worthwhile. If I was not enrolled in KDP Select, I might make additional sales through other retailers, but then again I may not. For me, having my work available to the large Kindle Unlimited readership as well as Amazon's global customer base makes sense. Amazon is the global leader when it comes to e-book sales, so why not be with the biggest player and expose your books to the widest audience?

Despite still having a bit of jet-lag from my trip to Asia last week, I have managed to finish chapters 10 and 11 of my upcoming book, Bloodlines: Brenda’s Revenge. Writing this book has been an interesting experience and while it has taken me the better part of 6 months to reach this point, the story is coming along nicely. I had some concerns about reintroducing the characters of Brenda and Connie Sonwil from book #1 (Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor), but now I can see that bringing them back fits nicely with the series. I am also having a great deal of fun working with these two robust characters, which I hope will translate to an entertaining story for my readers. I still hope to have the book finished by December 21st and available online by then, but only time will tell. December 21st is the deadline I have set for myself to finish this book, but I will not compromise the storyline in order to meet a deadline. I just hope that you, my readers, will find the wait to have been worthwhile.

I can always tell when an author is writing about a place based on their own experience rather than cobbling together their perception of a place based on research. The old adage "write about what you know" is, in my humble opinion, never more true than when you describe a real life place in your story. I have been fortunate enough to have been able to travel extensively, both in my professional and in my personal life. These travels have allowed me to glean impressions of places that one just cannot get from research alone. When I write about what it feels like to walk through Westminster Abbey, it is because I have done it. When I describe the feeling of a breeze coming in off of the Atlantic while standing atop Table Mountain in Cape Town, it is because I have been there. While I have never been to Cove Point Manor (it is a fictional building that only exists in my mind, and in those of my readers), I have been to numerous old mansions from the period. I based Cove Point Manor on a combination of a number of these old buildings. The mix of different emotions I have experienced walking the halls of these grand mansions of years past are incorporated into my descriptions. This is why I appreciate hearing from readers about my descriptive writing, especially when it is about Cove Point Manor. Hearing from a reader about how I brought the mansion to life is high praise for me, and any writer. As I write this blog post I am currently back in Shanghai. I have been coming to this magnificent city for over 20 years now, and each visit yields more information which I store in my memory. I do hope to be able to incorporate Shanghai into one of my future stories, and hopefully I will be able to convey the sense of this large and vibrant city in my writing. Shanghai never ceases to amaze me, especially how the "feel" of the city changes so dramatically from daytime to night time. When you write, try to incorporate your own experiences in your writing - how something made you feel, what sights left an impression on you, what it was like to walk or drive through a particular neighborhood. Your writing will take on a new feeling when you right from your memories. Get out and explore the world around you. Make a note of people, places, smells, etc. that elicit a special feeling in you; whether it be fear, tension, happiness, contentment or any other feeling, write it down and incorporate it into your stories. You will be surprised at how easily writing about a place you have visited, something you have tasted, or a strong emotion you have felt will be. You may also be pleasantly surprised at how much real life experience will also improve your writing.

The last couple of weeks have been busy ones for me as I was entertaining my previously long-lost cousins from England. This was their first trip to Canada and as such it gave me an opportunity to show them around. For those unfamiliar with Southern Ontario, we have a myriad of attractions for tourists and locals alike. Some attractions, like Niagara Falls and the C.N. Tower, are world renowned, while many other attractions are known mostly to locals. During their 9 day visit, I tried to show my cousins as many of the well known and little known sights of Ontario. As an added bonus, the late arrival of the cooler autumn weather meant that many of our trees were still loaded with beautiful fall colors. During our travels, I also had the opportunity to revisit places which I had not visited in years and renewed my appreciation for all that Ontario has to offer. I also had the opportunity to think about my latest book, Bloodlines: Brenda's Revenge, and found inspiration and ideas thanks to the people we encountered and the places we visited. When I write, I find that I tend to write about subjects with which I am familiar, whether it is a particular place or a certain type of person. Being familiar with your subject matter will help your story flow better and the result will be a story that becomes much more believable, and easier to read for your readers. One of the best compliments I have received is hearing that my characters are realistic, and that the reader could actually visualize a place or event in their mind as they read my story. Where do you find your inspiration?