Fun Facts about Thoeba

This cover was done by Terra Weston

My first novel is called Thoeba, and I'm very proud of it. If you have never--or if you HAVE read it, you might find these five facts about it interesting.

1. Thoeba was inspired by a dream: When I was fourteen, I dreamed that I was hiding in a huge garden. A dark haired man and his daughter found me. They tried to coax me out, but  I could see two demons flying overhead, looking for me. All I could say was, "Thoeba! Thoh-BAH!" The spelling is something I pictured in my head. Yeah, weird dreams, and it stuck with me all these years.

2. All the flight jargon/airplane stuff is real: My father was a recreational pilot, and I shared his love of airplanes and flying. I used that knowledge to the best of my ability for the book. The Fairchild is a real airplane from the fifties, but I've never flown in one. I chose it because the photo I saw matched my idea of a rickety old aircraft that may or not fly at such an advanced age. (Sorry, I couldn't find that photo now.)

3. A fishing trip changed the location of the novel: Despite the fact that I'd never been to the Eastern coast, I thought I'd set it there. Peter was supposed to be a fisherman by trade. My husband and I took a fishing trip to Cold Lake, Alberta, and fell in love with the place and the people we met there. The campground, the cabin, Pelican Rock, and the pristine lake itself are all things we got to experience first hand. Only the bar and the actual military installation are made up.

This is the campground! Photo by Travel Alberta

4. Thoeba once had a different publisher and a different cover: Thoeba was originally published with Vamptasy Publishing out of Scotland. I got to pick the cover. I chose it because I felt that Thoeba acted as though she were made of stone, but you can see the sadness in the statue's bearing.

Thoeba's first cover

5. I regret naming the book Thoeba: It s a BAD IDEA to name your book something no one can spell or pronounce. Plus you will spend the rest of your life trying to politely correct people when they misspell it or pronounce it badly. For the record--It's pronounced Thoe...like 'toe' with a 'th' in front of it, and Bah, as in Humbug. Thoe-BAH. I still love the originality of it, and I can't bear to change it. I Googled it once, and it only shares a name with an Asian girl on Twitter, whose real name isn't Thoeba, and I'm sure she doesn't know my book exists.

I hope you liked learning five facts about Thoeba. Do you have any questions? There's more coming. Next: Five facts about Aphrodite's War.

I am a Fearless Armadillo.

Now you know why writers drink.

When I set out to become a novelist, I honestly had no idea what I was getting into. I figured I would write the books...That's it. I would write the books, and someone else would handle the cover, editors, marketing and money. I would just happily write books.

BWA-HAHAHAHAHA! (Wipes a tear away.)

Just the task of marketing alone must be a testament to the determination of writers everywhere. You know just how serious you are about making it in this business if you are willing to struggle in the futility of finding readers for your hard work.

No, writing is not for the casual dabbler. First you have to write the book. Then you either find an agent and/or a publisher. That requires hours of writing emails for people who often ignore you or frequently reject you. Writers also need the skin of an armadillo. BE the armadillo!

Once you've done that, someone (the editor) will pick apart your work, but it's for your own good, and the good of your work. Be the Armadillo.

Then comes interviews, blogs and reviews, which can be fun...until someone doesn't like you or your work. DON'T piss off a blogger. I had one blogger 'friend' me on Facebook, and send the post she was going to publish. I POLITELY corrected her spelling of 'Thoeba', it's a common mistake for an invented name, and she blasted me, saying it was MY fault she misspelled it because she'd only copied and pasted everything. She went on a Facebook rant about 'disrespectful authors'. She didn't name me, but told all her friends to 'PM' her for details. Ouch. I am an armadillo.

Now I'm finding myself in a place where I've got the goods, but nowhere to put them. I've been looking at self-publishing. I'm a sweating armadillo. Now I have to learn how to format properly and meander around things like 'Createspace'. (Insert panicked laughter here.) I'm barely tech savvy enough to write my own blogs. I've done enough research to know that I will need an expensive editor. My grammar isn't up to snuff, and I doubt my knowledge of legalities is either. Time to toughen up, and open my wallet. Time to learn things and try something I never wanted to do. Sometimes you have to do things BECAUSE you are afraid of them.

I am an armadillo, and I really wish I could curl into a tight little ball right now.

Tiny ferocious Dragon Ball, that's me. RAWR!

Wish me luck.

September, What's Your Hurry?

My sweet Grandma 

What the hell is going on? There is no room to breathe and take stock of what's going on. It's already September 19th, and "Aphrodite's War" has only been out for two days, officially. I feel as though I spend half my days on the computer, marketing and writing, and the other half doing things like harvesting, socializing and possibly sleeping. Or at least a reasonable facsimile of those things.

Facebook is my marketing best friend and my time-wasting enemy. Today I closed the page I was writing on to look up police jurisdictions for areas in certain parts of North-Central Alberta.

I ended up answering a bunch of Facebook messages, Tweeting, and building a profile page plus pages for Thoeba and Aphrodite's War on StoryFinds.

It wasn't until I got to my Tuesday night meeting with my Shenanigans group of friends that I remembered that I didn't get that done. I got the dishes and laundry done, plus making that phone call to our previous insurance company, but I never got around to calling the Pet Behavioral Hotline about how Spartacus Jones keeps attacking Freya for either play or territory and we-have-no-idea-why there is so much hissing.

Oh yeah! And my Grandma is up for a visit! That's an especially big deal because:

a) She's the last grandparent I have.
b) She got my Uncle Jerry to fly with her up here all the way from Manitoba. (He's in his late sixties.)
c) She's 91 years old. (WHAT? When did that happen?)

I feel like a shit because I just talked to her a month or so ago, and heard two things:

a) I heard my poor Grandmother ask if was EVER going to come visit her in Manitoba...I hadn't been back there since my teens. I couldn't give her a decent answer. Honestly, WHEN is a good time to drop everything and fly down to Winnipeg?
b) She pointed out that in July she was 91 years old. My jaw hit the floor. I kept meaning to phone her. Honest. But the truth is, the last time before THAT phone call that I spoke to her, she was turning 89.

I am swamped, but I'm going to spend as much time as I can with her. I gave her an "Aphrodite's War" calendar magnet and a T-shirt for her "Brag Bag", but there's NO WAY she's getting a book this time.

She's got glaucoma to the point where she can't actually see, but that didn't stop her from lending "Thoeba" to her Jehovah's Witness friends and her Lutheran family.  "It's very well written, but CERTAINLY not my cup of tea."--was the common quote.

Please, please, PLEASE God don't let my relatives read "Aphrodite's War."

I Don't Want to be Pushy...Honest.

Photo by Karen Bursey

I just read an article that makes me feel as though I've been scolded. And rightly so. Here's the link:

http://www.jroseallister.com/2013/05/why-authors-shouldnt-promote-books-on.html?m=1


It talks about how writers have become those aggressive sales people of social media, and she's absolutely right.

When I started this blog, I did it in 'Thoeba's' character, to give readers a feel for her. Then maybe they might buy the book.

After awhile, I found it harder and harder to come up with new and interesting things for Thoeba to think about our planet. She experienced fashion, transportation, camping, caffeine, various human holidays along with the food that goes with it. She learned how to use a credit card and she hates aerobic exercise combined with Disco music.

It occurred to me that if I wanted to keep up the blog, I would have to come up with something else. So I decided to be myself.

I have this theory...If you like the author, you're going to like the book he or she wrote. If you don't like this blog, most likely you won't enjoy my work, right? I still believe that, but I may have strayed a bit.

I'm on Facebook as myself and an author page with my name as well. Donna Milward and Donna Milward, Author. I'm also on Twitter @DonnaMilward. Plus of course, Goodreads and Smashwords.

My personal page is where I post about my feelings and opinions, as well as life stuff, silly statuses and cat pictures.

My author page is where I publish all writing related things, such as my own author posts, other author promotions as well as writing related cartoons and articles.

TWITTER however...I post links from mostly author pages, and my own best friend is so BORED with my feed, she is thisclose to unfollowing me. She doesn't read much so she looks for my blog, reads it, retweets it and ignores the rest. And why wouldn't she?

I've become a pusher for book addicts, and I'm sorry.

So I'm going to turn over a new leaf, and I'd love some feedback. How's the blog? The author page?

www.facebook.com/DonnaMilwardAuthor  Twitter might take more thought. What do you think? What would you like to see?

Night Out

So I went out last night. DON'T JUDGE ME! Even a writer has to have some sort of social life...Really.

I have a thousand things to do. And today I ACTUALLY got up early to get them done.

I did all the dishes and laundry, answered my email, posted to my "Author Page", and washed half of my kitchen walls--which included garbage can, oven and blinds. Icky things, since I like to entertain whenever possible.

I didn't write anything today...yet. But I thought I deserved to go out.

I always feel guilty when I do. As if  EVERYTHING must be about either writing or...sigh...marketing. And the irony of me blogging about my night out isn't lost on me. And I give in at least once a week. Pppplllltttt!

THIS is another reason to go out. Not only does one make new friends, but one learns new ideas.

A friend suggested I friend her Mom's page...been a writer for decades...marketing herself for almost as long as I've been alive. Thank you, Rebecca.

Another suggested Vista, for all my swag ideas for cheap. Thanks Nora!

Yet another acquaintance wondered why I hadn't promoted my OWN work on my OWN author page for my upcoming novel. Duh...Why didn't I think of that? Thanks, Daniel!

Because, according to another person, I'm "Too close too see it."  to paraphrase him...Caught up on making my presence known, I'd forgotten that. Good point. Oops. Thanks, Marshall.

So I have a lot of work to do. My bookmarks might be done by someone else.. And I'll be posted quotes and paragraphs  for 'Aphrodite's War' on my author page. Checking out new ways to make myself known.

Glad I went out after all. It was a  great learning experience. Winky face out.