When I was almost five years old, my whole family received a vinyl record for Christmas—except me. My parents thought I was too small to get one, and I received a colouring book and pencils instead. Don’t get me wrong. I loved my present, as they knew I would, but I felt left out, the odd one out in a family of eight. My father, however, was quite sensitive and offered to 'share' his record with me. I still remember it. A purplish-coloured cover with a man on the front. The a

How do you promote your book, especially when you are a newbie author? I can tell you, it is not easy. As I’ve mentioned in my previous post (https://www.francinebeaton.com/post/i-am-a-wip), I’m no expert and I’ve made numerous mistakes, spent a lot of (unnecessary) money, without any success. There are so many ways you can promote your book, and some of them are free, but does it work? Not always. What works for one person, may not work for another. That is why you need to d

If you, as an author, you may have been asked the same question many times: How do I become a writer? The answer is not simple, but it should be. You become a writer by writing. But—and there is always a but—, it is not as easy, is it? Some people might have been writing for years with no one knowing about it. I call them the closet writers. Others might jump feet first into it (like me), and first had to learn how to write crap, before they can become a good (or better) writ

Why, you may ask? You’re an author, you don’t need it. You’re right, probably not, but recently I had the rather weird experience to submit my CV. For goodness’ sake, I haven’t worked in any kind of environment since 1998. My qualifications are so out of date, they may fit in a museum. My references are dead or old and senile and might not even remember me. Maybe there are one or two that might remember me, but I won’t know where to find them. Look, my last “official” qualifi

No, this is not me, but when the author, Linzé Brandon, approached me with this blog, I thought it was so apt and encouraging, that I had to use it. I am certain there are many of us who had felt at one stage we are going to stop writing. We all have our different reasons, and we all might motivate ourselves differently, but I hope Linzé's message will encourage you. Before I dig into my less than illustrious choice to stop writing, indulge me for a few moments to provide you