Inkerman Writers

Hello one and all and welcome to 2013 – our New Year. As my freshly produced graphic would suggest, I’m setting off into this new year with a positive attitude to what it might bring. We all have the choice of starting out positive and letting that attitude slip away over time, or we can maintain that same effort throughout the year.

Early last year I decided to cut back on my retail work and increase my writing output. I managed to write a novel from scratch and publish it as an e-book, which in itself delighted me. ‘Ten Days’ is that novel, which has now sold into double figures, so although it hasn’t enabled me to retire from my support job completely, it’s nice to know it’s out there. At present my novel is published with www.smashwords.com – but if there is insufficient sign of movement in sales, I’ll move the book.

Before the old year reached it’s end I managed to do three things that had been ambitions since the Summer months. First, I discovered that I could work with my portfolio of poetry to produce a set of at least 6 volumes in different genre. Second, I established a personal website: www.tom-benson.co.uk in which I display both my writing and artwork. Third, and importantly for the financial side of things, I invested in a Desktop Publishing (DTP) programme so I could produce my own artwork for book covers.

I can now report that I have published my first three volumes of poetry as e-books on Smashwords. The main title of the series is ‘Rhyme Scenes’ and I am producing the cover designs myself. I’m now well on the way with the next in the set. ‘Rhyme Scenes, Volume Four …’ which is subtitled, ‘Military Matters’ and will contain a collection of fact, fiction, supernatural and observation. I will of course be writing a blog post to support the e-book when I publish, which I’m scheduled to do in mid-January.

My aim is to follow up immediately by working on the next category, which is: ‘Thrills, Spills and Chills’ – a collection of thriller, adventure, fantasy, fact and anything that doesn’t fit neatly into the other genre. My final category is ‘series’ poetry which may be issued as a single volume or spread into two – which I haven’t decided about yet. Among the series are a host of topics but again, I’ll post about them when the book is published.

By the Spring I’m aiming to have all my poetry volumes published and then I can start to work seriously on my next novel. I had been considering a sequel to ‘Ten Days’, but I have two other options. The first is to go back to work on ‘Hawk’ which started life as a series of poetry and then was written as a novel in a month for the NaNoWriMo in November 2011. My other option for a novel is to go back to my first attempt at novel writing. The working title is ‘A Life Of Choice’ and was in it’s original draft my autobiography. In light of what I’ve read, written and learned over the last couple of years the story will become a fictional tale of a young man who leaves home and enters a voyage of self-discovery in a military career. The tale will bring into play his successes, failures and constantly changing mindset.

On the traditional side of life I’ll be completing a final edit of my short story, ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ for inclusion in the next anthology to be released by the Inkerman Writers, our local writing group.

My new three-day working week should afford me the luxury of working on all of these projects and more besides. I want to improve my website among other things and to increase my potential readership with a more aggresive marketing campaign and a greater web presence. Any comments here or on my website are greatly appreciated, as are any reviews of my e-books.

Ryman - Eldon Square - Red Nose Day — Ryman – Newcastle Upon Tyne.

I know that several people think that I am crazy, and that was before I made the decision. Which decision? I hear you ask.

It could be my stepping down from a management position, or perhaps reducing to a three day working week. In the eyes of different folk it’s one or the other, but for most I suppose it’s because I’m doing both … at the same time. My graphic is an acrylic of the Ryman, Newcastle Upon Tyne store where I’ve worked as a Deputy Manager for the last four years. I completed the painting in 2009 to celebrate Red Nose Day.

Mainly thanks to my wife who is continuing to work, I have no major concerns regarding cashflow. Olive (the wife), is the unsung hero in my situation, because I have her support. She understands how much it means for me to devote quality time to my writing. My motivation is based on several factors but I’ll mention more detail on that in my next post.

I am now well on the way with the third (and final) draft of my romantic novel ‘Ten Days’. My sample readers will have their copies of the manuscript within a few days and a hard copy is already with my son, Andrew. He has agreed to help me with the design of the cover and I know his design expertise will better anything I could come up with.

The Inkerman Writers writing group has recently re-established itself in a new base and I am in attendance once again every week. The group is working on short stories for inclusion in an anthology which we aim to have published in the Spring of 2013.

At the time of writing I have two other short stories underway for competitions. My writing schedule is rounded off by my attempts to write at least one poem a week for posting on thestarlitecafe.com/ For the purposes of posting poetry on that site I’ve retained the pseudonym of Tomfoollery.