Queensland Baby! Goodreads Giveaway, New Books Available, and My Last Chance Prayer

Hello from beautifully sunny Queensland!
Yes, that's right, I've left the (not so cold now) weather of Melbourne, and flown the two hours up to Brisbane for the annual Caleb Christian writers conference!
Have been working my little backside off trying to get ready for this conference for the last few weeks, as I'm actually getting a table and selling books! My first physical event as a bookseller. Pretty exciting, no?

I have a lot of little things I want to cover just to keep you all updated, so I'm just going to lay it out.

GoodReads Giveaway:

First of all, big thank you to everyone that entered the Goodreads giveaway for the hardcopies of The Five Day Writer's Retreat. Over 1,000 people entered! It was really amazing.
I've sent out the five copies, but apologise to the winners in the UK, as it won't arrive until early December. 

I am sorry that only 5 people could win the hardcopies. However, to make it up to the rest of you, I'm offering 50% off the Smashwords' electronic copy of the book. This can be used by absolutely anyone until the 10th November, 2013. All you need to do is go to Smashwords and use this coupon code:

WD79W

 

You are more than welcome to share that around. I appreciate the support, and want to share the fun.

 

Colostrum - A Handbook of Spiritual Antibodies for New Christians.

 

I've finally published my father's first book! It's available as an ebook at Amazon, and soon will be coming as a hardcopy (I'm testing out Lightning Source rather than Createspace for it, and will give you a full report on the two once I get the proofs and hardcopies of Dad's book). 

Dad's been an Anglican minister for over 30 years, and has put together a handbook of the worst heresies that tend to shipwreck new believers. From experience he passes on the spiritual antibodies needed to fight these diseases. 

It was so much fun editing this book for Dad, largely because it was just so... Dad! Reading it is just like listening to him speak. I could even imagine his gestures and facial expressions. It is colloquial, and excited, theologically sound, and sensible. Highly recommended for all new believers, and would make a perfect baptism present. 

If anyone would like a review copy, sign up for my reviewers' list just on the left hand sidebar of this blog to always be offered free review copies, or send me an email at b.greentr@gmail.com.

Prayers, Please!

Finally, tomorrow night is the Caleb Dinner, where the winners of the Caleb Awards will be announced. My Christian Young Adult Supernatural, Sally Hunt Vs. God is a finalist in the unpublished manuscript section. To be honest, if I don't win I don't mind in that I get control of my manuscript and can publish it myself. However, at some stage I do want to be a Hybrid Author, with a combination of traditionally and self-published works. Largely, I want to see the difference and how well traditional publishing now compares. This would be a great opportunity. 

Also, just knowing my writing is of winning standards would be nice.

In a similar vein, I've entered the first chapter of After The Winter, the 1920's historical romance I did as my first draft for NaNoWriMo last year, into the Harlequin 'So You Think You Can Write' competition a few days ago. Little did I realise that if I get through to the next round, I need to submit a full manuscript by mid October! I have 50,000 words, but I never actually completed the first draft. So, pray that I do get into the next round, and then that I can get the manuscript written to a high enough standard in just a week! 

 

If you want to read the first chapter, check it out at: http://www.soyouthinkyoucanwrite.com/manuscripts-sytycw-2013/after-the-winter/

If you were wondering what my ROW80 goals for the next week... well, you can probably guess now. Intensive romance writing!

 

Anyone that will be free in a week or two to do some quick beta reading, I would love you long time!

 

Stay tuned for updates!

Editing Metaphor and ROW 80 Check-In

I want to start with a metaphor for editing. It is a piece of writing that has been used as a metaphor for many things, and I have to admit that the author probably did not mean it to refer to the writing process. Though he was an English professor himself, so might appreciate the use. 

It comes from C.S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader, chapter 7. The most irritating character in the entire book is a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrub, and as the narrator notes 'he almost deserved it.' Part way through the book, for those of you who don't know it, Eustace becomes a dragon. 

I think that often when we are trying to write a book, our first draft is as rough and ungainly as a dragon, though we wish it to be slim and delicate like a child.  So how do we go from one state to the other?

Have a read of the conversation between Eustace and his cousin Edmund, when Eustace is found to be a boy again.

'Well, as I say, I was lying awake and wondering what on earth would become of me. And then - but, mind you, it may have been all a dream. I don't know."
"Go on," said Edmund, with considerable patience.
"Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly towards me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn't that kind of fear. I wasn't afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it - if you can understand. Well, it came close up to me and looked straight into my eyes. And I shut my eyes tight. But that wasn't any good because it told me to follow it."
"You mean it spoke?"
"I don't know. Now that you mention it, I don't think it did. But it told me all the same. And I knew I'd have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it. And it led me a long way into the mountains. And there was always this moonlight over and round the lion wherever we went. So at last we came to the top of a mountain I'd never seen before and on the top of this mountain there was a garden - trees and fruit and everything. In the middle of it there was a well.
"I knew it was a well because you could see the water bubbling up from the bottom of it: but it was a lot bigger than most wells - like a very big, round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. But the lion told me I must undress first. Mind you, I don't know if he said any words out loud or not.
"I was just going to say that I couldn't undress because I hadn't any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that's what the lion means. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bathe.
"But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before. Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So 1 scratched and tore again and this underskin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe.
"Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good.
"Then the lion said" - but I don't know if it spoke - "You will have to let me undress you." I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.
"The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away."
"I know exactly what you mean," said Edmund.
"Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again."

Editing, I believe, should always start with our own efforts. But not just scratching off a few words here and a few words there, but deep raking cuts that rip out entire sections. We should do that again and again until we can do no more. Then we must give it over to someone else, because we will rarely edit down til it hurts, and it is only then that you get through to the delicate message underneath. 

Editing is a hard lesson to learn, but so worth it when you have the chiseled, perfect product in front of you. 

I hope that imagery worked as well for you as it did for me.

ROW 80 Check-in:

I'm currently working away being a busy little bee, probably in a few too many areas of my life.

1. Starting last Friday, and continuing until this Sunday I'm volunteering at the Melbourne Writers Festival. This has been fun, and allowed me to go to other talks for free. However I have to admit that the 4-5 hour shifts, especially when they involve something thrilling like standing in foyer pointing people towards the appropriate rooms and not being able to sit down, do have their drawbacks. I've actually only had two shifts so far, and another on tomorrow and Friday, but they leave me exhausted. Having said that, it is great knowing what is happening in the Australian writing scene, who's who, and what works are coming out. 

2. At the beginning of this week I started my next two week draft: The Five Day Writer's Bootcamp, the sequel to Retreat. It's going well, and I'm enjoying writing it because some of the ideas that come out are novel to me too! I hope to get the first draft completed by the end of the next week, and then the goal is to have it published by the end of September, depending on if one of my editors has time to go through it. I'm off to a writing conference on the 11th of October. I plan to get a table so I can sell copies of Retreat and Bootcamp, as well as other books I've helped produce, if I can.

3. The project for last fortnight was The Nice Guy's Guide To Online Dating Profiles. As I actually only spent a week on it, it was not completely done. I had scheduled this week and next to edit it in the evenings (after writing, working on my business, and doing all those annoying life things). I think I should be able to get it finished and edited in that time. This is not an important project, but just something I think will help a lot of men out there. It will only be in e-book format, and hopefully should be live by the end of September as well. 

4. I've been working on a few business projects. I'm still editing my aunt's novella: A Mother's Story, and haven't gotten that up yet. However, I hope to do so as soon as possible. I've also finally sent off for my US tax exemption identity number so Amazon and Smashwords only take 5% instead of 30%. It was one of those things that once I got myself organised, didn't take that long, but was just difficult to work out what to do and where to look etc. It's now going to take about 10 weeks before I actually hear back. So, lets hope I filled in the paperwork correctly!

5. The other big news in my life at the moment is that I signed a break lease contract last week, and I'm moving out of my (beautiful) apartment to be nomadic until the end of the year. Mostly this was to keep costs down so I can give myself a decent shot at making it before having to get some other work. So I've had open for inspections Monday, Tuesday and today. Trying to keep my place perfectly clean for 3 days in a row has been a bit of a strain. However, it looks like they have found a great tenant, who will be able to move in just 10 days later than I wanted (considering the other possibility was that we found no one and I had to pay rent for months and months while not living there, this is great). Because I know ahead of time, I'm not going to move out for an extra week, so I get to enjoy my place for a little bit longer. 

But in two weeks time I'm going to have to start the big clear out and pack. I'm hoping to do a major sort and declutter, giving away all the extra things I'm not going to use for quite a while. But this will take a lot of time going through everything, deciding what to keep and what to throw out, making sure it is clean to be packed into storage or given away, etc. However, once it's all done, it will feel great, like having a dragon skin removed! 

Luckily I have nothing else planned for September, though in October things start to get busy again. I'm organising advertising for my weekend intensive. Here's a flyer I've made up today. What do you think?  It's going to be A5, is it easy enough to read? Does it make you want to come to the country and write? Any suggestions?

The Importance of Editing and ROW 80 Check-In

One of the best things about now being dedicated to writing is that I can attend as many writing conferences and workshops as I like/can afford. And I have taken this opportunity and gone overboard!

I attended one conference a few weekends ago, another this weekend, have been accepted as a volunteer for the Melbourne Writer's Festival (so get to go to all main events for free, which I plan to take advantage of) and then another Christian writer's conference in Brisbane in October.

Further, I think God might be trying to give me a subtly hint, as the two workshops I have attended recently have emphasised different aspects of editing. 


Winter Writer's Workshop: 

A few weekends' ago I was at the Winter Writer's Workshop, which featured Damon Young (who does more academic and literary writing, but has a fantastic voice that you could just listen to for ages), Jo Case who wrote a memoir about when she found out her son had autism (and was involved in the Australian writing scene a lot before that), and my favourite, Kate Forsyth (fantasy writer who I saw last year. I even did one of my very first posts on her method of creating flow. Vintage 100FD!)

If you are in Australia, and ever see a course run by Kate (she does quite a few, particularly in Sydney, where she lives. I'm currently contemplating whether to fly up for one), I highly recommend them. She has such a gift for breaking down the writing process and actually teaching you tools that will help you to critically approach your writing and improve it. Her advice on structure and pacing is fantastic.

One thought she raised that I want to share with you is about editing. A lot of writers (me included at times) think that they do the creative process of getting the rough draft, and then someone else can do the boring part of editing. Kate is completely against this. As a writer, the editing process is still your responsibility, and makes you a stronger writer. I have now come to completely agree with her. The process of analysing your own writing and determining whether you have used the most effective tools to get your meaning across is how you learn and develop. It also allows you to put a stronger personal voice on it, rather than having more of someone else's style in your writing. So, learn to edit! (but also always get someone else to have a look, after you have done your very best.)


Melbourne Word Writer's Intensive:

This weekend I was offered a very special opportunity. The Word Writers, a Christian writing group focused on promoting Australian Christian Writers (yes, they exist, and all of the ones I've met so far as awesome), had an intensive editing workshop on Friday and then a conference on Saturday.

The intensive editing workshop was amazing. I sent in the first chapter of my manuscript. (Sally Hunt, as the appraisal from the competition said it needed a lot of editing, though I've still been short listed, yah!) About a week ago I received in depth commentary back on that from Mary Hawkins, an Australian romance writer (both Christian and mainstream - her first  published books were by Mills and Boon, which is funny for a minister's wife :D ). However, she then requested the rest of the manuscript, just to see what the appraiser meant by certain comments, so I sent that through.

I turned up on Friday and she had gone through my entire manuscript and made comments! It was not as in depth as the first chapter, but it made so much sense. I have to admit, there had been comments by the appraiser which I was like 'where have I done that? What does she mean by that?' But when I saw the parts that Mary had highlighted, and her suggestions, there was an 'Oh, that bit... right....' moment or two.

My biggest problem was point of view. I know when editing other people's work to look out for point of view, but in my own work some of my 'darlings' were witty things I had said as the narrator which were outside of the point of view I should have been in. So, time to be humble and fix those up. I spent the day editing away, and then a large part of the night as well, and I'm still about halfway through. I have also re-written my climax scene (it was theologically controversial how I had presented it). I am so much happier with my manuscript and feel I've lifted it to another level. I'll also remember in future when writing to keep tight control on my internal camera.

So all I can say is that new writer or old, you need someone else who will critically look at your manuscript. It can take it to a new level, and teach you things about your own writing style that will help you in the future.


ROW80 Check-In:

I haven't checked in for a while, and my goals were particularly for that week. However, I have managed to get some things done, but probably not as much as I like.

Overall, I now have 4 of Dave's short stories out (two hunting ones and two military adventure), all on Smashwords and 3 of which are on Amazon. (Two are on Smashwords for free, and I feel bad about putting them on Amazon for 99c when you can get them for free. So have listed one on Amazon and advised them it can be purchased cheaper elsewhere, will see if they match it.) If you get a copy, a short review would be really appreciated.

I have also finished the initial edit of 'A Little Bit of Leaven', the story my great-grandfather wrote. It's strange because it's not thrilling, suspenseful, romantic etc., but after every session I just felt really peaceful and comforted. Then in the last part I was almost in tears, in a good way. I am excited about what to do, but also a bit fearful that I won't do it justice. But better than it being hidden away!


So, my goals for this week:

1. Write up everything I want to change/add to improve A Little Bit of Leaven.

2. Create a Print On Demand version of 'The Five Day Writer's Retreat'. Have done most of the cover, just struggling with a gripping blurb. Then I just need to reformat the document to print properly. Going to be testing out CreateSpace.

3. Finish editing 'Tom Grafton Vs. The Environmentalists'. Meant to do this last week, but instead got the two military short stories out for Dave.

4. Organise my first writing intensive workshop! This is pretty exciting. At the Christian writer's conference people were asking about self-publishing, so I mentioned that I had started a company helping authors self-publish by offering whatever services they need to complement their skills. One lady was really interested and asked if I could help her. I mentioned to her that I was running a workshop through my local community centre on 'An Intro to Self-Publishing'. She was very excited, but lives about 3 hours away from me. She asked if I could run a weekend intensive on the topic? Thinking about it overnight, I came back the next day and said Yes!

So, end of October, The Five Day Writer is going to run its first weekend intensive on 'What's Involved In Self-Publishing'. It will cover all the steps and what you need to know to complete each one. It won't be as practical as my 7 week course through the Woodend Community Centre, as there is just not enough time to walk everyone through setting up their author pages, etc. But it will show you where to go, what to do, and how to find the help you need.

I'm very excited about that, but also a little bit scared. I at least have two people already prepared to come (my aunt said she would come as well), and my little sister has agreed to help me with the catering. My parents will be travelling and said I can use their gorgeous American Colonial house in the country to host it. It will be an intimate group in comfortable chairs around a fire, eating, chatting, passionate about writing.

So, if you know of anyone interested in self-publishing who lives in or around Melbourne, point them my way!

What questions would you want answered about self-publishing?

Busy Little Self-Employed Bee

So, have now been self-employed for three whole days!

What have I achieved in that time?

1. Continued with the creation of my awesome business plan and procedure manual. (Much harder than one might think, and involves complicated planning like how am I actually going to go from where I am now to running a multi-million dollar business helping people publish their works. Great in theory, just working out the practical steps to get there slightly harder). 

2. Have signed up for a number of writing conferences, to keep my skills sharp (and the all important networking). 

3. Wrote to one of the writing conferences I was planning to attend anyway, and asked if they needed another presenter to talk about creating an online platform. They came back and said they didn't need another presenter, but could I be on the panel talking about marketing and social media. Yah! Buffy Empire Building begins. 

4. Encouraged by that success I then wrote to different community centres and training organisations with proposals to run a short course in self-publishing. Am still waiting for responses, but the only way to build my experience and reputation is by actually doing it!

5. Using YouTube, I have taught myself to do basic covers in Gimp, and have created two covers for my brother's short stories. Pretty, no? (Hey, for half a day of learning, I think they are pretty good. Think what I will be able to do after an entire week!)

I'm still going to use my graphic designers for proper novels, but for free/cheap short stories, it is easier to do it myself. (Graphic designer has so far been mucking around for a month with Dave's other cover. I did these in an hour each.)

6. Following on from doing the covers, I edited both of Dave's short stories and uploaded Tom Grafton Vs. The Sambar Spiker onto Smashwords yesterday, and Tom Grafton Vs. The Wild Dog Pack on Smashwords and Amazon today.

The first one is completely free and available at Smashwords. If you had a spare 20 minutes and liked hunting/adventure stories, a review would be hugely appreciated. 

The other one is available for just 99c, less than a can of coke and much better for you! Reviews of that would also be great on Smashwords, Amazon or Good Reads. (Am getting Dave's author page up on Good Reads, but might take a day or two...).

Search for "David Alexander Greentree books" in google turns up both Smashwords and Amazon. 

7. Got annoyed with trying to publish on Smashwords from Word, which was being stupid, so downloaded Scrivener (finally!) and taught myself how to use that today. Had to reload Tom Grafton Vs The Sambar Spiker to Smashwords as it was coming up with an error, but after I had played with it in Scrivener for a while, it came good. From now on, all writing to be published is going to be in Scrivener. Long live a word processing program that actually prints like it looks!

8.  Have spent a few hours teaching my father how to set up a Facebook Page (not his personal one), how to do some keyword research, and what article marketing is. It's a slow process, but at least they are paying me. (My parents figured it was that or have me evicted for not paying my rent and sleeping on their floor anyway. It's a fair point). 

So, I think that for just 3 days' work, that's pretty good, if I do say so myself. Though haven't done any blogging this week, as it was meant to be my 'week off'. But still, can't do everything, and can't have it all right now.

Any good tips on cover creation?

What Do You Look For In A Book Cover?

Hello everyone,

Sorry that I haven't been publishing as much as I should. Surprisingly, trying to self-publish your own book in a matter of weeks is just slightly more stressful than you would think. So I'm not actually going to revisit my ROW80 goals for this week, and instead focus on what I did manage to achieve!

Things for the book launch are definitely coming along.

I now have the newsletter sign up for The Five Day Writer up and running! It is not yet very sophisticated, with follow-up emails etc., but sign up before the 17th of March, 2013 and you will definitely get a free copy of The Five Day Writer's Retreat. Thank you to those of you who have been quick off the mark and have already tried to sign up. It is now up and working, so please try again!

The Five Day Writer website has also continued to be updated.

But more importantly, my wonderful assistant, Bea, has been hard at work creating a number of mock covers for my e-book!

The only problem is now that I can't decide which one I like best :D

So, I've narrowed it down to 2 covers and am putting it to a vote here, as I trust your opinions.

A little promo about the book from the website;

Retreats are times to rejuvenate and prepare your mind, body and soul for change. They are calm places that give you the tools to enable you to face your fears and follow your dreams. And what better dream than to be a prolific writer?

Whether it is a historical romance or a website on the science of space – this book will help you banish writer’s block and write more freely than ever before.

The Five Day Writer’s Retreat covers essential topics such as:

-          Understanding Your Creative Nature: how to overcome your fears and limitations.

-          Entering Your Writing World: creating flow and sticking power.

-          Motivation and Will Power: learn how to maximize each for effortless writing.

-          Lifestyle of writing: arrange your life to produce better quality writing.

-          Preparing for your work: build anticipation and excitement for your particular project.

With that in mind, which of these two covers do you think best encapsulates the feel of the book?

Do you think the cover should highlight the writing aspect, or evoke feelings of relaxation and 'retreat'? 

Constructive criticism welcome, as these are only the mock-ups that can be changed. 

Cover 1:

Cover 2:

Thank you again everyone for your support.

Don't forget to sign up to the newsletter at www.thefivedaywriter.com before the 17th of March, 2013 in order to get your free copy.

Book Launch: The Ephesus Scroll - By Ben Chenoweth (With A Giveaway!)

If you have been following this blog for a bit and have read through the comments, you will have seen Ben around giving great advice about writing. Ben has been living as a missionary in Russia for the last 9 years with his wife and two adorable daughters, after doing his Masters in New Testament studies. During this time he has been working on a novel concerned with the book of Revelations, set in ancient Asia Minor and modern day Russia. I know of no one who would be better qualified to write such an interesting book.

I am excited to announce that The Ephesus Scroll is now available on Smashwords and Amazon for download (e-book version only). 

 

In 93 AD, Loukas, the son of a wealthy Christian trader, is entrusted with a scroll to read in seven churches in Asia Minor. However, the scroll sparks rebellion wherever he goes and the Roman authorities attempt to track him down. But all Loukas wants to do is complete his mission and get back to Ephesus and his fiancée, Iounia.

In 2005 AD, Dima and Natasha, a young Russian couple from St. Petersburg, come across a stone box with a scroll inside, apparently found in Ephesus by Dima’s great-great-grandfather. The scroll is a complete – and early – copy of the book of Revelation. How did this scroll come to be found in Russia? And has it come to light at this very time for a reason?

The Ephesus Scroll is a novel that attempts to answer two questions. What did the book of Revelation mean to the people who first heard it? And what does it mean for us today?

In light of this exciting achievement, I asked him if he would like to answer a few questions about how this book was written and his writing process in general, to which he very kindly agreed. 

(To find out more, check out the book's blog which also has cool features such as an alternate beginning.)

1. What made you decide to dedicate hours and hours of your life to sitting behind a screen and touching little buttons?

As a computer programmer and computer support technician I was doing that already!  With writing, though, it's nice to tap into the creative part of my brain and generate something that non-computer programmers can enjoy.

I come to writing for two reasons.  The first is to entertain.  When I was at university my friend and I edited a youth magazine for our church.  We commissioned various people to write articles for the magazine but we probably wrote more than half of every issue.  We even wrote our own letters to the editor!  While some of what we wrote was to educate, most was to entertain.  My favourite thing we did for this magazine was a regular column entitled "The Diary of an Anonymous Christian Teenager", done very much in the style of Adrian Plass.  Incidentally, I wrote my first novel, Meeting of Minds as a birthday present for that other editor, although anyone who likes Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series should enjoy it.

The second reason I write is to teach.  After the novel, I wrote a play, Saul: First King of Israel, based on the Biblical book of 1 Samuel, although seen from King Saul's perspective.  This was an attempt to put some brilliant scholarly materials I had read as part of a Bachelor of Theology into a more popular form.  But for some strange reason I chose a play!  It has never been performed, by the way, and one of my long-term dreams is to see it on stage one day...

2. Describe your writing history until this point in 25 words or less.

 I appear to have covered this already.  Right now I am excited about the recent release of my second novel, The Ephesus Scroll.

3. What is your writing style: plot it all out or discovery writing? one draft or many? Little bits everyday or mammoth writing sessions?

I like to plot things out fairly generally so that I know where I am going.  But I don't usually include much detail which means there is still the occasional surprise along the way.  I usually only have one draft but that draft is constantly being revised.  I find myself going back over what I have already written and tweaking it before adding more new material.  This means that progress can be slow!  And I have very rarely had the time to write everyday, so it tends to be one-off writing sessions possibly once every one or two weeks.  The Ephesus Scroll took me more than six years to write!

4. Best piece of writing advice you have ever received or given.

I have been enjoying reading your writing blog and have learned more about writing from that than anything else. [See why I love this guy? Such a flatterer!]  In particular, I was challenged to stop revising as I go and concentrate on just getting words down.  I will definitely give that a try in the future!

5. Inspiration behind this novel?

Three things inspired me to write The Ephesus Scroll.  The first was a trip I made back in 2004 to Ephesus, in Turkey.  Walking around the ruins of this ancient city was an amazing experience.  To think that the Apostle Paul may have walked on the very flagstones I was now walking on!  To think that I was sitting in the Great Amphitheatre that once resounded to the cry "Artemis of the Ephesians" as the crowd called for Paul to be executed.  It really brought home to me the fact that the books of the Bible were written by real people to real people.

The second source of inspiration was a student in a high-school Bible class I was teaching who couldn't understand how someone who did not follow the teachings of the Left Behind series could be allowed to teach in a Christian school.  To him, there was only one possible way to interpret the book of Revelation and if you didn't follow that interpretation then you couldn't be a Christian.  That experience made me want to do what Tim La Haye had done: write a disguised commentary of the book of Revelation, but from a very different interpretational standpoint.

The third inspiration was living in St. Petersburg, Russia.  This beautiful city, with its stunning churches, spectacular museums and intricate Metro system, is the backdrop for half of my novel.

6. Do you have a favourite part of this novel?

A couple of amusing incidents come to mind, one involving some bad dates and another involving throwing a book out of a moving train.  You'll have to read the novel for more details!  There was also what I thought was a funny scene involving a Turkish coin seller which was based on an actual experience I had in Ephesus.  But this scene was in the opening of the first draft which got significantly changed later on and so it ended up on the cutting room floor.  However, when I was putting together a blog to promote the novel I included the original opening as a comparison of the final version, but also to rescue this one scene.  Check it out here: http://ephesusscroll.blogspot.com.au/p/original-opening.html

There are also a couple of interesting theological discussions.  Actually, there are a lot of theological discussions, most of which - I hope - are interesting.  But there are two in particular that I really like, one critiquing the jigsaw approach to Biblical prophecy and the other discussing how fundamentals of Paul's theology might be applied in different contexts.

7. While you were writing this novel, you were working full time with a wife and two daughters and living in a foreign country: did you develop any good techniques for finding time, or is it always hard?

It is always hard.  Most of the novel was written on Sunday evenings when I would usually have a couple of hours to myself.

8. What are the top tips you have learned about self-publishing?

Self-publishing is the way of the future!  You will have seen the links to my books on Smashwords and I have been very impressed with this site.  Apparently, some of their authors are even making enough money to live off their writing!  (However, it helps to be in some very specific genres: paranormal, romance, erotica, paranormal romance, paranormal erotica, I think you get the picture...)  However, the reason I like Smashwords is that it solves the distribution problem.  True, they only distribute ebooks, but ebooks are only going to become more and more accessible as everyone and their dog ends up with a tablet or an e-reader.  I had been seeking a publisher for The Ephesus Scroll but after waiting more than a year for two publishers to make up their mind, I decided not to bother.  I want people to read the novel!  Now they can.

What Smashwords doesn't help with, however, is marketing.  My books are discoverable on the Nook, Sony readers and Apple devices.  But that doesn't mean people will automatically find them.  It certainly helps to make a book free.  My first novel is and always has been free and I have had nearly 800 downloads.  The play, on the other hand, costs money.  I think I have sold maybe 10 copies.  At one point, though, I made it free for some reason.  During that brief time is was downloaded more than 200 times.  The point is, people will try something for free.  If they like it, they will come back for more, even if it costs them money.  And this is how the authors who are making it on Smashwords operate.  Of course, it helps to have a series of books, something I don't currently have.

9. Any new projects on the horizons?

Funny you should ask!  I am planning on writing a three volume cyberpunk, thriller series.  I have plot overviews for the first two and a plot idea for the third.  I just need to find time to actually do the writing.  But having recently moved back to Australia, we are finding settling in more difficult than expected so it is taking longer than I had anticipated.  However, I would still like to have book one finished before I start my new job early in 2013.

10. Mystery questions: answer any question you feel I should have asked :D

Here's my mystery question: "Since marketing is the big problem with self-publishing, how can people help a struggling author out?"  In this day and age of social media just a little promotion may actually go a long way.  If you read one of my books, please take the time to rate it and maybe write a review.  I only have one review on Smashwords.  It's for my first novel and it says "A wonderful book. Very well written, entertaining and fun" and the reviewer gave it 5 stars.  I was really touched by that!  [It wasn't me if you were wondering...sorry.] And if more people left a rating and a comment then it might help other people to decide if they want to download the book and give it a try.  I would absolutely love it if The Ephesus Scroll went viral!  Not for the money (really!) but because then people would be reading it and hopefully learning something about the book of Revelation and what it means for us today.

Thanks Ben!

Giveaway:

Think it sounds interesting? Thinking of giving it ago?

Well, today's your lucky day!

I'm giving away copies to readers that promise to write a review of it either on Amazon or Smashwords or both!

Just comment below with your name and/or email me (b_greentr (at) yahoo.com) your email address (necessary so I can send you the gift copy from Smashwords) and I'll send it right out.

Enjoy!

Ben with his wonderful wife Kylie and two daughters Kate (red sweater) and Eleanor outside Catherine the Great's Palace in Russia.

Me with Elly and Katie.