writing – Charlierobinsonbooks

Climb Every Mountain

Nope, you’re quite safe, I’m not going to dress as a nun and start singing. This year, or should I say last year, we decided to go away for the Christmas and New Year period. I’m not a Grinch but I’ve never really been much of a fan of either of them. I think I may have been traumatised as a child. Look at the photo and you may see what I mean. 😂

So… we decided to do some winter sun, training in Gran Canaria. Sunshine, runs, hikes and hopefully a bit of horse riding. Oh! did I mention the wine and the food? Although to be fair that was taken in the evening unlike some of my fellow compatriots, beer and cocktails at 10am isn’t really my thing. First up was a run every morning. I found a nice 12k run, to and, along the beach and another one around a great park, called Parque del Sur.

Once we’d settled in and my wife had achieved her 10,000 kilometers since she started running (yeah, I know targets, and all that stuff, but it keeps her happy😂) It was time for the gee gee’s. It’s years since I have ridden a horse, mainly because I don’t like the English way of riding. Whereas the American way is so much more comfortable. Probably why most of the rest of the world use it. We drove up into the hills and booked on for a trek. It was the only cloudy day so a good choice.

The food was amazing, but hey! This is Spain, right? What else would it be, so I was kinda over indulging. I decided to repeat my marketing idea from last year and took one copy of each of my books, and left them on the hotel libary shelves. I thought it was a smart marketing plan as the hotel caters all the year round and can accommodate 1000 people. I was quite excited when the first book disappeared and even more excited when the second did the same. Sadly six days later, they still hadn’t returned. Maybe I won’t write a note inside anymore, and sign them. I figured some fool thought they may be worth something and took them home.😂

It was time to get some hiking done. The hiking in Gran Canaria is excellent. We picked some great days. My favourite was a hike to Roque Nublo I was told by a friend on the hike they have a 126k Ultra race there in March. With a 22,000ft elevation gain. Now that sounded fun but it’s a tad pricy with a 200 euro entry fee and a 270 euro manadatory medical.

It was a chilly start but once the sun broke over the hills and you got out of the valleys it was a beautiful day. Although, someone commented that Roque Nublo appeared to be a long way away.

Apparently a lot of the pines had been chopped down before General Franco came to power. When he was in power he realised how important they were to the island. The needles gather moisture from the clouds and the mist and then they release water into the ground. Hence the nickname ‘Cloud Gatherers’. One tree will provide 150 litres of water per annum. Franco ordered a stop to the felling of the trees and implemented the planting of them which still goes on today. 90% of all the pines in Gran Canaria have been planted by mankind.

As we climbed futher the visibility was so good we could see Tenerife and the summit of it’s volcano Mount Teide at 3718m it is the highest peak on Spanish soil. Maybe next year? 😉

At another point we could see Roque Bentayga. It was here, in 1483, the native Guanche people won a victory over the Spanish Conquistadors. Sadly it was short lived and the Island was conquered soon after.

Roque del Fraile or the “Praying Monk” was our final view before we reached the summit and Roque Nublo. I’ll let you work out why it’s called the praying monk.

And there we were. Roque Nublo. It was quite a hike but well worth it. All we had to do was get back down. 😂

Happy Trails, Folks x

Why I Have No Hair

Well. I mean…if I had hair I would have pulled it out this week. But it was too long for a title. (not my hair) I wonder if anyone reading this has self published a paperback with Amazon. I did it seamlessley with my first book, The Siege of Mr Khan’s Curry Shop, but this one, Who’s Got The Biscuits, ‘Ay caramba’.

And this is why I hate AI… I suggested a man pulling his hair out image. Oh well, pay peanuts and you get monkeys. So, my friends back to the plot. With a paperback you take a manuscript and you set the Trim, the Margins etc… I won’t bore you with whole shenanigns, but for arguments sake let us pretend I did it to the letter. One week later the author’s copy arrives and the margins are wrong. Okay, submit the manuscript again, but this time use the Amazon Template. A week later the second author’s copy arrives, and it is wrong. Not only are the margins wrong but now there are no paragraph indents. I guess AI has something to do with it.

I considered prayer but I’m told there are about 3000 various Gods, and I’m never quite sure which one works. I guess you could pick one randomly, but then you’re denying 2999 others. Is that blasphemy? I know the COE, and I guess the Catholics believe in blasphemy but what about the others? Anyaways, I went for a run instead. I guess I’m probably a Pagan at heart, because that seemed to work, at least it gave me an idea. Start again.

This is when it gets interesting. Here begineth the third submission. The margins are still wrong, but I have several characters in the book. One is called Janine (sassy, sarcastic and loved by all, but no one will tell her 😂) Another character, Mohammed (not the dead prophet) he’s a bit gormless (not the prophet the character). The template decided to change both names to ‘I’. Not throughout the whole book, just randomly. i.e. another character says. “I’m going to get Janine back.” This became, “I’m going to get I back,”

After a zillion YouTube videos on how to format a manuscript, posing the question on Amazon KDP community, because I began to think I was a bit dumb, I was no further and getting nowhere. So, I went for another run 😂

It was on this freezing, wet, cold run that I decided to start again, again. I went through the whole document, took out all the “I’s” and put in the original names. I discounted the Amazon margin guidelines and super duper hi-tec methods. I took a ruler, a paperback from my bookshelf which had the same page count as my book, and used the ancient method of measuring. 😂

Wow, I stand corrected AI got this one right 😉

Eurika! the margins are great, there are no more people called “I” and the paragraph indents are spot on, so from ebook to paperback in three weeks. Of course by the time I finish my next book I will have forgotten all about this adventure and probably repeat every step. Oh the joys of getting old 😂

Happy Trails, folks x

It’s Out There

After all this time I released the sequel to The Siege of Mr Khan’s Curry Shop, out into the world. There’s something strange about publishing a book. I guess it’s a little like your child’s first day at school. Will they be okay? Will the other children like them? Or, the very worse scenario; will they be sent back because they don’t fit in and they’re not good enough 😂

Who’s Got The Biscuits had a title before it had been written. The main character in the first book liked biscuits so, it fits, but I had that title in my head years ago. You know when you are walking or hiking and all those weird thoughts come into your head? (maybe not?) Anyaways that was one of those days.

I know it won’t make me a load of money, but luckily I don’t really care. The reviews of the first one were so uplifting, who needs money? 😂 Plus I’m hopeless at marketing. My secret weapon is Esther Chilton as an editor she not only does an excellent job but she gives you the confidence that when she has finished it is a good book. There is a certain amount of joy from seeing your book out there. I don’t know about you guys but sometimes I read something from my book and wonder if I actually wrote it, now that’s a strange feeling.

Well it’s a short post because I have to put tea on. I think you posh people call it dinner. But up here in the North we have dinner at dinner time and tea at tea time. I’m not even going to get involved in “Supper” what’s that all about? 😂

Happy Trails, folks x

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

A very busy few weeks lately. Not only getting the new novel ready for publishing, but there’s the running. Esther Chilton sent me the final edit of my book and as always she has done such a wonderful job. Now begins the formatting and final examination. Hopefully it will be published in the next two weeks.

Anyway… back to the plot. Yup yours truly is a winner (twice in fact) We had the Nothern Relay Championships here a couple of weeks ago and I found myself in the A team. No pressure then! Three in a team, and each one of us ran 5k each. Guess who went last of the three? When you take over as last man in a relay and your team is ahead, trust me its not fun haha. But best foot forward as they say. We won with a margin of five minutes.

The following day I had a 10k race, and I wasn’t sure how much the previous day had taken out of me. There was only one way to find out, I guess. An undulating road race with forecast rain, not something I was looking forward to. Luckily the rain held off and the undulations were not as high as I’d expected. Once again it was best foot forward. To have a team win one day is fab. To then have an indivdiual win the following day? Well what can I say! There was a bottle of red wine opened that night. 😂

News of the new book has been social media’d. Hopefully it will be well recieved.

Have fun and happy trails x

Messing With FlexClip

Have you ever heard of a book trailer? They are similar to film trailers and the idea is that the public get very excited and can’t wait for the release. My second novel is very nearly finished and my wonderful editor Esther Chilton is doing the final edit and proofread. I’m not Tom Clancy or Stephen King, so I doubt there will be a hullabaloo in the literary world, but I thought I would give it a go. Neither do I have the backing of major publishers, so it had to be a DIY job.

I then spent a few hours researching free to use book trailer companies (like we all do). FlexClip popped up a few times and so I gave it a go. It was very easy to use, and I was pleased with the outcome. Bearing in mind I am but a simple Yorkshireman. We are renown for being miserable, no idea why, I’m quite happy most of the time. I’m not putting my “masterpiece” 😂 out into the world of social media just yet. I think if it goes out to early my fan will probably forget about it. I would be interested in any comments before it goes public though. Oh! it’s better with the sound up, probably the best bit 😂

Happy Trails, folks x

Do I Need My Book To Sell

People often ask me, ‘How many copies of your book have you sold?’ Which, I suppose is natural. I always give the same answer, ‘I don’t know.’ They seem perplexed by this. How could I not know? I have to go on to explain, I wanted to write a book, if it sells, then yippee! If it doesn’t I’m not going to lose sleep. My debut novel, The Siege of Mr Khan’s Curry Shop, was 20 years in the writing so I’m just so happy that I did it.

My next book took me 3 years, so I am getting better. I recently sent the first 300 words of my upcoming second novel to Writing Magazine for James McCreet to critique. My editor told me I was “brave” he doesn’t pull any punches. For me the first two lines of his summary was good enough. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised to read this at the start of a novel published by a best selling thriller author.” I’ll take that ☺️.

My editor, Esther Chilton, is a Godsend. I am very lucky to have found her as she helps turn an OK manuscript into, what I consider, a good book. So, maybe this second novel will sell and help to eliminate the perplexed look from peoples faces. I’m sure like all things, time will tell. If you have written a book and it’s published but not selling, hey! You have achieved, something so many other people dream of. Give yourself a pat or a high five, or what ever your cultural praise is. I’ve just started playing around with FlexClip where you can create a trailer for your forthcoming book. I’ll let you know how I get on next time.

Happy trails, folks. x

Critiqued

When I told my editor I was going to have the first 300 words of my forthcoming novel critiqued in Writers Magazine she said. “You’re brave!” James McCreet does a wonderful job of stripping your writing down to the bare bones. So I offered it up with some trepidation.

But, I am so glad I did. I’ll take his comments on board but overall I was so pleased with his summary. The phrase ‘Keep the Faith,’ springs to mind.

All I have to do now is complete the final edit of Who’s Got The Biscuits (I love the title but may have to tweak it, dunno)

Set in Bradford and Morocco it’s a thriller but with humour. I had so much fun writing the characters and hopefully will be published this August.

Happy Trails, folks x

What a Difference a Day Makes

I probably don’t need to tell you, but nature is such a phenomena in so many ways. I have started my new book a few weeks ago and was really struggling with the theme. I had the first half of Chapter One written, but I wasn’t sure what it was I was trying to write. The answer? Hike, get outside, climb the hills and let mother nature give you the peace and inspiration you need.

After two hours of hiking up, what we call, the 7 Hills I had the storyline mapped out, This will be the third book featuring Billy Lynch, his friends and family. The trouble that boy and his father get into is… believable, well kinda 😂

After the tranquillity of the forest and the hills and the turn in the weather I decided this week a trip to the coast would be in order. There is something awesome about rough seas. As a young man I once had the privilege of spearfishing during a storm in Gran Canaria. These days when I look out to sea I wonder if I was actually quite mad. But the today’s trek served it’s purpose as I walked I was inspired to write the darker side of the next book. Needless to say not everyone will survive. Ah, days can be so very different 😉 Happy Trails, folks x