Hello my little chickadees and welcome to my New Year Blog. Did you all have a good one? I couldn't wait to get Christmas out of the way and get on to the New Year. Don't get me wrong, I had a wonderful family Christmas but i couldn't wait to get the New Year started, just so that I could work out what day it was.
So then for your delectation we have the lovely Kate Rigby. Kate is as screwball as me, so why else would I have her on my blog? Mind you she has written more books than me but I'm busy with a reader challenge for the UK Crime Book Club. Every time I start a new book I put a pound in a jar. Who knows, it just might pay for my next dirty week end away. Hah! Just kidding, I'm usually reading or writing come the week ends.
Up you come then Kate
Hi I’m Kate
As you can see from the photo I’ve turned funny colours with the prospect of being held hostage here.
Tee: Oh I haven't got started yet!!
Q. Where in the world do you live Kate?
A. In my head mostly. It does have its advantages but it would be nice to headhop every once in a while. As you can see from the photo this also represents that fogginess inside my head at times, bwahahaha.
Q. Introduce your family
A. This could well be the same answer to Number 5. If I give you an excerpt from Lost The Plot (which changes its author name every so often) you will get my drift. (Take note this was conceived nearly 20 years ago so I have many more children since.) Please pardon the swearing but as I’m being held hostage in this cave I may as well earn by punishments.
Tee: And there may well be many.
Vignettes of my first six children and a taste of their upbringing.
SPLIT: Intense and serious, from just outside Liverpool. Motto: "Fantasy is reality".
GRIT: Anarchist with a pink Mohican and violent childhood. Motto: "Let's shock".
SHIT: A London drug addict. Motto: "Life's a head-fuck".
DITSY: Reflective and rambling. Motto: "I don't have one, do I?".
WIT: Multiple personality. Loves sun, sand, sea, fast cars. But caught in a cul-de-sac.
Motto: "Say hi to Madame Two Swords".
KLIT: The colour of tennis lawns. Triple goddess. Motto: "Change the balls, duck".
My kids have all been sent out into the world, even GRIT who was hoping for a second flush of success. They could phone me at least, or drop a line to let me know they’ve arrived safely. The silence always makes me nervous. Are they being taken seriously? Is it a full fat silence or an empty silence? A stuck-in-the-backlog sort of silence. Maybe they haven't even met that all-important guy yet: you know, the one who can help them get on in the world. I've known that silence before, I’ve felt hopeful and encouraged by it, but they keep coming back to mum, sure as eggs.
But I don't let them sit around at home. You can't. As a mother I've got to boost their morale. So I'll give them a pep talk and send them out into the world again. You mustn't let standards slip. You must keep dressing your kids in new clothes, even though they may not get as far as removing their coats. Even though new clothes cost a pretty penny. Or I might perform a bit more surgery if this is what’s needed. Just a bit of Botox here, a bit of liposuction there, a bit of enhancement, or a new implant. You need to re-invent yourself, I'll say, if you're not making the right impression in the right places. Now off you go again, I'll say, ever the optimist. Well, you have to be, don't you?
Though sometimes I'm ever the pessimist. You're slouching your whole body, KLIT. You’re like the Courier font on my computer. Too bog standard, even a bit hefty. We could go for something more Script. Why can't you be more like Ms Dunmore's children? Or Mr Hornby's? Why can't you meet a nice publisher, marry one? One who'll take care of you and look after your interests, if not for life, then a good many years? (Though you feel a right old-fashioned pillock, coming out with all that, let me tell you) OK a fling then. That'd be better than nothing, kids.
Well, you feel you've failed as a mother, don't you, if your children don't get on in the world. Naturally you want the best for them. But you need to be impossibly perfect in today's world, and my children, like most, have their flaws. They're only human.
Next day -
KLIT came home. That P word again. Not enough plot plot plot.
And they want us to write with balls – (but KLIT is full of balls!) - they want us to stand out in a crowded market place and draw attention to ourselves and be distinctive, they want us to be risk-takers, and then what do they do? They follow the herd!
It's not sour grapes, really it isn't. Well, maybe a bit then. Well, a bloody truckload if the truth be known. But everyone's saying what a ridiculous business it is these days, publishing. Entrenched. Concentrating on the big cheeses and celebs and no help for us struggling single mums.
SIX NOVELS DESPERATELY SEEKING PUBLISHERS. Can anyone help?
I've found a category for each of them.
1. SPLIT LIT
2. GRIT LIT
3. SHIT LIT
4. DITSY LIT
5. WIT LIT
6. KLIT LIT
Well you did ask!
Tee: Sits chewing on her left toe while Kate continues her tirade. Gets bored with toe and thinks about sitting her in the electric chair. I told you she was mad.
Q. Have you any pets
A. Not here. But my mum (who I see regularly) has a rescue cat, Sheba. As you can see from the picture she seems partial to sounds just like me. We always had a cat growing up. My mum is 90 by the way and…
… was the one who first inspired me to write a book though I always enjoyed making up stories
 |
| Sheba |
Q. Have you a favourite genre to write in
Non-genre! I once wrote a blog called the L Word (L for literary) and another one called the Most Misunderstood Genre, which is why I prefer to use any other name I can think of – like grit lit, or edgy lit, or contemporary or retro lit. Or coming of age. Oh and I have done a bit of non-fiction before.
Q. Preferences regarding publishing and s/publishing
I have been trad published, small pressed published and now indie (or self-published). I think we all like that vote of confidence and self-belief that traditional publishing affords, not to mention all that free marketing and whatnot. Having said that, I hear tell that the lines have significantly blurred between the two since I had my 15 minutes. I must say I do like the control over the finished product you get with self-pubbing too.
Q. What really bugs you about the world in general
I have a WIP on this very subject – you mindreader, you. Very early days yet: the clay is just being shaped, so to speak.
Q. Now that you’re in my cave you have a choice of being hung from chains (as in meat being hung) or the electric chair. Which do you prefer, bearing in mind the cave is remote and your screams will never be heard.
You’re all heart ;) Put me on the chair, Tee. I am always so cold I could do with a shot of the warm stuff.
Q. You can bond with any animal from the beginning of time to present day. What would you choose
A. Cats every time. But a cow or a pig or an otter might be interesting…
Q. What are your feelings about the way books/ promotion is done now compared to perhaps the last 30 years. Which do you prefer
A. Mixed. As I say I like being in control of promotion in some ways but it’s a real time sucker, it’s tedious and can be expensive (for paid promotions). I am endlessly grateful though to all the wonderful book bloggers who give of their time freely and take the trouble to post reviews. They are the real unsung heroes.
Q. How many books have you written
A. Somewhere in the region of fifteen (excluding short stories). I’m losing count and possibly the will to live ;) Here's one.
Q. Is there a work in progress
A. See answer above. But much further on in the progress is a follow up to Down The Tubes, one of my more hard-hitting books inspired by years of working in the addictions field
Q. How do you feel about social media in general and do you consider it to be useful as a marketing tool in our line of work
A. The main social media platform I use is Facebook (or F***book as I tend to call it when it doesn’t play fair. Not sure if swearing will land me a few highly charged volts!) The marketing side of it I keep restricted to groups for that purpose or Facebook Pages. But you have to think of creative ways to self-promote otherwise it is completely tedious. My most successful self-promotion was in fact the opposite – in the (now defunct) Amazon fora I created a thread called Reverse Self-Promotion and authors seemed to love it. You know, a place where you could undersell your book, your self and put off readers with gay abandon. The wit, irony and creativity was much more fun to do and to read, rather than endless threads imploring readers to ‘buy my book now!’
Q. Favourite drinks hot/cold
A. Tea tea and more tea! (Not cold tea though)
Ginger beer
I used to like wine spritzers but wine doesn’t like me any more sadly
Q. Favourite food
A. Pizzas, chips (but they have to be the right sort and cooked the right way), huss, skate, scallops, home-made apple crumble with ice-cream, lemon meringue pie, anything with lemon or ginger, Whiskas, Dreamies…
Phew! Have I survived intact? Th-thanks for h-having me here, T-tee. It has been most f-f-fun.
Tee: Have you still got all your faculties. Arms, legs etc?
Kate: Yes I think so (Does a random check to be sure)
Tee: Then you've survived woman.
Links to Kate's work:
So there you have it. The lovely Kate Rigby banged to rights.
Laters Potaters
Tee: Have you still got all your faculties. Arms, legs etc?
Kate: Yes I think so (Does a random check to be sure)
Tee: Then you've survived woman.
Links to Kate's work:
http://kjrbooks.yolasite.com
http://bubbitybooks.blogspot.com
https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B001KDR9GE
https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B001KDR9GE (Author Central)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Down-Tubes-Kate-Rigby-ebook/dp/B004UC51NK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Down-Tubes-Kate-Rigby-ebook/dp/B004UC51NK (Down The Tubes)
https://www.facebook.com/Kate-Rigby-Books-127908180613508/
So there you have it. The lovely Kate Rigby banged to rights.
Laters Potaters
