Fun facts « Deb E.

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Interesting info about where I get my inspiration… or just random stuff

Round, round, get around, I get around…

May 22, 2013 — 2 Comments

I think I’m getting better at this interview thing…

On another note… I was struggling with making progress on WARRIOR’S TOUCH over the past couple of weeks. Then last night, I had a thought about a scene that was OK, but just wasn’t quite doing it for me… Write it from another POV! At the moment, the scene is in Llew’s POV, but I’m going to have a go at Jonas’ later today. As soon as I had that thought, a whole lot of new dialogue came flooding in, and even a whole new scene! I had thought I’d keep WT in Llew’s POV, even though the story is more about Jonas’ issues because, as a reader, I get quite attached to reading through a particular character’s eyes. But I think it’s going to go a little closer to 50/50. There are a couple of Braph POV scenes again, too. And a new POV…

Oh, and I crossed the 60,000 word mark last night. Yeah, na, I’m not 50% through the story…

In Fun facts, Healer's Touch (Touch #1), Linkage, Touch Series, Warrior's Touch (Touch #2) Deb E Howell, Debbie Howell, dialogue, Healer's Touch, Jonas, Llew, novel, pov scenes, Publishing, Sequel, Warrior's Touch, WIP, Writing

Music: New Zealand Music Month – Anika Moa: My Old Man

May 19, 2013 — Leave a comment

The ultimate daughter-father change-of-heart song… I think Llew might have sung a song like this… if she was the singing type.

Fun fact: when I had the time to include learning the bass in my day/week, this song was in my list. Fairly simple, but with a few nice runs. My dad was teaching me. Might get back into it one day…

In Fun facts, Music Anika Moa, Music of New Zealand, New Zealand, Singing, WIP

Doing it for the love of it?

May 18, 2013 — 10 Comments

Salmonella Dub – For the Love Of It (not the version I was thinking of, but it will do)

Why do you write?

When I published my post the other say, somewhat jokingly bemoaning my as yet undiscoveredness, I did get a couple of reminders that we should be writing because we love it, not in order to get famous or (heaven forbid) rich.

Well, I just want to take a moment to be honest… Continue Reading…

In Fun facts, Learning experiences, Mummy Stuff, Slice-of-life Art, art for art sake, Book Writing, Creative writing, Literature, making money, opinion, Publish, Reading, writer resources, Writing, writing love

It pays to ask the tough questions… of your characters

May 14, 2013 — 8 Comments

So, I was reading this blog post by Kristen Lamb, and I got to thinking what a good exercise it would be to ask my own characters the questions near the bottom of the post. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve spent a whole book and nearly a half with these guys, I know them pretty well. But, do you know how easy it is to just carry on thinking you know your characters without really stopping to think? I’ll tell you… really, really easy.

The questions are (paraphrased):

What is his/her greatest strength/weakness? (Bearing in mind, the greatest strength is often also the greatest weakness)
What is his/her greatest fear?
What problem could make him/her struggle the most?
What problem could force tough moral choices?
What problem has the highest stakes?

Now, the last three questions are more “story” questions that are derived from the first two, which are “character” questions. The last three only develop real impact once the first two are answered.

I asked the questions of Llew and Jonas. Llew didn’t surprise me much. Jonas shouldn’t have. And yet, Continue Reading…

In Fun facts, Learning experiences, Linkage, Touch Series, Warrior's Touch (Touch #2) Braph, Deb E, Deb E Howell, Debbie Howell, Fantasy, Fiction, Jonas, Llew, Syakaran, Warrior's Touch, Western, WIP

Celebrating Authors: “I was learning bass guitar until I got too pregnant…” – Author @deberelene

April 21, 2013 — Leave a comment

I was interviewed over at Celebrating Authors. If that title doesn’t grab you, I don’t know what will… Pop on over if you just can’t get enough of me (o:

Celebrating Authors: “I was learning bass guitar until I got too pregnant…” – Author @deberelene.

In Fun facts, Healer's Touch (Touch #1), Linkage, Touch Series Author, Deb E Howell, Debbie Howell, Fantasy, Fiction, Healer's Touch, Western, wierd west

What I’m reading

April 9, 2013 — 2 Comments

I’m yet to decide if I’m organised enough to turn this into a regular feature, but I thought I would let you take a peak at what’s on my bookshelf… or rather, Kobo.

For this exercise today, I am going to use my Goodreads bookshelf as a reference… it has 10 books on it, we’ll see how we go… Continue Reading…

In Book Reviews, Fun facts dance in winter, entertainment, Fantasy, Fiction, joe abercrombie, Literature, paranormal fantasy, reading progress, Review, reviewing, Romance, siren snow, sonya lano, the blade itself, victoria barrow

The Barren Island Challenge

March 23, 2013 — Leave a comment

… What books would you take with you to a barren island.

You can find out which five I’d take if there was a strict limit (take a fully loaded eReader, I say!… or tablet… something that can play music, too)… Um, where was I? Right, yes, see which five I’d take and why HERE.

In Fun facts, Linkage barren island, Black Prism, books, Deb E Howell, entertainment, Fantasy, Fiction, Healer's Touch, Literature, music, novel, Writing

‘Cos, you know, I know you can’t get enough of me…

March 1, 2013 — Leave a comment

I sat down and did an interview over at the Tales From Xira blog. You might already know all there is to know about me, but swing on over and show some support for a fellow writer/blogger.

In Author Interviews, Authors, Fun facts, Healer's Touch (Touch #1), Linkage, Touch Series, Touching Base author interview, Publishing, Writing

Pretty Pictures: Chino (Miniature Horse)

February 2, 2013 — 5 Comments

Hey all.

So this week was the Healer’s Touch release day (the 31st). Pretty exciting times. Strange times, though. Everyone starts asking, “How are the sales going?”. My answer? “I don’t know”. I mean, I can guess, but really I have no idea. I have no way to check each and every sales channel and find out numbers and combine them to know anything… So, I don’t know.

Plus, unlike the big publishers that start getting reviews and building excitement months (sometimes a year or so) in advance, we didn’t do that. We’ve been hunting reviews in the weeks leading up to the release, but reviewers are pretty busy and some flat out won’t look at Indie Authors/Small Publishers. So, it’s a steep climb. It’s a “Hurry up and wait”… You put the book out there, and then you wait for it to take off… hopefully… (o: But you don’t sit back. You keep looking for someone to review it, and other ways to let people know it exists. That’s the big thing. No matter how good a book is, how are you going to sell it if people don’t know about it? So, each and every person who says “I read this book and it was awesome”, I love you.

Anyway, I felt like getting away from Books. I wanted to share a contrast I’ve noticed. I mean, I’ve seen this coming… Continue Reading…

In Fun facts, Images, Learning experiences, Photos, Slice-of-life