Views of Marsascala Bay

First, a progress report.  My third book 'A Ticket to Cusco'  is so very nearly complete.  One hundred and ninety pages written, and the story is all there!  Just need to go back and add a few things, proofread and check every word.

While I am doing so, I thought some photographs taken in a warmer climate might help cheer up those who are looking forward to enjoying summer weather, both in the UK and in Malta

The above picture was taken from the same location as that on the cover of my first book 'A Ticket to Malta', but of course, this is the daytime view - not the one taken in the dark!

The view to the right looks back into the bay, and the final one below is looking out to sea.

All of these photographs were taken in the month of April, when the weather changes in Malta and you start to believe that summer is just around the corner.

In the height of summer, in Marsascala Bay, all those 'buoys' you see floating at the front of this last picture will have small crafts attached to them and there won't be any space to swim inbetween the boats.

How do you know that summer has arrived in Malta? 

You know when you hear the ice cream van touring the streets playing 'Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer'!

‘Educational’ Murder Mysteries

Spectacular Cloud Formations during a Maltese Sunset

I have just been carrying out some research online, checking the facts I am including in my latest novel ‘A Ticket to Cusco’ and have decided that I could give my books a new classification as ‘Educational Murder Mysteries’.  This is not, as some might initially think, that they teach people how to commit murders, but because they all include a lot of facts about the countries in which they are set.  The aim of providing so much information is to put the location and the situation of local people into perspective, but hopefully, my readers will also find the facts of interest for other reasons.

I am now making good progress towards completing my third novel with over 150 pages written so far, the whole story laid out in a draft format and even the Epilogue has been finalised.  I feel I am on track for publication during the summer months.

To put parking problems in the UK into perspective, I give below an extract from a recent copy of the Times of Malta.  It is entitled: ‘Teachers’ strike over parking is to go ahead’.

“Teachers who work in Sliema will report for work an hour late today after the failure of eleventh hour talks with the council and the Government over the new parking restrictions in the locality.

The Malta Union of Teachers held meetings with the Sliema local council and later with Transport Minister Joe Mizzi yesterday in a bid to prevent the industrial action but there were no developments and the one-hour strike will proceed as planned, president Kevin Bonello told Times of Malta.

The directive will hit St Claire College, St Francis School, St Joseph School (primary and secondary) and St Dorothy’s School.

Teachers were among those who heavily criticised the new Sliema parking scheme which started being enforced last Wednesday. 

Half the parking bays across the busy town are being reserved for residents, with outsiders only able to park in them for two hours between 8 am and 9 pm or risk a fine  . . . (meaning) teachers would have to leave their classrooms every two hours to move their cars.”

Attributed to The Times of Malta

7 May 2013

Just Nuisance

Statue to Commemorate “Just Nuisance”

The question is “Was it a Nuisance to put together a Facebook Fan Page?”  It was certainly time consuming and frustrating with the problems within the software making it difficult to transfer images from my personal Facebook page to the Fan Page.  I really need to thank my daughter so much for ensuring that I finally got there.

Now that the Anya Ashe Facebook Fan Page is available, I am hoping that it was all worthwhile.  Only time will tell.

To support me in this media marketing exercise, could I please ask as many people as possible to go to the Fan Page and “Like” me.  Please tell your friends and relatives about it, and spread the word.  I need all the publicity I can get to sell my books.

Now that the Fan Page is complete, with links to and from this blog, I will get back to writing my third novel, a murder mystery set in Peru.

But before I do so, I will explain about “Just Nuisance”.

“Just Nuisance” was a Great Dane who lived in Simon’s Town, South Africa.   The story told is that he would travel from Simon’s Town Naval Dockyard into Cape Town on the train with the sailors so that when they were drunk he could help ensure they caught the last train back.  However, the railroad wanted to ban the dog from travelling free of charge so the sailors requested, via the British Admiralty, that he enlisted in the Royal Navy. This was agreed and the Recruiting Officer asked for the dog’s name.  “Nuisance,” he was told, but the Officer also wanted a first name, to which the reply was “Just Nuisance”.  From then on that was the dog’s official name, and when he died after being knocked down by a car, he was given a full military funeral.

Internet Publicity

In the Kruger National Park, South Africa

I have been having ‘great fun’ recently setting up my Facebook and Goodreads  pages.  Thank goodness I have my daughter to help me otherwise I would have given up long ago.

We are now in the process of setting up a Facebook ‘Fan’ page so that people can ‘Like’ me and in that way spread the word about my works of fiction.

I am hoping to arrange a ‘book signing’ in Frinton shortly to publicise ‘A Ticket to Zululand’, and am very hopeful that I will be able to obtain agreement from another bookshop in Valetta to sell ‘A Ticket to Malta’ as I am sure that those visiting the island as well as local people will enjoy reading it.

I have also now really got down to writing my third murder mystery :   ‘A Ticket to Cusco – The Land of the Inca’.  Approximately 100 pages written so far.

My Writing Style

Kudu in South Africa

Both of my books ("A Ticket to Malta" and "A Ticket to Zululand") are now available in Kindle format in addition to the paperback versions being sold by Amazon and the publisher, Authorhouse.

Use this link to view ‘A Ticket to Zululand – The Place of the People of Heaven’ in Kindle format.

I have also now completed my Facebook page and reviews of both of my books can be placed on Goodreads and on the Amazon website: 'A Ticket to Malta' and "A Ticket to Zululand".

  

It would be much appreciated if readers of my books could complete reviews as I would love to hear your comments.

Just to provide an insight into my writing style:

From the outset, it has been my intention to provide a tourist’s impression of a foreign country using a travelogue format as a basis for my novels, but in addition, I will always provide at least a second thread within each story that gives an insight into the lives of local people, as well as adding the extra spice of a fictional murder mystery.

In ‘A Ticket to Malta’ some of the dialogue is in Maltese in order to add a Maltese flavour as the majority of Maltese people speak both Maltese and English, sometimes in the same sentence.  However, because few other people speak Maltese, a translation is necessary.  Consideration was given to placing this explanation in a footnote at the bottom of the relevant page, but then people might lose their place on the page.  This would be an even greater problem if the translation were placed in an endnote.  Therefore, I decided that the best solution would be to put the explanation in brackets immediately after the words that might be in an unfamiliar language.

I do hope my readers enjoy the inclusion of words spoken in a language that perhaps they have never experienced before.

In ‘A Ticket to Zululand’ there is only one word that is not in English as I have absolutely no experience of any of the multitude of different languages spoken in South African and, therefore, would not presume to include them.  The mission I assign to my readers in this instance is to discover what that one word is.

           

It's Available!

My Second Book

A paperback version of 'A Ticket to Zululand' is now being sold by Amazon and the publisher, Authorhouse,  for £11.11.

Readers in the United States of America can purchase it from Barnes & Noble for $16.95.

I apologise for the fact that the price is so high, but this is because of increases in printing costs over the past two years.  My first book comprised 300 pages and could be purchased from the publisher for £7.90.  This one only has approximately 230 pages, and costs so much more - it's incredible!

However, I am pleased with the quality of the final printed book, in particular the cover.

Now I am working on the Kindle version.

Also, I'm trying to sort out my Facebook page.

My second book is being printed!

Cover of My Second Book

I have now approved the final version of  “A Ticket to Zululand – The Place of the People of Heaven”, and it has gone to the printers.

As expected, I did experience some difficulties during the publishing process despite the fact that I was paying for this service, but eventually we arrived at a satisfactory conclusion.

The main hitch was that the Author Consultant I dealt with appeared to believe that everyone was an amateur and should be treated like an idiot.  Some of the advice I was given was incredibly inept, ie to make proofreading easier change the whole book to a larger font.  Surely it would be easier to use the percentage zoom feature.  Changing the font could result in a lot of extra work as there could be sections of the book in different fonts, the layout would change and page breaks would be in different positions.  Then you would have the extra work involved in changing it all back again to the correct font, and checking that it was laid out correctly.  Incredible advice.

Also, I did have problems understanding American accents when messages were left on my answerphone.

As I had experienced several hitches when I submitted my first book to the same publishers as a Word document, allowed them to format it and then eventually had to do it myself and supply it in a pdf format, this time I put in the first submission as a pdf.

However, the publishers then tried to persuade me to submit as a Word document because they did not like the font style.

I changed the font style myself throughout the book, and then resubmitted another pdf file.  This was accepted, and the following day I received it all back to proofread; they had produced a wonderful cover using the photograph I supplied, the back cover, title pages and copyright page, plus the whole book was in a format ready to print.

I was really impressed with the speed (one day’s work) and the layout of the cover pages despite the fact that my instructions to use a similar style to my previous book had been ignored.

Then I was encouraged to carry out a final proofreading.

It really is amazing that despite how many times you proofread, and bearing in mind that my husband proofread it as well several times, you can still find errors.  I spent a day proofreading over 200 pages, and found several errors that I corrected as I went along.  Then I resubmitted the pdf.

This was not accepted.  They wanted me to complete a Galley Modification Form in order to supply information on page number, paragraph number, line number, previous wording and new wording for each error.  Despite the fact that I had made the changes, they wanted to make these changes themselves, which would be time-consuming for them, and necessitate me proofreading again and probably finding further issues with the knock-on effect of layout problems that I had corrected as I made amendments.

After filling in four A4 pages of a Galley Modification Form (very time-consuming) and complaining via the Customer Care Survey, my final pdf was accepted, together with the requested changes to the covers and copyright page.

Now I am looking forward to receiving my first copy of the printed book.

As soon as I am given information on availability, I’ll let you know just in case you would like to purchase a copy.