Black Cow Book Blog Tour Day 11: The Virtual Book Tour (a primer and example)

Today I'm over at Writers on the Move talking about the virtual book tour. That is a little self-referential I know - blogging on my blog book tour about doing virtual book tours, but I think there are still lots of people who want to know how to do a virtual book tour, what's involved and why it works so well as a promotional tool.  So I'm taking a moment to analyse the process while being in the midst of it.  Do drop by and add your input, comments, experience, thoughts, and generally participate and you'll be doing the self-referential meta-blogging thing too.

Black Cow Blog Tour Day 10: From the Mundane to the Sublime

Today on my Black Cow blog tour, I'm visiting Jessica Bell's excellent Alliterative Allomorph site (in Greece! Boy am I clocking up the frequent flyer miles) to talk about turning the mundane to the sublime. Here's a sample: "As a writer, I've always been intrigued by the mundane. By mundane, I'm thinking, not of dull or tedious, but rather of it's alternative meaning of being 'of this earthly world', secular, temporal. These are the details of our lives - those things that other readers will recognise - the day to day world that surrounds us." Drop by Jessica's blog to read the rest, and don't forget to comment, retweet or share in some way to get in on the draw - not long now!  Thanks to all of you for following me around the world!

Black Cow Blog Tour Day 9: Writing Mama show now in podcast form

Today I sat on the other side of the chair, answering, rather than asking, the questions. I read a little from the book, and Virginia and I spoke about being a writing parent (of course), on plotting, characterisation, work habits, the background to the book and lots more. If you missed my live interview with The Writing Mama show's Virginia Grenier, you can listen to it anytime at the World of Ink network on Blog Talk Radio, or download your own copy for listening to on the go. 

Black Cow Blog Tour Day 8: Visit to The Slow and Steady School of Writing

The wonderful Annie Dugand is hosting me today on her blog, the aptly named (in my case) Slow and Steady School of Writing. Yes, it's true. I'm a slow writer. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm partly slow because I have to be -- with a large family to look after (more about that on The Writing Mama radio show tomorrow), a day job, and plenty of other people calling my name, I just can't devote huge chunks of time every day to writing or set myself intense schedules that don't allow for multi-tasking.  But there are also deliberate reasons for taking my time with my work.  In my blog post today, I look at why slow is good, and something to strive for.  Why not drop by, or should I say, amble by, and add your own 2c to the discussion in the comments. 

Black Cow Blog Tour Day 9: The Writing Mama Radio Show

Tomorrow I'll be dropping by The Writing Mama radio show to chat with hosts VS Grenier and Irene Roth about Black Cow and other things.The show will air live at March 5 , 2012 at 6pm EST - 5pm CT - 4pm MST - 3pm PT.  You can listen on the site or call in at (US number) (714) 242-5259.  If you miss the show live, don't despair. I'll be posting up a permanent listening link shortly after the show airs. 

Black Cow Blog Tour Day 7: Sustainability in Fiction

Today I'm back in Australia to talk with the wonderful Simplicity Collective about sustainability in fiction. In something of an essay on the topic, I explore the key underlying theme of Black Cow.  "The book asks, within the context of its fictive truth, how we can, in the face of this increasing pressure to earn and spend, stop the madness, jump off the treadmill, and begin to live again — slowly, fully, creatively.  How do we create meaning in our lives, in spite of the ongoing onslaught of commercial messages that tell us to move faster, think less, and accept that we’re going to die early?" For the full piece, please drop by and visit the site and add your own comments. I highly recommend The Simplicity Collective, which is also cited in the novel's bibliography as it was a rich source of inspiration throughout my writing, with a wonderful array of excellent articles, owner Samuel Alexander's own book Voluntary Simplicity: The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture, which can be accessed at the site, and even a discussion forum.  If living more simply appeals to you, this is a top notch source.

Black Cow Blog Tour Day 6: Visit to Boychik Lit

No rest for a girl on a book tour. Today I scoot straight over to Gerald Everett Jones' Boychik Lit for a guest blog on the topic of literary genres and why I don't think they matter all that much. Do please join me, since Gerald loves comments and thrives on company (and of course every comment, retweet or share of any kind gets you another entry into the big blog tour draw).  I'd love to hear, in particular, what you think about genre and whether you agree with what may well be something of a controversial blog post.