Category Archives: A blog about the topics of writing

A blog about the topics of writing, Writer Spotlight

My most recent interview: By the lovely Cheryl Holloway

Leave a comment

 

 

I was interviewed last Friday by the lovely author and blogger Cheryl Holloway. As with other interviews when they occur I place the link to as many social platforms possible.

It was fun to do. Some of the questions I had to pause and think on how to answer them. That’s a good thing. A new way to learn about my brand and myself and share with others is always a good thing.

What was cool is how she incorporate all the volumes of the series so far as part of the post,

So, I will leave some of the questions and answers from the interview but the rest you can find at the link to Cheryl’s site.

—————–

CH: Can you tell us about The Rainforest Adventures (Books 1-3) with Jasper the parrot, who is not the ordinary bird?

SCW: Gladly. The Jasper, Amazon Parrot series is based on my rescued bird, Jasper. It starts off with his birth and the make up of his family. Throughout the series you see Jasper and his brother interact with different species, encounter dangers and learn how to work together to get things done and to keep them safe. But you also learn about family values and what it means to care for each other and those around them.

In each volume in this series, one will find a new animal introduced to the boys. One also learns about the Amazon rainforest and the features that makes it amazing.

I am trying to place in this series, the dangers that this region is dealing with. So far, I have included the logging issue and have touched briefly on the poaching situation. I will expand on this later in another volume.

CH: Where did you get the premise for this book?

SCW: My first lesson was write on what you know. Thinking and thinking on what I did know, it hit me. To that point, I had been rescuing and adopting birds since 1998. As for Jasper, we rescued and adopted him at the age of five in 1999. I continued this trend for a nice while. So, I knew about the birds in my home.

Jasper, being as colorful as he was, was a topic I could work on. With him being an exotic pet and birds of his type being in the Amazon rainforest, I thought it be a wonderful educational tool for the children.

CH: Did you have to do a lot of special research to write this book?

SCW: With the mannerisms of parrots, I was good. But when it came to placing him in the Amazon rainforest, I had to do a lot of research. I had to make sure I had the right animals in that setting. I learned about their mannerisms, the flowers, the colors and the atmosphere that all makes up this amazing environment. I wanted it as accurate as possible. In fact, I was obsessive about it. Each fact I learned I made sure that I triple checked it.

I have notebooks just for my research of this series. I know this will grow as the series grows. I listened to videos to try to make as accurate, as possible, the sounds I was describing. I watched, oh my gosh, so many documentaries from National Geographic and BBC. I was hoping to learn more, regardless how small, that I could incorporate into the books or confirm a fact.

My reason was simple: children are going to be reading these books. I want them to be factual. Just because they are children, doesn’t mean they deserve any less. Yes, it can be fun and entertaining. But it can also be educational.

CH: Which character was your favorite to write?

SCW: Jasper will always be my favorite character. I mean, I live with my main character. His personality, I just incorporate into the book. By just watching and interacting with him, his character development was being played out before me. Plus, that is my boy. Having a rescued animal is special. Having a rescued parrot to me is beyond special. It was my favorite for I was showing to the world our bird. People have told me that birds can’t really be pets. I always answer, ‘You are right. Birds are better.’ I just get giggly and happy, when I write about him, because I get to share with the world how amazing birds can be. It is truly not work, as the words write themselves when I talk about him in the volumes. It is a topic and subject I love and adore.

It really isn’t work, it is more love when I write about him in any of my books.

The rest of the interview can be found here:

http://www.cherylholloway.net/blog/2020/01/24/guest-author-sharon-c-williams/

 

 

A blog about the topics of writing, Writng

Amazon reviews: Easy come easy go

Leave a comment

 

I heard through the writer’s grapevine that Amazon would be gathering reviews from all their sites and put them in one place. This means the reviews that are on Amazon.uk or Amazon.ca, Canada and England, would be compiled on the site for the US.

Yay! This was the initial reaction from all of us. Majority of us, upon hearing this news, went to the site to see if it had occurred yet. We would continue to do so just waiting to see the number of reviews go up.

I saw an increase. Than I saw a decrease. I saw an increase and than it went back down.

Too good to be true was my first thought. Some authors it has remained, some authors has seen reviews return to the original number and unfortunately for some odd reason some saw their numbers go down. For me the numbers went back to the original numbers.

So, what gives? The people I have discussed this with are at a lost as well. I think I did find the answer though.

Amazon.

A wonderful site where you can buy just about anything. A site that happily takes your money, you can stream movies and shows and a place that keeps increasing it’s annual fee to Amazon Prime.

But when it comes to authors, those who are not in the top tier, forget about it. Small business people fall on the wrong side.

But alas I keep writing. For me to do otherwise is inconceivable.

A blog about the topics of writing, Author Sharon C. Williams

New publisher, new covers and a new book: A whole lot of new for 2019

Leave a comment

Well, the year 2019 is almost done. It seems every year goes faster than the year before. A lot has happened business wise for me which I have blogged about. Between a new publisher, new covers, a new book release, being on the Amazon Best Selling 100 list for audible for a few weeks and gosh so much for I am sure that all of this had a hand in this year going at a fast pace.

It is always time to look what my goals are for a new year which means pulling out my promotion calendar. I’m filling it up with what I have already set in place as far as interviews, spotlights, marketing and so forth.

Planning ahead for this is always a good idea so you don’t run around like a chicken with its head cut off. You don’t have to fill every single square of your calendar. But to have a general plan can only help your brand and yourself.

My goal will be to have a month by month expectation of what I want to accomplish and hopefully I will be able to get all of it done or as close as possible.

But why month to month when the experts say do day by day? Well, life. It has a way of shaking you awake and reminding you that you have family, friends and issues that need to be attended to. If you plan every day of the year for your business a simple snafu can derail you mentally and send you into a small spiral if you are not equip to handle small fires.

But do prepare. If I had not been prepared having a promotion for volume two and releasing volume three of my children’s chapter book series on the same day I would have been a real mess. I get why my publishers did it but it was a hectic day.

May 2020 be a year of joy, happiness, good health, love and more ups than downs.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.