My Video Debut

Here's my very first 'face to camera' video - or at the least the first one that made it to YouTube. Cathie Heath asked to interview me for her blog and I thought it might be fun, having done an audio interview for Brian's blog, to make a video response. I'm wearing glasses too. Bex in spex! Watch it and find out:

• My very first memory
• Why writing a novel was a huge accomplishment for me
• The difference between malnutrition and starvation
• Why Mary works for an MLM

My First Week as an Author

A little over a week ago, I became an author. Here's what happened:

• I didn't have the 'I am an author' moment. I had a panic attack. I think the panic attack was a physical manifestation of the 'I am an agent and a publisher, and a retailer, and I have to handle all my own PR and be shiny at all times, and I'm as reliable on that front as a big-arsed donkey in an antique shop' moment.
• I discovered that even if you give someone a direct link to a Kindle book, they STILL go to Amazon, search for it, and tell you your book is nowhere to be found. I have lost track of the number of times this has happened. Amazon has conditioned its customers SO well. I salute you, noble dictator. 
• I discovered that making the book available in so many formats (Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Sony Reader, Nook and PDF) was the right move! Have made sales consistently for all formats other than Nook. (Thanks to Rachael Moore for the pic of her phone, by the way).
• The book sold! *Stunned*. It didn't just sell a couple, either, and it sold every day. Within a week, I was in profit. Seriously. :)
• Emails and DMs began to flood in, begging me to explain how I'd done it. I'm planning to put together a course to cover this.
• Emails and DMs began flooding in, telling me not to show off, get above myself or feel proud in any way. I ignored them for the most part, because what kind of example is that? New writers know they have to walk through Hell to get their book into print, or onto a Kindle, and they keep doing it in the hope that, one day, they will have a small moment of triumph. I refuse to deny myself - and them - this small moment of triumph. Here it is... I rock! I dare you to say the same on your own blog when you become an author  :)
• People want to pigeon-hole me, and that's tricky. One blogger wanted to set me up as an 'indie or die' writer, so he could throw stones at me. The problem is, I'm not. I think traditional publishing is great - for most people. I think Amazon is amazing, and I may put the book there in time. I'm just doing an experiment. Why must people always think that other people are so easily defined? I'm not, so... as an author present to myself... I adopted the word 'Intriguing'. That way, I can help kids with communication problems, like I had, and I get to pick my own label. When called for, my name will henceforth be The Intriguing Rebecca or - and this is the long version - Gloriana Bexter 'The Intriguing' Woodhead. That should stop the labels. (Although 'mad' and 'delusional' are also labels, so it MAY not).
• People want to pigeon-hole the book, and THAT is fun to watch. Calibre has a new bookshop - it links back to the author's site, so I'm still retailing it - but they choose the tags. They defined my book as 'literary'. Now. I once had a discussion with a publisher, in which he told me: 'never define that book as "chick lit". It is quality commercial fiction.' I've always viewed it as commercial fiction you wouldn't be embarrassed to be caught reading on the train, or commercial fiction with chew toys for literary readers. I put this to Calibre. No, they said. It's literary. So, in it went. Others have defined it in various literary and commercial ways. Today, it was described as 'chick lit'. Hurrah! I've invented label-teflon. :) While I can attempt to define myself, it's really none of my business how others define my book, but I'm an interested observer. 
• Everyone loves 'Rock'. Some are deeply affected by experiences that either Mary or Jackie have. Clive is secretly adored. A few characters are loathed - you'll know which ones if you've read the book. Let me know your fave characters.   

Here are some early reviews: America (no spoilers), America (some spoilers), America (no spoilers), Ireland (no spoilers). If you find any English reviews, let me know!

P.S. If you want to point people direct to the sales page, but can't remember the bit.ly link, send them to palacesandcalluses.com If they want to take the book for a test drive, send them to penpals.withrebecca.com and if you want to promote the book on your blog, grab the code under the badge in the sidebar and put it in your sidebar. It links to the sales page. Thank you. xxx

Shall I Elope, Or Do The Big Event Thing?

I'm serious. The provisional date for my book launch is the 21st of March, and I just realised that's only five sleeps away! What in the? So now I have to decide whether the provisional date becomes The Date, or whether I pick a date in a couple of weeks and make a big 'do' out of it.

It's not a question of commitment. I'm absolutely committed to my book. We've lived together since 2007, for goodness' sake. We've had rows, of course we have. What writer and Novel-To-Be don't have rows, late at night, over a split infinitive? Exactly! We're both on the same page. Well ... it is on several pages, but I've been on each of them, so that gives me the right to an opinion. My opinion is that the time to tie the knot is finally upon us, but we need to choose whether to glam it up, or elope. 

At the moment, I'm eloping. I planned to sneak this book out under the radar. Only those in the know would - well - know. Now I'm wondering, as many an eloping bride must, whether I'm cheating people out of an event, if I scurry off into the sunset with my book, without so much as a slice of cake, a tearful bridesmaid, or a thrown bouquet. Am I? 

Blushing regards,

It Takes a Village to Raise a Book

Welcome to my new site. I'm now an author, a columnist for a national magazine, and a professional blogger. T'was not always so. Here's the story:


Back in 2008 - health in tatters, battered by the economy, and on the verge of losing all income - I looked at the first draft of the manuscript for Palaces & Calluses and sighed. How would I get it into the world, and would the food budget last long enough for me to survive until I did so? I yearned for the lofty heights of the coffee-shop poverty of J K Rowling, as I struggled to afford tea bags or food.


Struggling Writer


We'd just moved to a new - rented - house. Well ... new to us. It's a very old, Cotswold stone cottage looking out over fields. It had no carpets or curtains but, in time, it had broadband. I fired up the laptop I'd bought in easier times, and saw a writer blogging about writing. She wrote for a magazine and was blogging about the publishing process. I noticed a 'blogspot.com' after her name. When I googled, 'blogspot', Blogger appeared, along with information about setting up a free blog. Free. Sounded good. I typed in my details, decided to call my blog From Brain to Bookshelf, and began to plot the story of my journey, navigating the choppy waters of the publishing world. Many of the people I first met in those early days are dear friends now.


After a while, I set up a Twitter account and - long story, short - I'm now one of the most influential women on Twitter in the world. Through the people I met online, who supported my progress (the Word Nerd Army), agents and publishers began to notice me. 


By that time I'd had a bit of a moment, from which I haven't yet recovered. My husband, in his usual down-to-earth way, looked across at me when I was prattling about how important the publishing industry was one day, and said: 'they are a distribution network'. Somehow, that one line sobered me up. I sat down and de-constructed what agents and publishers do. It was an eye-opener. Then I made a mental list of all the parts of that process where I was weak. I decided, that day, that I'd learn those thing and go my own way. 


Learning Curve


The next year was spent learning all I could about the business of books, and the business of business. Obviously, being a Dot Com Pioneer back in the 90s and beyond, I understood business, but I'd gone straight to Director from a standing start so, clearly, there were areas I'd missed. For a while, I lived on EST instead of GMT because that's when all the best training calls happened. 


My husband was made redundant, we ran out of money for heat (or even much food), but he believed in my writing. He let me take money from the heating and food budgets for internet access, so I could build my readership. After over twenty bouts of hypothermia, over five stones (70 pounds) of weight lost between us, and a resilient determination to focus on what could be achieved through online networks, I reached a point where - with over 12,000 followers on Twitter, and many thousands more elsewhere (and over six and a half million in my network) - I don't actually need agents or publishers. 


I have been blessed with the most supportive, dynamic, and determined followers online: The Word Nerd Army. Over the last two years, they have done everything they can to help me bring this book to you. They even paid my heating bills on a couple of occasions. Any success I have with this book is also their success.


If you buy my book, thank you. Please tell your friends. I've not taken steps to curb piracy, because I trust you. If you can afford to buy it, you will, and if you feel moved by it or find it funny I'm sure you'll tell your friends, or buy them a copy.


What Success Means to Me


The bit of the story I missed out is that I'm a coma survivor. As a child, I sustained such bad injuries in a car accident that I was told it was very unlikely I would ever be able to write as well as my peers. I taught myself to speak, read and write again - without the help of a speech therapist or counsellor. When I typed the last word of the first draft of my first novel, that felt like success. 


I have no way of knowing whether I will be deemed a success as a novelist by anyone else, that's in your hands. If I don't do well, it certainly won't be for a lack of trying. As far as I'm concerned, I'm living my dream. Anything that happens now is a bonus. 


Very best wishes,




P.S. Here's the book I did all this for. Hope you enjoy it. xxx