Mother of Words – By Claire Buss

Being an indie author is a lot like being a mum. I have two wonderfully challenging, sometimes obtuse, often hair pulling, irritating, confounding and then randomly awesome WIPs (works in progress). I also have two children – haha! The key juggling point is time. Time to think, write, edit, format, publish and promote my beloved books on top of keeping two smalls alive and well. It’s a lot. And I get grumpy when I can’t write when inspiration is knocking and then I get guilty for being the grumpy mum.

All that aside, I love and adore being a writer. My kids aren’t too bad either! It’s both challenging and rewarding and when you get a moment to catch your breath you suddenly realise how much you’ve achieved and how far you’ve come. You get that ‘wow’ moment.

Three years ago, I was not a writer. Today, I have 15 published titles and it is my business. I am a multiple award-winning author who is beginning to earn a small crust as a result of my imaginations. That is a thrill like no other. There are people out there who have never met me, I don’t know them and yet, they have picked up one of my books, read it and enjoyed it. I think that will always be a source of joy for me.

My latest projects include working on Haunted, an anthology of Halloween inspired short stories and poems written by a group of very talented indie authors. It is the second Sparkly Badgers anthology and the first one that I’ve been solely in charge of and the pressure was intense. Obviously, I wanted good writing in the anthology but also there was an element of imposter syndrome as I wondered – who am I to say yes or no to other writer’s submissions. In the end, I enlisted some help for the selection process from Brent A. Harris, one of the Inklings Press guys who himself is a great writer and incredibly generous with his time and expertise. 

Haunted will be released at the end of September and will be a free ebook which is very exciting. All the authors involved in the anthology will have the book to giveaway in their newsletters, competitions and giveaways and I can’t wait to find out what readers think of the spooky tales. 

Here’s the blurb:

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Join us on a pumpkin spiced, ghost-riddled, spooky journey amongst the imaginations of fifteen horrifyingly excellent indie-authors. Let them take you on a candle-lit journey through the minds of the depraved, departed and desperate as they tell you their haunting tales. Lock the doors, close the curtains and don’t turn off the light! 

You may be asking who on earth are the Sparkly Badgers? Allow me to introduce them – they are a collection of indie-authors who get together on Facebook and support each other with their writing endeavours. We share marketing tips, promote other authors, give shout-outs for new books upcoming, have a weekly critique spot, flash fiction prompts and writing exercises to improve our craft, a weekly blog share and of course the Sunday check in where I make sure everyone is alright and that cake has been eaten. Very important! If you’d like to join the Sparkly Badgers group, come find us on Facebook. We also have another anthology available to buy and all profits go to the Avon Riding Centre for the Disabled. The Sparkly Badgers’ Christmas Anthology is available on ebook and paperback at mybook.to/SBxmas. 

The other project I’m working on at the moment is the third in my hopeful dystopian series, The Gaia Solution. Beta readers are hopefully enjoying the first part of the book while I scramble to finish writing the second half of the book – I’m afraid the summer holidays beat me on time management this year. In addition to working on that, I’m also gearing up to go wide with books one and two so The Gaia Effect and The Gaia Projectwill be available on Nook, Kobo, iBooks as well as Amazon and a whole plethora of independent book outlets plus large bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Waterstones. The Gaia Solutionwill obviously join them and there will be a box set and an audio book collection in the semi-near future. 

Here’s the blurb, or at least, this is the blurb at the moment lol:

Kira, Jed and their friends have fled New Corporation and joined the Resistance, but their relief is short lived as they discover how decimated the human race has become and learn of an environmental crisis that threatens to destroy everyone’s safety. Kira and Jed must travel up the mountain to the New Corporation stronghold, City 50, to bargain for sanctuary while Martha and Dina risk everything to return to City 42 and save those who are left. Gaia, the fading spirit of the Earth, uses her remaining influence to guide Kira and her friends but ultimately, it’s up to humanity to make the right choice. 

It’s been a real roller coaster writing this series because The Gaia Effect was my debut novel, my first book baby to be released into the wide-world and really, the first time I’d ever let anyone read my work. I have always loved reading and making up stories, I loved writing stories and poetry as a young girl but life, as if often does, got in the way and my writing was set aside. It wasn’t until I had my son and found, by chance, a local writers’ workshop at my library that my passion for story telling was reignited. I took a break after writing The Gaia Effect and wrote a completely different genre, a humorous fantasy novel, The Rose Thief, inspired by my love of Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. In between these two books I’ve released collections of short stories and flash fiction as well as poetry books and had short stories published in other anthologies. 

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The Gaia Solution isn’t up for pre-order yet but if you want to be kept in the loop you should sign up for my author newsletter - http://eepurl.com/c93M2L. You’ll get a free copy of The Blue Serpent& other tales, my flash fiction collection, as well as Ye Olde Magick Shoppe, a short story from my humorous fantasy world, Roshaven. If everything goes to plan, The Gaia Solutionwill be out this November. In the meantime, you can get your hands-on book one, The Gaia Effect, at mybook.to/gaiaeffect and book two, The Gaia Project, at mybook.to/gaiaproject. 

I can be found lurking on Facebook in my author group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/BussBookStop/and you can follow me on Twitter @grasshopper2407. My website has the details of all my books and various other projects including the first chapters of bothThe Gaia Effectand The Rose Thiefso be sure to check it out at www.cbvisions.weebly.com.

Thank you, Claire, for stopping by and sharing a little about yourself and your books. Scribblers you need to go out, right now, and grab these books. They are amazing, and a lot of fun to read. Remember you can help out both Claire and I by liking and sharing this post with your readers friends. If you have a question for Claire leave it below and she’ll swing by and answer it. Until next time have a great week.

Author Bio

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Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet based in the UK. She wanted to be Lois Lane when she grew up but work experience at her local paper was eye-opening. Instead, Claire went on to work in a variety of admin roles for over a decade but never felt quite at home. An avid reader, baker and Pinterest addict Claire won second place in the Barking and Dagenham Pen to Print writing competition in 2015 with her debut novel, The Gaia Effect, setting her writing career in motion. She continues to write passionately and is hopelessly addicted to cake.

Happy Good Friday, Passover, Caesar Chavez Day, Easter and April Fool’s Day… did I miss anything?

It’s Good Friday, the start of Passover and Caesar Chavez Day. What an amazing trifecta.  Also, this Sunday is not only Easter but it’s also April Fool’s Day.  In the span of three short days we are cramming together five holidays.  It’s nuts, but what that means for me is I’m going to be busy. So, I’m posting this special Blog post on my Scribbles page today.

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Firstly, I want to wish everyone a wonderful Good Friday and Easter. I hope you all get to spend some time with your family and enjoy the break if you get one.

Secondly, to my wonderful Jewish friends out there.  Happy Passover. May this week-long celebration bring you joy and time with family.

Thirdly, don’t forget to remember Caesar Chavez and reflect on all the wonderful work he did. Especially when it comes to improving the health and safety of our agricultural industry works today.

Lastly, with April Fool’s Day right around the corner beware.  You never know what ‘friends’ are planning. 

As a special treat today, an author friend of mine CH Clepitt (check her out here) asked if she could jump over and do a mini blog takeover today to announce a couple of fun items she has coming up and to share some amazing books.

Take it away CH

Thanks, MD here goes:

My Fantasy Bookshop

People have fantasy sports teams, fantasy movie casts etc., well, I have a fantasy bookstore. If I had unlimited money I would set up a bookstore to feature all of my favorite indies.  So many writers I have discovered through writing groups and social media are just brilliant, and it is a constant battle to get the word out for them.  The market is saturated by so much utter trash, how do you sort the good stuff from the just plain terrible?  Hopefully my fantasy bookstore has done a bit of the work for you.  There are so many brilliant indie books to choose from, and Marvin did tell me not to go crazy on words, so I’m just gunna do my front display table of books I’ve particularly enjoyed.

On display I would have:

  • Jade by Rose Montague (click here).  Awesome urban fantasy, strong MC, funny and fun.
  • Darkly Dreaming by Chloe Hammond (click here).  Brilliant take on Vampires, not young and sexy. Well written, smart and funny, check it out.
  • The Rose Thief by Claire Buss (click here). If you like Terry Pratchett you’ll love this. Very British humor, fab story, very funny.
  • Fracture: Divergence by Erik Schubach (click here). In an interview I said that this was the best thing I’d read this year, and whilst it’s only March, it’s still an endorsement.  It’s not great literature in any way shape or form, but it’s fun, fast paced and very entertaining. No matter what genre Erik turns his hand do he does it well, and he writes women very well. I enjoy his books much more than I thought I would!
  • My Name is Not Alice by Angelika Rust (click here). Young Adult fantasy which makes you think.  Also, there’s magic.
  • The Werewolf Whisperer Series by Camilla Ochlan and Bonita Gutierrez (click here) - strong female characters, humor and werewolves, what’s not to like?

Obviously, I would also include my book, I Wore Heels to the Apocalypse (click here), which is fun, funny and has badgers.  It’s also free this Easter Weekend on Kindle, if you fancy grabbing it!

People who say authors are competition for each other have no clue how the indie community works.  The community of indie authors that I am a part of are so kind and supportive. Just check me out, doing a guest post, cos I asked and stuff… Really no clue what else I’m going to say… other than… oh… yes… I’m taking part in an Easter Egg hunt this Easter weekend! Eggciting. A group of fellow authors and moi (that’s me in French - didn’t know I was multilingual, did you? What do you mean, you’ve never heard of me?) will be hiding a series of clues across our websites.  Each egg will contain a letter, and the first person to unjumble the letters, and tell us what the word is, will win a real Easter Egg, and a bundle of eBooks from some fantastic authors! And that’s not all. Everyone who takes part gets the eBook of their choice, just for turning up.  Everyone’s a winner! The hunt starts here!

About CH Clepitt

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C H Clepitt has a Master’s Degree in English Literature from the University of the West of England. As her Bachelor’s Degree was in Drama, and her Master’s Dissertation focused on little known 18th Century playwright Susannah Centlivre, Clepitt’s novels are extremely dialogue driven, and it has often been observed that they would translate well to the screen.

Since graduating in 2007, she gained experience in community and music journalism, before establishing satirical news website, Newsnibbles in 2010. In 2011 she published her book, A Reason to Stay, which follows the adventures of disillusioned retail manager, Stephen, as he is thrust into village life and the world of AmDram. Clepitt’s feminist fantasy, The Book of Abisan not only crosses worlds, but confuses genres, and has been described as a crime drama with magic. She has often said that she doesn’t like the way that choosing a genre forces you to put your book into a specific little box, and instead she prefers to distort the readers’ expectations and keep them guessing. Her 2016 work, I Wore Heels to the Apocalypse does just that, as just like the characters, the readers won’t know what’s going on in this laugh out loud satirical scifi.

I won’t be posting anything this upcoming week, well maybe some poetry, but I will be back the week of April 9th. Remember if you want to help both Claire and I out, please like and share this post. Let me know how you celebrated all these holidays.  I would love to hear from you