I am jumping up and down with glee… We have taken The Week newspaper for years, as it’s a fab round-up of international and British news in a handy A4 size. We love it. It’s long been an ambition of mine to create something – a course, a book, a service – that I could advertise in The Week, knowing that largely, its readers are my target market.

Then this week it happened without any intervention from me…

There was a list of recommended writing courses… sourced from The Guardian newspaper… and THERE I AM!!

Double-whammy, advertised in two great papers.

Guess, I must be doing something right!

It’s a brilliant opportunity by the way to follow the entire How To Write Your Life Story program in a beautiful environment and with lovely food. Thanks to Lois and Bill, who run The Watermill at Posara for inviting me.

JP

Tell me about your book. What is it about? Can you describe it in just a few sentences? To show that a book has focus it is vital that it can be described briefly and succinctly.

SW

This book chronicles my adventures with my husband John as we set about to enjoy an active retirement in south-east Spain. Although we researched their move, things didn’t quite go to plan, however we are now enjoying our new life in Spain and have few regrets.

JP

Why did you write it?

SW

I had enjoyed writing since I was at school, and had a couple of articles published in local papers, but my dream was always to have a book published.  I saw the writing competition on the NativeSpain website, so decided to have a go!

JP

Why do you think your book needed to be written? What will your book do for other people?

SW

Although there have been many books written about people’s experiences living in Spain, and also books about the practical aspects of moving abroad, I felt there wasn’t a book giving a personal view of all the problems to be faced and issues to consider before making such an important lifestyle choice.  I hope the book will prevent people making the same mistakes we made, but also that it will inspire people to follow in our footsteps.

JP

Who do you think will read your book? What made you think that there was a market for it? If your book has been out for a while, what proof do you have that you were right?

SW

I think that anybody considering moving to Spain, and wanting to know the negative aspects as well as the many positive things, should read my book so that they are aware of the potential pitfalls.  Debs Jenkins was the person who felt I should focus on the “young retirees” market, so I rewrote my original book with that in mind!  To be honest, I don’t know what expectations Debs had for my book!  It seems to be selling slowly but steadily, which I think is a good thing, but it doesn’t look like a best-seller!

JP

It does not matter how good a book is, or how good your writing is if no one knows about it. What steps have you taken or do you plan to take to promote your book? Are you a speaker or trainer? Do you have a blog? A website? A newsletter? Do you use Facebook, Twitter or other social media tools? What about press releases and sending out review copies and free articles? Have you had any other ideas? Which methods do you think work best and can you give me any examples?

SW

Debs and Joe did some promotion when my book was first published and they sent out press releases etc.

I have made contributions to several expat websites as detailed below, plus I post regularly on Eye on Spain, which allows me to put a link to my book on Amazon, plus a link to my blog, in my signature.  http://www.eyeonspain.com

I completed a questionnaire for ExpatFocus, and they then published my experiences: http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-spain-experiences-sue-john-walker

I also contributed to Expatica: http://www.expatica.com/es/life-in-spain/expat_voices/Expat-Voices_-Sue-Walker-on-living-in-Algorfa_14635.html?ppager=0 (I don’t know why the link shows Algorfa rather than Jumilla!)

Debs and Joe helped me set up my own website: http://spainuncovered.com/.  One of the reasons behind this was to explore a couple of ideas that I had for a follow-up book, as I had enjoyed writing “Retiring the Olé Way” so much.

The first idea was the “Ups and downs of living in Spain”, however I am not sure whether that hasn’t been done too many times by other expats!

The second idea was “Spain on a Budget”, with money-saving tips from our visits to several cities in Spain.  My thinking is that there could be more of a market for this, because not only students, but also families and pensioners are all interested in visiting different places without having to spend a fortune.

I started writing articles for several publications, some of them being online as well as having print versions.  I wasn’t paid, however I was allowed to have a link to Amazon and/or my website.  These included: Mar Menor Focus; Over 65 magazine; Costa Brava magazine.  I was interviewed on Talk Radio Europe, not long after my book was published.  More recently, I was interviewed by a writer for Moneywise magazine, who are using me as a case study, and they have promised to mention my book.  I also send articles about forthcoming events in Jumilla to Simply Networking, a website for people living in Murcia region.  They don’t pay me, but they provide a link to my blog.

I was approached by AngloInfo in September last year and asked if I would like to write a blog for them about our life in Jumilla.  On the page “About this blog”, there is a link to my book as well as a link to my website.  http://blogs.angloinfo.com/jumilla-journal.  The editor of the Costa Calida/Costa Blanca section told me that my blog had 3,400 hits in February, second only to the Sat TV man!  My only concern is that my dog Lisa, who occasionally writes a dog-blog  seems to be a lot more popular than I am!

I use twitter and facebook, as advised by my son Mark who works for Quadrille!  I make sure that I provide links there for any updates to my website or AngloInfo blog, plus published articles.

JP

How did you publish your book? Did you find an agent, a publisher or did you publish it yourself? Please describe your process and tell us how you found the experience.

SW

See answer above.  I saw the competition on Native Spain and entered it.  Debs offered me a book contract.

JP

Self-belief can be a big problem for writers. How did you manage to stay confident in your ability and remember that you were good enough to write your book? How did you cope with the days when you thought you could not do it and that it was rubbish?

I have always enjoyed writing, and in the past belonged to Newcastle Writers Circle as well as groups in London.  I was encouraged by fellow writers and by the fact that I had a couple of acceptances: I read short pieces on Radio Newcastle, plus I had articles published in my local newspaper in Welwyn Garden City.  I found it easy enough to write articles, but admit the thought of a book was daunting.  I decided to write different chapters on different topics and looked upon each chapter as an article in its own right.  The hardest task was when Debs asked me to rewrite it, telling my own story and also aiming it at young retirees!

JP

It’s easy to procrastinate, to blame writers’ block and to put off finishing your project. How did you keep yourself motivated? And how long did it take you to write it? What was your routine?

SW

Oh dear, I’m not sure that I can remember now!  Initially, there was a deadline for the competition, so that kept me motivated as I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to have a book published!  I think, though I’m not sure, that it took me about 6 months to rewrite, as I had to get case studies, plus internet access wasn’t great at the time.  My routine was to sit down at the PC and complete a chapter at a time, if at all possible.

JP

What was your biggest challenge regarding the writing of your book? How have you overcome that?

SW

The initial writing was a challenge, but fun.  It was the rewrite that was harder, especially as I had to write about a difficult period in my life when my Mum and my youngest brother both died within a couple of months of each other.  I didn’t need to write about that in the original version, but I couldn’t miss it out of the more personal story.

JP

If you were to give advice to someone else who is thinking about writing a book, what would be your number one tip?

SW

Enjoy it, and write the book as if you were talking to your best friend.

This month, in my column, as Writer in Residence, for The Hague Online, I wrote about the magic of writing and how, sometimes, my characters actually teach me stuff I didn’t know… weird eh?

It is also the first time I mention the Speedwriting Slam, my Writers’ Circle has planned to take place on Sunday October 16th at Quirky Lunchroom in The Hague, from 6-8 pm. Just turn up to attend.

So, to find out about that magic I was talking about, please read on.

It’s always cool to be invited to guest post on other sites, so when I was asked to contribute to HSBC’s Expat Explorer blog I jumped at the chance.

Here is my post for you.

I just wrote a piece about how to write about your life experience overseas for a website called Khiruna. If you would like to find out more and dip into some tips and ideas then click here.

If you live abroad and are thinking of writing your life story, these ten tips I wrote for Moldova.org could be just what you need.

To read the full article, click here.

I just wrote this piece about how to write life story for Cyprus Mail. It includes examples of the different ways you could tackle writing your own memoir if you too, like me, live abroad and just know your experiences have value and can help other people.

click here to read the story

Thank goodness I am a writer. If I weren’t then I doubt I’d have survived this merrygoround they call a mobile life. In the last 28 years I’ve lived in 6 different countries with four different languages, lost my identity and found it again. Boy, am I glad I ‘saved’ my life. Not only in the form of my memoir, A Moving Landscape, but using writing as a form of therapy has been a godsend. Read my post on the superb Expat Harem blog and be sure to have your say . . .

Yesterday I ran my Expat Writer – Break into Writing course. I love doing this and have now had more than 600 students, would you believe? This time the students came from as far apart at Argentina, Indonesia, Slovakia and Russia. This class involves a lot of practical writing and the students had to interview each other about how they stayed happy in a new posting. I thought you might like to see a selection of their responses:

To volunteer to welcome other newcomers as soon as I am settled.
To get a job fast.
To get out and meet people as much as possible.
To join a networking group – and the board – as soon as possible.
To start driving.
To make friends through the children and their school.
To eat healthily and exercise regularly.

As for me, I find that the toughest thing about a new posting is the crushing tiredness I feel after a few weeks, which leaves me too want to lethargic to get out there, get a job, drive, make friends or even eat healthily. But after 5 moves I now know that the only thing I must do is to get out there and start moving my body, then that gets the endorphins going, makes me want good food, lets me explore the local community and soon everything else falls into place. My bicycle got me settled here. Holland is good for that! Now, I can’t bear to be posted somewhere else that has hills!