Story writer

[Cloudy Stuart]

Hello, Cloudy Stuart here.

I have Asperger's Syndrome and A.D.D. (A.D.D. is where the clouds come from) and I write stories.
I don't finish very many but when I do I self-publish on Amazon. I used to write poems and I received
a bursary before I trained as an artist. I am very old (64) which I perhaps should have warned people about at the start.
Anyway writing tends to be my thing, although hardly anyone buys my story books. There is however one book
I wrote that looks like it might sell if it ever gets discovered. It is titled 'The Prince Of Chance ' and I write under
the name Toby Hallen. It was quite odd when that little book was well received locally because it is a very short autobiography
and not a story at all. This makes me wonder whether my stories are really poorly written and that my autobiography is
ok because it was about real life. Who knows? I have a blog. I might look for a profile page or something and put it there.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I think Amazon self publishing route is a tough one to start with. You might want to try Medium.com which at the basic level is free. You can publish whatever you want in your account. There’s a Writers Circle that may be helpful.

There is also Substack, but even the basic plan, costs money. It’s getting Instagram-ish.

And do you read? I read a lot. Several books per week. I reread books and mark language that appeals to me.

When I was much younger, I wrote for magazines and one book. But it is all nonfiction. Then I had a career. I’m retired now and am spending more time writing.

Stop apologizing for your age. I’m 72 and many others are in our age cohort. Join the crowd.

 

[Jumpinbare]

Yeah, 68 yo writer here. Technical as well as fiction.

It's hard to guess what will sell. My best seller was one of my lowest-effort books.

 

[Cloudy Stuart]

I think Amazon self publishing route is a tough one to start with. You might want to try Medium.com which at the basic level is free. You can publish whatever you want in your account. There’s a Writers Circle that may be helpful.

There is also Substack, but even the basic plan, costs money. It’s getting Instagram-ish.

And do you read? I read a lot. Several books per week. I reread books and mark language that appeals to me.

When I was much younger, I wrote for magazines and one book. But it is all nonfiction. Then I had a career. I’m retired now and am spending more time writing.

Stop apologizing for your age. I’m 72 and many others are in our age cohort. Join the crowd.

Thank you WhitewaterWoman.
'Medium' sounds interesting. I'll go have a look. Amazon has been bleak for me, but mainly because of the incredible odds against books ever being noticed. I think I would just like a review; I haven't even got one of those yet. If Medium has a community it might help me improve book descriptions, which I find tricky.

 

[Cloudy Stuart]

Yeah, 68 yo writer here. Technical as well as fiction.

It's hard to guess what will sell. My best seller was one of my lowest-effort books.

There is that odd thing when writers find books easy and then they significant. Conan Doyle had that with Sherlock Holmes, they were not the main focus of his writing life. The success of S.H. baffled him. I have not had an easy book yet, but I did have a relatively easy short story - though no one reads that either. As I say too many times I will get it right eventually.

 

[Jumpinbare]

I think I would just like a review; I haven't even got one of those yet.

I gave you a review on Amazon

 

[Cloudy Stuart]

I gave you a review on Amazon

Thank you ever so much Jumpinbare, that is so reassuring to know.

I am beginning to understand the rules of Amazon reviewing now. A friend told me there has to be a minimum number of reviews that have to be written before the stats appear below a book (with stars). This is because the stats have to show an average. This means that I must already have reviews, but not enough for any one book for the reviews to appear.

I had a bit of a crisis over the last few days, not because of my uncertainty over my stories, I am always uncertain and puzzled why I write stories. Instead I have spent such a long time building (and demolishing) blogs for mine and my mother's books that I have been neglecting my landscape painting. I rent a tiny room in the town where I live and I have not been there for some time. I will be heading over there today because I don't want to go dry as a painter.

Perhaps people here have more than one interest and you can might explain how you balance them. I don't want to lose my painting world or my writing world because I had sunk too deep into one and ignored the other.

The little room where I paint has a window and from the window I can see a pawnbrokers, an English language school, a bar and an old record shop (vinyl) and then lots of shoppers going by. I have plans to abstract that main street and all its goings on. I want to be a thoughtful observer of the people and of the colours and shapes and of the changing weather. As I complete paintings I will add them to my website.

Thank you again Jumpinbare.