Hello, I’m Laura and I’m a writer.
 
I write poetry, short stories, non-fiction and novels. Anyone who knows me knows I spin a lot of balls, juggle a lot of hats, wear a lot of plates.
 
Wait, I got things a little confused there. That happens.
 
So many of us, while getting started in writing, have a lot of responsibilities to work around. As well as a writer, I’m also a mum, a teacher, a workshop facilitator and app developer. But I try to write as much as possible. It’s hard, but the more time goes on, the more I realise how important it is to make the time for it.
 
It’s funny how much is involved in being a writer that doesn’t actually involve writing. I joke that I have a low boredom threshold. That’s probably just as well. To be a successful writer – whether you’re self-published or traditionally published, you have to do a lot of other things as well. Along with the writing, comes the editing. Any writer worth their salt also does a lot of reading (ideally among different genre and perhaps also writing and style guides). Then there’s the getting yourself and your work out there. Submissions to writing magazines, agents, publishers. Performance and networking events, workshops.
 
If you’re self-published, there’s learning how to market yourself: Amazon AMS, Bookbub ads, Facebook advertising. KickStarter is a surprisingly fun way to get the word out about new projects, I’m discovering. Feel free to have a peek at the KickStarter I set up as an example of what you can do:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/figmentbooks/audio-book-creation-wellspring-and-magpie-mind
 
There’s always new things to learn! I’ll be reflecting as I go along, and sharing it with you in these e-mails.
 
Sometimes, yes, you feel you’re stretching yourself thin. It’s entirely possible that this isn’t the best or most effective way of being a writer. But it’s the way I’m doing it. It’s the way a lot of independent writers do it. If you want to give it a go, or if you’ve already started out, then I recommend you join Facebook groups for self-published writers. You’ll find your tribe. You’ll find support, encouragement and tips on all aspects of the industry.
 
I wouldn’t do it unless I loved it.

It’s fun. It’s exhilarating! And I’ve met a lot of interesting people on the way. Many of them have become friends.

Thanks for joining me on the journey.
 
Happy writing!
Laura

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Welcome to the first Figment to Reality post!  As of today, you’ll get a sneaky peak into the life of a self-published author. Learn as I learn: witness the secrets, frustrations and successes as they happen.

Along with these behind-the-scenes insights, in your weekly Figment to Reality updates, you’ll receive writing prompts you can use each day to help get you started on your six-minute Wellspring writing sessions.

I might also include industry news, inspiring quotes from wonderful writers, as well as recommendations of books, websites, and useful podcasts!
If there’s anything else you’d like to support your journey as a writer – get in touch!
 
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​Taking the jump to go from 9-5 work to being a full-time writer is exciting!

It’s also terrifying.

Maybe you’ve been thinking about it for years. Wishing you could do it. Thinking of the freedom you could have to sit in the garden, notepad on lap, sunshine warming your skin. Or at your desk in your newly outfitted study, surrounded by bookshelves. Or in a coffee shop, J.K. Rowling style, wrapped in the sound of tinkling cups, whooshing coffee-maker and bustling conversation.

But it’s not all steaming-hot coffee and sunshine.

Welcome to finding out what it’s like to live your dream.

Buckle up.

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A day in the life of a self-published author
 
The month before a book launch is an exhilarating time in any author’s life. For a self-published author, it’s also extremely busy.
Just this morning, I’ve been promoting the launch on social media, squabbling with my domain provider and website host about who needs to fix the accessibility problems to www.figmentpublishing.com , as well as double-checking the pre-order links with Amazon and linking Magpie Mind in to my Author Central page.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the quickening.

Putting the book together, the researching, writing and the editing, is a fairly leisurely, contemplative process. Until a deadline looms, of course. But now, now everything’s going lightening quick.

I’m waiting on the books coming back from the printer. There’s a bottle of whisky in it for them if they can get the first print run to me without any faults. For Wellspring, the first print run was pretty squint and there were problems getting the margins for the spine accurate. To be fair, these are particularly difficult for a large printing press to handle with a small, A6 book. But still, the mistakes cost me a delay in Wellspring’s launch – something I can’t afford with Magpie Mind, given the fact I’ve been lucky to book in some heavy-hitting involvement.

And that’s where being a self-published author comes into its own. Being a writer can be a pretty solitary existence. Writers tend to be a pretty introverted lot, so that tends to suit us. But, however introverted you may be, all that alone time can be – well – lonely.
For the last eight years, since setting up Figment Creative Expression (initially just writing workshops), I’ve learned a huge amount, all of which I’m putting together now for this launch. Being a business woman (kind of), as well as a writer, has forced to me venture out of my comfort zone and I count myself lucky to have met many, many interesting people over those years.

I met Joe Hall, head of Creative Stirling, at the same time I was setting up Figment. We’ve kept in contact over the years, and now we’re working together, alongside Ruth Currie (of CS's Place Partnership Project), on  this launch, as well as other projects that may very well help writers in the Forth Valley.

Through establishing the Forth Valley Writers Collective, a networking group to discuss the needs of writers in the Forth Valley, I refreshed my connections with Liz Moffat, of Stirling Council’s Library Services, and Elizabeth Rimmer, and Ian Maxtone, and Sally Evans and Janet Crawford and Frances Ainslie. So many wonderful people that it’s always a delight to see and speak with.
The two biggest contributors to Magpie Mind, I met through the Figment workshops: Rachel Kay, who typeset and helped me design the two books, I met while she was finishing her Masters in Publishing. I met Caroline Carmichael, Magpie Mind’s illustrator, at one of the first (was it the first?) networking event I’d ever been to, at Stirling Enterprise Park. She sent her husband, Duncan to a Figment workshop, and he was one of the contributors to Wellspring.

It’s funny how things change. Through my involvement in the writing scenes in central Scotland, I’ve made so many friends, many of whom I’ve thanked in Magpie Mind. Through studying the MLitt, at the University of Stirling, I met not only Liam Bell and Chris Powici, but Janice Galloway, who has leveled me not only with her writing, but with her benevolence.
Charlie Gracie, a wonderfully insightful poet who lives in Thornhill, invited me to be a part of the Scottish Writers’ Centre and I’m now a Director of the board there. Through that, and, indirectly, through a Lapidus event with Larry Butler, I met and spoke with Tom Leonard. He asked me to read a poem to him as well – of my own. Imagine! There’s a bigger and more amusing story there, by the way, involving a bit of swearing and cringing, as so many Tom Leonard stories do.

Both Leonard and Galloway, these giants of Scottish literature, who I studied and marveled at in University, I am still amazed to say, contributed to Magpie Mind.

I don’t think there’s any way of being a writer now – with any measure of success – without being an active part of a thriving community.  It’s being a part of a team, it’s having contacts and friends to draw on and learn from that make everything possible. It’s because I’m so grateful to my friends and colleagues that I feel so strongly about bringing writers together – so we can support each other. It’s because I feel so lucky to have worked with so many writers and creative professionals, that I feel the honour, and the responsibility, to do them proud on the 25th of April.
For now, though, I’m back at the desk. Because while it’s fun to go out and meet so many inspiring people, while it’s exhilarating to be at the eye of a storm of organisation, what a writer really needs is some alone time to reconnect with the most important thing. Writing.
 
If you’d like to pre-order your copy of Magpie Mind to collect at the launch, you can do so at  at www.figmentcreativity.com
Or to be posted out to you after the 25th of April, order on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2uZzU61
 
Remember to book your ticket to the launch, for the chance to drink some wine, nibble some tasty things, and to be inspired by Janice Galloway and other wonderful writers as they tell us where on earth they get their ideas from:  https://bit.ly/2uRPSiI
 

Some literary critics have attempted to boil every possible story down to one of nine possible plots.  But is it even simpler than that?

​Departure
 
The Call to Adventure
The hero starts off in a mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown.
 
Refusal of the Call
Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.
 
Supernatural Aid
Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their quest.
 
The Crossing of the First Threshold
This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.
 
Belly of The Whale
The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorphosis.
 
 Initiation
 
The Road of Trials
The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.
 
The Meeting With the Goddess
This is the point when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely.
 
Woman as Temptress
This step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.
 
Atonement with the Father
In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power.
 
Apotheosis
When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.
 
The Ultimate Boon
The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.
 
Return
 
Refusal of the Return
Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.
 
The Magic Flight
Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.
 
Rescue from Without
Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience.
 
The Crossing of the Return Threshold
The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely difficult.
 
Master of Two Worlds
This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.
 
Freedom to Live
Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.