I had several challenges this week and I have to say that I realise I have matured in my approach. I think few family members may disagree, as I was rather snappy during the week. But perhaps some context is necessary. This week my computer died. Just died, for no apparent reason. I had one child vomit all over the bookstore floor and after getting through his stomach bug, my middle child followed suit yesterday morning at 01H11. Amidst it all, I had to get over 40 authors processed for the upcoming book fair this weekend and considering that only half of them applied to be part of the event through the official channel; I had to play detective to find all their details. My nine-year-old decided this was the week to wage war on us and I got the ceremonial “I hate you, I wish you never existed,” routine. Making sure that I also do some of my own marketing has been quite a challenge. But here I am writing this newsletter and my children are still alive and a very nice lady at Matrix in K...

 On the weekend, I started reading a book gifted to me by one of my clients. It is a book that plots out what new top levels in a new role should focus on in their first 100 days of their new position. One thing that struck me was the author’s advice that these executives should acknowledge their feeling of overwhelm. I often thought that executives of multinational companies had their act together and that it was only a few emotionally challenged few like myself, who struggled with this feeling of overwhelm.  I know I have often felt like throwing the towel in, especially when having to juggle homeschooling my books, helping other authors with their journey and reminding myself that my husband also needs some romance. Overwhelm is a massive challenge. And then there are people who will happily criticize your every move. Wondering what everyone is thinking can drive you mad. It can also be a very lonely place where you worry about where to turn. It is almost as if by admitting...

  I am thrilled that Spring has started, and it is a real Spring. In my experience, the promise of spring does not always bring the results that I had hoped for. For too many seasons, I have had to keep the winter woolies out for the first few days of Spring. But this year, the promise came with some genuine warm weather. I love the sunshine and it is so much easier to get my quota of Vitamin K when soaking up some glorious rays.  I am in a happier mood than I have been in quite some time. And it is not just the sun. I am finding more and more page reads for my books on Kindle Unlimited. I am unashamed to say that as an author; I need to have a bit of a boost to my ego once in a while. When you are writing in the early hours of the morning and hoping that your words will make their way to someone’s heart, it can be a very lonely place. Most authors, if they are honest, will ask themselves, “Is my work good enough?”  Of course, not everyone will enjoy the same authors’ wor...

  It thrilled me to see that I remained at number ONE for an entire week in the New Releases in Teen & Young Adult Classic eBooks. A celebration that I could not wait to share with my editor. Yesterday I spent a few hours catching up with her. We had not seen each other since the beginning of the pandemic and it was a treasure to see her in the flesh again. As we sipped coffee and munched on chocolate biscuits, it reminded me of how much I have missed her companionship along the journey and I counted my blessings once again that I found a kindred spirit in her.  She reminded me of the day that we met. It was at a coffee shop in a nearby nursery. The heavens had opened up that day and we could not experience the greenery that I was craving. But despite the gloomy skies, I felt a renewed energy when we started chatting and somehow the naysaying voices of those people who questioned if I could write a book disappeared in that cocoon of our first meeting. Any victory that I ac...

Do we really want things to change? When times are bad, we crave, wish, and pray for a change. A change for the better. But change always comes at a cost. That cost is letting go of what we know and that can be painful for many people. Perhaps it is because I am adopted and spent some time in a home of safety that stability and setting down roots is a primary need for me. Every time I moved, I swore that this would be the last move. And yet, I feel very much like a member of one of the nomadic tribes. A bit like the movie Chocolat, a 2000 romantic comedy-drama film based on the 1999 novel Chocolat by the English author, Joanne Harris. The main character Vianne Rocher, played by Juliette Binochean expert chocolatier and her six-year-old daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol), drift across Europe following the north wind. But there are some changes that must happen and when we look back at our lives, we find that some of our greatest growth as humans have come in times of change. This past w...

  If you have children you know those dreaded words “Are we there yet?” In my case, as I am home schooling, I also dread the words, “Is the food ready yet?” I use this continuing theme to help my little ones, aged 8 and 6, to work on their time telling skills. So they have to come and tell me where the big hand and the little hand are on the clock. This tactic only marginally assists me in getting some peace and I feel more like a caterer than an author.  But I have to admit I feel the same way about my third book. Whenever I see my editor has made another comment or suggestion I think, “Really, are we not done yet?” I still need to get the ISBN number and complete the cover. But I am stuck on the title and that influences all the other bits and pieces.  Then the big thing that we are currently debating is that there are two “parts” in the book that initially seem like two different stories, but that link up in the end. Someone suggested putting a break in the book “PART ...

  I admit I wrote most of Book 3 during lockdown. It was a troublesome time with me having to learn how to home school and deal with lots of conflicting expectations. So it does not surprise me that my characters seem to be all over the place with some of them resistant to lessons they need to learn. After my editor started going through the first draft, she pointed out some of these characters who seem to stray off and doing their own thing without sticking to the mission. So now I have to ask myself some tough questions. Are these behaviours a reflection of my mind as I have persevered through the “stop start” feel of 2020? Or are these reflections of the characters’ journeys? It means I have to do some serious reflection on the suggested rewrite from my editor. As authors, we want independent creative expression and feedback is something that makes us stop and reevaluate our position. It is not a natural process for an author because feedback seems a lot of like criticism and of...

What are you wanting to achieve this year? They say there is a no such thing as a free lunch. I believe this is true. With everything you want to achieve, there is a cost. Sometimes that cost is time, sometimes it is money or relationships. I had to sacrifice a lot of time in order to write the Chronicles of Nadine. As I was writing part time, I got up at 03H00 every morning to carve out some time to write. Not much has changed. Since the start of the pandemic, I have to home school two children as well, so in order to work on the book series, I need to get up early. I changed my Television viewing material. Instead of watching the series that I used to, I watch documentaries of medieval times on YouTube. I swapped watching my Tinyhouse shows to researching medieval weapons. My daughter said I was part-time author physically but full time emotionally. I had to give up some relationships. People who could not understand my journey or who tried to dissuade me from following my dream. Som...

Does 2021 feel a little like Deja vu for you? Some challenges we had from 2020 have carried through to this year. But I have to admit that being in lockdown brought a fresh perspective to me. I used to feel a little guilty that I was robbing myself of income producing hours and that my children would suffer for it. However, I came to realise that while I do not wish to have a repeat of last year, I could write without the guilt that I used to carry. That was so liberating for me. Established authors who created courses for authors released some of their material for free, and I grabbed on with both hands, so I could create better stories for my readers. While I can not minimise the sorrow and suffering that so many people had, I am grateful for what I have gained in that time. I learned more about my craft and the publishing process. While I am convinced that my computer was an original issue in Noah’s arc, I still completed the first draft of book 3 on it in 2020. This year I started...

  Have you ever met someone who has told you to “just get over it?”  Sometimes this is easier said than done. We all face our own challenges. No one set of people has the same circumstances, but sometimes journeying with others who are facing challenges and who overcome them can encourage us.  I know that when I was a teenager; I found my courage through books. I did not find courage through people overcoming small trials, rather I found courage when reading about people who overcame massive trials.  My mother used to tell me that if we all threw our problems in a hat, we would probably want to take our own troubles back out again when we compared our problems to others. While I do not believe that it is true in all circumstances, I know that no one can fully understand my personal trials. However, I can learn of people who have overcome similar trials or can bring a fresh perspective to me. This week I released my Novella. This Prequel Novella deals with the nastier...

  It is only a few hours until Christmas, depending on where you stay. I am busy finishing the first draft for the prequel for the Chronicles of Nadine. “A Mother’s Warning”. In the reviews of the series, some of my reviewers have mentioned King Radolf, and there are several readers who have commented on Lady Christine’s fear of King Radolf.  I think we all have fear to some extent and each person’s fear shapes the decisions they make. This year amplified many people’s fears, so I wanted to create a character that represents the genuine fears that we have as humans. Those of you who read book 1, The Last of the Silver Wings, know that Christine is living away from King Radolf. But instead of stepping into freedom, she finds a way of living without him knowing where she is. Even though she is no longer trapped by him, she lives in fear’s shadow and it stops her from stepping into her destiny.  For many readers, 2020 is a lot like Christine’s relationship with King Radolf. ...

Medieval Mental Health. What mental health issues affected my villain? I had a fun week, doing what I love… research. To build believable worlds, I have to immerse myself in my characters’ minds and see what they see and feel what they feel. We are a few weeks away from the launch of The Fire Within the Storm. I offered my launch team a free psychological profile on my villain, King Radolf. So I wanted my profile to feel like the real thing. The launch team will read the review copy and will post reviews on Amazon, Good Reads, and their blogs. I wanted to produce something that will be worthy of their time and better help them understand this character. I have hinted at some of King Radolf’s traumas in book 1, The Last of the Silver Wings, but in the Fire Within the Storm (Book 2 of the Chronicles of Nadine) he makes several bold moves that seem counterintuitive to his goals. King Radolf’s advisers become concerned with his obsession with Lady Christine. He seems to be diverted from hi...

My eldest daughter loves the charming, if somewhat eccentric Inspector Hercule Poirot from the Agatha Christie series. His famous words when working through a problem were “The little grey cells are working well today.” Well, my little grey cells certainly were active this week. I had to invent a coding system to reveal the location of something of extreme importance to three district groups in the third instalment of the Chronicles of Nadine. The code protected something precious, when the dragons faced possible extermination. The location of the hidden items could only be worked out by someone who had an intimate knowledge of the workings of their inner society. Coming up with the system was one thing. But creating the clues was an entirely unfamiliar process that challenged me far beyond what I expected. It rather reminded me of the Disney movie starring Nicolas Cage called National Treasure. The character Benjamin Gates thinks through a series of clues that lead to various l...

Have you ever been confronted with the need to change, but you do nothing? Even if you know that the change is in your best interests. The  fear of change  or  changing  things is called Metathesiophobia. Psychologists often link it with Tropophobia which is the  fear  of moving. When we are children, we are often fearless.  But as experience mounts, our fears grow, and sometimes trap us. This is when that we begin to compromise our dreams and hopes for the future. Our fear of moving traps us in lives of mediocrity. In the movie Night at the Museum the wax model of Teddy Roosevelt tells Larry Daley,” Some men are born great, and some men have greatness thrust upon them.”  It is in times of turmoil that many seemingly ordinary people rise to greater heights than they ever imagined. This was true for Larry Dayley, as it is for Nadine, in the Last of the Silver Wings. Having skills does not make us heroes. Even villains have skills. Sometime...

The Plaster Does Not have to stay on Forever A Day in the Life of an Author By Kim Vermaak Do you ever feel disconnected? This morning I did.  I completed my normal routine.  Get up, read my bible app, hydrate, eat protein and get down to work, while the children were still asleep. I had committed to writing an article for a new woman’s networking group and had to cover some extra work in for book three of “T he Chronicles of Nadine ” series. I put on some instrumental worship music because listening to songs with lyrics just overwhelms me when I am trying to form my own. But still I felt disconnected.  Then I realised what it was the plaster that I had on my finger. My flying fingertips on the keyboard turns my thoughts into the words that paint pictures in my readers’ minds. It is where sunsets cast their brilliant fiery crimson light over the brilliant green and delicate pattern of leaves of ancient gnarled oaks. Where despair blossoms into hope as th...

There is some protection in writing during the early hours of the morning.  That is for the protection to others and not to me.  Why do I say this?  Because that is the time that I do the least damage.  You see when I am in writing mode; I become the silent monster. It is the time that I am most likely to snap or say something inappropriate that will flood my body with guilt. My logical calm approach to steering people into a direction that will allow them to consider other people’s opinions evaporates with the steam that my fingers produce on the keyboard. Just this morning we had to get the cats ready for their sterilization appointment. So I did not complete my word count and knew that I would have to expand into normal working hours to meet my target. One of my tribe of fellow authors who has never met the silent monster posted a very endearing image and my critical gene stepped into the arena. Why?  because I was writing a scene in my book that had...

Do you have a historical or fictitious character that you think you are most like?   I had to think hard about this question myself. I started off by researching real medieval characters in history. At first Joan of Arc came to mind for me.   I could well imagine dressing up as a man to take a journey to confront the King of France and standing up against the enemy of my King.   But I have always had a fear of being burned.  The reports that she endured being burned at the stake without crying out makes me think otherwise.  I would have cried out.  If I was living in a medieval fantasy, one of my dragons would have rescued me.  Perhaps it would have been a Silver Wing Dragon.  Because in the Series The Chronicles of Nadine, the Silver Wing Dragons are the custodians of Spiritual Wisdom.  So it would be fitting that a Silver Wing Dragon would rescue Joan of Arc. That would make me a hybri...

As an author I often get asked "Is this book is like Game of Thrones? Well, yes, and no. It has a complex  and vibrant set of characters. But there are some core differences. The dragons in The Chronicles of Nadine are an intricate part of the series. They are  creatures of legend and fear, who villagers  are compelled to slay. But their true purpose  unfolds along with the characters in this series.  However, unlike the Game of Thrones, The Chronicles of Nadine is a series that embraces a core moral compass that, is so often lacking in society and in some modern epic fantasy.   Not that there is no decay in society. The series has its fair share of murder, failure, and betrayal.  But at its core, there is a striving to overcome the struggles that often cause men and women to turn away from the light. It is possible to write an epic fantasy for Young Adults that does not need erotica, nudity or foul language to w...

Questions that Readers Ask What is your inspiration? My middle child inspired the book.  She is a bit of an adrenaline junkie, tormenting us with her tree and roof climbing tactics.  She is also a fiercely independent and stubborn person but has moments of such tenderness when she is with her cat.   She represents the multidimensional facets of strong women. Sometimes as strong women, we are seen in a one-dimensional way.  That we can overcome anything. That we are difficult and high maintenance. Yet strong women can have moments of utter despair and fear when faced with monumental tasks. Strong women often feel lonely and isolated.  As if the expectations of others of what they believe us to be somehow separated us from offers of help, compassion and sympathy. I portrayed the reality of frustrations and tears intermingles with passion and fearlessness.  Not that we are afraid.  It is that we push through the fear a...