Monday 23 April 2012

My First Book Launch!

I've never sought the fame of a pop star or actress. Never wanted the paparazzi outside my front door, never craved the attention of strangers. But recently, as a writer, I have sought a certain kind of fame. If a stranger now said to me "that was a fabulous story, darling!" I'd be delighted. I'm not there yet, not by a long shot, but recently I experienced step one when I went to the book launch of As We See It: Hong Kong Stories. This book is a collection of short stories by members of the Hong Kong Writers Circle (HKWC) and it contains my first ever published short story!


I went to my first HKWC workshop in October 2010, which I thoroughly enjoyed and I've attended nearly all of the workshops since. In January 2011 I joined, so that I could submit a story to the latest anthology. The deadline for first draft submissions was July 2011. For those of you who don't know me well, I got married in August 2011 and was in the U.K. from the beginning of July. I thought I'd have plenty of time to get my first draft ready. I was wrong! Not only was the lure of morning coffee, lunch, afternoon tea and/or dinner with friends and family too strong, but there was the small matter of final arrangements for the wedding to take care of. To sum up, I did barely any writing and the one and only time I sat down with any real intent to do anything, I discovered that I'd brought the wrong notebook halfway across the world, so saw it as a sign and gave up. I contacted the editors and they very kindly postponed my deadline until September. 


Up until that point my writing style had been:
1) open the notebook (I write all my first drafts by hand)
2) pick up a pen
3) start writing and see what happens. 
That's a great method for getting ideas and getting a feel of your character, but not always so great for finding an ending. This proved to be an extremely difficult task. I wasn't sure about it and each time i changed the ending, other elements throughout the story also had to change. This meant a lot of rewrites! Luckily I have a very patient husband (who read every single draft in return for nothing more than cups of tea) and the support of the HKWC members. 


If you're interested in buying a copy, it is available as an e-book from amazon (UK) or Amazon (US). If you would like a 'real' book, please contact me directly. 



12 comments:

  1. i can't wait for when i can tell everyone that i'm the friend of the famous writer Laura Besley! =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mother of the famous writer Laura Besley! Bring.It.On. xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Laura, I seek all:

    I've never sought the fame of a pop star or actress. "Never wanted the paparazzi outside my front door, never craved the attention of strangers"

    but they will not tell me where to find them.

    Leela

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, Laura, awesome! Your own story published, this must be the dream of every writer...:) And not to forget to mention what a beautiful graphical layout.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Marise,

      Thanks for reading and your comments - it's certainly a dream come true! ;0)

      Delete
  5. Send me a real book! I can send money to bank acc? Prime Kanga x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Prime Kanga,
      Great to hear from you! Send me your address (to email: besley.laura@gmail.com) and I'll send you a real book! :0) x

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...