Tuesday 12 March 2013

Here's The Thing


You may not know it, but I’ve been holding back.

Since I started writing my blog last May I have been wanting to tell you about the two books I wrote while living in my beloved Italy from 2008 to 2011.   Yet it seemed premature, like I hadn’t yet earned the right to harness your interest.

However I’m putting it out there now.  The reason I’m writing a blog is threefold:

1)     I love to write.

2)     The discipline of writing and posting quickly is akin to writing aerobics.

3)      I want to build a potential audience for my books so when I finally get face-to-face with a literary agent or publisher I can say “I have had xxxxxxx readers visit my blog”. 


On each of those fronts the blog is on track.  I’m a little behind however in that:

1)     I need to get my manuscript out to more agents…

2)     …and I want the blog readership to peak by the anniversary of starting.


That’s where I need you.  If you like reading my little stories then please introduce your favourite posts to someone new so that I can be sure to reach 10,000 visitors by May. 

You can give out the long link: http://theresalwaysastoryjulieemullins.blogspot.co.uk/   Or the quick snappy one which my great friend, Felice Arena, a successful children’s author and performer in his own right, kindly set up for me: blogjulie.com 

The figure is random… one day I’d like to be able to say 100,000… but as a kick-start 10,000 just sounds better than 7,000, doesn’t it?

And as I’m gearing up now to get my first manuscript onto more desks… it buoys me to know I have my blog project in the background, keeping my wheels turning as a writer and my potential audience growing.

My books, by the way, are travel stories – the story and sequel of my first year landing and living on my own in the paradise we know as Tuscany and Umbria without friends or language.  Like many memoires they contain a healing journey, adventure and romance.  Mine also contain a spiritual journey and a thread of my favourite hobby, Renaissance Art. 

And that’s the challenge, to find an agent and publisher who will allow me to express my own voice in its truest form – who believes there are readers out there for stories which flip back and forward between humorous Bridget Jones episodes and more thoughtful, intellectual considerations.  I think it’s more true to life.  It’s certainly true to me.  And I know lots of women with the capacity for both.  So if you agree, watch this space…

The first book’s (working) title is Wild Woman Don’t Get the Blues, referencing an old jazz song I love and suggesting the pursuit of personal fulfilment, liberty and maybe a little wildness is the best way to avoid staying down after life has put you through the wringer.

So, thankyou for visiting There’s Always A Story! 

I don’t know how I found readers in countries as diverse as the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France, Germany, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, China, Philippines, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, and sometimes even Africa or Borneo… but, with future help from a social media advisor, and possibly some blogging partnerships, I hope soon to bring you more…

xxx