Curiously, I've just realized I have never had a non-fiction author as a Guest since this blog started over four years ago. Well, let's remedy that now, and who better than this week's visitor to give us some practical tips. Ladies and Gentlemen...
Sarah Jane Butfield
Everyone
has a story
I am sure I am not alone
in being familiar with the phrase ‘Everyone has a story’ and I actually used it
as the name of my very first blog which I created long before I even dared to
dream of becoming a published author. I have always compared it to the other
well-known adage, ‘having your 15 minutes of fame’ and as such, at that time, I
thought that writing a story to be published or having 15 minutes of fame was
something that happened to other people, not me. Who did I think these other
people were? Well, people who had interesting stories to tell or a skill that
made them topical or worthy of public acknowledgement. With this in mind I will
give you a little background to my accidental foray into the publishing arena.
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Although I have kept a
journal, on and off since my teenage years, it was after the huge physical and
psychological impact of the Brisbane floods in Australian 2011, when our newly
renovated home in the suburb of Ipswich, Queensland, was totally submerged that
the power of a journal really came into effect. However, at the time I had no
idea that my scruffy notebook style journal would become the catalyst for a
series of travel memoirs and which would later move me into the world of
mentoring other new authors with a story to tell.
My personal bucket list
of over the years has included a variety of travel and personal objectives.
Some I have achieved, while others are still regarded as ‘work in progress’ or
‘this could take a small miracle’ type projects. One of my bucket list items
was to write a romance novel, in the Mills and Boon style, although I never
believed I would publish it, but I wanted to achieve the writing aspect of it.
I have enjoyed reading romantic fiction since I was about 18 and many times
whilst reading, I day-dreamed about being the next Jackie Collins. In February
2011 after the floods we had to relocate from Queensland to Tasmania to live
with my father-in-law while we started to try and piece together the remnants
of our life in Australia and start over with a very unsure future ahead of us.
I started studying how to write a romance novel as a way of keeping my bucket
list dream alive and to give me something positive to focus on as the bureaucratic
process of the flood's aftermath started. Alongside this I continued writing in
my trusty journal documenting the personal journey we were undertaking to
regain a degree of normality to our lives. This cathartic form of therapy
helped to distract me from the psychological impact of what we now faced as a
family. I am not a materialistic person and the loss
of a house and its
contents was one aspect that could be replaced, resolved or dealt with through
a physical process. However, the loss of very personal items which are
irreplaceable and which carry huge sentimental and emotional attachments, such
as items made by the children during their school years, old birthday and
Christmas cards with funny heart-warming messages from the children at the
various stages of their journey through childhood into adulthood made an
indelible stain on my heart. It was from this pain and sense of loss that the
reflective element of my journal deepened. With little help available to us to
help us deal with the personal aftermath of the floods, as we had relocated
away from the scene of the devastation, it became a very personal journey to
rebuild our lives. Finding a new home to rent, sourcing new jobs, a new school
and a CRPS specialist for Jaime were all essential tasks to start restoring the
basic elements of everyday life. During this transitional period, we needed
more than ever before to remain positive in our outlook especially when in
contact with our friends and family back in the UK, so that they did not worry
more that was necessary and feel even more frustrated that they couldn’t help
us on a practical level.
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By the time I was at the
stage of working out what to do with this book I had written we were living in
France, which is another story you can read about in ‘Two Dogs and a suitcase: Clueless in Charente’ the journal was
filling up again. With a very erratic internet service and whilst sitting in
the building site of a house which was now our home I decided to self-publish
my book expecting my audience to
be that of friends and family who were curious
about the way our life had been changed by the events of 2011. However, as I
networked with other self-published authors, initially in my genre and later
across all genres, I became hooked on the process and the total control that it
allows you to develop as writer and a book promoter. Emails from readers
started arriving with questions and feedback, all aimed at helping me to develop
as an author and to give the readers who were now developing into fans and
sometimes friends, more of what they wanted. And the rest as they say is
history. I became ‘The Accidental Author’ of a travel memoir series and later a series
of self-help guides for new authors who are about to embark on the journey I
had experienced and who I could help by sharing my challenges, successes and
ever developing knowledge and skill base.
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The lesson from this
rambling blog post is that everything you experience and learn on your personal
journey is your story, and it doesn’t have to be dramatic like a Hollywood
blockbuster movie to capture the hearts and minds of readers who can empathise,
relate or just plainly interested in the places, people and events that you are
writing about. So my question to you is ‘what’s your story?’
Please leave a comment
and feel free to get in touch about your story, or your writing journey.
I would like to thank
Eric for the opportunity to share my story with you today, it has been a
pleasure.
Bio:
Author Sarah Jane Butfield was born in Ipswich,
Suffolk, UK. Sarah Jane is a wife, mother, retired Registered General Nurse and
is now an international best-selling author of Travel, Nursing and Culinary
memoirs. She has also written a series of self-help guides for new authors based
on her experiences to date.
Her life now as a successful author and inspiring mentor to new authors in her role as CEO at Rukia Publishing, is in addition to being a modern day mum to her 'Brady Bunch.' She has four children, three step-children and an 18-month old grandson. Sarah Jane loves spending time with her large family, their two Australian Cattle dogs, Dave and Buster, and her French cat called George.
Here are her author social media and website links:
Sarah Jane's Author website: www.sarahjanebutfield.com
Sarah Jane’s Writing Blog http://sarahjanebutfield-glass-half-full.blogspot.co.uk/
Sarah Jane’s Blog at Rukia http://www.rukiapublishing.com/sarah-janes-blog
Facebook:
Thank you Sarah Jane for your interesting post. If there are any new writers out there, I urge you to check out her book promotional series, details of which can be found on her Amazon Author page:
http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Jane-Butfield/e/B00GPLZW2Y/
Eric @ www.ericjgates.com
http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Jane-Butfield/e/B00GPLZW2Y/
Eric @ www.ericjgates.com
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