The Origin of a Business: Pookatales Press

You know, this is the Pooka's Tales blog, and yet I'm not sure I've ever posted anything much about my miniature book business, Pookatales Press. I should probably remedy that, since Pookatales Press and my writing are connected.

Way back in 2001, I wanted to start a business of my own. I'd learned how to make leather-bound medieval-style books, and as I was interested in 1/12th scale miniatures as a hobby, I thought that the combination of the two would be fun. Plus, I had a couple of short stories that I wasn't currently marketing to magazines, so they were available for an alternative form of publication. I took those two short stories and formatted them into miniature books. This was an unusual niche market, and, inspired by the big 1/12th scale "Cinderella" castle in Chicago, I thought it would be great to make miniature medieval-style books that could actually be read--that had complete stories in them instead of pages filled with unreadable nonsense words just for effect. I also thought it might be fun to get paid for my stories...go figure. And so, Pookatales Press was born.

Pookatales Press has had one of its books, A Perfect Irony, reviewed in the publication "Bloomsbury Review." My books have also been purchased for special display at two libraries, including the University of North Texas Library. This is a photo which includes my books among their smallest in the display. You can see them grouped together in the upper right corner. Photo credit goes to Edward Hoyenski, Assistant Curator of the Rare Book and Texana Collections at this library.

So why did I choose a Pooka as mascot and logo? Because legend has it that the Irish Pooka is a fae shapeshifter who often takes the form of a mystical black horse--a horse that lures an unsuspecting victim traveler up onto his back and takes him or her for a wild, unforgettable ride.

That's my own aim in telling (and selling) you my stories. I want to take you places you've never been before. I want you to read something I wrote and then perhaps even see things around you in a new light. I want to entertain you, intrigue you, and whisk you away from dreary everyday life, if only for the length of time it takes you to read one of my tales.

Those initial two stories of high fantasy from my epic fantasy world of Ondine are still available in mini book form from Pookatales Press. If you like mini books, you can find the link in the sidebar of this blog. As soon as I figure out how to format them for e-book readers, I will most likely offer those stories and possibly others as downloads for sale at Pookatales as well.

Product Review - Journey to Wild Divine

I can't be the only writer who has stress--far from it.  Everybody has a different way of dealing with it.  But one of my favorite ways is the Journey to Wild Divine biofeedback program. Here's a handy link: Wild Divine 4 program bundle: Healing Rhythms, Passage, Wisdom Quest, Grapher Expansion


It is, quite simply, gorgeous.  The graphics are a beautifully visualized magical Asian-influenced faeryland, but there is so much more to it than just great visual effect.  The biofeedback device with its finger sensors provides you with feedback, in real time, of how you're doing with either raising or lowering your energy.  It incorporates teaching about how to control your breathing and heart rate and achieve a relaxed but alert mental state, while your actions in this regard affect and make things happen in the program.  They call these "energy events," and they range from making balls juggle to stacking stones, opening closed doors or making it rain, among many other visually stunning examples.  And unlike so many of the computer games that are out there right now just purely for the entertainment value--those with a storyline which, once you play through it, you really have little or no interest in ever going back and playing again--this is one I return to again and again.  I have never found another product quite like this one, so appealing to me as a lover of fantasy literature, and of a profoundly spiritual bent, both.

There are a few places where characters in the program go into a bit of a spiritual teaching mode, especially in Journey to Wild Divine, Wisdom Quest, which is the sequel program to Journey to Wild Divine, the Passage.  But even though the information presented has a very New Age slant, it touches on some truths that seem universal.  However, even if one has no desire to listen to the spiritual information and prefers to skip those parts, the product is still more than worthwhile in my opinion.  I would never have guessed when I first bought this program several years ago just how much it would help me deal with stress and thereby change my life for the better.

Changes on the Horizon

One of my crit partners is moving to Florida soon, bringing the number of local Moxie members down to two, counting me.  We'll miss her.  I'll hate not having her here with us.  But her husband has a new job and has already moved, and she's going to follow as soon as she can wrap up her affairs locally.

I hate to lose any of my writer sisters.  We've always had each other's backs, and in some sense, we always will.  But in trying to figure out how we might video-conference our meetings using a webcam and Skype, we realize it just won't be the same.  I like technology--without it I wouldn't have contact with some people who are very important to me.  But a video-conference will never beat the face-to-face dynamic that we've always had, just as, for me, an e-book reader will never really beat the texture and smell of paper and the comforting feeling of a book in my hand.

In so many ways, I'm a lot like Star Trek character Jean-Luke Picard; I like my Earl Grey tea, hot, and I like a real book in my hands when I want to curl up and read.  If technology advanced so far that I could only have these things if I replicated them, I'd always be replicating them.  Now, how in the world am I going to replicate the presence of my friend at our crit group meetings?

No doubt, the Huz's phone would just answer, "Droid!"

Reviewing Others

I've decided to include some book reviews here on this blog, among the other writing-related posts.  It seems like a good idea to post reviews of fiction I've read, but it might also be helpful to new writers if I post reviews of books on the craft of writing as well.  I've read many of them, and some helped me quite a bit in developing my craft and learning the ropes.  Perhaps once a week to start, and we'll see how it goes.

She's So Excited

A writer's dog's life: thrilling, isn't it? All that action and adventure....

Word of Mouth

It's amazing how much difference book reviews--or the lack thereof--can make to the success of any given book. The more reviews are out there, the more likely people are to buy, especially if the reviews are positive. I know that's certainly the case with me. When I'm shopping on Amazon, or even if I'm planning to go to a brick-and-mortar store and buy, I always read a good portion of the Amazon reviews of a book first, to see what the general consensus was. Sometimes the things people say they hate about a book are the very things that will make me buy it, and sometimes what people dislike about a book are also the things I know that I'd also like to avoid. It depends on what the issues are. But without the reviews, I would never know until after I'd spent money.

Careers can be made or broken upon word-of-mouth alone. Many people like to go with the flow. They like to trust one another's opinions. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. In the case of building success for a book or other product, it's essential. Everyone's experience of using a product is subjective, but if the general consensus about that product is positive, then people tend to go into their own experience expecting something positive. If all the reviews about that very same product had been negative instead of positive, then the person reading the review would have been expecting a very different outcome. They might not have bought the book at all, or they would have read it but been prepared to dislike it.

The interesting thing about this is that it's all about perception, and perception is often driven by consensus. What does that say about us as people? That we're all more dependent on and more connected to one another than we realize, perhaps.

Word-of-mouth (or word-of-speaker, in the following case) has extended to our machines and technology as well. Someone recently commented that whoever came up with the default text message sound for the new Droid phone had a stroke of genius in marketing. The phone exclaims its own name when it receives a text. "Droid!" has already become the new catchphrase in our family. You can't not know about it, and the way it sounds is also distinctive enough to stick in the mind. Consensus seems to be that it's cool. And so it spreads....

Always Leave 'Em Crying?

Okay, I have to say this. I hated, hated the last episode of Medium. I would have been fine with it being the last show in the series if it had ended on a different note. Their version of upbeat and my version of upbeat obviously differ. I was hoping for the characters to have a happy life together as well as a happy afterlife together.

I wanted to see Alison solve one last big case and make a big difference in someone's life. I wanted to see her and Joe grow old together, the typical version of "and they lived happily ever after." The key words here being "they lived." I did not want to see Joe die and leave her there to finish her lifetime alone...and I definitely did not want to watch her in the nursing home, just sitting there basically waiting to die. And even if they insisted on having Joe die--what's up with her having no contact with him for the duration of her lifetime? She could see/hear spirits, so why would he have had to stay away? Why couldn't he have kept talking to her when she needed to hear from him? Why would she have to die old and alone and then be surprised that he waited for her on the other side? It all just felt like such a letdown.

I really prefer Walt Disney's motto: Always leave 'em laughing. This last episode of what was otherwise a phenomenal series has left me feeling extremely disappointed in the writers and the network.  I will remember this episode for a long time--and not in a good way.

Thinking of You

My heart and thoughts go out to everyone in Queensland, Australia, and the other areas beginning to face flooding as well.

Newest Review

Here's a brand new review, from a blog called Tales to Tide You Over.

Every one of the summaries people have posted about my story have been interesting for me to see; I'm always curious about what message, if any, people took from what I wrote. This latest blogger has absolutely hit the nail on the head with her understanding of what I was trying to say with "The Truth One Sees."

Identity

"To be nobody-but-yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, is to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." --E.E. Cummings

I find that I tend to love the authors best who, in whatever genre or style they write, put their truth on the page and pour their hearts into it. Those tend to be the books I find myself coming back to and reading again and again. It's worth noting that most if not all popular trends were started by someone who took a chance, went out on a limb and dared to be an individual. There's a beauty and an irony in that.

SF Crowsnest Review

Here's a very detailed and well-thought-out review from SF Crowsnest; thanks to Doug Smith for sending us the link.

Doing a little happy dance here....

Happy Calendar Change

This isn't the new year for me--that happened on Oct. 31--but it is the night of the annual changing of the calendars and what most people consider New Year's Eve. So for one of my last acts for the year 2010, I have made another short story submission. I will not be crossing my fingers until I hear back; I need them for typing.

Until dinner is ready, I intend to work on one of my current works-in-progress. And I promised Stef that I'd have her novel critiqued in time for our next Moxie meeting, so I also need to work on that.

It seems that in wrapping up my 2010, the focus is all on keeping promises I made, and continuing to make progress on things that need to move steadily forward. Looking ahead is appropriate for a year-change, but in working on things like the past-life memoir, it occurs to me that in order to move forward, I also have to look back.

Roby James and Vera Nazarian, thank you for making 2010 the year I was finally published.

All of my friends and loved ones--thank you for all your words, your ears, and your open minds and open hearts. 2010 was a year of great change for me--complete, profound, and life-affirming change. You walked through it with me in a state of grace, and I am humbled by your friendship.

If this was what 2010 was like, then in 2011, there should be nothing we cannot accomplish together.

Another Review

Here's a new review of Warrior Wisewoman 3, from the Dreams and Speculations review blog.

Woman to the Rescue

Like a man in uniform? Well, how about a man in uniform being helped out by a woman NOT in a uniform!

I love it.

Well, hello

Long time no post, I know. Usually, when it comes down to a choice between posting and writing on works in progress, I choose the writing. I have several thousand words written on one nonfiction book, have almost finished another, and could easily finish up a novella by January if I really set my mind to it. But as it happens, what I really need right now is a new short story or some flash fiction. Calling all muses....

It's been a busy few weeks on the non-writing front as well. Our dog has been to the vet twice in the last three weeks, for two different issues. First, she had an eye infection. Then she developed an infection in a salivary gland. This last visit, plus antibiotics, came to $90.00. Ouch. But we're just glad she's otherwise in good health, because it could have been something so much worse than a couple of infections, which are treatable. We're hugging our dog and counting our blessings.

I'm debating putting out a couple of my older short stories that I've published in mini book form for Pookatales Press as downloadable e-stories. I could post a teaser of the first part of a story, then offer the whole thing for download for a small fee via PayPal. This might just help pay for the vet bill. I also have a retold faerytale in novella form that I could offer that way as well. It's called "Name of Power," and is a fantasy romance retelling of "Rumplestiltskin," with a twist.

I haven't made a decision yet, but it's a thought....

That Was Unexpected

You never know what might happen next in this life; that's for sure. Just when you think it's as good as it's going to get....

We--and by "we" I mean the contributors to Warrior Wisewoman 3--are eligible to be nominated for the Nebula Award, voting to be done by SFWA members on the SFWA website. We've been asked for permission for our stories to be posted there for that purpose.

Win or no, it's an honor just to be considered.

New Review

Here's a new review that made my day.

A Bunch of Nonfiction

I'm editing for a website, working on a past-life memoir, and nearly finished with the spiritual nonfiction project I've mentioned before. I've also been reading a lot of nonfiction, from books on how to write nonfiction proposals to books on how memory works and why we forget the things we forget. It all adds up to a lot of nonfiction.

I have to admit, there was a time when I thought I'd never write nonfiction. At that point, it held no interest for me. I fell into the first project gradually, one journal entry at a time, and before I knew it I found that I had amassed a lot of information on a subject that people might care about. It was one of those synergistic things where I wrote all the information regardless and didn't realize it could be a book until later.

The past-life memoir is different. I started out intending it to be read, so it reads a lot like a novel and not a dry recitation of history. Being an extremely ancient past life, it cannot be proven or disproven by me or anyone else, but despite my inability to prove it's true, I can't call it fiction. I've read one or two past-life memoirs written by other people, and they also read like fiction, especially the ones in which the person claims they used to be a person whom many people think didn't exist. I speak here of the book "Guenevere" by Laurel Phelan. Fascinating book, and a window into Guenevere's life that most people won't have ever considered. I'm also aware that there are biographies out there for lives lived so long ago that there is no way we can be sure the biographer got all the details right, as they had to reconstruct the story from history and archeology. But they all make fascinating reads, in any case.

Samhain

Today is Samhain; that's Halloween to those who don't "do" Gaeilge (Gaelic). Enjoy the costumes and candy and fun; it should be a day for celebration. It's a sacred day to my ancestors. This is the equivalent of the New Year, a turning point and a day when, even now, people use the phrase "the veil is thin."

What does that mean, though? That on this day in particular, we're on the verge of something deeper, more powerful, more mysterious than most of us realize? That on this day, a whole new and magical realm of possibilities open up? I should say so, if this is a day when people truly allow themselves to dream, and perhaps to touch something elusive.

Blessed Samhain. Happy Halloween.

Linked

I just put a link to Amazon through the cover picture on this blog. I'm not sure why I didn't think to do that before, but it's done now. If you click on the Warrior Wisewoman 3 pic, it will take you straight to the page on Amazon. Convenience is a beautiful thing.

Now I'm going to the dollar theater to see Eat, Pray, Love. I'm expecting a soul-feeding experience; we'll see how it stacks up.