Category Archives: Thaw Blogsplash

I need your help to conquer the world

5 Replies

Well, not to conquer the world.

But to let the right people know that they can read a novel for free, starting tomorrow.

I’ve been banging on about it for months now, but tomorrow my Blogsplash will actually happen.

More than 250 blogs all over the blogosphere will be publishing the first day of Ruth’s diary, and pointing their readers to my blog at Read Thaw.

How can you help?

* You might already be joining in with the splash – if you’d still like to, it’s not to late – just email me for instructions.

* Join my Facebook page.

* Follow on Twitter.

* Read the first page. If you like the writing, or if you know which of your friends might, then let them know.

* Read along with a hard copy of the book. I know of at least two people who are planning to do this, reading a single diary entry a day for the three months of the project. Order your copy today (Amazon UK / The Book Depository with free delivery if you’re in the US or elsewhere) and join in.

Here are my wonderful Friends of Thaw so far – if you should be on the list and I’ve missed you out, sorry, let me know. I couldn’t have got this far without you, and so a huge thanks to everyone who’s given me their support so far.

It will be an interesting week – how many hits will I get tomorrow? Will people continue to read or not? Will I sell more or less books?

I’ll keep you posted here – I can’t wait.

Have a lovely Sunday x

Blogsplash or Blogtrickle? More bloggers needed…

3 Replies

As you probably already know, I’m planning on blogging my entire third novel, Thaw, a month after it comes out in paperback.

You can read the first day of Ruth’s diary here now.

To help spread the word, I’m asking for bloggers to publish the first page of Ruth’s diary on the same day as me – the 1st of March 2010. A Blogsplash!

I optimistically thought I might be able to find 1000 bloggers. So far I have 123. Here they all are.

It’s a good start, but I’m still a long way from 1000. If you’re a twitterer you could help me by tweeting this:

877 Bloggers needed: Blogsplash on 1st March next year. RTs gratefully received! http://bit.ly/JxqFs

If you could email the url of this post to your blogging friends it’d be a great help (http://www.plantingwords.com/2009/11/blogsplash-or-blogtrickle-more-bloggers.html). And if you’ve got any other cunning ideas, post them here or drop me an email.

And of course if you’re not already signed up, email me your blog address at fiona@fionarobyn.com immediately ; ) The size of your blog isn’t important – we’re going for quality, not how-many-readers-you-have.

Thank you lovely people. Together we can do this! I’ll keep you posted.

PS Thank you Books and such for a lovely review of The Letters : )

My books in the wild and egogooglaholism update

Leave a reply

Here is my friend Jo’s mum’s chair in the garden, with The Blue Handbag resting over one arm and a nice cup of tea in the other. Wouldn’t you like to step into the photo and sit down?

It’s the newest photo from a small batch at my Facebook ‘fan page’ (it still feels a bit embarrasing to have set up a fan page!) of my books in the wild – just to prove to me that they do exist out there.

I’d love you to take a photo of any of my books wherever you are in the world and send them through to me (fiona@fionarobyn.com) and I’ll put them up on Facebook.

Talking of The Blue Handbag, Leonard has done me proud and Catherine has written a very kind review of the book over at Juxtabook. ‘Utterly delightful’, she says. What a lucky writer I am.

The Blogsplash numbers have reached 110 – you can see who’s signed up recently here. It’s also reached its first Hebrew blog – cool! Here’s the latest tweetable blurb if you’re willing to send it out again: 890 Bloggers needed: Blogsplash on 1st March next year. http://bit.ly/JxqFs (a big thank you for any retweets!)

In other news, I’m on day 5 of not looking at Facebook or my Amazon rankings except on Fridays… You know about my egogooglaholism problems, and so I’m feeling (cautiously) quite pleased with myself. Meditating again in the mornings is helping, as is a kinder diet and lots of journalling, but it’s a bit chicken and egg as always. I think my extended time away-from-it-all at Amida helped the most. Being able to find the space and then sit in/with it – that’s the secret for me.

I hope you can find your own spaces today and try not to fill them up again. Happy Wednesday.

First review of Thaw

3 Replies

Here’s what Sharon on Goodreads thought of Thaw:

I couldn’t put this one down. Ruth is so real and tragic she made my heart hurt. Some books stay in your head and heart forever, and this is one of them. Profound. (5 stars)

Thank you Sharon, I’m so glad you took good care of Ruth.

If you can’t wait, you can get the hardback of Thaw now, or the paperback comes out on the 1st of February, or you can wait until the 1st of March and read it for free here.

I’ve got over 80 blogs signed up for the Blogsplash now, but I’m still a LONG way from 1000. Have you signed up yet? Have you asked your friends if they can help? Come and join us by emailing me your blog address to fiona@fionarobyn.com. Thank you.

*

Here’s a new-ish poem – a couple of years old – I’m just not writing them any more. Maybe I’ll start again one day. I think Ruth would understand it. Happy Tuesdays x

*

How strange

After listening to a woman
who tries to stop babies from dying
for a living, I drive home.

The fat moon has fallen
onto its back behind the trees.

Clots of words bob up:

I don’t want to die right now.
How strange this all is.
The truth is I’m sad and a little lonely.

I take the seven bends of death slowly.

Now the moon is in front of me,
bigger, a cup tipped over
and spilling grief.

I want to make a BIGGER blogsplash

3 Replies

After finding nearly forty blogs who want to participate in my Blogsplash, I thought that 100 was a bit of a rubbish target (especially as it isn’t happening until March 1st 2010).

I’m teetering between having a quite sensible target of 500 blogs, and a slightly ridiculous one of 1000. The latter would mean finding 200 new blogs every month (50 a week) who would be wiling to take part and blog the first day of Ruth’s diary on the same day.

What do you think, people? Any cunning ideas about how I could make this happen? I’m not a big twitterer but I have got a mini-link thingy bit.ly/14jvqV which takes you to the Blogsplash invite page if you can tweet it…

Here are some lovely people who have already helped… Red Bird, Angie, Juxtabook, Jessica, The Plumber’s Wife, and Clare and Vivenne have posts lined up… don’t you just love the blogging community?

*

There’s a new interview up at 100 Readers – meet Dasha (cool super-power, Dasha).

Look at this puddy-tat.

It’s been a while since I posted a poem, so here’s one of my favourites from one of my favourite poets – Jane Hirschfield. Do buy her marvellous books – After is a good one to start with.

*

It Was Like This: You Were Happy

It was like this:
you were happy, then you were sad,
then happy again, then not.

It went on.
You were innocent or you were guilty.
Actions were taken, or not.

At other times you were silent.
Mostly, it seems you were silent – what could you say?

Now it is almost over.

Like a lover, your life bends down and kisses your life.

It does this not in forgiveness –
between you, there is nothing to forgive –
but with the simple nod of a baker at the moment
he sees the bread is finished with transformation.

Eating, too, is a thing now only for others.

It doesn’t matter what they will make of you
or your days: they will be wrong,
they will miss the wrong woman, miss the wrong man,
all the stories they tell will be tales of their own invention.

Your story was this: you were happy, then you were sad,
you slept, you awakened.
Sometimes you ate roasted chestnuts, sometimes persimmons.

Jane Hirschfield

Thaw Blogsplash – blogger’s help needed…

123 Replies

My next novel, Thaw, features the diary of Ruth, who’s given herself three months to decide whether or not to carry on living.

On the 1st of March next year I’ll start posting her diary here, so you can read the entire novel for free.

I’d like as many people as possible to hear about it when we get started, and so I’d like to ask you for your help with my Blogsplash.

The idea is that 1000 blogs will publish the first day of Ruth’s diary on their blog on the 1st of March next year, with a link at the bottom to the blog where they can carry on reading.

All the blogs that participate will get a special thank you here - you’ll be very appreciated ‘friends of Thaw’.

Would you be willing to join in? Leave a comment here (don’t forget your url AND EMAIL) or send me a quick email me at fiona@fionarobyn.com.

Do you know any blogger friends who might be interested? Could you forward them this page?

Thank you lovely bloggers and blogreaders!