When you haven’t written a book, getting it actually published can seem like a bit of a mountain to climb.
When you do get it published, it can appear like another bigger and harder mountain appears – and that’s to tell people about it and to get them to read it.
In the lull between the editing and publication process, I spent much time meditating and dog walking, allowing ideas and memes to come to me as to how to go about it.
I kicked off four of the ideas this month and already the ‘wave is building and propagating around the world.
Wave #1 : Getting Readers Together
This is beneficial on many levels.
Readers get to meet other like minded souls and the book connects them actually using the intrinsic force of soulwaves. Readers can also connect with me and ask me anything, as can I of them. Hopefully readers will tell other people to become readers and to join the Facebook Group. This builds the ‘wave.
By far and away the best benefit of the group is going to be the moonthly waves that we start together. The first one will be propagating out on the next New Moon, the 23rd Feb.
In the tradition of Jeff Lynne and War of the Worlds, and lesser known but much better Snowgoose by Camel, I am embarking on creating a album of ambient meditative music inspired by my own book, Soulwaves.
I have found a new guitar teacher who is helping me with composition and the first track is really me just getting my head around Abelton.
It covers the first five chapters where our hero descends from the Void to the Density, ending up with him in his mother’s womb.
They will appear first in the private Facebook group, then on Insight Timer on each Full Moon – you can also listen to it here.
Track 1 : Insertion
Wave #3 : Providing Guidance
And around each New Moon, I am releasing a guided meditation which explores how we can strengthen our connection with our soul.
This first track, Being Soul-full, is a gentle introduction and warm up.
Incidentally, it uses the background layer from next month’s ambient track. It warmed my soul when one Insight Timer meditator posed this question.
Meditation 1 : Being Soul-full
Wave #4 : Enlightened Converations
I have found podcasting is by far and away the best way to make soul-to-soul connections, without leaving your home.
My podcast, The Zone Show, was in mothballs while I moved house and finished off Soulwaves last year.
This year it’s back with a splash and my first guest was the amazing Joanna Penn – and I am guest #2 with my new co-host Jackie Roberts. You can watch our conversation in the video below (or catch it on The Zone ShowThe Zone Show).
Just over 10 years ago, I published my first non-fiction book called Blocks. To accompany it, I created a set of meditations. Little did I know then that would lead me down a completely different path.
This month, my meditations reached the 2.3 million listens point on Insight Timer. By gifting them away free, so much abundance has come my way to create a new level of freedom which has taken me to a place beyond my wildest dreams.
This energetic flow is a gift that keeps on giving.
Since creating those first few meditations, I have built up an amazing repository of materials. A small fraction of these materials have found their way on to Insight Timer but, up to now, much of it has been under lock and key behind a username and password which is unlocked by the exchange of money.
From today this all changes. My archive is now freely available to all.
Access my free resources here …
In Other News
One of my most popular meditations on Insight Timer, called Just for Today, has had just short of 600k listens. A meditator asked the other day for an extended version which you can now find here – calledJust a Little Longer. This is also the first ever track where I have composed and created the ambient background music … more of this in 2020.
Also I am honoured to have been chosen by Insight Timer to provide the Daily Insight on Christmas Day. It will be available in 5, 10 and 20 minute versions and is called The Turning Point. If you are ready for a change in the next orbit of the Sun, it’s an example of another gift that will keep on giving.
p.s. The Turning Point got over 4000 people meditating on Xmas Day and is now available in the archive – https://insig.ht/KpYRTiFiI2
Soulwaves available for pre-order
Last, but by no means least, after 15 years and 15 other books, my first novel – Soulwaves – will be published on the first Full Moon of 2020.
The audiobook has been recorded and uploaded but I have no control of publication date – it is though trickling out to a few platforms like Google Play.
Listen to the channelling from Louisa Tanner Munson to find out why it’s being published on the first Full Moon of 2020.
Why was Soulwaves published on the 1st Full Moon of 2020?
While I have been busy creating the Soulwaves book itself, I have consciously done nothing about publishing it, other than to observe what is happening in the industry. So rather than me having to find the way to get it published, I’ve been allowing the paths to publication and marketing to find me.
I had already used Ingram Spark last year for the Big U and am using them again but this time also publishing a hardback version. I wanted something other than just ACX and iTunes for the audiobook though.
Thanks mainly to the wonderful Creative Penn podcast, from the prolific and supremely knowledgeable Joanna Penn, I’m using a new way to distribute the audiobook version.
Findaway Voices not only submit your audiobook to ACX/Audible and iTunes but over 40 other audiobook platforms. Before submitting Soulwaves (at nearly 10 hours long), I tested the system out with the audiobook version of The Germinatrix (at less than 1 hour long).
I had the usual tech issues to fix with ACX, my fault for rushing, but pleased to see the book out on so many places it has never been heard before. Note, I serialised it on Insight Timer over the last two years – well that method worked for Charles Dickens and H.G. Wells!
Also this month, I had a lovely heart-to-heart with wordsmith, Mariëlle Smith …
Proofing the Pudding
Usually initial proof read and recording of audiobook catches 99% of errors. As the first sample print books of Soulwaves arrived this month, it was clear I only caught 95% or so!
Thank goodness for print on demand and setting a pre-order date.
Perhaps as this is so big and expansive in plot – over billions of years of time and 150,000 light years in space – I have learned a novel such as this needs an additional proof read after the recording of the audiobook.
So December will be spent ironing out the wrinkles. You can however safely pre-order the book in all good online bookstores and it will be perfect by the 10th Jan 2020.
Fifteen books later, the book I started first has finally been written – and narrated.
It’s now off for typesetting as this blog gets published. The day after the book is done and it’s now kind of out of my hands, it’s almost like missing an old friend and there is a strange sense of loss.
I have been researching genres though and am delighted to zero in on Metaphysical and Visionary Fiction, where you find books like The Alchemist and Five People You Meet in Heaven.
Rather than my usual rush into a new project rapidly, I am treating myself to a breather. New plans kick off on the 1st November when we may be in, or out, of the EU – or more likely, one foot in and one foot out – which mirrors where I am with the book which is written but not published.
On which note, we’ve decided to go for a publication date of 10th Jan 2020, which is the first Full Moon – the timing of which appears often in the book.
Lessons Learned
The process cannot be rushed (even for a time bender)
The book is much richer in its third draft with intertwining plot lines
Audiobook production is the best proofreading process
The timing is impeccable with more and more ways to promote a book these days
Pre-marketing on the book’s progress and a pre-order date are key to warming up readers (and listeners)
What’s Next?
Being Soulful – a series of meditations to accompany the book
Getting beta readers and listeners
Long overdue rationalisation & streamlining of my old online courses
Creation and re-creation of said courses (and new ones) for online apps and a new and wider audience
Restarting The Zone Show podcast
Other News …
Being 999 – a meditation I recorded ages ago now up on Insight Timer & making waves
This month has been consumed by audiobook production – slotted in around loads of family support.
At 100 chapters and just shy of 100k words, there is no short cut. I am managing 10 chapters a week and am 70 chapters in at the time of this blog.
So it will be finished by mid to late October and the book will be out, at last, well before the end of the year. I can recommend the process to all authors. Not only do you get the audiobook from it but also you find errors not found by any proof reading process and, for a complex plot like this one, inconsistencies that need ironing out.
Enlightened Conversations
In the run up to publication, I’m slowly restarting the Zone Show podcast and also being interviewed myself.
Here’s a couple of conversations from this month.
… more coming soon.
Authentic Living
by Tom Evans chatting to John Siddique
Timeful Reflections
Writing this blog and this whole production process around this novel has caused me to reflect.
Why has this project taken so long when other books have just popped out in weeks or months? This one has taken years.
Is it just because it’s my first novel and I am learning my craft?
Am I still harbouring a fear or imposter syndrome?
Is all driven by some kind of divine timing?
… if you are an intuitive or a channel, please leave any insights below by way of comment.
The month of August has become a big handle turning exercise. September augurs more of the same.
The reason being is that 35 of the 100 chapters of Soulwaves are now narrated. I make no bones about it, it is a huge task and big ask, with no shortcuts.
While it might sound like a lot of hard work, it does feel I am taking my hands off the wheel and coasting down hill to a glorious destination. Apart from anything, I am really enjoying reading my own book back and remembering things I’d forgotten I’d wrote.
Reading a book out loud is simply the best and most thorough way to proof read a book. Here’s why:
#1. If I can read it out loud, a reader can’t read it ‘in loud’. It won’t scan well.
#2. I am spotting forward references I set up in earlier chapters I wrote many months ago that I can pick up and develop subtly in later chapters.
#3. You spot errors even the best editor/proof reader may not have spotted. I’ve found loads and suspect there are more.
August also saw two weeks off with some family support commitments. Due to ongoing support commitments, I plan to have the next third of the book narrated by the time I blog next and the final third completed by the end of October.
This will lead to print and ebook production in November which in turn means publication should be early December.
One of the tricks I use, which is also one I use in writing, is to record the very ending words first. This is the poem I wrote many years ago to describe the essence of what a Soulwave is. It wraps up the book but there’s no spoiler alert as it gives nothing away about the actual ending. Merely it describes how Soulwaves are the fabric of the Universe.
Several blogs ago I set my stall our to post once a month as a bread crumb trail of what was going on in my life – the original purpose and format for a blog perhaps.
Something happened at the start of this month which means I should break with this tradition and sneak an extra blog in – my meditations on Insight Timer hit the 2 million listens mark, after three years.
What does this mean?
Firstly, what was something I played and experimented with has gone mainstream. People seem to enjoy each new meditation I post.
Secondly, I have hit a groove where there is no limit. I post two to three free pieces of audio a month – a meditation, a podcast and a short story. The sales revenue from Insight Timer courses mean I can relax and release more and more free stuff, which in turn helps with sales. After 15 years of pretty continual content creation, I have found my metier.
Thirdly, it means I can really devote the time my forthcoming novel Soulwaves requires to create a Big Splash.
Eternal thanks to the team at Insight Timer and all those souls who helped me get to this milestone.
Now I should state that I am really not a fan of Formula 1. To me the prospect of watching paint dry is more compelling.
That said, I am a big fan of analogy and metaphor and the concept of taking a pit stop and changing tyres for a new road ahead seemed to be very fitting to this point in my path.
My pit stop has taken more than a few seconds though. This one has stretched from May right through to the beginning of August as two events unfolded. First, my editor has been going through my novel Soulwaves and the manuscript has now been batted back across the Pond and is in my hands. Second, we at last sold our house in Surrey and can now move full time into our new eco-home.
The observant will note that the timing of these two events cannot be coincidental … especially as it means I can retire, put my slippers on, watch day time TV and play golf when I want to (the eco-house happens to be on a golf course) …
… I could alternatively move up several gears !
Space and Time
An excellently detailed edit has given the novel a new depth and expansiveness. The space I have had away from it has given a new objectiveness. Authors often fear the suggestions of editors, perhaps because it reminds them of homework at school being marked. I have been relishing receiving the perspective of another human being and plan to take it all on board PLUS being I have a new found confidence to push the boat out still further.
So this new re-tyre-ment means that I can really devote myself full time to making the novel the best it can be. I have been fortunate to stumble across, by accident, someone who has made a cover I am really proud of. Now it’s time to make sure the inside of the book comes up to the same quality.
… as both space and time are themes I play with in the book, this only seems fitting.
What kind of tyres do I need?
Formula 1 teams bear a few factors in mind when selecting their tyres in a pit stop. They think about the conditions ahead, is the track wet or dry? They consider how many laps there are to go, and if they can possibly avoid yet another pit stop. They might not even fill the car entirely up with fuel to make it lighter.
For me, I know the road ahead and am fortunate that I am not in a race. The book has taken many years to form and if it comes out by the end of this year, I will have achieved more than I ever thought possible.
So the next few laps, probably until the end of August, will involve me editing the edits. For this I will need ‘wet’ tyres that help me stick to the track and not come off the rails. Going over five chapters a day is my aim.
Another pit stop will be then required, as I slip into a new gear. September will be the month of audiobook production – also the best proof read an author can do. If I cannot say a sentence out loud, the reader will not be able to read it ‘in loud’. This will need ‘dry’ tyres as it involves a lot of handle turning and consistency and the road is pretty straight and long, with no corners, just a beginning, some re-fuelling stops and an end.
October will be a time to pull in and hand the files over to the production team for publication. A new vehicle will be assembled with a whole range of new capabilities. This vehicle will have no wheels – it will be self-powered and able to levitate – much like the spacecrafts mentioned in the book.
Like the chariot in the Tarot, I will not be the driver, but the passenger, and will allow it to take me to new pastures in bounty-full lands. My hands will be off the wheel.
This month I did something I have never done before in the middle of a big project. I took a month off. Well not exactly, I packed up a house I’d lived in for 20 years and had a week’s holiday on a wide beam 64 foot long canal boat on the Kennet & Avon.
Part of the reason for a break (or is that brake?) from the project is that Soulwaves is being edited. I did however get a new iPadPro and used iMovie to create the trailer below for Soulwaves.
So I took a dose of my own advice, taking the foot well of the gas has given time and space for so many doors to open – and to open fully wide.
Onwards & very much upwards … more on this next month 😎
The two pillars in the High Priestess card in the Tarot represent Involution and Evolution.
Involution is like a winding down, or curling up, and it leads to evolution when it unfolds again.
Reflecting on this natural cycle, the High Priestess sits on a Cube (more on this coming up over the next few months) and holds the scroll of Tora, which contains all wisdom.
It’s no coincidence that this last month has seen much involution as the next phase of evolution is about to arrive.
Just for Today
After nearly four years of writing them, and two years of having them illustrated by the wonderful Siri Stiklestad Opli, the last Just for Today will be posted today. Is that the end of them though? No way! They begat from a meditation and every month going forward I’ll be publishing a new meditation based using the words “just for today” as the seed.
This is the meditation that started them off – eponymously called Just for Today …
You can listen to the others for free on Insight Timer
and just sharing my favourite illustrated JFT again here (must get that T-shirt done!)
Non-fiction to fiction author
Soulwaves will be back from the editor today and I’ll be spending the next three months getting it ready for publication. This will involve incorporating the edits, updating the science (thanks brother John) and narrating the audiobook as the final process of the edit. If I can’t say it “out loud”, readers won’t be able to experience it “in loud”.
I’ve also been learning about how to get a book made into film or TV. This book would need a serious rewrite so I’m looking at either an adaptation, or a new series of sequels/prequels written for telly using the principles of soulwaves as a seed. Black Mirror is my muse!
Surrey to Wiltshire
After over 20 years in our wonderful house in Surrey, this month it came under offer and we’ll (hopefully) be permanently moving to the new ‘passive’ and eco-friendly house in Wiltshire in July. This passing represents a huge transition too, from living in a 100 year old energy inefficient house to one which virtually runs itself and in Summer sends energy to the grid.
With much less energy drain, finances free up too. In addition, my latest courses on Insight Timer are now providing a decent sleeping income. All of which means, I will be free to write 24×7 (ideas come in dreams too).
What goes around, comes around … listen to this podcast for a summary of the journey so far.
NEXT MONTH : How cogs whir when pebbles are dropped in the pod … and you keep a quiet mind to allow the ripples to come back.
The two pillars in the High Priestess card in the Tarot represent Involution and Evolution.
Soulwaves will be back from the editor today and I’ll be spending the next three months getting it ready for publication. This will involve incorporating the edits, updating the science (thanks brother John) and narrating the audiobook as the final process of the edit. If I can’t say it “out loud”, readers won’t be able to experience it “in loud”.
After over 20 years in our wonderful house in Surrey, this month it came under offer and we’ll (hopefully) be permanently moving to the new ‘passive’ and eco-friendly house in Wiltshire in July. This passing represents a huge transition too, from living in a 100 year old energy inefficient house to one which virtually runs itself and in Summer sends energy to the grid.