Blog Post: Reviews, Summer and Reading.

Reviews

I just passed a milestone of sorts as an author where one of my books now has over five hundred reviews and ratings on Amazon, and almost as many on Goodreads. The book in question is the first in the trilogy of The Dog Under The Bed Series.

The Dog Under The Bed by D.J. Cowdall

When I first started writing this book, I was fairly new to writing full-length fiction, and as a fairly new author, I understood the importance of reviews, not just to guide others on whether a book was worth buying but also for me so that I would have an indication whether what I was creating was at the very least a good book.

The more positive reviews and ratings you get on a book the more confidence you gain that not only are you writing well but that readers like your stories, and that you are writing stories and novels that they want to read.

So, I simply want to thank everyone for being so kind as to leave a review or a rating. I do read them, and I am guided by them, so thank you all for that.

Summer Is Here

Well, once again the lovely warm weather is upon us, and that means glorious days sitting outside and holidays to come. Things are far better now than they have been in too long, but of course, I will continue to write all the time and have new books in the pipeline. There’s nothing better than sitting in the sun (Don’t forget the suntan lotion) while reading a good book. I aim to do my part, providing the book!

New Books

Talking of new books, of course, I am in the middle of a new book, as I mentioned previously. It is a full-length novel and another book about one particular dog. It will be the longest novel I have written about dogs and will be a real adventure to follow. I hope to release this by autumn.

Better Days

I know things have been very tough for everyone with how the situation is globally, and for a great many it remains so. As things improve with this and our lives recover, we will all still experience the impact events have had on others with jobs and finances, and the economy. Being Mindful of this, I deliberately released The Dog That Wouldn’t Sit at only 99 pence, 99 cents, and 99 Euros. In my own small way, I wanted to help out with a fun novel at a very low price. As things will remain tough for many of us, I aim to do this on other occasions, and I intend to release a few more novels at this price point. I know it is only a small token of assistance, but I believe every little bit helps.

The Dog That Wouldn't Sit by D.J. Cowdall

I hope you are all well and continue to be so, and thank you for taking the time to read what I write. It really is a passion for me and something I will always engage in, writing novels.

David.

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Good Time To Read & Updates.

A time to sit in and a time to read

The weather in many parts of the world is often quite bad, but in the UK lately what feels like a never ending series of storms has caused a lot of problems. There has been weeks of very high winds, so much rain that large areas in the UK are being terribly affected by flooding, and those who are lucky enough to escape the flooding are stuck with weeks on end of none stop rain and cold.
It is the first of March this coming Sunday, and usually this signals the coming of Spring and better weather. With it we see the first flowers of the season, enough dry and warm days to put our washing out to dry and perhaps even the chance to open our windows or doors to allow in some fresh air. As things are it’s difficult to see such an outcome at the moment, but no doubt before long things will recover, warmth will return, and once again we can shed the heavy clothing and venture out without the shield of an umbrella.
The one thing we all share in common throughout the year is our love of reading. When it is cold and wet outside, there is never a better time to stay in and read, to catch up on that new book you just bought or even simply pick up a newspaper or magazine and read.
Personally I often enjoy going and either sitting in a soft, padded chair or laying a blanket out on the grass and enjoying the warmth, under a parasol, and with a good book. Have a drink beside me and a pillow to rest on, and I can easily spend hours reading and losing myself in the worlds and events of a good book.
So as awful as it is outside, as bad as the weather can get, we will always have the sanctuary of those wonderful books we read and the way they make us feel and think.

New Dog Book

I am just finishing up with the last of my new dog book. It was going to be a short novella, nice and simple, a fun read, but as I got into it I ended up writing more and more and I just don’t know when to stop. Of course I will though, and expect it to be done this coming week, then off to be edited and then on sale. No matter that it will be much longer, it will still be a nice price of 99 cents US or 99p UK, and similar price other countries.

Coming Next

I have had a lot of good feedback from my full length novel Missing, although reviews are slow to appear, it has been well received and continues to be popular. It was always intended as a series of books, and because I enjoyed writing it so much and because it continues to do well I have decided that my next book to work on will be a sequel to that. It is one of my larger titles and takes longer to write, but I know where the series is heading, so I am certain it won’t take long to write. I will keep everyone posted on the progress, and as my new newsletter will be coming out soon for everyone to subscribe to for free I will post snippets of my writing on there for people to enjoy and comment on.

Thank You

Thanks for all the support I have had from my readers, it has been immense and so much has happened over the past eighteen months it’s been quite a whirlwind! I can’t imagine where things are going to go over the next eighteen months and beyond, but it’s a huge amount of fun, and I hope to always ensure that you as readers enjoy that as much as I do.

Bye for now

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Where is the best place to write?

Personally I have written in all sorts of places. OK, so not the toilet or in the bath, because it could get kind of messy, but most places. Reading, well that’s a different story, I have read books, magazines and newspapers pretty much everywhere you could imagine, because if you love reading, well where doesn’t matter, or shouldn’t. Why shouldn’t it matter? Because if what you are reading is truly engrossing and you lose yourself in it, then where you are should melt away into obscurity.

Writing however, can be affected by all sorts of things. Imagine trying to write an emotional piece about the death of an important character, while sat on the tube clattering along while being nudged by others. Imagine trying to write about a peaceful and beautiful place while you’re sat on a bucket at a building site, while Bob the Builder hammers a wall with a pick axe. OK, I’m exaggerating, but you know what I mean.

Naturally if we were so limited in our ability to take flight with our imagination then we would have to be wrapped up in cotton wool or actually have to experience the things we write about, and end up sounding more like we were giving a presentation than creating worlds of the mind, our minds.

It is good to experience things, new places, people and events, because they all add to our knowledge and even our wisdom. However there has to be a space within us to simply create something from nothing, otherwise what is our imagination for? It’s not enough to simply parrot what we have seen or heard, we have to reshape it and bend it into something the reader would hopefully not have experienced before.

The point about where we write, and where we create something, is more important to us as creators than for the reader, viewer or listener, because there does have to be a state of mind where we are open to new ideas and allow our minds to flow with interesting thoughts and ideas. Of course if we are writing a horror story, and we are in a place where something strange or weird occurs, then this can add to what we need to show, it can provoke a sense of something which we can incorporate, but often we just need a quiet moment to be able to tell the story.

Being creative with what we write isn’t enough, unless you’re dealing with absurdism, which might not need a defined narrative. Most readers will want a sense of direction, which requires plot, and character development, and actually going somewhere with it. If we write in a place which affects our ability to concentrate, then we will often miss things, create glaring errors, not to mention the ubiquitous spelling errors, and endless grammatical inadequacies. Readers are very quick to point these out, and of course they have the right to, because they pay for our work, and have a right to expect the best. If for no other reason, that should tell us all we need about the importance of uninterrupted writing.

Which brings me neatly to the original point: where is the best place to write?

For me, I mainly write in a small wooden summer house, windows at side and front, and double doors which open out. Beyond is a small yard which on either side has plants giving it a green and flowery sensation. It is quiet here, apart from a large tree overhanging, often filled with birds.

I find it a good place to be, and a good place to write.

I have written in other places, like my living room, but then there are distractions from letters arriving, and people coming in and out, or someone knocking for something. At least here, in the back, I can pretend I am not in, and perhaps the only person left alive, albeit thankfully for a short time.

I wonder what the real differences are between what kind of place we need in order to be able to enjoy our reading, and just how bad it could be as a writer for me not to be able to write.

I guess I’ll have to go into a war-zone or onto a building site with Bob the Builder and find out!


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How We Choose To Read

I got to thinking about how we choose to read, and in turn how I have done so, and changed over the years.

For me I tend to look at a hardback copy of a book and see it for the premium that it is. Quite why people choose hardbacks over softbacks or paperbacks is a mystery to me at times. You see some books which are charged at a much higher price, simply for how it is packaged, and often I can’t help but wonder if the extra cost is worth it. Still, they look good on a shelf!

Thinking about the ways I have read a book, it reminded me of a time when I read Stephen King’s Cell on an electronic PDA in the bath. It was a small device, around 5 inches by 3 inches, with a decidedly not HD screen. Slightly bigger than a smart phone, and lighter. It was a first for me, and well before the prevalence of smart phones and tablets. I did this every night for a week, laid in the bath reading it until I finished. I quite enjoyed the experience, and thankfully no mishaps, no dropped devices into the bath. However I haven’t done it since.

The thing about paperbacks, especially if it is raining out or we are in the bath is that the paper gets wet easily, it folds up and afterwards looks awful when stored, not to mention how it is when we want to read it again.

This brings us to the matter of reading books on electronic devices, such as Amazon’s Kindle and others. They are amazingly practical, and can store huge amounts of books on one tiny device. The screens are clear and bright, and often battery life can last months. So obviously they are perfect, and the natural future of reading.

Well, perhaps not. I have a pretty large collection of books, and lots of shelves to store them. At one time I decided to go all in, obtaining copies of all of my books in electronic format, and boxing up the books for the loft. People who know me were horrified, unable to comprehend the thought. To my mind I figured they were just being old fashioned, but looking back I can see their point. Yes, books wear out and are difficult in some circumstances, but a row of shelves with books on is something to be proud of, and are an instant visual reminder of being there, to be read again, our very favorites.

So now I am back at it, rebuilding my book collection, in paperback, and occasionally a hardback. I still have the electronic versions, but for me it’s good to have a choice.

Ultimately of course it doesn’t truly matter how you read, in whichever format, but we are lucky, in that we have a choice.

Then there are audio books, which stemmed from the old taped copies, often using six to ten tapes, on both sides. The sound quality on the recordings wasn’t great, but then along came books on CD, and now we have the likes of Audible, where you can use phones, tablets, laptops, even devices such as the Amazon Echo Dot to listen to our collection.

What it all means really is that our choice of how we enjoy our books is expanding continually. We are spoilt in fact, because there have never been so many ways to enjoy one of our favorite pastimes.

All that we need are a great selection of books to read, and for that we really are spoiled.


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Emotion In Books

When reading books we all go through a wide range of emotions. What and how we feel depends a lot on the type of books we read. When we read a thriller, this can open up a lot of differing feelings, however the primary element will be an increase in our heart rate due to excitement or tension, brought on my sudden events which cause abrupt changes. From this we can feel fear, a surge of adrenaline, or even simply being more aggressive within ourselves. For example if the primary character in a novel is someone we identify with, a good person perhaps fighting off some kind of evil or criminal actions, we can feel their aggression, their determination to succeed, and if and when this happens, we feel a sense of elation or joy. If we identify with a character that is evil, or carries out criminal acts and gets away with it, then we may feel an oddly similar kind of joy over this, or satisfaction borne of their odd success. I say satisfaction, because through books and our imagination we allow ourselves to act out that lead character, and do things with might never otherwise do in life.

A comedy can be different, in that we stand back, mentally, to look at the actions of people in the novel, and the things that happen to them. It is like watching something funny in real life, where perhaps something slapstick happens, like a cake to the face. We wouldn’t usually want to identify with that character, we don’t want to be the point of the joke, but we’re often happy to see others in that predicament. Still we feel emotions, humour tickles us, we smile and feel good, and are driven along, coupled with our imagination. There can still be other elements of emotion in what we feel when we read something like that, but our goal is to laugh, which tends to be why we might choose such a novel, knowing it is going to make us laugh.

Other novels, such as simple action novels, perhaps based on war or fighting, maybe makes us feel brave, allows us to imagine ourselves in situations of drama and risk without actually risking our lives or safety. From this we do still feel a sense of fear, but overwhelmingly we feel satisfaction when the primary protagonist succeeds in their work, no matter what it costs them.

Some novels make us cry, they expose us to emotions that we may otherwise shy away from, mainly because with a book we can close it, and go do something else, or interact with others in our lives. From this we have a reminder of how good our lives can be, as well as a peek into a world where others might suffer, another reminder of how life could be. We gain satisfaction in another way, a kind of schadenfreude, where others might suffer, and perhaps we might enjoy it, feeling better about ourselves without going through it first. That may sound negative, nasty even, but it is an element of human nature.

That then is perhaps what is most powerful about reading books, that they allow us to step into another person’s shoes, but to also experience everything they do and say, without cost, remorse or recriminations. We are a fly on the wall, a ghost sliding through the corridors of life, enjoying all the rampaging energy, the life, creation and destruction that writers expose us to. They are a doorway to everything else we can imagine, but don’t want to experience, and most of all they provide us with a route to a series of experiences from which we draw a full range of emotional experiences, all without cost. Why without cost? Because when we have had enough, for that day or that moment, we can close the book, and go back to our safe, normal lives.

Thank goodness for writers, for creators, and thank goodness for books.

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Our shared love of reading

I think it’s fair to say we all share the love of a good book, but I sometimes wonder what it is that creates the perfect setting for a really good book. This got me to thinking about a range of things connected with reading, and what we need in order to enjoy it.
I thought about how I have read books, and in what manner in the past, and how these things have affected what I felt about the book, and even how I remembered it.

Back when Stephen King released his new book Cell , I recall having a digital copy of it on my small electronic PDA. This was before the widespread use of smart phones and tablets, when people used electronic PDA devices for everything that smart phones do, only back then not as well. The screens were not high resolution, and usually only black and white, but when it came to writing notes and even reading ebooks, they did the job. I spent an entire week, each night having a bath, laid in hot water, reading that book of Mr King’s. I will admit, it wasn’t one of his best, but it was enjoyable anyway, and I think all the more memorable because I read it while in the bath, and using this PDA, which was a first for me.

I got to thinking of all the ways I have enjoyed a book, and how the setting of my reading contributed to my enjoyment. That time in the bath was unique, and enjoyable, but mostly my reading takes place when I am in bed. I have a small night light on, by the side of my bed, and I am snugly comfy under the plush covers, propped up by some lovely pillows, with a drink and a snack if I can find the time to put the book down long enough to enjoy them. I have read countless books this way, and for me it is a moment of tranquillity and solitude, while I lose myself in a book, where my imagination can roam and my attention is lost within its world.

I know one family member of mine has a very large armchair, quite huge in fact. She gets a very large fleece, wraps herself in it, and curls up on the chair with her new book and reads it for hours.
The place where we sit or lay to enjoy our new book can become symbiotic with its enjoyment, as if we are cocooned within a shell, protected from disturbances, transported away so that our minds can truly connect with the characters and situations within.
So I think it is fair to say that how we prepare where we read is as important as anything else. It provides us with a base from which we can remain relaxed and focused on the journey into the next book.

I think where we are to do this is as important as any element in our experience as readers, so that through this we can soak up every word and every detail, unhinge our imaginations and enjoy all the thrills and emotions, good or bad from a novel, without having to worry about feeling uncomfortable or stiff, or cold, or how our surroundings keep impinging on what we are trying to experience.

I no longer read books in the bath, far too many curled pages from the steam on my beloved paperbacks. Now I mirror that of a family member, a lovely large leather chair, with a footstool, and a huge fleece which buries me. I even go so far as to wear ear plugs now! Because I take those first steps into that new world of literature, nothing can possible stop me!

We are spoilt in a way, so many choices, not only of the books we want to read, but how and where we can do it. That’s the beauty of reading; we can do it anywhere.

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Why do we read fiction?

I think it’s a good question really. Nonfiction is obvious, because for that we want to learn something new, or something which can be useful to help us solve a problem, or do something we want doing. Fiction, that is a completely different ball game.

A cursory glance at Kindle on Amazon shows us that there are over twenty two thousand categories of books on their market, the vast majority of which are dedicated to fiction. Break down the obvious genres of fiction such as Romance, Science Fiction, Murder Mystery, Horror and others, and you get many more sub categories. Each of these is broken down into yet more categories and each of those into ever smaller categories.

The point of all this is to prove just how varied our tastes are in fiction. We don’t all like one type of book, even if we like the same genres, how a particular book works can be attractive to us, and our imaginations, where for others it might not be. If enough people like this, then more will buy those types of books, and more will write for them, to cater for sales.

The most important element of all this is the reader, because there would be no point in writing if no one read it. However, the reader isn’t entirely passive in this experience, because as I have said, imagination plays a huge part in the experience of reading fiction.

If we entirely relied on what we read, those words and the expressed actions, and ignored any descriptions of characters or settings, the details that flesh out a book, then what would separate a book from a film? With a film we are much more passive with our thoughts, except our emotions come into play. Of course they do in a book, but we feel much more in control of our emotions when reading a book, because we decide how we internally visualize what we read, and we decide how much emotional attachment we accept with the book’s characters and what occurs.

So clearly when reading a book, we invest much more imagination in what we read, and shape in our minds what we see, feel and think about events. We are guided much less by a book than any other medium.

So for the deeply personal experience that reading allows us, books of fiction are surely the most unique experience we can have. Books are renowned for being deeper and more detailed than any television series could be, or any film, which are always constrained by running times and productions costs. Books never suffer this. A prime example of this is Stephen King’s The Stand, of which the unabridged version was over a thousand pages. Miniseries that attempted to recreate the vast book never truly captured the essence of the characters and events.

So why do we read fiction so much? I believe it is because we are transported there, either as a character in the book, or as a fly on the wall, and at our own pace we can explore the world the writer has given us.

It really is a unique concept, and an important one for us all. I’m just proud to be able to sit on both sides of the fence on this, creator and reader.


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