Ceara Comeau's Blog (19)

It’s that time of year again where we all mention the…

If I hadn’t had that one book signing, I would have never met, Dan, an author who helped me reach the people of Auburn, NH.

If I hadn’t donated “Memories of Chronosalis” to the Hooksett, NH library, I would have never known about the New England Author’s Expo.

If I hadn’t attended the first event of the Expo, I would have never met the friends I did or gained the valuable experience.

If I hadn’t gone as a spectator to the Derry, NH library event, I wouldn’t have known…

“A writer is only good as his or her own experience.” Have…

Over the last few weeks, almost every conversation with friends and family has started with variations of this one phrase, “Man, you’re really getting out there with your books!” I find a lot of humor in this comment because the truth is. I’m not. At least, I don’t see it that way. Sure, I’ve been keeping people updated on the latest news and such and I sound like I’m really successful. But the truth of the matter is that over the past month I have faced trial after trial. Between marketing…

So, I have a confession to make. I’m a gamer. Not an avid gamer, mind you. But I do enjoy playing puzzle related games whenever I’m stuck on a section in my writing. And I’ve noticed a lot of comparisons between book marketing and gaming.



I have this one mystery/paranormal game that is so much fun to play, but like life, it won’t hold your hand. You have to figure out what you’re supposed to do in each section by yourself. Sometimes I mess up and have to start at the beginning of…

“Don’t take yourself so seriously!” I’ve heard this phrase more times in my life than I can count. And, it’s quite a true statement of life in general. But when you have a goal that you’re absolutely passionate about, well, that’s an entirely different story.

See I recently took part in a book fair where about twenty self-published or indie published authors, spent six hours representing their work and learning from each other. It was a fantastic time, I met new friends, and it was…

I had the most amazing revelation a few weeks ago and it all began with a goofy sugar-high conversation with my best friend.

Let me start at the beginning…

It was a frigid winter night and I found myself watching a television show where the character development was phenomenal.…

Well, it’s that time of year again. The time of year where we all make new year’s resolutions that we accidentally forget about within a month. I started my resolution a little over a month ago and fell into that ‘forgetful’ category. I had it in my mind that I would work really hard to get my new book out to the world and everything was going great. That is until reality started banging on the door. I was running out of ideas on…

Picture this...you're in a massive maze trying to reach the end where a reward beyond your

imagination awaits you. The walls constantly move at random and sometimes you're boxed in until an opening appears. Sometimes...you even have to go back to the starting line...if you can find it.



Sounds like something magical from Harry Potter, right? Well, yes and no. I'm talking, not about a literal maze, but the maze of life. Or rather, a life of one who's trying to make a living…

Yesterday was an amazing day for me. I got the chance to give a talk at a local charter school. One of the teachers, who I knew in high school, invited me to come and talk to the students about writing.



Not going to lie, I was very nervous as I haven't given a talk in a couple years. But the students were absolutely amazing and made me feel so welcome! But before the talk even began one girl came up to me and asked, "Did you write the Amber Oak Mysteries?" A huge smile lit up my…

The other day, I hired someone to do a book trailer for my upcoming book. I was a bit nervous about it because I wasn't sure how it would turn out. When I got the trailer back, it was done well, but it wasn't what I wanted. This was definitely not the other person's fault. They just did what I asked.



But you know, I learned something from this situation. Sure, I lost some money from this project, but I gained new insight about myself. I discovered that I had the creativeness in me…

I just recently came back from a wonderful vacation at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Now it was definitely fun, but I also learned an important lesson.



This lesson came to me when I got to have the full "Harry Potter" experience where a wand chose me. (If you've read the books or seen the movies, you'll know what I'm talking about.)



The only thing I could think about after all that was, I wanted my future fans to feel that same kind of excitement toward my…

In my previous posts, I've expressed how challenging writing can be. But, that's only half the battle. The real difficulty begins when you go to publish.



Years ago, a writer could only publish their manuscripts through a traditional publisher, but with the 21st century comes self-publishing. A writer no longer needs to beg an agent to take a look at their manuscript. The writer is their own publisher...sounds great! Right? Well it depends.



Self-publishing and…

You know the usual greeting when you first meet someone.  You exchange salutations and eventually the conversations goes around to, "So what do you do for a living?"

Generally, when I say I am a writer, I get one of two looks. The "You're kidding me, right?" or my personal favorite, "You write? Oh, that's cute."  When I first started out on this journey, I felt so insecure about my work that when I got this reaction I didn't feel writing was anything special. I ended up…

"Oh, I've edited my manuscript so many times, I forgot which draft I'm on!"



If I had a dollar for every time I've said this, I'd have enough to hire a book publicist. But is it really about how many drafts you're on? Is that a good measurement of when you should stop editing or proofreading your manuscript? Absolutely not.



When I first started out writing, I was so impatient when it came to editing my work. I didn't care about how I should improve my craft, I just…

Now, by the sounds of this blog title, you're probably thinking, "Of course you can write for a living! Just look at Stephen King or J.K. Rowling!"



This statement is definitely valid. But I think as budding writers and avid readers we often forget how much work goes into the concept of "writing for a living". It isn't just, "BAM! I wrote a book, now everybody read it!" No, there is so much more to it than that.



I've heard it said before that "writing for a living" can be…

This past weekend I attended a writing event at nearby library. A friend of mine from there asked me to come and take part. I was grateful for the opportunity as I was trying to reach out to more people. Unfortunately, no one, aside from other authors, showed up. But that's not to say nothing came out of it. In fact, this was a major learning experience for me.



You see, I've always considered myself an ambivert. This is not a term one usually hears, but its a combination of…

When I first started writing, I was about ten years old. At the time, I had just found my way into the writing world and I didn't know all that much. I was mainly self-taught and learned what I could through reading mystery books like Nancy Drew. I found the world of writing to be fascinating and wanted to discover myself through this art form.



Looking back, I wasn't all that great at it. I could write dialogue effortlessly, but descriptions were the bane of my writing existence.…