I have received my first comment!

Wow – I’ve just been left a fantastic comment from Madelyn regarding my book! Of course, I’m feeling very excited that people are actually reading my book, but I can’t help wondering how they heard about it. Little did I know that, without any marketing, no-one is going to know about my ‘masterpiece’. I actually thoroughly enjoyed writing my debut novel, and am now working on the sequel, but I don’t think that I want to spend my limited time on sales and marketing! I set up this website in order to receive feedback but, just like my novel, I don’t think that many people know it exists! Madelyn’s comments were just what I was needing. I have no idea who she is, or where in the world she lives, but I do wish her a big ‘thank you’.

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Your comments required, please.

It never ceases to amaze me how, quite unexpectedly, something comes along which completely changes the direction of one’s life! This time, it was an advertisement for a course on Creative Writing. To this day, I’m not sure what it was about the advert that attracted me, but curiosity got the better of me, so along I went to find out a little more. There were about a dozen people in the class, all of whom knew each other very well as they had been attending the course for quite some time. At first I felt a little intimidated, as I’d never undertaken any writing before, but everyone made me feel very welcome so I soon settled in.

After a couple of terms, the tutor retired, but I was not deterred. I joined another class where, once again, the other members were delightful and my new tutor was an hysterically funny lady who was full of encouragement. A couple of the ladies in the group had already written various articles and novels, which made my homework sound very amateurish. We were given a story to write, every week, which we then had to read aloud to the rest of the class. I found this very daunting!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I decided to write a novel.

Being from the UK, I have always been interested in the English aristocracy, particularly around the 19th century. I always thought that the Victorian era must have been a very exciting time, with all its discoveries and inventions, but I wouldn’t have wanted to have been poor in those days! Little did I realise how much research I would need for such a novel, even for the slightest things.

Not knowing anything about the world of publishing, I decided to self-publish my novel on Amazon. Although I wrote the novel for myself, I must admit that I found myself secretly hoping that it would be a success. Of course, the thing that I really want to know is ‘Is it any good?’ Hopefully, this is where visitors to my website may help me.

Underneath the title of my book ‘The Destruction of Innocence’ I am posting free chapters, on which I would love to receive your comments. So far, I have uploaded chapters 1 – 3 and I would be truly grateful to receive any constructive comments, either on the content of the novel or on my style of writing.

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