I will be attending Kinghorn Country Market this Saturday between 10 am and 12 noon, alongside authors Hamish Brown and Roderick Hart. We will be supporting Kinghorn in Bloom, chatting and signing books.
Category Archives: Author Diana Jackson
Come and Say Hello this Saturday!
Filed under Author Diana Jackson, Events, Fife, Marketing your novel, Scotland
New Information Sheds Light on my Book Titles
For my Riduna Series I chose Riduna and Ancasta for the titles of my first two books. My understanding at the time was that they were probably of Roman origin.
Why Riduna?
Inspired by the island of Alderney
Fond memories of family holidays on the island of Alderney, the birth place of my Great Grandmother, made a wonderful backdrop for my first novel, but snippets of Harriet’s life, dropped into conversation by my father, sowed the seeds of a story which began to form in my head. But why ‘Riduna?’
Genealogy and How it Shaped my Writing
I was so aware of recent World War 2 history of the island, when its inhabitants were evacuated and the island itself was used as a concentration camp. I wanted to distance my novel from this time, after all it was set in the Victoria era. The name ‘Riduna’ could be seen on shop signs, on their crest (below) and the islanders called themselves Ridunains (and still do when talking of rugby teams for example, in interisland matches)
At the time it was believed that Riduna was the Roman name for the island of Alderney. A few historians have disputed this since I released my novel, but, nevertheless, it would be really hard to sever the ties of Alderney to this, its most romantic of names, which is deep in the psyche of true islanders.
Why Ancasta?
Back in 2012, when Ancasta Guide me Swiftly Home, I described my choice of title in a blog post:
Why Ancasta? ~ The Ancasta Stone.
My understanding has crystalised since, by reading a Wikipedia post on Ancasta, which shows her originally as a local Celtic Goddess, probably of the River Itchen in Southampton (from which my novel ebbs and flows.) She was almost certainly adopted by the Romans at their large settlement at Bitterne, up the water, called Clausentum. See the Philosophy Now Forum for clarification.
Filed under Alderney, Ancasta, Author Diana Jackson, Family History, Inspiration, Riduna
Should Authors Write an e-will?
As Pink Floyd sang on the iconic Dark Side of the Moon …
Waking Up to a Reality Check
I’m just about reaching that age when I’ll finally receive my Old Age Pension soon and following attending a funeral recently I woke up realising I needed a reality check. I was also prompted by an article by Holly Mead, the Deputy Money Editor in Saturday’s Times. Not only do I need to update my will but I need to write an e-will.
Including Publications in a Will
I have already vaguely mentioned my published books in a previous will, but this needs to be updated. What about the following though?
- Unfinished Manuscripts
- PDF’s
- Passing on relevant PDF’s to charities (The Healing Paths of Fife for example) and giving them permission to use them if they wish. ‘Passing on the Rights’ in other words.
- Paperback copies in my stock cupboard.
But it needs to be clear who would administer this. At present I have a solicitor acting as Executor which makes sense, and less work for any family members.
Writing an e-will
This is a bit more tricky, but here is my list I’ve thought of so far:
- Passwords to Facebook, Blog, Twitter (it will always be Twitter to me!) and Goodreads
- A short post to explain that I have died and then close the accounts
- There are a plethora of other sites. Here are some I have accounts with.
- Draft2Digital, Storyorigin, Smashwords, Booklinker, Bookbaby…
- I need to close obsolete accounts now such as Instagram and Pinterest which I have never really got into.
- I need to pass on a contact for my website
Contact the Publisher
In my case, I am part of a small Indie Publisher ~ An Author Collective ~ a supportive bunch of authors, more like a family, but I can’t assume someone will step in and sort all of this out. I need to think carefully and ask someone, who would agree to deal with:
- Unpublishing books in print or e books
- Calculate any outstanding royalties
- Contact Public Lending Rights
In fact, this is a discussion we all need to have.
Other organisations
In my case The Society of Authors, The Alderney Society, Shuttleworth, The Guernsey Society.
Anything Else?
The lists above are by on means exhaustive. If you can think of anything important I’ve missed then please let me know.
Filed under Author Diana Jackson
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