More soul information...

It only just occurred to me, in a flash of blindingly obvious insight, that I should let you all know of two sites where you can get lots more information about souls, past lives, and the life between lives. These are:
www.spiritualregression.org  (I am failing spectacularly to make a link, the site does exist, I have done something wrong)which is the official site for Dr Michael Newton's 'Institute for Spiritual Regression', and on Facebook there is a member's group called 'The Michael Newton Institute for Life between Lives Hypnotherapy' where people interested in the subject can discuss it.

Soul Colours

My character Trynor, a spirit guide in "Despite the Angels", is tweeting these days, and has just made a comment about soul colours. This information comes from the work and observations of Dr Michael Newton, who regressed maybe 8,000 people to the "Life between Lives".
He reports that very young souls are bright white, and there is then a progression of colours through yellow to green, to blue and lastly to purple as souls mature and gain wisdom.
There is no virtue in being an 'old soul' compared with a young one, any more than it is virtuous to be in the final year of secondary school compared with being in kindergarten. It is just a matter of time.
Read more in 'Journey of Souls' and 'Destiny of Souls' by Michael Newton.
Follow Trynor on Twitter @TrynorTheGuide

Maybe they do guide me....

I have just finished going through and improving 'Despite the Angels', and although I wrote some new stuff, and deleted other bits, nothing the 'angels' said had to be changed. When I wrote the book I always found that once I started quoting the angels (spirit guides really) it flowed really easily. You might fear that it could be like a sermon as result, but spirit guides are very light-hearted and can be funny. Have a look at Dr Michael Newton's books,(Journey of Souls. Destiny of Souls) and you will get many examples. The afterlife isn't a scary place to go at all, but full of fun and laughter - as you'd expect, when people call it heaven!!

A Spirit Guide takes to Social Media

One of my characters has a new Twitter account, and is beginning to feel his (well, spirit guides have no gender really, but 'he' is happy enough to be male for the moment) way. He has told me it is a real treat to communicate so clearly with in-body humans. Usually he is hugely frustrated because his people (See 'Lucy' in "Despite the Angels" when it comes out) never listen, or pick him up wrong.
If you would like to follow the musings of a guide, you can find him @TrynorTheGuide. He doesn't mind being called a guardian angel, either, although it is not strictly accurate. Angels are much higher beings, and rarely communicate with incarnated humans.

The first Re-write is done

Today I had a good morning at the Carousel Writers' Café up the Dublin hills. The brainchild of Carolann Copland, a fellow writer, it provides a quiet space with great view, and all the hot drinks and energy providing snacks you could want. So in the peace I got to the end of "Despite the Angels" with my first re-write.
Now I have to put it aside for a few days, and then read it to see if my characters, Lucy and David, like what I have done with their lives!
Even more important, do their spirit guides approve? 'Jotin' and 'Trynor' are very vocal, so they will let me know if the story is not right.
I don't think the book will be out before Christmas, but when it is, it will be even better for ageing slowly, like a fine wine....

A Romance!

My editor tells me I have written a romance! And there I was thinking it would have to go into one of the 'paranormal' genres, and maybe never be seen again. But she says that as the 'spirit guides' (the Angels of the title) don't actually appear to the humans in the story, only to the reader, it isn't paranormal at all, just a romance with an interesting twist.
So a bit of re-writing is needed now, to tune it up, and maybe make it even more romantic...
Will I get "Despite the Angels" out by Christmas?
Trying my best....

Past Life cures nail-biting!

In May 2012, when 'Bill' came to see me for a past-life regression, he didn't mention his life-long nail biting habit. He had various questions about how his life was going, but mainly was curious. So we did a regression session, and he saw three past lives. One as a hunter in the hunter-gatherer times, one as an unwilling sailor on a privateer (pirate ship) in about the16th Century, and the third as a German soldier on the Russian front in WW2. In all three he died violently, and felt he had little or no control over his destiny.
Today 'Bill' came back for a 'life between lives' regression, and before we started the session, he told me that  since his last session he had not felt any need  to bite his nails! He had no idea why this was no longer a compulsion.
During his 'LBL' session, I asked why the nail biting had stopped, and the answer came that in those past lives he had actually shown courage, even though at the time he had thought he was being passive.
So I can only assume that his sub-conscious mind received a huge ego-boost, and he no longer needs the comfort of the nail-biting.
His nails look well-groomed, and many other niggles have been smoothed out too.

Researching in the Médoc

Writing a book with historical pieces gives a good excuse for making trips to research for accuracy. This photo shows me in a graveyard in the Médoc region of Western France, reading the names on gravestones. I was looking at surnames, to find a common one to give my heroine, Lucy, in her life as Eloise during the French Revolution. There were quite a number of Seurins, so she became Eloise Seurin. David was called Daniel in that life, and I made up the name of deVrac for him, which is a joke - en vrac meaning wholesale, and a common way to see wine advertised: "Vins en vrac".

I found out much more about the Médoc and its history than I was able to put in the book, which is about Lucy and David, not France. But the overall 'feel' should be genuine.

The Words We Use May Tell the Truth

Several years ago now, I attended a course about becoming aware of your own inner energies. The teacher, Ruth, is a healer and very psychic, and can see auras. Actually, during the course she taught us how to see an aura, and I was one of the lucky 50% who achieved it. But I digress.
Ruth explained that it is possible that in the past more people were aware of their own energies, at least subconsciously, and that this affected our language. Have you ever said "I was beside myself with rage"? Ruth said that an angry person's aura, or energy field, will often move to one side, so that they are literally 'beside themselves'. "She is above herself" is another one - a very haughty person may project their energies upwards, presumably to look down on the rest of us. "He is very down" - same thing, his energies have sagged.
My mother often uses the phrase "In my next life I'll be rich/a man/ like your Aunt Ray" or whatever is bugging her this time. But as far as I know she does not actively believe in reincarnation. And Mum is not the only person I have heard using this phrase, probably thinking they are joking. I say it myself, as I did this evening when I bit a profiterole and cream shot everywhere - "In my next life I'll be elegant", and the stranger I was chatting with laughed easily and we chatted on. But is it possible that we are telling more truth than we realise, and that at an unconscious level we are aware that we will get another go? I have a bit of a laugh at this idea in my second novel,'Revisited Sins', which I will put on the conveyor belt to publication once 'Despite the Angels' is out there.

Getting exciting....

I am off for a holiday, but leaving things exciting - "Despite the Angels" is with an editor, and I also have seen the first 'drafts' of a cover design. I was hoping this would be ready to share, but we have to wait a little longer.
"Jill" (see Hairs on back of my neck, Below) came back for her 'Life between lives' session, and got a lot of information about her life today. She was pleased to find that she is doing the right job, and making progress in the right ways. I have tried to Google the information she got about her last life on Earth, but it is difficult to know where to look, so we may never get clear confirmation as for her North African life. But it doesn't matter to 'Jill', she is setting off into the rest of her modern life with a renewed sense of purpose.

We have all been "baddies"

As I said below, we have not all been princes in our past lives. But we have all been the villain,even though most of us do not visit villainous lives during regression. Our conscious minds block it, as we are all much more comfortable with the idea that we are the victim, and everyone is always mean to us!

I had a client who did see herself in the bad role, and I wrote about it in Chapter 24 of "Memories of the Afterlife" edited by Dr Michael Newton.You can read the full story there, but I'll give a taste of it here.

Marguerite, my client, came for past-life and life-between-lives sessions to find out why she was 'stuck' in one area of her life. The first past lives she experienced were quite far back in history, and resonated with her present life. The third, done just before her 'LBL' session, was in a more modern setting, and she was married to an abusive husband who eventually killed her. We then carried on into the life-between-lives, and she gained much information, which she felt afterwards would help her to clear the block. (She also wanted to write a book!)

A few months later, she returned for another past-life regression, as she became anxious every time she started to write, and felt the situation was not resolved. She saw herself first speaking out against the religious establishment in Ancient Rome, and being poisoned as result. This (apart from the poisoning!) seems rather like her modern situation, so it was not much help. I suggested she look further, and she found a life as a witch-doctor who carried out a child-sacrifice, in the belief that this would fill her with healing powers which could benefit her tribe. Later in that life she repented, and cut her own throat. Within the hypnosis session, she was able to discuss this with her spirit guide, and gained much clarity. She is no longer upset by people who hold strong opposing views to her own, as she understands very clearly that they may do so because of genuinely held beliefs. The 'evil' amongst us may often believe they are acting for the best. It is very likely that we have all found ourselves acting on false or damaging information during at least one of our past lives....

The Next Hurdle

"Despite the Angels" took a small step towards publication today - it has gone off by email to 'The Literary Consultancy' (.co.uk) for editing. I am also asking the editor who reads it to suggest its genre. A kind contributor on this blog suggests 'occult' but I'm not sure about that, as I feel occult makes people think of vampires and séances. 'Despite the Angels', despite the angels in it, is very ordinary. I hope that will be one of its strong points.
Also, I would not like it to be seen and read only by people already interested in reincarnation. It is a story suitable for everyone, just as fiction. Terry Pratchett's readers do not have to believe there is a flat world on the back of a turtle out there somewhere, so my readers do not have to believe in past lives...
What genres do you look in to find the books you like?

We were not all Cleopatra!

     A common criticism from those who are unwilling to consider the possibility of reincarnation is that "Everyone always thinks they were Cleopatra or Attila the Hun". Actually, nothing is further from the truth. The overwhelming majority of past life regressions show very ordinary lives, often as foot soldiers, servants, small farmers, slaves or peasants. If you think about it, this is to be expected - most lives lived today are those of ordinary people, even with our modern culture of 'celebrity'. In the past the proportion of famous to plain would have been even smaller.
     Ordinary lives can provide huge learning experiences. It is not necessary to be be a famous person (today any more than in yesteryear) to experience all of life's emotions. In fact, some of the hardest, and most valuable, lessons have been learned in very humble bodies.
     It is of course possible that reincarnations of well known characters are walking the earth at this time. The famous reincarnate as much as anyone else. In terms of a soul's learning, a life as a king, bishop or film star is no more useful than one as an ordinary 'Joe Soap'. What is 'better than' when in the body is definitely 'the same as' to the soul.
     It is also possible that a person may see themselves in a famous life, not because they were that character, but because something about the character resonates with the modern person's present life. For example, a woman who feels betrayed could see herself as Anne Boleyn. This is not because that person actually was Anne Boleyn, but because the story can clarify to her that she feels as hard done by as Anne must have felt.
     The other explanation is that the modern person may have had a past life in the entourage of the famous.

     Having said all that, I have never regressed anyone into a 'famous life', nor have the dozen past lives I have experienced been of any historical note. But more of them another time!

Writing at the Bar

No WiFi at home, so must go to local bar to connect. This is today's contribution to 'Nulle Part Ailleurs' staying open for us! (as well as drinks) They are lovely here, in Trémolat, Périgord.
Forgot to add this photo to post below....

On Holidays...

As I'm on holidays, I thought I'd put up a poem I wrote based on an experience on last year's hols, in the same place. In this part of France, the towns and villages hold 'Marchés Nocturnes' or 'Soirées Gourmandes' - where they basically turn the town square into a food hall. Delicious food is available to buy, and there is usually some sort of entertainment. Last year, at 'Creysse', where they do a fish-based marché, they had musicians. And I watched, and the writer in me produced this. This poem was published in 'Circle Time', the Dalkey Writers Workshop anthology, last autumn.
 Sorry, nothing about past lives this time, but an enormous celebration of the lives we are living now...

Marché Nocturne

Serried poplars, pinkening sky
garlic and mussel scented air
guitar and accordion set up their cry-
it is time to dance at the night fair.

Plump and bald answer the call,
wives in hand, remembering when
these were sylph-girls at a Hunters' Ball:
thought they would always be young men.

Ancient lessons guide them round
on easy moving feet
that music such a familiar sound,
a happy lilting beat.

They look down with loving eyes,
smile through all the years
connectedness that never dies
enhanced by local wine, or beers

which ooze out of a million pores
and stain two dozen shirts,
wives fatter now than years before
and wearing longer skirts

but in his eyes the very girl
he held so close back then,
this gentle move the self-same whirl:
old bodies still contain young men.

Hairs on the Back of my Neck

Yesterday I did a past-life regression for a young woman (I'll call her Jill), who saw herself in a life in France and then moving to Africa. She was able to see the date on a newspaper, it was 12th July 1845. She couldn't read the paper, it was in a strange script. She died on that day, her head was cut off during "absolute chaos, everyone is dying". Her attacker was a black man, which at the time I thought was odd as the story seemed to fit North Africa more than the south. She also could tell me the port began with a "J".
This morning I got a phone call -"I'm sorry to ring so early, but I couldn't hold myself in". It was Jill. She told me she had Googled the date, 12.July1845, and found that in the Algerian port of Jijel there was fighting on that day, including attacks by pirates, which probably explains the man from further south.
It is fascinating to have a clear confirmation of a past-life fact, and well done to 'Jill' for seeing the date so clearly! She saw other details well too, for example, they were growing oranges for export.
It encourages me that my two books are set in a real world, where reincarnation happens. Sadly, publishers do not believe in reincarnation, so have trouble with putting my books into a 'genre'.
Can you suggest what genre they might be, when I get them up on Amazon later this year?

I Have Been Here Before

     "If the waitress comes back, tell her I'll have the chocolate mousse," I said to George, and set off to find the toilets. We were having lunch in the "Auberge de Gascogne", a cheap and cheerful roadside 'Relais Routiers' in the south west of France. It was a normal day of our holiday, not the sort of day or place I expected anything out of the ordinary to happen.

     The sign 'toilettes' pointed along a dim corridor, which sloped down.About twelve yards away I could see light streaming in from the left. As I walked down the slight incline, a strange feeling came over me. I found myself straightening up, taking a deeper breath, throwing my shoulders back a little. A feeling of anticipation stole over me. I recognised it from my small experience of amateur acting - I was getting ready to walk on stage. It was a lovely sensation: I knew I was ready, that I could do my act without any difficulty. Maybe I even felt a bit famous, as though people waiting out there were glad it was me that was coming.

     But in no time I was at the end of the passage, turning to my left. And there in front of me was the toilet cubicle, sunlight shining in through frosted glass. My heart fell. As I sat there, I asked myself, why was I disappointed? What had I been expecting? The answer came very quickly from some deep knowing place within me - there should have been sand, and a roaring crowd. I should have been stepping out into an arena. Not the Coliseum, but a smaller version. I had experienced what I later learnt is called a 'bleed-through', a small snippet of a past-life memory. These can be triggered by something in the environment, in my case I think by the angle of incline of the passage, and the direction of the light, which I assume mimicked the passageways under that ancient theatre. I was some sort of performer, not a gladiator, the feelings I had did not suggest that at all. It was more as though I was the warm-up man, and I take some vague pleasure from the idea that maybe in the distant past I could work a crowd!

This is part of an chapter I contributed to "The Undiscovered Country", edited by Bill Darlison

A third book

Have at last got back to writing my third book, after much work on editing 'Despite the Angels'. My third is different, it has no angels or past lives, but is set in the future, in a world where sea level is up 60metres due to global warming. There are other things different too, but people are the same everywhere and everywhen, so when these ones get into trouble with the law, I want to see them come out on top. I have to wait to see exactly how this pans out... Working title is 'The Food Circle', but will be looking for improvements on that as it gets nearer to conclusion.

My New Title

I was looking at my title 'digital publishing and me', and thought it sounded a bit drab. So I was pondering a change, and suddenly as I was driving somewhere, the new title just fell into my head. As two of my books feature reincarnation and I am spending more and more of my time on my writing, it just seems to sum it up.
I read that you are a writer if you write. So, here I am. Thank you for being there reading this; and do let me know if you like the change.

Reincarnation

I have had several experiences of reincarnation, under hypnosis, as dreams, and once, which I wrote about in "The Undiscovered Country" edited by Bill Darlison, as a 'bleed through', that is, an experience while awake. This youtube clip shows a young boy whose past death 'bled through' with astonishing clarity. Watch and be fascinated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWCUjx5nI98.   Sorry, it seems I don't know how to make this into a link. If you don't want to copy it out, it is on my Twitter today.

Publishing is a lottery

So said Chris Binchy. He also pointed out you should not feel rejected and down because of a rejection letter from a publisher - 'you don't feel rejected by a dud lotto ticket, do you?' !!
Good advice. I will keep going

A Good Critique

I had a half-hour visit with Chris Binchy (novelist, DunLaoghaire-Rathdown writer-in-residence, and Maeve's nephew) in Stillorgan library yesterday, and it was really encouraging. I had sent him the first nine A4 pages of "Despite the Angels" to comment on.
He liked the writing, and though he had a few minor suggestions about style, there was nothing major, and I agree with all his improvements. He liked the idea of the book, and feels it should be published. In fact he seemed surprised that it has not been taken up already by a conventional publisher. But of course, just now is a terrible time for old-style publishing.
We had a long chat about 'genre' because on Amazon as well as with ordinary publishers you have to be clear what genre your book is. Chris feels this is a pity as writers then write to fit the genre rather than writing the book that they want to write. No trouble with me on that one, I have always been a rebel, and so far it has rarely done me much good!
For me the most exciting thing in the meeting was that Chris thought my book is 'almost literary fiction'. That's not good from a sales point of view, as some people are scared of 'literature'. But for my confidence it's great, a good reflection on the actual writing.
I came out with my writing-energy replenished, and my optimism ratings hugely improved. Many thanks, Chris, and DunL-Rathdown County Council for making these meetings possible.

Dress Rehearsal

Dress Rehearsal went well last night. Here is the famous revolutionary hat. My 'mother' here is totally dotty, and spends her days by the guillotine, revelling in 'traitors' blood!' We are greatly disturbing the woman of the house, to the left, and the whole thing goes very wrong. It is called "Idols" and was written in 1937 so has some charming inaccuracies.

All writing is re-writing

So I am getting on with the pre-editor editing. It's a while since I wrote Despite the Angels, so it's almost like reading it fresh! I've been sad all along that I was never going to be able to just read this story, it's just the sort of thing I'd like....
The easiest part to write was the spirit guides' conversations. All completely made up stuff, but just laid itself down on the page as though it was being dictated. Perhaps it was ! (spooky??)
My third book has no angels or spirit world in it, and although I'm enjoying my characters, I do miss my angel friends. So expect a third angel-y book in the future.

A Successful Author

Our class was visited on Monday by Lawrence O'Bryan, of the recently published 'The Istanbul Puzzle'. He got a three book deal largely because the publishers were impressed by his web presence. And his book is good - a mystery thriller which I am half way through, and enjoying. It was great to hear how he did it. He's now writing 'The Jerusalem Puzzle'. He knows Istanbul well, I wonder if he is travelling to everywhere he is curious about, to set novels there? Like I said, great excuse for some travel.

I gave my friend A my second novel to read a little while ago, and she dropped it back this evening. It is called 'Revisited Sins' and will get onto Amazon (and other places) once Despite the Angels is launched. She was very positive about the book, found herself turning the pages, and had one or two useful and constructive criticisms to make. Thanks to all friends who are prepared to help! A bit of re-writing can only make the book better.
On a drama note - I had no idea how difficult it is to make a rosette! (for my revolutionary costume)

My photo at last!

As I said, I am only learning all this digital stuff, and am climbing a vertical learning curve with my (rather good) fingernails... But at last I have worked out a)how to scan in this nice photo, and b) how to get it onto here/twitter/facebook. So I am feeling that little bit more confident in my eventual ability to get my books up there too!  As well as having bronchitis this week, and making a 'Phrygian cap' for my part in 'Idols', I have been re-writing the prologue for 'Despite the Angels'. It is now much clearer for those readers who will not have prior understanding of the concepts of re-incarnation. Next I must work my way through the whole book and do the same. There are sections about Lucy and David's past lives in Crete, the Médoc, and Dundee, all of which I visited to get it as realistic as I can. A great excuse for travel - now, where will I set my next one......

Coming of Digital Age

As part of the whole publishing exercise our course recommends not only this blog, but to be on Twitter. So last night I had twitter 101 from my wonderful daughter, and am trying my hand at it, so far so good. I am amazed at the information out there. Dasida, my Ancient Cretan scribe in "Despite the Angels", would be utterly astonished.  Alessia, a past life version of my heroine Lucy, tells Dasida her spirit must be trapped in the clay when she makes her marks in it. I wonder are our spirits anywhere on The Web? !!
I am writing a new prologue for 'Angels', to help readers who are not 'into' reincarnation get a foothold in the story. I am so used to the whole concept, I tend to forget that for some people it is just fantastic rubbish. It is quite a 'melange de genres', publishing a book about such an esoteric subject in such a high tech (esoteric?) medium.
As well as writing, I am keeping my other hobbies alive. I go to a rehearsal this evening, for my little part in 'Idols', a one-act play set in the French Revolution. I am the nasty revolutionary, and get to wear a red hat. The play is with Taney Drama Society, and will be on at the end of May.

Editing and 'subbing'

'Remember this is Self publishing' says Kevin, our tutor, as he gives us another bit of homework, or a bigger piece of work for one of our four assessments. So this week we are doing our own editing and proof-reading, or to give it a new name to me, 'subbing'. Apparently I have missed my calling, as my gimlet eye picks up all the spelling mistakes in other people's work. Actually, I'm just a spelling Nazi. And as for misplaced apostrophes, don't get me started.... or maybe that should be ''''' ?
There are 10 of us on the course, and some interesting writing will come out of it, I think. My own work is getting a real once-over, and will be much the better for it.

The first class of my 12 week course was on Monday, and it was just as inspiring as Saturday's. This course is obviously taking things a bit slower so I am not so rushed to get stuff up here.But watch this space- it will get more interesting! Particularly after the creativity brainstorm we had on Monday...

If Catherine Ryan Howard could bottle her energy and sell it, she would never have to work again! A workshop packed with such energy and enthusiasm I came home absolutely buzzing and dying to get started. The day was also packed with facts, some of which were so unfamiliar I felt the edges of my brain frying. But I will get the better of them in time and not only "Despite the Angels" will hit Amazon, - "Revisited Sins", my second novel, can follow it fairly quickly.
My next job is to find a professional editor for "Despite the Angels", and then start on designing the cover.
If you want to know more about Catherine, her blog is called 'Catherine Caffeinated', which is a brilliant title - just sums her up. Unfortunately (?) I don't drink coffee, so can't emulate her....

Tomorrow starts the process. I am signed up for a one day course with Catherine Ryan Howard, via "Inkwell". She has published herself digitally, and is now sharing her knowledge. I had booked for this long before I decided to do the Independent College course, but I hope I will be able to use the information from both courses together to get my book out there online and in hard copy. So off I go at an ungodly hour of a Saturday morning, to the St George yacht club in Dunlaoghaire, to absorb all the info.

Thursday 23rd February 2012. Lift off !!

Hi, I'm Madeline, with two novels written and tired of listening to my friends saying 'but JK Rowling got loads of refusals before she was published'. So did thousands of others who never got the break. And JKR was a lot younger than me when she started....
So I'm joining the ranks of 'indie authors' and going to publish one myself. Online, to start with.
I have signed up for a course in how to do this, and one thing they said at the introductory talk is that a blog would be a good idea, to get the news out there, so here I am.
What I thought would be a vertical learning curve (setting up a blog) turned out to be a doddle, and here I am in the 21st century....
I won't have much to say until the course starts on 5th March, but I think I'll be quite busy then.

The novel is called "Despite the Angels", and follows Lucy and David, and their guardian angels through four incarnations, as they try to get things right. It's a fun read with thoughtful moments.