Wrekin Writers and Kindle Publishing and a big thank you to Bryan Vaughan

It was good to go back to Wrekin Writers yesterday and to see so many old friends and yes, it did confirm that I should never have left in the first place. However, there was sadness too because of events that have taken place since I last went. I really do hope issues can be resolved so the sadness will be lifted.

Yesterday Bryan Vaughan did a presentation on Kindle Publishing. His own book Taken (The Roxy Harker Chronicles) is available on to download on Kindle from Amazon and believe me it is well worth a read. The presentation did get a bit complicated, probably mainly due to the fact he didn't have a projector but used his laptop but since then Bryan had supplied us all with a copy of his presentation to read through at our leisure.

But there two things that really struck yesterday morning and they had nothing to do with the actual 'mechanics' of uploading your book on to Kindle but it was the author himself.

Bryan has a firm belief in not only his book but his ability as an author to write what is a damn good story. I first read Taken several years ago in one of its earlier drafts and enjoyed it then but it did need work doing on it. Between then and now he's honed, cut, polished and crafted his book and he's never given in or lost that belief in his work or himself.

I really admire that because I've done exactly the opposite. I've written lots of 'good stuff' and left it to fester on the computer which although many don't realise, it has caused me immense frustration to the point of almost paralysis. That's not an excuse - that's a statement. Hence the reason Bryan's work is out there being read and mine still sits on the hard drive.

And that brings me to the second thing that struck me. Bryan did say 'I want my work to be read.' God those words have echoed around in my head ever since. I don't know how many times I've said that or even more often, how many times I've thought it. I know the buzz of seeing your name in print. I know the thrill a writer gets when someone says 'I enjoyed that,' and I know the frustration of trying to get it right and even worse the frustration of not even trying.

Kindle Publishing is an exciting innovation for writers because it gives the opportunity to get your work out there. Yes there is and will be a lot of dross (don't get me started on The Hidden Prince but the price should have given the joke away in the first place and I know the word gullible isn't in the dictionary) but I do believe that through Kindle Publishing the good writers will succeed and who knows the next JK Rowling could be uploading their work to Kindle at this very moment.

A big thank you from me to Bryan for yesterday and I really do wish him well with his book and look forward to reading his next. And to all other writers out who are like me have been paralysed by the weight of words buried deep in the 'cesspit' of their hard drive - don't let it rot, give it another read - you never know what you might find.

And failing that bum on seat - I think I need to spend time in Tumbles Forge again.