The Twitter Beast.

An article popped up in my Twitter feed this morning that had been re-shared by one of my favorite people, Rachel Thompson. Penned by author and writing coach Rebecca T. Dickson, the article was a personal reflection on the beast that is Twitter and how profoundly overwhelming it can be for a newcomer to this most popular of social networking tools. Dickson's article lead me to think about my own "relationship" with Twitter and I thought it worthy of exploring here.

Of all the mistakes that can be made with Twitter, you can bet that I have made them.

When I first began my Twitter “career” around the time of The Hambledown Dream's publication in 2010, I really had no idea what I was doing. I think I set up my account on the advice of a friend who said that it is "essential" to my "platform". At the time, I was like - ??? - but, eager to adopt anything that would help my efforts to get noticed, I dove in to the ocean head first.

And I tended to observe (the worst of) what other writers were doing, thinking that what they were doing was what I had to do. It wasn't merely a congenial marketplace in which to sell ones wares. Rather, I found it to be a battle - a war almost - to be heard, to get the edge and to be noticed. I used every third party plug in there was available - from friend finders, to re-tweet engines, to group tweeters. I gravitated towards a number of self appointed 'gurus' who were out there making more noise than anyone else, because I mistakenly believed it would give me the edge I needed in the market place where it is all about sales. There is no room therein for connection...or so I thought.

I realized, after too long a period of time, that everything I was doing was completely wrong – that I was doing untold damage to myself as a presence on Twitter - as brand, if you will. I realized that no-one was listening. I was just another voice in the scream - kinda like that scene in Titanic, after the ship goes down and the camera pulls back on the desperate swimmers in the water, fighting to be heard.

I reconsidered everything – dropped the blanket promotion and the third party plug-ins and the (seemingly) desperate re-tweet groups. I began to treat myself, not as a marketing tool and began to take a deeper look at who I was following and who was following me. In the effort to make a sale, I missed out on whole strands of potential conversation in my blind pursuit of...whatever it was I was trying to pursue. I actually lost sight of my goals in all of that white noise from before.

So I began to tweet organically a whole lot more. I began to look more closely for people who were stimulating conversation both with me and with the Twitter-sphere more broadly. I looked at what they were talking about and found common threads of perspective. Since then, my own satisfaction with Twitter has grown exponentially. My new approach has paid off also - in terms of how my content is influencing others via re-tweets and the conversations I have contributed to and those which I have started myself. 

And, I have allowed myself to have fun with it.

Do I still promote? Absolutely – I am a published author with two novels, one novella and a contribution to an anthology that I want them to sell and sell well - and I am human after all. 

I’ll admit, here and now, that I probably still do the promotion thing too much. But, I am far more disciplined than I was. I'll slip in the occasional promo tweet here and there but that is not my motivation for my presence on Twitter anymore. 

I have learned the lesson of the Twitter Beast. 

And she is a pussy cat...

image credit: Izra (via Deviantart)

Follow me on Twitter at Hambledown_Road.

DFA.

The Romance Reviews features Me.

My feature Interview with Laura over at The Romance Reviews has just gone live and will be featured throughout the month of June on the front page of their site.

I hope you can click on over and have a look at the interview and let me know what you think. I had fun with this one and Laura was keen to explore some of the underlying themes in my writing which I liked a lot.

Here's a little grab from it in which I discuss the thematics of The Hambledown Dream:

"One underlying theme is how the power of music can be a force for good and it can salvage the most wretched of souls if that soul is willing to let it. Reincarnation is a prominent theme in the book also but I kind of bent the rules in relation to how that theme plays out. Usually, stories of reincarnation see an individual move on from what was their life before, of letting go but in THE HAMBLEDOWN DREAM, reincarnation was more an obstacle or a challenge put in front of the protagonist in his quest to find his way home, back to where he belongs..."

 DFA.

Dymocks, West Lakes. A Small Gathering of "Dreamers"

Last Thursday evening, I brought "The Hambledown Dream" to Dymocks Book Sellers of West Lakes in South Australia for an evening of book signing and discussion about the story, the characters and the music that characterizes much of my first published novel. 

It was a small gathering by comparison to my other appearances but no less enjoyable. I regard meeting readers as the single most important thing to do as an author. I appreciate that one thing above all others.

Anyway, here is a collection of images from that evening at West Lakes.

Store window display prepared by Lynette Spry of Dymocks, West Lakes.

 The Hambledown Dream on the shelves, in front and behind.

 

 This is always a nice thing to see.

Meeting with Nat. A new reader of the "Dream".

Meeting with Emma, a big supporter of the "Dream".

DFA.

An Evening With The Hambledown Dreamer.

Poster for Dean's upcoming in store signing and evening at Dymocks/West Lakes, South Australia on October 28th at 6.30PM.

(Refer to the Events page for further details).

DFA.

The Final Say - Again!

A couple of weeks ago, I was welcomed into the Radio Adelaide Studios Down Under to chat about my book "The Hambledown Dream" on "The Final Say" with Lauren Decesare and Caitlin Sullivan and play some tracks off it's unofficial/official soundtrack (yes - you read right). Well that interview is available for download here.

Last night (Sunday night), "The Final Say" welcomed me back into the studio a guest cohost and we had an awesome 90 minutes discussing life, the universe and Robin Gibb getting screwed over on live TV. I also comandeered the CD deck to get in some of my favorite tracks, INCLUDING none other than KATG's own Brother Love!! I also got in a mention of my upcoming in store author signing (see my Events page for details of that).

For a little pop culture, Australian style check out the episode we recorded last night.

The Final Say - October 10 2010 - DOWNLOAD .MP3

DFA.

Dean Mayes to Guest on Radio Adelaide.

I've just finalized arrangements with Lauren Decesare of Radio Adelaide here down under and can confirm that I will be the in studio guest on Lauren's Sunday night program "The Final Say" this coming Sunday the 12th September from 10:30PM Australian Central Standard Time.

For those of you in North America, that equates to 9:00AM Eastern Time, 8:00AM Central and 6:00 Pacific.

"The Final Say" streams live over the web and you can find the link to the stream here

Lauren and I will be discussing my novel "The Hambledown Dream" and taking listeners on the musical journey that inspired the story. We will also be showcasing a sneak preview of the audio book sampler that I have been working on these past few weeks.

This is going to be a wonderful opportunity to show case my novel in a slightly different and off beat way and I would dearly love it if you could tune in, no matter where you are and perhaps even join in the discussion. You can call into the show on +61 8 8303 5000. For those of you O.S. - Skype is a great way to chime in for a really low cost. We are also hoping that one of you out there might consider recording the stream so that we can package it up as a download later on from my site. We will be recording the show locally but a back up would be cool - just in case...Also please spread the word as far and as wide as you can. This will be a great night.

"The Final Say" is an hour and half of media and culture for the i-generation. So join Lauren and myself, this coming Sunday 12th September and capture a really cool slice of the "Dream"

DFA.

Media and Music from The Hambledown Dream.

I've just added to the "Books" section, a track listing of what I have come to regard as the definitive musical experience of "The Hambledown Dream". 

I would like to be able to couple each track to a legitimate download site so that those of you who wish to can click on the link for each track and purchase it directly. However, I need to work out how to do this so if anyone out there has suggestions or advice - I'm way open to it.

However, just between you and me, the soundtrack does actually exist - so if you are interested, drop me a line via email - and you just never know what might turn up in your inbox.

Keep that between us though okay?

Also - today I have added a media kit to the Media section of the site. This is the document that my publisher and I are using in our talks with bookstores. It's a high quality document which Michelle spent a great deal of time on and I'm really proud of the result.

Talk soon.

DFA.

The Official Launch is Covered.

The Official Launch of The Hambledown Dream makes Page 2 of The Latrobe Valley Express, 20/04/2010 (Click image to Enlarge).

Conservatism Bites.

Today I got a nice care package - a brown paper satchel from an address I knew straight away and, straight away, I knew what the contents would be.

Though "it is well written...unfortunately, due to some of the language and sexual content we are not able to endorse it on air. We have a family friendly format in all aspects of content, including give aways of books and movies"

Jayne signed off with a nice enough "God Bless" and that was it.

So a Life FM interview ain't gonna happen I'm afraid. Of course, I knew that I would be pushing the boundaries with them - them being a Christian Radio Station and all. But still...

As I said in "Contrasting Sexual Dilemmas" - my post from a couple of weeks back - many of my friends, who are Christian, had no problem whatsoever with the content...but you can't please everybody. I have come to learn that lesson acutely these past couple of weeks.

I am disappointed however. If only for the fact that I think the spiritual thematic running through The Hambledown Dream overrides the more explicit content which is fleeting. Again - it comes down to the reader at any particular point in the journey. However one good development to report to you from this weekend gone is that I will be sitting down with Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn on April 22nd to record an interview for her podcast. The Creative Penn is kind of like a writer's Bible and contains tonnes of brilliant content, news, views and interviews all geared towards writers and publishers. This one has been on the cards for a while but I can officially confirm now that it will be happening.

So to move forward...

I saw The Time Traveler's Wife last night, which has been newly released on DVD. I'm a huge fan of Eric Bana - have been for years and I think that now I am a bona fide romance author it's actually a job requirement to sit down with the odd romance flick (...in truth - I am a sucker for a good romance film).

My take - well...the jury is still out and I think I will definitely be sitting down to watch it again at some future point. I found the time travel hard to digest because it had me confused most of the time. I also found that there was a sense of foreboding throughout the movie which colored my attachment to these two lovers. It was a complicated story. But I won't write it off either. It was a classy production and it looked beautiful on-screen. Eric Bana is a solid dramatic actor and Rachel McAdams - man I can't believe that she was the same conniving bitch from Mean Girls!

I loved her in State of Play.

So what do you think of my new look blog?

DFA.

The State Of I.

I sit in the middle another early hour - somewhere in the region of 2am to be exact.

Sleep studies lab tonight... watching over a seven month old with some mysterious poor feeding/poor weight gain/poor developmental issues that are a real question mark right now. It's the kind of thing that would have Gregory House and his team salivating with a clinical/dramatic desire to solve this mystery ala Murder She Wrote. But if I throw in another TV Reference here right now - I'd probably vomit.

The old Bakelite telephone I have in my office at home has probably received more of a workout in the past month or so than at any other time in it's nearly one hundred year life span. It is seriously old - like pre WW1 old.

I purchased it from an antique store in a place called Tyabb in rural Victoria - it must have been a good 6 or 7 years ago. At the time of purchase, the shop-lady showed it to be in good working order, however the journey from there back to my home in Adelaide must have done something to it because I couldn't get the damned thing to work on my phone line in my Adelaide house. A call to the phone company revealed that it was indeed registering a fault on the network so, after a quick search, I found a guy who was a whiz went it came to these old contraptions. He found the original dialer to be so badly corroded that the only option was to replace it.

A Bakelite Telephone - not mine, but very similar to mine.

Good as new.

The black Bakelite telephone has served me beautifully ever since and has proudly sat on my desk next to my laptop, cell phone and PDA. A granddaddy communications device punching ably above it's weight in the digital age.

I have always been a lover of technology - a geek if you will - and I have an appreciation for the technology of yesterday as much as I appreciate the technology of now.

Anyway - another Monday went by yesterday and I spent most of it placing calls on the old Bakelite, following up with people who are (potentially) interested in my novel and keeping the squeaky wheel thing happening. I'm discovering that nothing happens quickly insofar as marketing.

In the case of one major book retailer here in Adelaide, who I've been talking with now for nearly six weeks, the progress has been maddeningly slow. They've expressed a keen interest in doing an event with me (supporting a local author and all that) but I'm finding that I'm doing a lot of chasing. Calling, leaving messages, emailing, requesting return receipts, getting none. As recently as today - after three attempts at speaking to the contact - leaving messages - I finally touched base with the person only to be told 'we're still waiting for the go ahead from head office'.

See - what happens is - the book store has a program supporting local authors - they help in organizing and hosting an event (i.e. a book signing/meet the author) and they secure funding from HQ to submit a purchase order to my publisher for stock. But it all happens fairly slowly and patience has never been one of my stronger virtues. I'm still being told that this all will happen...but part of me is having doubts.

I spoke again to a local FM station here in Adelaide who expressed interest in talking to me about my book and I have supplied them with a copy to review. There is one catch though, that is knocking my confidence off kilter. The station is a Christian focused one, which in itself isn't a concern for me. However the novel is quite dark in the beginning, contains a fairly graphic sex scene and also has some fairly strong language. I fear that these may work against me in terms of the station's philosophy. The novel does have a strong spiritual thematic string as well though and, as a good friend of mine - who herself identifies as a Christian - said to me today, most modern Christians are fairly progressive in their thinking and are broad minded (she, btw, loved the novel).

So I dunno...I furnished them with a copy from my own batch which I paid for...so I'm taking a leap of faith here. Time will tell.

After what I regarded as a completely bloody shambles - that being last Monday, I consider today...well now yesterday actually...to have been a much better say.

A couple of unexpected things happened today that made me smile. Two libraries - one here in Adelaide and one across in Melbourne are intending to purchase the book for their collections. This kinda spun me out because, thus far, I hadn't given much thought to libraries. But I'm told there are opportunities to do events with them as well so I'm going to consider this as another option for getting the word out.

I sat back in my chair after I had done as much as I could do by late in the afternoon and considered my old Bakelite telephone. What conversations had that phone facilitated over the years? What news had it been a silent witness to? What momentous occasions, haunting tragedy, trials and tribulations had it transported down it's wires over the many decades of dedicated service it has performed? It has accumulated nearly a century of communication mileage...

And what the hell is Bakelite anyhow?

DFA.

Randomosity (Delta).

Another lull in proceedings.

3AM, quiet, patient is under control and this is the first opportunity I've had to sit down with a cup of good ol' Caterer's Blend and breathe. I was just thinking to myself that if I put a teaspoon of pepper into this drink AFTER the three sugars I garnished it with - it would still aproximately chemical waste without the class. But it's drinkable so...I shouldn't complain.

If you're ever feeling so inclined I invite you to look up Tufting's Enteropathy on the web. Then imagine what a 13 month would be like with it. In a word - heartbreaking. I have been doing all I can to settle the little tyke down to sleep but in between the rampant diarrhoea and the vomiting, it's been next to impossible. The babe sleeps now though, thank heavens for small mercies.

It seems I have stumbled across a rich seam of gold (calloquially speaking) in the past 24 hours. In the blog-sphere there are literally millions upon millions of blogs that pertain to writing, to reading and to book reviews. So it is to here that I have turned my attentions in order to drive the marketing of The Hambledown Dream. was unaware before now - just how many blogs out there specialize in the reading of and reviewing of books. Each of them have their own audience so they each represent a potential.

The email count up until now is somewhere close to 100 - all individualized so as to appeal to each addressee in a personal fashion. Mind you I think I stuffed up royally last night when sending out the emails because I was doing it on my smartphone and I discovered that half of the email text was getting cut off in the sending. So I can imagine how my doucheyness would have looked at the other end when the recipient is reading my introduction only for it to be cut off before I have even illuminated them to the reason for my contacting them. I rectified the problem since but I still feel like an idiot.

Note for future reference - make sure you have the bloody addressee's name right too (Arrghh I could punch myself in the nose seriously).

...I have to ask this question - what is going on with the Jackson's these days. We're getting this program on pay tv at the moment called The Jacksons - A Family Dynasty. I caught a little of it the other night before work. I say a little of it because after about 3 minutes I wanted to throw my f***ing shoe at the TV. Michael's plastic nose hasn't been in the ground a year and these parasites are riding the coat tails of his death in a morbid attempt to suck as much profit from the Jackson name as they can.

Yeah, yeah I know - I could simply turn the TV off - but I'm a voyueristic pig sometimes...I just can't look away.

TV seems to be sucking more and more these days.

DFA.

First Media Interview - Available to Download

Back on Feb 3, I sat down with Marie Ryan of Melbourne's Inner FM to record an interview with her for her popular "Readings and Writings" program.

I am pleased to be able to make it available here for the first time. Grab yourself a coffee and a ginger-nut biscuit and sit back for 40 minutes or so as we talk The Hambledown Dream, the inspiration for writing and how music can be turned into prose.

Dean Talks The Hambledown Dream.

DFA.

Randomosity (Alpha).

Forgive me if I seem a little screwy...

It's a little after three in the morning. I'm at work, in the middle of my forth night duty shift this week and I'm tired - I am oh so tired. I set myself a punishing schedule this week. Not only was there the big first interview for my novel - which was pretty much central to my week - there were a number of other appointments I had to keep during the day time, which interrupted my pattern of sleep so badly that I have been functioning on a less than optimal amount when it comes time for work. 10 hour night duty shifts at the hospital are demanding mentally even if they are not particularly demanding physically. One operates on a different level than they would if it were day time. In a funny sort of way, time tends to go into a flux state...I imagine it's kind of the same sensation that my patients feel while they are sedated and paralyzed on the ventilator. Time blurs...

I've spent the past couple of days fretting over that first radio interview. It's because I'm tired I know but I keep going over all the perceived mistakes I made in it rather than appreciate the positive aspects of it. The worst thing I've been obsessing over is that I'm sure I got my publisher's name wrong when I was telling the interviewer about iReadiWrite Publishing. I'm waiting in the hope that the interviewer will come through with a CD of the interview because I know that I won't be able to let my mind rest until I listen back to it. If I did get Michelle's name wrong - I am going to find a brick wall and butt my head against it a few time. And the "umms and the ahhhs - my god! I am sure I sounded worse than Molly Meldrum (note to overseas readers - this guy made a freaking artform out of saying the umms and the ahhs when speaking publicly).

I tweeted a rather cryptic thing earlier this evening - something along the lines of "it's a desolate feeling when the one's who you hope support you the most support you the least". My publisher did advise me to be aware that support for your novel will actually come from the places where you least expect it and not to be too disappointed if those you expected to support it aren't as enthusiastic as you thought - or something like that - again I am going by memory here. Without identifying anyone specifically - I have to admit that there have been a number of people - important people - in my life who have been "ambivalent" towards the novel.

I would even go as far as to say that they have resented it even.

And it has been a disappointment - I won't hide it. Because it is something that I poured all of myself into. Every spare moment I could scrape together went into the process of writing it and it just seems that acknowledgement and/or encouragement has been hard to come by. And I know I shouldn't expect it...I don't think that is what I am trying to say. But Jesus, you know...

It's a pretty good thing.

Isn't it...

I'm reading "The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows right now. It's a lovely story - told through the exchange of letters between a young woman - an author - in post WW2 London and an eclectic group of people from the island of Guernsey. It's a whimsical read and a lovely piece of escapism right now...It's good at three in the morning anyway. I think my tastes are evolving. I'm gravitating towards literature whereas before I was a sucker for biographies and current events analysis. In the aftermath of 9/11 I absorbed reams and reams of words on the FBI, anti terrorism units, the governments response to terror. But I hit a kind of wall at some point and got well fed up with it all. I picked up a copy of "The Shipping News" a few years ago and I think that was the point at which I began to look for more human stories, rather than get swept up in the politics of today. I loved "The Shipping News" actually. I love stories about small towns and their people. I guess it's because I come from a small town. It's elementary really.

I really need to sleep for about 48 hours solidly - with no interruptions. Then I think I'll feel more positive. That's what it is...the lack of sleep. After a while it messes with your head. Negative thoughts bubble to the surface and they f*** with you. A man once taught me a way of stepping outside of your thoughts - it was an exercise where you kind of place your thought stream out in front of you and watch them go by dispassionately until they kind of dissipate. I got close but I don't think I ever really mastered the art of this exercise. I've been told I'm not very good at embracing new things. But it's funny that...

...because I'm constantly out there trying them.

DFA.

First Media Engagement!!

I am pleased to announce that I will be conducting my first media interview in support of "The Hambledown Dream" next Wednesday the 3rd of Febuary at 1115AM Australian Eastern Daylight Time with Dina Winterburn and Marie Ryan of Melbourne's Inner FM 96.5.

And the great news about this is that it will be streamed live on the web, so anyone in the world can tune in and listen to the interview. So to give you an idea of timing - for those of you in the States you can tune in live at 6:15PM Central Time on Tuesday the 2nd Febuary (because - I am in the FUTURE!!).

Dina, Marie and I will be chatting about the book, the inspiration for writing it and the nature of romance writing - particularly from a guy's point of view.

I do hope you can tune in to the show next week and have a listen to my first media engagement as a published author.

DFA.