Those people who once would have journalled or written countless letters home as a way of documenting their experiences in a new country now turn to blogging. Canadian, Danielle Barkhouse, is no exception. Only she turned the blog about her life in Chennai, India into a blook (no, that is not a typo). When a blog becomes a book it is called a blook. The blog at Earthtodanie became The Expat Arc, and Danie published it herself through CreateSpace. She markets it using social media. Find out how her book was born and how no one is as surprised to have become an author than Danie, herself.

Danie expatriated from Canada fifteen years ago, ‘trailing’ her husband through twelve moves for his job with a multinational manufacturing company. She has enjoyed traveling, taking photographs and geocaching in the 20 countries she has visited. Having lived in four nations, they recently returned from India and call Texas “home” with their third-culture son and their third-culture golden retriever.

JP

Tell me about your own story, the one that is the basis for your book. Can you describe it in just a few sentences? To show that a book has focus it is vital that it can be described briefly and succinctly.

DB

The Expat Arc: an expat’s journey over culture shock is my personal journey through our first year of living in India. Written in an as-it-happens blog format, readers follow me through a whole range of first-time experiences and a roller coaster of emotions. Without the benefit of retrospect, I wrote an honest portrayal of culture shock from within it.

JP

Why did you write it?

DB

The blog started as a place where I could share India as I was experiencing it, with my family. My audience grew to include expats from around the world. And although they weren’t in all in India, they seemed to relate to my stories.

For someone who had always hated writing in school, writing a book was not on my life’s to-do list. The more I did it, though, the more I enjoyed it, and the more I needed to do it. I began receiving feedback and comments, urging me to publish my stories into a book. Initially, I put the blog posts into a book so I would have a bound copy as a souvenir to share with family. When I found a print-on-demand self-publishing option that didn’t cost me anything upfront but my time, I figured I had nothing to lose, so I published it.

JP

Who do you think will read your book? What made you think that there was a market for it? Now that it’s been out for a while, what proof do you have that you were right?

DB

Truthfully, I didn’t think anyone would read my book except for my family, friends and maybe a few expats. I didn’t know if there was a market for it or not, but I was going to publish it anyhow. Stubborn, aren’t I?

The book is by no means a best seller but more copies have been sold than I originally expected. I had pretty low expectations from the onset, though.

JP

It does not matter how good a book is, or how good your writing is if no one knows about it. What steps have you taken or do you plan to take to promote your book? Are you a speaker or trainer? Do you have a blog? A website? A newsletter? Do you use Facebook, Twitter or other social media tools? What about press releases and sending out review copies and free articles? Have you had any other ideas? Which methods do you think work best and can you give me any examples?

DB

As with publishing, marketing was learn-as-I-go and I’m still learning. Because my book is about me, promoting it makes me feel like I’m promoting myself instead of my book. For that reason, it has not been promoted as much as it should. I’ve used social media as a passive way of marketing, allowing people to stumble upon the information or receive it from a friend. I should have done pre-launch marketing but I didn’t know enough to know that I should.

I created a book trailer video and posted it in as many places as I could—YouTube, blogs, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter. I did a mini virtual book tour of expat blogs. I freely shared digital and print copies with other self-published writers who were willing to write reviews.

I made a huge mistake in the marketing of my book. After I published the book, I did not delete the posts from my blog. I thought those posts would bring in more readers from search engines because of the wide range of topics (correct), then my site could point them in the direction to buying my book (wrong). I eventually deleted the posts from my blog because who will buy the book if they can read it for free?  By then, the number of hits from search engines had decreased significantly. I received some advice that I should lock down the blog and only allow people who buy the book the ability to read it. That may have worked, but the last thing I wanted to do was to lock my blog. I’m not sure how I would do it differently if I had another chance but I’m certainly open to suggestions.

There are some finer points of social media that I think make it all more effective. Carrying the brand of your book or website through all social media outlets is important. People should load a twitter page or Facebook fan page and be able to quickly connect that they’ve been to your blog, or have seen your book in another place. Instant and repetitive brand recognition can be effective when there is so much other social media information whizzing back and forth. Automation is also important. The more automated your social media outlets are, the more likely people will see it through the other social media noise. And the most important is to add the ability for the social media reader to SHARE and pass it on.

JP

How did you publish your book? What was your route to publication?

DB

I’ve had a few people ask me this question. Usually, I tell them how I published my first book, and then I tell them how I would do it differently the next time.

For my first book, I made the decision to self-publish. I researched how I could do that from my computer in India. I knew I would self-publish because I felt the book had a niche topic. Lightning Source (which I would use the next time) was not a viable option for me from India. In order to use their service, I would have to register the business name of my publishing company in the US. That can’t be done unless you have a physical US address. Then I discovered plan B: CreateSpace. It seemed to be a good fit for my circumstances.

I formatted the book using Adobe InDesign software. I edited, re-edited and edited some more. I uploaded the file to Create Space and ordered a draft copy of the book. I had to wait while it was mailed to our international banker in the US and then forwarded on to me in India. Then I edited and edited again. In retrospect, I should have sent it on to someone else for editing. Now I know better.

To address two points of feedback that I’ve received about the format of my book—the reason the dates were dropped from the blog posts was because not every blog post was included in the book. Nor did every included post remain in strict chronological order. The size of the posts dictated the format for each page. With Create Space, I was limited to 100 pages so I needed to fit as much as I could into each page. Some blog posts were moved a day or two into the future or past for the sake of formatting, but it did not change the overall storyline.

JP

Self-belief can be a big problem for writers. How did you manage to stay confident in your ability and remember that you were good enough to write your book? How did you cope with the days when you thought you could not do it and that it was rubbish?

DB

I’m sitting here laughing over this question. Who has been lying to you and telling you that I’m confident in my ability?

I’ve taken a few smacks from acquaintances and have hit a few marketing roadblocks for self-publishing my book. You know, the slight look of pity you’re given as they say, “It’s really tough to get published. You have to be really good.” Or, “We can’t feature your book as we do with other writers, so we’ll just put it a little graphic way at the back of our website where nobody will see it since it’s not a real book.” Or, “So sorry, we only review traditionally published books.” Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. These are the kinds of things that wear down a person’s self-belief.

In fact, I had so little confidence in myself the first time I was contacted by Jo Parfitt to review my book–I ignored her. Yes. I did. (So sorry, Jo!) I thought she would hate the book, hate my writing, and tell me both were rubbish. So, I did not want her to read it. A mutual friend introduced me to Jo via email and I couldn’t ignore a second offer for a review (and I had hoped she didn’t remember her previous offer via Twitter). I felt completely ill having to send her my book. As I was mailing it, I was hoping she would forget to actually write the review after she’d read it. I can’t tell you how relieved I was when I read the review! I had to read it again and again because I thought I must have missed the word rubbish somewhere! That one review has opened doors to other opportunities (thank you, Jo). Good things happen when I can muster up enough confidence to get out of my own way. And that’s what I think of, on the days when the doubt creeps back in.

JP

It’s easy to procrastinate, to blame writers’ block and to put off finishing your project. How did you keep yourself motivated? And how long did it take you to write it? What was your routine?

DB

To keep motivated, I live life. Life is my topic and writing is my therapy. When I’m excited, I feel the need to write about it. When I’m struggling, I feel the need to write about it. Usually, living life gives me plenty to write about.

My routine is to write first thing in the morning either while my family is still sleeping or when they’re off at work and school. Although, there are times when I’ve crawled into bed and had something stirring in my mind to the point where I can’t sleep. Then I’ll get up and write about it so I don’t keep my husband awake from the tossing, turning and sighing.

I’m more of a procrastinator when it comes to answering interview questions, mailing out books, and making my book into Kindle format. If someone has any advice to keep me motivated and on task there—I’m open to it!

JP

What was your biggest challenge regarding the writing of your book? How have you overcome that?

DB

My biggest challenge was in trying to balance between look how culture-shocked I am with not offending the people of India. I think one of the reasons other expats related so well to my writing was because I often said aloud what they were thinking. There were many times when India frustrated me, and the people I interacted with on a daily basis frustrated me to my wit’s end. There were so many vast cultural differences that I experienced and wanted to share with my friends and family. At the same time, I didn’t want to offend India or its people. I made every effort to portray that it was my adjustment to India, not India’s adjustment to me, that had to take place.

There have been times when I’ve managed to offend people with what I’ve written. Usually, it’s when people read one small blurb and take it out of context without knowing the kind of person who is behind the words. I’m also not as good of a writer as I would like to be so there are many times when I write something, hoping that it’s an accurate depiction of how I feel, and I manage for it to come out all wrong. I hope when people get to know me through my book, they’ll learn that I’m writing from my experience (or lack thereof) as honestly as I can and that any offense I cause stems from my lack of knowledge or not having such a great way with words, and not from intent.

JP

I believe that getting feedback is really important to help you recognise when your writing is really good and to find ways of making it even better. How did you get feedback on your work?

DB

Without a doubt, I should have obtained more professional feedback. Fear is a powerful thing. My blog readers constantly told me that I should write a book. They seemed to like what I was writing—so I did it. I published the best book I could with the resources that were available to me from India. I do feel I could do better a better job with my next book from within the US and with what I know now.

JP

If you were to give advice to someone else who is thinking about writing a book based on their life experience what would be your number one tip?

DB

There are certain aspects of writing or publishing a book that only the writer can do and should do. There are other aspects that the writer can do but a professional should do. Do what you have to do as the writer and let the professionals do what they should do. In the end, you’ll end up with a better product and less self-doubt.

I’ve been running a workshop that teaches people the secrets of writing a book since 2002 now. In it, I tell them how I had the first book I ever wrote accepted by the first publisher I approached. How I was fresh out of university, it was a cookbook and that I couldn’t cook.

So, why was I successful?

Was it just a fluke?

Well, back then I thought it was, but now, 26 books on, I realise that I got several things right.

So, I go to the flipchart and start to ask the audience what they think the reasons for my success might be. It always follow the same pattern. To kick off, they suggest things like focus, a good title, the right idea at the right time, a market, a wow factor and authenticity, but then the room falls silent. They wrack their brains. Then someone says, it always happens, someone says: “There’s something else though, isn’t there?” and the rest of the audience begin to nod.

You see, the other reason I succeeded was because I believed in myself. I was 23, I was young, naive, filled with hope. I did not consider for a moment that the fact that I was not a cook and had not been published before would stand in my way. I believed I had a good idea. OK, let me get it out of the way right now, before you wonder how I got away with not being a cook – though I had not written the recipes and could not cook, they had been given to me by French families while I had been living in France. The book was called French Tarts and it was a good idea and, in the mid-eighties, it was the perfect time. I truly believed I had a good chance of the book being accepted.

I believe that self-belief is the number one requirement if you want to write a book. It should not be the last thing on the list but the first. So, what follows, are five ways that I suggest you try to develop this elusive item.

1. Ask for feedback and take it, welcome it, know that without it you will never really know how good you are. Improve your chances by suggesting how you want the feedback to be served. Say you want to hear what they liked, what they felt might be missing and how they might improve it. This kind of feedback is much easier to digest and will leave you feeling good about your work.
2. Write every day. OK, almost every day. If you have a journal and are in the practice of doing ten minutes of what Julia Cameron, in The Artist’s Way, calls Morning Pages, then you will begin to feel like a real writer rather than an imposter. You see, real writers do something phony writers don’t – they write.
3. Read other books in your market. Devour them. Make Amazon your best friend and read everything else out there that is like the one you want to write. You’ll soon find things that you consider not to be so great about each book, as well as things you’d like to emulate in yours. This will boost your confidence in your idea.
4. Get published in a small way. Nothing will make you feel more positive about your potential as an author more than already having your name in print. So write articles, start a blog, write book reviews or theatre reviews. Get your name online and in print, build a portfolio. Not only will this increase your profile and Googleability, but will also develop belief in your writing.
5. Join a class or online program, one that makes you commit to writing, forces you to do homework and ensures you turn up at the class and the page regularly. Being in a class means you get feedback from the rest of the group, if you you are lucky, and from a professional,the teacher. Practice makes perfect and is habit-forming. Try it.

I’ve been teaching writing and helping people to write their non-fiction books since 2002, and I recognise that, these days, some genres of non-fiction books have much more in common with fiction. I blame this on reality TV. People are nosy, they like to see inside people’s lives, find out what makes them tick, share their pain and joy, empathise with them.

Readers too want to know about the people who write the books they read. If you share your stories this makes your writing authentic. It makes people believe in you.

So, what does this actually mean, then, you ask.

It means that if you are going to write about yourself in your books, you need to be able to write in stories. Think about fiction for a minute, that’s a ’story’, right? What ingredients do you have in a novel?

You have people. And people have character, they talk, feel and they do things.

You create a sense of place too, and if you are lucky, the reader can relate to some aspects of the story.

It is just the same with the pieces of life story, or anecdotes, that you share in your non-fiction.

Here are the seven ingredients that I believe you need to use to write a story that leaps off the page.

1. Character
2. Dialogue
3. Details
4. Scene setting
5. Emotion
6. Resonance
7. Narrative

So, next time you want to share a story from your life to illustrate a point, don’t do it like this:

My grumpy teenage son came on one day and told us he wanted to leave school.

But like this, using the ingredients above:

I stood at the kitchen window and watched James return from school. His blonde head was bowed, his narrow shoulders stooped and his black rucksack slumped against his lower back.  I moved to open the door for him. His face was devoid of expression.

“Hi love, had a good day?” I said cheerily, knowing that with his ears plugged by headphones he was unlikely to answer.

James shucked off his rucksack and kicked it to the side of the hallway. “I’m never going back there again. Not ever, right?”

OK, so it takes longer to write a piece of life story this way, but I think you will agree that it’s worth it.

If ever I get stuck or ‘lost for words’ there are a number of books that I turn to that never fail to inspire me and have me heading for the keyboard. I’d like to share them with you now.

1. OK, so everyone knows about The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, don’t they? This 10 week course will get you writing every day, for just ten minutes and will not only get your writing back on track, but will get the skeletons in your closet nicely aired too!
2. Stephen King’s On Writing is about his return to health after this famous Sci Fi author was hit by a car. It talks about how he got his own writing back on track. He is frank at all times and pulls no punches. Just as I was having a lovely old procrastinate, telling myself I’d write my novel after I’d got a new laptop, created a ‘writing corner’ and bought a new chair in which to sit, I read about King’s own experience of this and how, in the end, where he sat made no difference at all. All that mattered was that he just did it. He wrote.
3. I guess Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg was the first book on writing I ever read. It’s about writing anywhere, writing what is in your head, and giving yourself permission to ‘just go’ with the pen. This is the perfect limbering up book for writers.
4. I am ashamed to say that it took me 20 years as a writer before I found the work of Anne Lamott. Her Bird by Bird is a fabulous journey inside the mind of someone who makes her living as a writer. It teaches you, pretty much, as King explains, to cut the excuses and just write. But more than that, it explains how you just need to write in little chunks, just as you would if you were writing a book on birds, cover one bird at a time. Liberating stuff.
5. And the other one, Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande, was written in the 50s and it’s another book that aims below the belt and gets me going again. In it she suggests that if you tell yourself that you will, say, write a page a day, or ten minutes a day, and then you fail to turn up, that clearly your desire to fail is greater than your desire to succeed. Boy, did that one get me back to the keyboard.

I hope these five inspire you. Further, I hope  you promise yourself to add every single one of them to your wish list!

Many people who live abroad consider writing their memoir. Few succeed in writing a compelling account of what is, by default, ordinary life. Joanne  Huskey is an exception. Few ‘trailing spouses’ or ‘accompanying partners’ live a life as ‘less ordinary’ than Joanne, who has survived Tiananmen Square, the bombing of the Nairobi Embassy and the aftermath of 9/11. This is a page-turner and one that many wannabe memoir-writers could learn from. Her ability to create a sense of place, combined with her knack of making real life ‘plotty’, is to be commended.

This week, I interviewed Joanne  Huskey about how she wrote and promoted The Unofficial Diplomat.

Joanne  Grady Huskey was born in the US, and became an international traveler early in life. She has worked and lived in over 50 nations as an international performing artist, arts administrator, and cross cultural trainer.  During the past twenty years, she has been part of a Foreign Service family who have been posted to China, India, Kenya and Taiwan.  She has left a mark— founding new businesses, new schools, and NGO’s, which benefit the people she has met in each nation she lived.

JP

Tell me about your own story, the one that is the basis for your book. Can you describe it in just a few sentences? To show that a book has focus it is vital that it can be described briefly and succinctly.

JH

On June 4, 1989, Joanne Grady Huskey was in Tiananmen Square and witnessed the horror of a government attacking its own people. On August 7, 1998, she was in the basement of the American Embassy in Nairobi with her two small children when Al Qaeda bombed the building. On September 11, 2001, having just returned to the United States after years overseas, she lived through the atrocities in New York and Washington, D.C.  In her new book she recounts why living and working abroad is critical for Americans, and why she continues to do so as the wife of a US Foreign Service officer, even in this increasingly complex and dangerous world. Her colorful life confirms that Americans are willing and contributing partners in this global society.

JP

Why did you write it?

JH

I began to write after I was a victim in the bombing in Nairobi. It was my way of processing what I had been through and to make some sense of it.  In the process, I came to the realization that I believed strongly in being an agent of cross cultural understanding and that my life overseas had actually exemplified this belief.  In looking at what I had done while overseas and writing about it, I realized I had left seeds of understanding behind me at every turn.  I wanted to tell others that they could do the same.


JP

Who do you think will read your book? What made you think that there was a market for it? Now that it’s been out for a while, what proof do you have that you were right?

JH

Since the book has been released, I have received great reviews. I feel that many people want to know something about what it is like to live overseas in these historical times, and what life inside a diplomatic family is like.  More importantly, there are many expatriates struggling with life overseas who resonate with some of the challenges I share in the book. The audience for the book seems to be broad, encompassing those who travel or live abroad and those who wish they did!

JP

It does not matter how good a book is, or how good your writing is if no-one knows about it. What steps have you taken or do you plan to take to promote your book? Are you a speaker or trainer? Do you have a blog? A website? A newsletter? Do you use Facebook, Twitter or other social media tools? What about press releases and sending out review copies and free articles? Have you had any other ideas? Which methods do you think work best and can you give me any examples?

JH

Promoting the book has actually been fun. I had several large book openings in Washington DC, one at Meridian International inviting many from the international community. I have set up speaking engagements with the Association of Foreign Service Worldwide and the book was reviewed on their Livelines website. I will speak at the Retired Foreign Service Association and the Unitarian Church .  I set up my own website www.joannehuskey.com and spread the word on Facebook and Linked In at gradytaiwan@yahoo.com.  I have sent review copies to the State Department, the School of Foreign Service and to many expatriate websites including www.expertexpat.com. I also donated the book to several NGOs that work with expatriates, and to National Public Radio. I wrote several articles for Foreign Service Magazine , which featured excerpts from the book in the April 2008 and June 2009 issues.  The book was also reviewed in the same magazine in November 2009.  I contacted my college alumnae office and my high school reunion website.  I sent announcements to everyone on my email list.  I am being interviewed for The Hindu, the major newspaper in India, and will be featured in the magazine At a Glance, which goes to 50,000 expatriates in India and is distributed by Global Adjustments Relocation. Word is spreading and it is rewarding.  I continue to come up with new ideas to promote the book.

JP

How did you publish your book? What was your route to publication?

JH

I sent a proposal to many agents and publishers. The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training invited me to be the 13th book in their Memoirs and Occasional Papers series . They led me to New Academia Publishing , which is a publisher primarily for academics who want a simple way to publish their books.  They charge a fee, but help with some of the promotion of the book by placing it on internet sales sites, and promoting it in academic circles.

JP

Self-belief can be a big problem for writers. How did you manage to stay confident in your ability and remember that you were good enough to write your book? How did you cope with the days when you thought you could not do it and that it was rubbish?

JH

Writing can be lonely, but, for a while I found I had to write for myself. Believing that others would be interested in my life came from sharing my story verbally with people over the years, and then testing the waters by writing articles for newspapers and magazines, which received good reviews.  This gave me the confidence that I had something to say that others would find interesting.  It helped to tell people, out loud, that I was writing a book.  Their positive reactions propelled me to finish it.

JP

It’s easy to procrastinate, to blame writers’ block and to put off finishing your project. How did you keep yourself motivated? And how long did it take you to write it? What was your routine?

JH

It took way too many years to get this book to its final draft. It evolved and changed over about four years until, finally, I felt it was done.  Some days I didn’t look at it, while others I wrote all day.  The draft sat in a drawer for more than a year, until friends asked me about “that book you are writing” and I got it out and finished it.  Support from my friends and husband helped.

JP

What was your biggest challenge regarding the writing of your book? How have you overcome that?

JH

Certainly over the years, I felt, “who am I to write a book? I am not famous, I am not old.  Why would someone read about my life?” but, when I did show my writing to people, they liked it a lot.  That propelled me to write more and get it published.  I think the discipline of writing a monthly feature in Centered on Taipei magazine gave me the skills and confidence to think of myself as a writer.

JP

I believe that getting feedback is really important to help you recognise when your writing is really good and to find ways of making it even better. How did you get feedback on your work?

JH

I published several articles in magazines over the years, while I was writing my book, and received nice responses to the work. This gave me the confidence to feel I had something to say.  In Taiwan, I wrote as a freelance journalist for a monthly magazine called Centered on Taipei.  This really solidified my ability to sit down and write and enjoy it.  Many readers of the magazine would tell me they loved what I wrote, so I thought I could go ahead and get the book out.

JP

If you were to give advice to someone else who is thinking about writing a book based on their life experience what would be your number one tip?

JH

Think about how the readers can connect to what you have lived through, don’t spare the true feelings, tell it from the heart.

It doesn’t seem to matter how much writing I’ve done nor how much success I’ve enjoyed, but sometimes my motivation to put words on paper evaporates. At moments like this I find myself doubting my capability as a writer and wondering if I’m in the right job. Do you get days when you open up a blank document, position your fingers over the keyboard and your heart sinks? With nothing to say you decide not to bother, for now, and settle down to a spot of procrastination. When, like  me you make a living as a writer, you can’t afford to have bad days. So, over the years, I have developed five ways to get my motivation back on track and my fingers flying. I hope they help you too.

Here goes:

1. I re-read a book on writing that I love. Words by Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones), Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird) or Sheila Bender (Writing in a New Convertible with the Top Down) always do the trick and remind me why I love to write.
2. I attend a writers’ circle meeting even if I haven’t written anything myself. Just listening to others reading their work and joining in with the critique fills me with longing to write. Only this morning, my writers’ circle inspired me with musings on the weather, disliking pavlova, finding yourself at home in another country, African runners and how the world is becoming coffee-coloured.
3. I just start writing, not worrying that I may write utter rubbish and that I’ll delete it later. Once I’ve started it takes about ten minutes to get back in the flow. I write without editing, without looking back and just go til I get to the end. Getting to the end is  a fabulous feeling and polishing is a breeze once I’ve finished my Shitty First Draft.
4. I set myself a deadline and share it with others. This makes it harder to back down. So, when I am in the middle of writing a book and it’s going slowly, I find myself a date a few months hence when I’m giving a talk or workshop and advertise in the promotional material that my new book will be available for sale. That works every time.
5. I find an online source of podcasts on writing, poetry, literature or stories and download a few to my ipod and go for a long walk. Believe me, being outside without a pen can be agony and soon I’ve picked up my pace and am heading for home with fingers twitching.