My story, is it a memoir, an autobiography, or a novel?

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Graphic Novel, Memoir, The Tin Heart Gold Mine, Writing Process4 Comments

What is my novel? “How much of your novel is an autobiography?” It’s a good question to ask a writer. A good question It was asked at the launch of The Tin Heart Gold Mine, but it’s not a simple question to answer. I immediately wanted to ask the other writers there what they thought. It’s easier to answer this […]

Writing and selling The Tin Heart Gold Mine

Ruth HartleyBook Launch, Promotion, Southern Africa, The Tin Heart Gold Mine4 Comments

Writers need to sell books Writers write – rather than talk about what they write – but the current publishing market forces us to become Independent Authors and acquire self-promotional skills entirely different from writing. The idea of a book launch for The Tin Heart Gold Mine gave me sleepless nights, but, nevertheless, we decided to hold the event at […]

Writing, hunting Agents, surviving Rejections, reaching Readers

Ruth HartleyBook Launch, Digital Publishing, Self-Publishing, The Tin Heart Gold Mine, Writing ProcessLeave a Comment

All that happens before the book launch This post will be published the morning after the book launch of The Tin Heart Gold Mine. I had to write and schedule it before the launch and so can’t report on that event. I’ll do that the following week and then I’ll give all my loyal readers a break and only post […]

See you at The Tin Heart Gold Mine book launch!

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Book Launch, Reading, Southern Africa, The Tin Heart Gold Mine, Writing ProcessLeave a Comment

Excitement is building for The Tin Heart Gold Mine official book launch, to be held at the Café du Centre, Maubourguet, at 19:00 on 24th March 2017. I’m looking forward to enjoying a glass of wine and some snacks with interested readers and friends. As well as reading some excerpts from the book, I will answer questions about it and […]

Tomorrow Mountain and the writing of Today’s Stories

Ruth HartleyEducation, Politics, Southern Africa, The Tin Heart Gold Mine21 Comments

Tomorrow Mountain today There were debts to be paid. I knew that. I hope that I’ve made a small repayment in The Tin Heart Gold Mine. When I was a girl of 16 I lived with my mother and stepfather one day’s walk from Tomorrow Mountain. It stood out against the sky, a long shape humped at both ends like […]