Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Hiking the Cape Wrath Trail
The Cape Wrath Trail is considered the hardest hiking route in the United Kingdom. Located in Scotland, it runs from Fort William, through the Highlands and Western Scotland, to the lighthouse at Cape Wrath, the northwestern-most point of Scotland. Approximately 230 miles in length, most people take 2-3 weeks to backpack the trip.
Technically, the Cape Wrath Trail is not a trail at all, but a route, meaning that you can walk from one end to the other any way you like. This gives hikers a fair amount of leeway where they hike and the mountains and side trips they take in along the way. There are many famous mountains along the west coast of Scotland, well worth climbing, if the weather cooperates and you like mountain views.
While there are guidebooks available and even maps where people hike, the Cape Wrath Trail is unmarked and unblazed, requiring good navigation skills to complete. More often than not, people walk some of the way on old drover's roads called Hill Tracks, estate roads, and old paths, although there are times when you will hike cross-country over miles of grass tussocks, heather, and bog. Previous Scottish hillwalking experience is definitely an asset and a high degree of self sufficiency is required.
Why would one ever want to hike a route like this? It's in Scotland for one, which is simply a magical place to backpack. Mountainous, wild, and remote, you can travel for days without seeing a soul. Planning your own cross country route is also a fun, if time-consuming process, and adds to the pleasure of journey. Finally, hiking the Cape Wrath Trail gives you the opportunity to navigate a wild route for hundreds of miles without worrying about private property boundaries and other hassles, because walkers can hike where they want in Scotland, one of the few countries in the world that has right-of-way laws for that purpose. The freedom to roam…that's freedom.
But the Cape Wrath Trail is challenging for all the reasons that make backpacking in Scotland challenging:
- Being on the west coast, you're more likely to encounter the wet weather that blows cross country from west to east.
- There are no trees, so little cover, and you'll often need to camp at night in high wind.
- Massive peat bogs, the Scottish equivalent of quicksand, require careful footwork to cross.
- Resupply points are scarce, so you'll want to carry enough plenty of food and fuel.
- The ground is very wet and your feet will be wet most of the time.
- You need to be constantly vigilant about where you are, so you don't get lost.
Thankfully, there are no bears or wild animal to worry about, although bloodsucking midges are a hazard depending on the time of year, and Lyme disease carrying ticks are on the rise.
While you'll probably wild camp out most of the time. There are streams and lochs everywhere and water is never is short supply.
There are also outbuildings called Mountain Bothies that dot the countryside, often donated by farms and estates, for walkers to shelter in. They usually have a stove or fireplace inside and I have friends who carry lumps of coal on their backpacking trips when they plan a stay, since there's so little little firewood available nearby. Still these plain building provide welcome shelter in poor weather and make a nice spot to get out of the wind and rain for lunch when you pass by during the day.
If you're not from Scotland, your biggest challenge is likely to be understanding the thick Scottish accent and unfamiliar vocabulary used by locals in local shops and pubs. People tend to polite and welcoming in rural Scotland and as long as you mind your manners, you can expect warm hospitality.
The best time to hike the Cape Wrath Trail is mid-May to early June before the midges come out (thanks to Alan Sloman, for this piece of advice). If you've never backpacked in Scotland, hiking from the west coast to the east coast of Scotland in the Annual TGO Challenge is good preparation for planning and hiking a Cape Wrath route of your own. I completed the Challenge in 2010 solo, and again 2013 with friend Martin Rye, and plan to hike the Cape Wrath Trail by myself in 2018.
For more information about the Cape Wrath Trail, here are a few good links and references:
- WalkHighlands: Detailed stage descriptions and GPX files
- Harvey Maps (1:40k) : North Half and South Half
- Cicerone Press: Walking the Cape Wrath Trail
Support SectionHiker.com. If you make a purchase after clicking on the links above, a portion of the sale helps support this site at no additional cost to you. |
from Section Hikers Backpacking Blog http://ift.tt/2qd9vgN
How to Make Friends While Traveling
Note from Sean:
The first time I met Vanessa Van Edwards, I was terrified. All I knew was that she was a body language expert and trained to be a human lie detector. The whole time I was second guessing myself, and wondering if I was putting out the wrong vibes.
Fortunately I must have passed the test, because over the last few years Vanessa has become one of my closest entrepreneurial friends.
But the fact remains, she is one of the smartest people I know, and today her book Captivate is released. And you know what? It really, truly, is one of the most useful books I’ve read in years – and I’m not just saying that because we’re friends.
Simply put, if you’ve ever wanted to improve any aspect of your social skills – Captivate is a can’t miss book.
You can pick it up on Amazon here.
In today’s post, I asked Vanessa to write something that would be relevant to the travelers in our audience – and she absolutely nailed it. Ever struggled meeting people on the road?
We all have. In this post she shares some of her best tips for making friends while traveling. Take it away Vanessa!
—
In 2010, my husband and I decided we needed to find a new home. I am from Los Angeles, CA and I never felt like it was home.
My husband was raised in London and he had no desire to move back. So we wanted to find a new home base.
We asked friends, did research and took votes on Facebook. We ended up with this list of possible places to live:
1. Buenos Aires, Argentina
2. Portland, Oregon
3. Shanghai, China
4. New York, New York
5. Singapore
6. Santiago, Chile
7. San Diego, CA
8. Austin, TX
9. Tokyo, Japan
10. Los Angeles, CA
11. Seoul, South Korea
12. San Francisco, CA
Here’s the thing: We didn’t want to just travel to each city as tourists, we wanted to taste test each place as residents. This meant doing all the things we would do if we lived in each city—not just as tourists. In each place we:
- Lived in an apartment (AirBnb) in a neighborhood we would actually be able to afford if we moved to the city.
- Work virtually—my husband and I already had virtual jobs, but we wanted to check out the local coffee shop scene, wifi speed and meet other entrepreneurs.
- Sightsee and grocery shop. Sure, we wanted to see the highlights of each city, but I also hoped to do the boring stuff like grocery shopping, dry cleaning, and errands.
- Make friends. It turns out, for two ambiverts, this was the hardest one.
We had one big goal on this trip: Find a new home.
While we did find a new home (we fell in love with Portland, Oregon) but the lesson we learned was: How to make friends quickly.
My business, the ScienceofPeople.com is human behavior research lab. Basically, we teach science-based people skills—communication, relationship strategies and human behavior hacks.
I never guessed these skills would be most useful, and most tested, traveling the world. I wanted to share a few tips for you Location Rebels as you build your businesses and explore. I hope they help!
#1: Start Narrow
The biggest mistake my husband and I made in the beginning was trying to make friends with anyone, anywhere. Grocery store: “I like apples too, want to be friends?” Movie theater: “Movies are great! Amigo?” Bus stop: “Where is the Bund?
What did work was narrowing in a specific niche early. My husband and I typically tried:
- Entrepreneurs – Tons of local groups to meet. I wish I had known about Location Rebel forums then!
- Wine Lovers – Wine tours, wine nights and wine tastings are SUPER easy for striking up conversations.
- Ex-Pats – This was our least favorite because we liked meeting locals, but if we didn’t speak the language very well, this one was sometimes the best way to go and easy to find on MeetUp.
I would recommend honing in on your hobby, religion, career or demographic and starting there.
#2: Conversation Sparkers
Striking up conversation was pretty easy at events for the above interests, but keeping conversation going was a bit harder. We realized that the basic ‘social script’ questions sucked for building friendships:
- How are you?
- What do you do?
- Where are you from?
This conversation was awful and rarely did we connect with people. Finally, I used one of the techniques I teach to sales people and networkers as a communication hack. I call these conversation sparkers.
My favorites while traveling:
- I am new in town, do you know any secret spots I should check out?
- Do you like living here?
- Have you found it is easy to make friends and connections?
These worked every time—either we learned about a new secret spot and/or we gained a new friend! Forgive the blatant plug here, but you are welcome to check out all 33 of my conversation sparkers in my latest book Captivate:
#3: Activity Trumped Convo
Another surprise my husband and I learned was that we made much faster friends when we did activities together. For example, having dinner or drinks with new friends was ok, but it never bonded us long term.
However, sightseeing, game nights and doing mini-weekend trips together created amazing connections. Game nights were particularly awesome. My husband and I even developed a system for hosting outrageous, awesome, and memorable game nights as we traveled.
So, try to ask people out on activity dates—not just drinks and dinner. Then you can combine sightseeing with relationship building.
Overall, making and spending time with new friends were probably some of the best memories we had while traveling. We also made amazing friends in Portland, Oregon right away (even though we knew no one at first) and we think this was a major factor on why it won.
Traveling can be lonely. Don’t get me wrong—I LOVE to travel, try new cuisines, explore exotic locales and get lost in a new city. However, sometimes cuisines are more flavorful, exotic locales are more fun and getting lost is even more adventurous when you can do it with friends.
If you are a recovering awkward person like me and need a little extra help networking and striking up conversations, please check out my book Captivate for my 14 favorite human behavior hacks from my lab.
Captivate: Use Science to Succeed with People
Vanessa Van Edwards is an author and behavioral investigator who speaks and consults on human behavior hacks, body language, and people skills at ScienceofPeople.com. Her latest book, Captivate, was chosen as one of Apple’s Most Anticipated Books of 2017.
The post How to Make Friends While Traveling appeared first on Location Rebel.
from Location Rebel http://ift.tt/2pepNGO
How to Make Friends While Traveling
Note from Sean:
The first time I met Vanessa Van Edwards, I was terrified. All I knew was that she was a body language expert and trained to be a human lie detector. The whole time I was second guessing myself, and wondering if I was putting out the wrong vibes.
Fortunately I must have passed the test, because over the last few years Vanessa has become one of my closest entrepreneurial friends.
But the fact remains, she is one of the smartest people I know, and today her book Captivate is released. And you know what? It really, truly, is one of the most useful books I've read in years – and I'm not just saying that because we're friends.
Simply put, if you've ever wanted to improve any aspect of your social skills – Captivate is a can't miss book.
You can pick it up on Amazon here.
In today's post, I asked Vanessa to write something that would be relevant to the travelers in our audience – and she absolutely nailed it. Ever struggled meeting people on the road?
We all have. In this post she shares some of her best tips for making friends while traveling. Take it away Vanessa!
—
In 2010, my husband and I decided we needed to find a new home. I am from Los Angeles, CA and I never felt like it was home.
My husband was raised in London and he had no desire to move back. So we wanted to find a new home base.
We asked friends, did research and took votes on Facebook. We ended up with this list of possible places to live:
1. Buenos Aires, Argentina
2. Portland, Oregon
3. Shanghai, China
4. New York, New York
5. Singapore
6. Santiago, Chile
7. San Diego, CA
8. Austin, TX
9. Tokyo, Japan
10. Los Angeles, CA
11. Seoul, South Korea
12. San Francisco, CA
Here's the thing: We didn't want to just travel to each city as tourists, we wanted to taste test each place as residents. This meant doing all the things we would do if we lived in each city—not just as tourists. In each place we:
- Lived in an apartment (AirBnb) in a neighborhood we would actually be able to afford if we moved to the city.
- Work virtually—my husband and I already had virtual jobs, but we wanted to check out the local coffee shop scene, wifi speed and meet other entrepreneurs.
- Sightsee and grocery shop. Sure, we wanted to see the highlights of each city, but I also hoped to do the boring stuff like grocery shopping, dry cleaning, and errands.
- Make friends. It turns out, for two ambiverts, this was the hardest one.
We had one big goal on this trip: Find a new home.
While we did find a new home (we fell in love with Portland, Oregon) but the lesson we learned was: How to make friends quickly.
My business, the ScienceofPeople.com is human behavior research lab. Basically, we teach science-based people skills—communication, relationship strategies and human behavior hacks.
I never guessed these skills would be most useful, and most tested, traveling the world. I wanted to share a few tips for you Location Rebels as you build your businesses and explore. I hope they help!
#1: Start Narrow
The biggest mistake my husband and I made in the beginning was trying to make friends with anyone, anywhere. Grocery store: "I like apples too, want to be friends?" Movie theater: "Movies are great! Amigo?" Bus stop: "Where is the Bund?
What did work was narrowing in a specific niche early. My husband and I typically tried:
- Entrepreneurs – Tons of local groups to meet. I wish I had known about Location Rebel forums then!
- Wine Lovers – Wine tours, wine nights and wine tastings are SUPER easy for striking up conversations.
- Ex-Pats – This was our least favorite because we liked meeting locals, but if we didn't speak the language very well, this one was sometimes the best way to go and easy to find on MeetUp.
I would recommend honing in on your hobby, religion, career or demographic and starting there.
#2: Conversation Sparkers
Striking up conversation was pretty easy at events for the above interests, but keeping conversation going was a bit harder. We realized that the basic 'social script' questions sucked for building friendships:
- How are you?
- What do you do?
- Where are you from?
This conversation was awful and rarely did we connect with people. Finally, I used one of the techniques I teach to sales people and networkers as a communication hack. I call these conversation sparkers.
My favorites while traveling:
- I am new in town, do you know any secret spots I should check out?
- Do you like living here?
- Have you found it is easy to make friends and connections?
These worked every time—either we learned about a new secret spot and/or we gained a new friend! Forgive the blatant plug here, but you are welcome to check out all 33 of my conversation sparkers in my latest book Captivate:
#3: Activity Trumped Convo
Another surprise my husband and I learned was that we made much faster friends when we did activities together. For example, having dinner or drinks with new friends was ok, but it never bonded us long term.
However, sightseeing, game nights and doing mini-weekend trips together created amazing connections. Game nights were particularly awesome. My husband and I even developed a system for hosting outrageous, awesome, and memorable game nights as we traveled.
So, try to ask people out on activity dates—not just drinks and dinner. Then you can combine sightseeing with relationship building.
Overall, making and spending time with new friends were probably some of the best memories we had while traveling. We also made amazing friends in Portland, Oregon right away (even though we knew no one at first) and we think this was a major factor on why it won.
Traveling can be lonely. Don't get me wrong—I LOVE to travel, try new cuisines, explore exotic locales and get lost in a new city. However, sometimes cuisines are more flavorful, exotic locales are more fun and getting lost is even more adventurous when you can do it with friends.
If you are a recovering awkward person like me and need a little extra help networking and striking up conversations, please check out my book Captivate for my 14 favorite human behavior hacks from my lab.
Captivate: Use Science to Succeed with People
Vanessa Van Edwards is an author and behavioral investigator who speaks and consults on human behavior hacks, body language, and people skills at ScienceofPeople.com. Her latest book, Captivate, was chosen as one of Apple's Most Anticipated Books of 2017.
The post How to Make Friends While Traveling appeared first on Location Rebel.
from Location Rebel http://ift.tt/2pepNGO
IndieView with Nicholas Nash, author of The Girl at the Bar
I enjoyed all the research that went into the book. There are so many small facts and interesting tidbits that I found while doing my research and I strung them all together into the book, be it some obscure facts about cancer, the Chinese underworld in New York or some fancy computer programs that play a key role in the book.
Nicholas Nash – 25 April 2017
The Back Flap
Rebecca, a brilliant cancer researcher disappears without a trace after a one-night stand with a neurotic man with a questionable past. Her sudden disappearance in the midst of a high-stakes quest to cure cancer between two rival billionaires sets into motion an inexplicable chain of events as the bodies start to pile up. No one knows why she disappeared. The race to find answers ensnares everyone around her, one of whom is a deeply disturbed psychopath lurking in the shadows.
Is Rebecca still alive? What happened to her? Who did it? And why? Questions about her vex everyone looking for answers. No one can be trusted and no one is above suspicion.
About the book
What is the book about?
The Girl at the Bar starts off with the disappearance of a top cancer researcher, Rebecca Chase, after she has a one-night stand with someone she meets in a bar.
The book is a classic whodunit with a lot of twists and turns. I cover the topic of cancer as a disease and the latest developments in cancer research in the book in a manner that the reader can follow. That said, the book is about people, how they think and how they react in situations.
I wrote the book trying to keep the reader at the edge right up to the end. I hope readers of the book feel the same way.
When did you start writing the book?
I have been writing for around a year. I started writing my book in summer. I tried writing the book in various different places in the city where I live. I enjoyed all the research that went into the book. There are so many small facts and interesting tidbits that I found while doing my research and I strung them all together into the book, be it some obscure facts about cancer, the Chinese underworld in New York or some fancy computer programs that play a key role in the book.
How long did it take you to write it?
It took me around a year to complete the book.
Where did you get the idea from?
There is some truly groundbreaking research and developments taking place in the quest to cure cancer that the average person is not aware of. The biotech industry in general is making huge advances in finding unique cures for cancer. I wanted to highlight the work that I have been reading about.
The biotech industry, particularly on the research side, is heavily dominated by men. However, there are several strong well-rounded women who are instrumental in the industry either as researchers, CEOs or biotech investors. Rebecca is in some respects a composite of these real-life women who play a key role in the progress we’ve made in the war on cancer.
I believe The Girl At The Bar will help readers learn a lot about the mysterious world of cancer. Pair that with a roller coaster mystery and this will be a book readers will be happy they picked up.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
The biggest challenge in writing about cancer research is being able to synthesize all the research into plain language that a regular reader can understand and appreciate. That was the toughest part of the research. I was constantly afraid that readers would lose me if I became too technical in my descriptions, so that kept me on guard whenever I wrote about cancer in the book.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
For the book, I drew inspiration from my own real life experiences in creating settings, characters or story lines. I have met some very interesting people in my life. The characters are composites of several people, borrowing interesting features and creating a character that is completely different from others but at the same time interesting and striking, someone you would like to read about and root for.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
I enjoyed reading Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged) and Daniel Yergin (The Prize). Their work is sweeping in vision with a whole bunch of interesting characters and intriguing story lines that are grand. In the case of The Prize, those are real people and real history. I enjoy reading stories with multiple characters and complex intertwined story lines. Simple two or three character stories don’t appeal to me much.
I immensely enjoyed Andy Weir’s The Martian. When I found out that Andy was a first time writer but wrote about what he knew best, I was really inspired to follow in his footsteps and write about topics that I knew quite a bit about – cutting edge research for cancer.
Do you have a target reader?
Readers who enjoy fast paced thrillers will love the book.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I have been writing for around a year. I started writing my book in summer. I tried writing the book in various different places in the city where I live. I enjoyed all the research that went into the book. There are so many small facts and interesting tidbits that I found while doing my research and I strung them all together into the book, be it some obscure facts about cancer, the Chinese underworld in New York or some fancy computer programs that play a key role in the book.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I wrote the first few chapters impromptu. Once the story started taking twists and turns I had to create an outline for the book. I had the whole book mapped out before I could write the last few chapters.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I usually edit if I reread any chapter or after the book is done.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
Sometimes I listen to music when I am writing. I like to listen to rock music. Besides the usual staple of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Def Leppard and Guns N Roses, I like The Veils, Home Ties, Kings At Heart and Light Your Anchor. The Veils has an incredible discography. Finn Andrews is highly underrated and probably one of the best song writers of his generation.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
No, I didn’t submit my work to any agent. I chanced upon meeting my publisher from Fireflies Publishing. She loved the book and added a few fantastic ideas so I decided to work with her on the book.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
It just happened. I like to go with the flow and I thought I would establish myself before reaching out as an unknown author to traditional publishers.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
The book cover has been done professionally. It went through numerous edits before the final one was created.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
My publisher and I do have plans. We are reaching out to readers on social media. Have given out ARCs. We hope to reach out to libraries and Indie bookstores down the road.
About You
Where do you live now?
I’ve been in New York City for over a decade now and I love every moment of it. That said, I travel to across the country for work and enjoy the different places, food and people everywhere I go.
What are you working on now?
I am currently working on my second novel set during the last days of World War II. The book title is still under wraps because I don’t want to give the story setting away just yet. There was an interesting time period during the Second World War that I chose as the backdrop.
Hitler died, having committed suicide, on April 30th, 1945 but the war in Europe did not end with his death. Germany continued fighting the Allies and surrendered only a week later on May 7th, 1945. During these days between his death and eventual German surrender, an unimaginable series of events took place that remains unexplained and shrouded in mystery to this very day. My second novel revolves around one of those events during that period of uncertainty, with my imagination filling in the blanks that history has left unanswered forever.
I first read about it a few years ago and I always wondered to myself, “What exactly happened there? Why did they the retreating Germans that? Who was really responsible? What were they thinking?”
I searched and searched and searched and never found any satisfactory answers. That was when I said to myself, “Hmm, that’s interesting. The magnitude of what happened then was immense and here we are over 70 years later and we still don’t know much about it.” That’s when I decided to write my second book around these bizarre events.
The first chapter of my second book will be available to all readers of The Girl at the Bar. The details on how to get it will be at the end of my first book.
End of Interview:
For more from Nicholas visit his website or like his Facebook page.
Get your copy of The Girl at the Bar from Amazon US or Amazon UK.
from The IndieView http://ift.tt/2q2e7dr
IndieView with Nicholas Nash, author of The Girl at the Bar
I enjoyed all the research that went into the book. There are so many small facts and interesting tidbits that I found while doing my research and I strung them all together into the book, be it some obscure facts about cancer, the Chinese underworld in New York or some fancy computer programs that play a key role in the book.
Nicholas Nash – 25 April 2017
The Back Flap
Rebecca, a brilliant cancer researcher disappears without a trace after a one-night stand with a neurotic man with a questionable past. Her sudden disappearance in the midst of a high-stakes quest to cure cancer between two rival billionaires sets into motion an inexplicable chain of events as the bodies start to pile up. No one knows why she disappeared. The race to find answers ensnares everyone around her, one of whom is a deeply disturbed psychopath lurking in the shadows.
Is Rebecca still alive? What happened to her? Who did it? And why? Questions about her vex everyone looking for answers. No one can be trusted and no one is above suspicion.
About the book
What is the book about?
The Girl at the Bar starts off with the disappearance of a top cancer researcher, Rebecca Chase, after she has a one-night stand with someone she meets in a bar.
The book is a classic whodunit with a lot of twists and turns. I cover the topic of cancer as a disease and the latest developments in cancer research in the book in a manner that the reader can follow. That said, the book is about people, how they think and how they react in situations.
I wrote the book trying to keep the reader at the edge right up to the end. I hope readers of the book feel the same way.
When did you start writing the book?
I have been writing for around a year. I started writing my book in summer. I tried writing the book in various different places in the city where I live. I enjoyed all the research that went into the book. There are so many small facts and interesting tidbits that I found while doing my research and I strung them all together into the book, be it some obscure facts about cancer, the Chinese underworld in New York or some fancy computer programs that play a key role in the book.
How long did it take you to write it?
It took me around a year to complete the book.
Where did you get the idea from?
There is some truly groundbreaking research and developments taking place in the quest to cure cancer that the average person is not aware of. The biotech industry in general is making huge advances in finding unique cures for cancer. I wanted to highlight the work that I have been reading about.
The biotech industry, particularly on the research side, is heavily dominated by men. However, there are several strong well-rounded women who are instrumental in the industry either as researchers, CEOs or biotech investors. Rebecca is in some respects a composite of these real-life women who play a key role in the progress we've made in the war on cancer.
I believe The Girl At The Bar will help readers learn a lot about the mysterious world of cancer. Pair that with a roller coaster mystery and this will be a book readers will be happy they picked up.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
The biggest challenge in writing about cancer research is being able to synthesize all the research into plain language that a regular reader can understand and appreciate. That was the toughest part of the research. I was constantly afraid that readers would lose me if I became too technical in my descriptions, so that kept me on guard whenever I wrote about cancer in the book.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
For the book, I drew inspiration from my own real life experiences in creating settings, characters or story lines. I have met some very interesting people in my life. The characters are composites of several people, borrowing interesting features and creating a character that is completely different from others but at the same time interesting and striking, someone you would like to read about and root for.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
I enjoyed reading Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged) and Daniel Yergin (The Prize). Their work is sweeping in vision with a whole bunch of interesting characters and intriguing story lines that are grand. In the case of The Prize, those are real people and real history. I enjoy reading stories with multiple characters and complex intertwined story lines. Simple two or three character stories don't appeal to me much.
I immensely enjoyed Andy Weir's The Martian. When I found out that Andy was a first time writer but wrote about what he knew best, I was really inspired to follow in his footsteps and write about topics that I knew quite a bit about – cutting edge research for cancer.
Do you have a target reader?
Readers who enjoy fast paced thrillers will love the book.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I have been writing for around a year. I started writing my book in summer. I tried writing the book in various different places in the city where I live. I enjoyed all the research that went into the book. There are so many small facts and interesting tidbits that I found while doing my research and I strung them all together into the book, be it some obscure facts about cancer, the Chinese underworld in New York or some fancy computer programs that play a key role in the book.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I wrote the first few chapters impromptu. Once the story started taking twists and turns I had to create an outline for the book. I had the whole book mapped out before I could write the last few chapters.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you've finished?
I usually edit if I reread any chapter or after the book is done.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
Sometimes I listen to music when I am writing. I like to listen to rock music. Besides the usual staple of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Def Leppard and Guns N Roses, I like The Veils, Home Ties, Kings At Heart and Light Your Anchor. The Veils has an incredible discography. Finn Andrews is highly underrated and probably one of the best song writers of his generation.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
No, I didn't submit my work to any agent. I chanced upon meeting my publisher from Fireflies Publishing. She loved the book and added a few fantastic ideas so I decided to work with her on the book.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
It just happened. I like to go with the flow and I thought I would establish myself before reaching out as an unknown author to traditional publishers.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
The book cover has been done professionally. It went through numerous edits before the final one was created.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
My publisher and I do have plans. We are reaching out to readers on social media. Have given out ARCs. We hope to reach out to libraries and Indie bookstores down the road.
About You
Where do you live now?
I've been in New York City for over a decade now and I love every moment of it. That said, I travel to across the country for work and enjoy the different places, food and people everywhere I go.
What are you working on now?
I am currently working on my second novel set during the last days of World War II. The book title is still under wraps because I don't want to give the story setting away just yet. There was an interesting time period during the Second World War that I chose as the backdrop.
Hitler died, having committed suicide, on April 30th, 1945 but the war in Europe did not end with his death. Germany continued fighting the Allies and surrendered only a week later on May 7th, 1945. During these days between his death and eventual German surrender, an unimaginable series of events took place that remains unexplained and shrouded in mystery to this very day. My second novel revolves around one of those events during that period of uncertainty, with my imagination filling in the blanks that history has left unanswered forever.
I first read about it a few years ago and I always wondered to myself, "What exactly happened there? Why did they the retreating Germans that? Who was really responsible? What were they thinking?"
I searched and searched and searched and never found any satisfactory answers. That was when I said to myself, "Hmm, that's interesting. The magnitude of what happened then was immense and here we are over 70 years later and we still don't know much about it." That's when I decided to write my second book around these bizarre events.
The first chapter of my second book will be available to all readers of The Girl at the Bar. The details on how to get it will be at the end of my first book.
End of Interview:
For more from Nicholas visit his website or like his Facebook page.
Get your copy of The Girl at the Bar from Amazon US or Amazon UK.
from The IndieView http://ift.tt/2q2e7dr