The Empty Chair now released on Kindle

It's been a busy few weeks for me, so firstly apologies for not blogging!

The big news from the World of Michael Andrews is that my anti bullying poetry book "The Empty Chair" is now up and running and available on Kindle (and other smart devices via the free Kindle app).  It contains seventeen poems, all based on bullying and the effects that it has, not just on the victims themselves, but friends and family as well.  There are also weblinks to my chosen charity Beatbullying.org and some concerning statistics from various studies into bullying in the UK.

Did you know that on average TWENTY schoolage children in the UK kill themselves each year because of the effects of bullying.

However, there is help out there and in the UK, anyone concerned can go to www.beatbullying.org and find a lot of advice, adult counsellors and even mentors of schoolage children who have had training to help other children their age.

If you think it's a worthwhile cause, and want to help in a roundabout fashion, for each copy of "The Empty Chair" that is sold, I am donating royalties towards the charity.  So if you want to grab a copy, please click on https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00G4TA2SG for your copy in the UK, or http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G4TA2SG in the US.

Talking of the USA, I need to give a big shout out to Alisha, who has invited me to guest on her internet radio show, Bully Survival Radio.  It's very short notice but it is TODAY at 6pm GMT and I will be reading some of the poems from my book, as well as talking about it, the inspiration behind it and bullying in general.  You can find the link to it on my facebook page which is here...Michael Andrews Facebook

And as I am in a generous mood, as a teaser and a sign of goodwill to all and sundry, here is one of my poems from the book.  So if you do like it, please help me support the charity by grabbing a copy and leaving a nice review if you do enjoy it.

Thanks!

Stand Up To The Bullies

 

Sometimes you don’t know what to do.

The so called cool kids pick on him,

And you think you should step in

Not knowing if they’ll start on you.

Do you stand up and see it through?

 

Up to now he’s been alone.

Plant a foot forward, be like stone.

 

To support the kid who gets so hurt ,

Over how the thugs treat him like dirt.

 

The things they do and things they say,

He barely makes it through the day,

Even though he says he’s okay.

 

But you know he not and so you’ll stand

Under pressure but you’ll take his hand.

Like all bullies, they won’t like it

Like all bullies, they’ll hide from you

If you show the needed grit.

Each one of us must take a vow to

Stand up to the bullies.

Beating Bullies Under A Blood Moon

Well it's been a couple of weeks since my last musing, so I thought I would take the time to catch up with the world of Michael Andrews.

In the last couple of weeks I have been trying to hit the marketing trail, learning more and more how to make an impact on twitter (which you can follow me @forthelostsoul ) and in 5 days I have over trebled my followers, and am gaining new ones daily.

For me, this most important event in the last two weeks was the contact that I had with the UK anti bullying charity, BeatBullying.org.   I am in the process of finalising my poetry collection for release on Kindle, called "The Empty Chair", which aims to highlight the effects that bullying can have.  I wanted to have a section of the book dedicated to the help that victims of bullying can receive and BeatBullying is the largest charity in the UK dedicated to this.  I had found a superbly powerful poster that they produced some time ago and I want to use it within the book, but of course, the big thing is permission.  Hence the desperate need to make contact and on Thursday this week, that was achieved.  I am still thinking about price, but as I will be donating a big part of my royalties to the charity, I am hoping that people will look to this as a way to donate while still enjoying my poetry so I will be looking at around the £3.99 mark.

The next project is also underway.  I have been throwing ideas around for what I want to write next in terms of my fictional writing and having taken some advice from the author forum that I am on, I have decided that rather than a full length novel, I am going down the line of shorter, novella style books, but in a series.  Sort of like a TV series where each book is a separate story, but there will be a series plot running across all of them.  As well as the main two characters, there will be reoccurring minor characters, both good and bad!  The first book has the working title of "Under A Blood Moon" and the series currently is called "The Alex Hayden Chronicles" although that is still in the air.

I have also got a publicity meeting arranged on Monday with a local publication that has a readership  of around 10,000 people so this should also help promote the poetry.  It will also be interesting as Gail, the lady I'm meeting, has bought and read "For The Lost Soul" so will be nice to get some face to face feedback!

That's it for now!  Peace, love and chocolate marshmallows!

A comedown after the excitment!

Hi everyone,

I did say I was going to update weekly but to be honest, not a lot has happened in the last week that I thought you guys would be interested in.

I managed to pull my left thigh muscle on Sunday and then topped it off with getting an infected finger after biting off one of those annoying bits of skin down the side of my nail.  Ended up at the walkin clinic yesterday for the Doc to cut it open to relieve some of the pressure and give me a prescription for anti biotics.

All of this has curtailed into my writing so I only managed around 5000 words last week on another experimental piece of short fiction, just to sharpen up my skills.

Other than that, in terms of writing, I've spent some more time looking into the marketing aspects and picked up a couple of hints which I will be trying out in the near future.

The rugby season got off to a good start with Leicester Tigers beating Worcester with a bonus point win, but that has now been overshadowed by the long term injury to Tom Croft, who is now out for the season!  Unlucky mate!

Still loving Wentworth and Under The Dome and beginning to get excited now for the forthcoming release of Ender's Game at the cinema.  It's going to be an exciting November for sci fi fans with that, and the 50th Anniversary special of Doctor Who..which features the return of David Tennant and Billie Piper.

Well, I really ought to try to get on and write a little more so laterz........

Most exciting week for me!

Well, the most amazing things happened to me this week.  Good and bad, but that’s life isn’t it!

Firstly, I soared past the three hundred AND four hundred downloads mark on my kindle books, the links of which I will add at the bottom of today’s post in case anyone fancies giving them a try.

Then, I actually received my first bad review!  I know, I probably shouldn’t share that with you, but I look on it as constructive as it was on an experimental story so I’m not too down hearted.  It certainly doesn’t counter the six excellent reviews that I have received.

But then, the biggie that happened is that I have received official recognition that my anti bullying poetry might actually be pretty good.  I have been submitting a few of them to various magazines and on Wednesday ‘The Cannon’s Mouth’, a 30 year old publication, accepted and published my poem ‘My New Phone’ in their September Quarterly edition!  Look at this!!

 

Not only is it great that someone in the industry actually liked my poem enough to include it, but it does now start my ‘publishing c.v.’ which a lot of agents and publishing houses look for.  One of my novels is a 90,000 word self proclaimed epic, ha ha, but seriously I would love to get it accepted and published in physical form rather than just be available on Kindle.  I am also nearly finished writing my collection of anti bullying poetry and hope to publish it to help raise awareness and funds for the charity, beatbully.org.  I have also started my second full length novel, so who knows.  Today I am still in my small, little village on the outskirts of Birmingham, next step, Hollywood!

Other than that…I’m loving the series ‘Under the Dome’ at the moment.  A combination of Stephen Spielberg and Stephen King..surely it can’t go wrong?  Also started the new series called ‘Wentworth’, which is a remake of the old Aussie soap ‘Prisoner Cell Block H’.

The rugby union season starts as well, so a big shout out to Toby Flood, who was stretchered off against Ulster in the final warm up game for Leicester Tigers.  Get well soon Floody!

Thanks for reading my ramblings and have a great week.  Here are the links

Feature Length Novel

For The Lost Soul - UK

For The Lost Soul - USA

 

Up & Running

Hi everyone,

As a lot of authors have them, I've decided to give it a go and see if I can create a blog that will keep you interested and up to date with the imaginative world of the mind of Michael Andrews!!

Who am I?

I'm an international selling author on three continents, just about anyway, wannabe poet and general all round guy who is looking to try to make writing a successful career, or at least one that will buy me a couple of beers every now and then.

So what am I going to include on my blog?  What shouldn't I include on my blog?

I will post the usual updates about how my debut full length novel, For The Lost Soul, is doing, along with my short stories, all of which are available through Amazon to read on your Kindle (or your free Kindle app).

I'll keep you informed of my curent work in progress and forthcoming projects.

I'll even tell you what is keeping me smiling in the world, or looking for the nearest pint to drown my sorrows in!

Hopefully you will like the blog and I'd appreciate any helpful comments that you may have!

Thanks for reading

Michael
xx