Tania’s Comments (group member since May 28, 2013)

Tania’s comments from the Readerly Friends! group.

I don't know my way around Goodreads and I would be really interested in what members of this group are doing with their own writing whether of blogs, novels, nonfiction or whatever, so that I have the opportunity to read the works of those that I am interacting with in this Readerly Friends group. Now that you have discussion topics, surely those who wish to avoid self-promotion will find it easy to avoid the advertisements and stick to the books, while those like me who are interested can take a look if a link is given in a post.

Not everybody is as tech savvy as you Red and I think it is really unfair of you to assume that we can find this information easily here. I have only joined Goodreads to participate in this group, and because I'm interested in what you yourself are writing and the others who are posting here.

For example I found it really interesting when one man talked about the books he had written in the context of George RR Martin's cliffhangers. To me as a reader and a writer, that was absolutely fascinating.

I really think you should have at least ONE topic where members of this group can see blog links/amazon links etc to works they have done for reference and context... and I think you should begin by posting your blog link and all your published works so we can find them easily, even when we're on a strange computer. Last time you quoted from your blog on FB I wasn't the only one who doesn't regularly 'follow' it who was interested in reading it.

Hi I'm Tania and reading has always been my greatest passion until I started writing novels five years ago! (I have self-published two so far with Create Space on Amazon, but I'll save the details on them for the Self-Promotion thread.)

I started seriously writing at a very low point in my when my son Caleb was diagnosed with Aspergers, ADHD, OCD and ODD. In other words he is a very difficult and violent child who has to be medicated and supervised very closely. His violence towards school teachers is such that even in the special autism unit that he should be attending at the moment, the teachers and support staff cannot handle him and he simply has not learned anything, despite being quite bright. He is a good reader and loves Pokemon Fanfiction but until I introduced him to Khan Academy a month ago his mathematical skills were very basic. He is currently refusing to attend school so we are in the process of organising home based learning for him through the local Education Department (Open Access College) which will be phone and internet based.

I have not wanted to do this as the time he is at
school is the only respite I get from the traumatic stress of coping with a child with these problems, but it is clear that he is not coping emotionally with school and it is likely that I will never be able to return to work (school teacher - music).

It has taken a huge toll on my health and well-being and 7 years ago I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis which requires constant pain medication (or else no housework gets done!) However because of these very circumstances it has allowed me to write full length novels which I consider to be one of the greatest blessings of my life. Just to have the blocks of time needed to read through longer novels is a great blessing - so different to writing shorter stories - I cannot imagine that I would have had this great opportunity before retirement without these seeming disasters in my life. Every cloud has a silver or maybe golden lining if we have the right attitude.

I have 3 children (20, 12 and 10), two sons and then my daughter so it's a busy life with my husband and his sport (umpiring) commitments, so I treasure my opportunity to read and discuss books with my children. Now that I've done so much writing I read very differently, pulling apart each author and working out WHY I like what they do. With my 20 year old son we are discussing George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, while my daughter likes me to read Rainbow Fairy Magic novels with her, and with my aspergers lad we read Emily Rodda and Jack Russell Dog Detective stories...

For myself I have read nearly every Agatha Christie novel, Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen, the Brontes, Mary Stewart, DE Stevenson oh and her ancestor Robert Louis, Elsie Jeannette Oxenham, LM Montgomery, Mary Grant Bruce and many more that I'll discuss on the forums.

Anyway that's enough about me, I want to hear about the rest of you!