I have signed a Settlement Agreement with my publisher, and in return gained back the rights to my manuscript and my writing life.
It was a big decision to make, and yet really it wasn't. Yes, I know that statement just about wipes itself out, but I guess you have to have been where I have for the last few years to know what I'm feeling, and why. Sufficient to say it's a good feeling to be back in control and I may even do a rewrite of the manuscript, which was called 'Addicted to Chat' and return it to what it was originally, with improvements of course.
It's a shame Secrets, Lies & Chat didn't do well as I put a lot of work and soul into it, and in spite of the fiction category, the stories are all true with just the names and places changed. Perhaps it was before it's time and one day someone might drag it down off a dusty shelf somewhere and read it and gain something from it. I do have the satisfaction of having been contacted by a few people who gained insight out of my stories and have been able to alter the course of issues in their own lives by heeding my words.
So there will be no more print runs of Secrets, Lies & Chat and it should, by now, have been removed from online bookstores such as Amazon. The only books that I know are in existence are the ones that have been sold, the review books (500) that I bought and gave away, and the 400 plus copies (not review) I have in my spare room. If anyone cares to buy a copy I'm giving them away almost on my website. If you are overseas then they are still cheap taking into account postage costs.
I can always burn them to keep warm :)
My advice to those trying to be published? Be very careful and don't let the excitement of an offer cloud your judgement. Think about it seriously, the costs, the time factor, the huge chance that the book won't sell.
All in all it's been one hell of an experience, one hell of a ride for 3 years. At the end of it I have a piece of paper and a book, a nice green one. Green never was the colour I would have chosen for the cover but I must admit it is eye catching. I know one lady who tells me she has read the book 20 times. I know why though; she is trying to work out who the men are I wrote about lol. She has only one chance, buckleys.
So that's my news and here it is 2006 and I'm working on another story. What I'm going to do with it, who knows? It's again a story with a lot of truth in it but I'm filling in a lot of gaps with fiction, so fiction it will be. It's not my story but I will probably end up in the closing chapter as I am part of it, depending on how far I travel with the story. I was given permission to write it and the 'star' of the story is helping me workshop my writing via the Internet. Finding a winning combination that will grab the interest of readers isn't easy, as we all know, and having a story that you feel is worthy of reading, doesn't guarantee anyone else will bother paying for it on the rough chance it might be worth turning the pages over to the final one. Again, who knows?
Take care and smile, it's the second best thing you can do with your lips. I'm wondering sometimes what the first best thing is. I imagine it's a lot of different things, depending who is doing the smiling :)
Angela Calminetti, mother of five, New Age practitioner and gifted psychic and telepath, is proud of her family ties and does everything she can to make sure that all of her younger siblings are as happy in love and marriage as she is…whether they wa
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