ISW Welcomes the Mary E. Martin Virtual Tour Followers!

Of all the forms of entertainment reading is perhaps the most intimate. Readers often have deep visceral responses to and relationships with the books they read. Authors of the past may have deeply impacted culture and readers' lives, but seemed elusive and distant to the public. In this modern age the relationship between author and reader is rapidly becoming more intimate and less distant. The internet has made the author more accessible to fans and given the reader greater influence over what ideas and whose works become popularized. Authors need and benefit greatly through reader word of mouth referrals, reviews, and yes be-friending. Readers have begun to influence writers through commenting and interacting on blogs and Facebook.

What is an Amazon Boost Campaign and why would you choose today to support Mary E. Martin?

Amazon Boost Campaign

Authors looking to get their books on the shelves of brick and mortar stores need to demonstrate sales. A majority of brick and mortar book stores look to Amazon sales rankings when determining what books they will carry. Guerrilla marketers use Amazon Boost Campaign strategies to elevate their sales and search rankings with Amazon. That translates into promotional efforts which steer traffic to Amazon.com and emphasize purchase incentives, reward packages, and giveaways.

An Amazon Boost Campaign uses social media networking, such as the virtual book tour Mary E. Martin is sponsoring today, purchase incentive giveaways, and rewards to encourage sales during a targeted time block or date. The goal of the boost campaign is to elevate the sales ranking and visibility of a book or author. A noticeable jump in sales has a tremendous impact on search ranking within Amazon.

This virtual tour is supporting a terrific author, Mary E Martin, in her Amazon boost campaign.

The hosts are sharing articles written by the author or offering blog tailored Q&A written interviews, their reviews of Mary's works, book trailers, and more in support of that effort. Today ISW is linking in with blog hosts Sue Magee, of The Book Bag and Norm Goldman of Book Pleasures on the tour.

I encourage those of you visiting this site to assist author Mary E. Martin in her Amazon boost through purchasing today. Your purchase receipt confirmation number can then be used to enter the tour's $200 Amazon gift card giveaway. Once your purchase has been validated the tour will send you a rewards access pass-code, which you can use to claim free e-books and coupon codes, donated by tour blog host sponsors.

Everything you need to know about the tour Schedule, Giveaway Incentive, and Rewards can be found on Mary's Virtual Tour page.

Social media is the author's friend, something readers don't typically think about. Sharing your enjoyment of a book could be the boost that an author needs in sales. Authors are mostly on their own in building an audience and marketing their books. Even authors with the dubious fortune of being published by traditional publishing houses. You don't see many books being marketed on television or through mainstream media because the cost of marketing is so high. Books are low cost items and have to make millions of sales to justify promotional costs and budgets. Typically, an author might see as little as pennies per sale on work that may have taken them years to complete. For that reason, authors need friends and fans that share to help them promote their work.

Mary and I recorded an interview together for BlogTalkRadio, discussing her book marketing experience over the course of her writing career to date. Mary even gets in a few questions of her own, asking me questions about what a virtual tour is, how the are organized, and about Amazon boost campaigns.

"Exploring Virtual Book Tour and Amazon Boost Strategies for Book Marketing" Ink Slinger's Whimsey on BlogTalkRadio

Check Out Books Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with inkslngrswhmz on BlogTalkRadio

Author Mary E. Martin

About Mary E. Martin

Mary E. Martin received an Honors degree in history from the University of Toronto in 1968, and in 1972, earned a law degree from Queens University. From 1973- 2000, Martin primarily practiced estate and real estate law in a small Toronto law firm. Married in 1973, she and her husband continue to live in Toronto, where they raised their three children. In 2012, she became the grandmother of two gorgeous grandchildren. In 2000, Martin retired from practicing law to become a full time writer and photographer. As a photographer she has six shows to her credit.

As an author Martin has self published two trilogies, The Osgoode Trilogy and The Trilogy of Remembrance; which have garnered several awards and attracted popular attention and praise with readers through social media recognition. Martin’s popularity has grown with readers through internet promotion activities, as a featured novelist with Wattpad, as a popular guest for podcast interviews, and as a blogger.

Martin’s literary accomplishments include:

THE OSGOODE TRILOGY:

Conduct in Question, Martin’s first novel, garnered 962,391 reads as a free featured novel through the popular social media site Wattpad.com and its mobile application.
Final Paradox received an Honorable Mention in the Hollywood Book Festival; and garnered 130,552 reads while being promoted as a featured novel through Wattpad.
A Trial of One was the winner of the Reader’s Choice Award, in both The London Book Festival, and The New York Book Festival.

THE TRILOGY OF REMEMBRANCE

The Drawing Lesson, and The Fate of Pryde, both received Honorable Mentions in the New York Book Festival.
In Dec 2014, The Drawing Lesson, the first novel in the Trilogy of Remembrance, began its promotional debut as a free featured novel through Wattpad.com and has a growing readership of 29,337.

Night Crossing, third in the Trilogy of Remembrance, was published in 2014, and has already been awarded an Honorable Mention for Literary Fiction in the 2014 London Book Festival, as well as high praise from reader and critic reviews on Amazon.com and through popular book review sites such as BlueInkReview, ForewordReviews, AvidReader.com and BookReadersHeaven. Martin has been a featured guest for the popular Internet podcast host Simon Barrett and for host Fran Lewis over BlogTalk Radio.

___________________________________

Martin continues as a writer of literary fiction, has an author’s blog, and is featured for her art commentary as blogger for Artsy.net. Martin’s author blog features themes which include tips about writing and publishing, discourse on creativity, inspiration, Jungian thought, the work of Joseph Campbell, and other creatives, as well as commentary on popular current arts related topics and works.

TIP Tuesday: Making Friends in Facebook Groups- a Smart Guerilla Strategy

"Guerrilla Marketing: the employment of unconventional ways of advertising, using smaller budgets and a larger imagination, to capture the attention of consumers."

Marketing outside of the box. If you want to attract attention to your work. . . 

Be different. Stand out. Be unexpected. 

Get CREATIVE

Authors have to be smart about finding and cultivating their audiences. In today's book market the self published author has to take the fate of their book in hand and get busy engaging audiences to build interest and encourage purchasers. How are they doing it? 

Audience engagement is important for SEO and for increasing sales. 

Take a tip from author Mary E. Martin . . . Make friends.

Mary is the kind of author whose books provoke thought. She uses Jungian ideas and themes in her books and when writing her blogs. She can talk about the essays of Joseph Campbell and isn't shy about opening touchy discourse about current affairs, challenging the established cultural paradigms.
So, it is no surprise that I have found her pushing buttons and raising the caliber of  philosophical discussion in several popular Facebook groups with a Jungian or Campbell focus.

What is she doing? She is making friends and adding to the following of her blog and fans of her work in the process.
If you follow her group activity, as I have done, you'll notice that she participates in group discussions. She asks questions, poses intellectual challenges, proposes ideas, and generally engages with other Facebook group members through comments. Next, after she has gotten a number of lively responses, she shares with the group that she has used the group thread for inspiration in a blog she has written, and invites them to comment. Using this tactic, she is successfully moving traffic to her blog, growing the number of friends she is reaching and the quality of comments her threads attract. She is taking her content to the places where the intended audience of her books visit on Facebook, and her tactic for attracting interest is working.

Mary E. Martin is the author of two trilogies: The Osgoode Trilogy, inspired by her many years of law practice; and The Trilogy of Remembrance, set in the glitter and shadows of the art world. Both trilogies will elevate the reader from the rush and hectic world of today and spin them into realms of yet unimagined intrigue. Be inspired by the newly released and final installment of The Trilogy of Remembrance, Night Crossing. Presently, The Drawing Lesson is a Wattpad Featured novel which you can read in its entirety through Wattpad.com

BlogTalkRadio Interview with Mary E. Martin, Author of The Trilogy of Remembrance

Are you looking for the kind of book which carries you deeper into yourself? What about the kind of book which challenges your preconceptions of life? Do you ever long to enter the sacred mystery, the places where meaning and purpose reside? If you are, The Trilogy of Remembrance is a series that will inspire you.

Author Mary E. Martin is not the average writer. Her work is thoughtful and provocative on levels most books never explore. Full of lush imagery and rich language, Martin's work provokes thought without imposing answers or giving too much. She asks you to join the journey of her characters toward personal transformation, for the gratification of expansion.

Please join me as I host this Blogtalkradio interview with guest author Mary E. Martin, as we discuss The Osgoode Trilogy and the Trilogy of Remembrance.

Hear the author speak about the differences between her two trilogies's protagonists; how each protagonist and series allowed her to explore her chosen themes differently. Martin answers questions about series development, and her creative writing process, as well as real world influences on character creation. She speaks about using setting for greater effect in writing and shares details about where blogging is taking her creatively on the Internet.

Check Out Books Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with inkslngrswhmz on BlogTalkRadio

" New Gate Keepers" A Publishing Tale by Mary E. Martin

Gather around. DID YOU HEAR?

There’s a new gatekeeper in our town. The world of publishing has been transformed. I bring the news to you from my front row seat. But the best way to explain is—as usual—to tell a story. . .

Some of you are too young to remember the arrival of personal computers in our homes. But when they did arrive, many of us decided to become writers. (Given the huge volume of prose that has flowed since, I must conclude that our creativity was severely repressed in earlier times.)

With so many people writing all kinds of stories and opinions, the publishing houses were flooded with manuscripts, more than ever before. Agents and publishers [the gatekeepers] grew angry at the onslaught and so overwhelmed were they, that rarely did they answer the poor writer’s little query letters, over which he had labored for weeks. With no response, the writers grew angry.
But it wasn't really the fault of those publishing houses. Their technology and staff were not up to the deluge. Neither was their cash flow. In this new publishing landscape, they could afford precious little time and very little money. Where were those fat advance cheques, the authors [the ones who got past the gate] wondered?

The writers became angrier.  After all, no one liked to be brushed off with a generic rejection letter. Nothing seemed to be “for our list”. The writers were very dispirited. Their creative urge was nearly expunged. In desperation, they sought other avenues for getting published.

Along came innumerable self-publishing companies and more new technology called print-on-demand and much later, e-books. In those days, any author forced to admit he was self published hung his head in shame. Aside from being rejected in a rude and uncaring fashion by the traditional gatekeepers, the writer had yet another cause for unhappiness—public humiliation. The stigma of being “self-published” was branded on his forehead. The book must be garbage. After all, without the imprimatur of the gatekeeper, how could the book be anything else? What could the angry and humiliated writer do?

In front of gate -tfsimon

(What a sad and frustrating tale!) Back then, any author, convinced the old order still existed, quaked like a lowly vassal outside the King’s castle. Fearsome dark turrets with few openings rose up and towered over him. The drawbridge slammed shut with such a bang that the author was nearly deafened. But, despite his despair, he remained ever determined. The author would fling his manuscript over the moat, aiming for one of the lowest portals. If those sheets of paper magically took flight and got into the castle, the vassal would sit patiently on a rock and wait. And wait. He would try to keep his spirits up by following the usual advice to keep writing while waiting. Actually that was not bad advice and many new manuscripts resulted. Rarely did any writer get called to enter the castle. Oh yes—there were a few, but throngs of other supplicants were never noticed. What could the authors do?

No one knows how it happened, but one morning magically a new market square appeared between the castle and the forest where the writers lived. It covered many acres and was loud, noisy, colorful, and crammed with thousands upon thousands of people. Many hawkers had built rude little stands and made bright red and gold signs. The attendant at each stand shouted out to advertise their wares [mostly books] which were piled in baskets. The more enterprising had helpers who slipped through the crowds to hand out advertisements and coupons with marvelous offers—free books.

Signs were posted at the most promising locations in the market where the traffic was highest. But where could anyone find their sort of customer—the ones who would actually buy their books?

One hawker of food said, “If someone is looking for a mutton leg, no point in wasting time trying to sell him fruit and vegetables. You got to find the right customer for your wares.” By the way, those who sold food did very well. People who were browsing the books became ravenous.
“So how can we find the carnivores?” the writers asked.
Sad to say, few customers could afford the price of meat.

From dawn to dusk, the shopkeepers [writers] slaved. Later some met to consider putting on a play to tell about their books and attract readers. Others decided that singing and dancing might help. The brightest and the best said—“Now is the time to be creative!” One even dressed up as his own wife to act the part of one of his characters. Those who normally shunned the limelight hurried back home to write in peace.

Now . . . about that new gatekeeper.

This is a tale filled with irony. The old gatekeepers at the castle no longer had their jobs. They came each morning to the market asking if they might guard the gate. They did not seem to understand that the order had changed and that they had to find a new way to go on. No one wanted to hire them because anyone could come into the market. In fact, the more people the better.
“The market needs no gatekeeper,” the hawkers insisted.
“And why is that?” the old gatekeepers asked.
“The market itself, in its massive size, is its own gatekeeper."

The old gatekeepers looked sad and scratched their heads. Finally they began walking aimlessly through the market looking for something to do.
I am no expert in the effect of technological advance upon societies. But any who cannot figure out the game of selling their wares is barred by the extreme difficulty in being heard above the din in our market.

Mary E. Martin  is the author of two trilogies The Osgoode Trilogy set in the corridors of power in the world of the law, and The Trilogy of Remembrance set midst the glitter and shadows of the art world.

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"The First Draft and How To Get There" an article about writing, by author Mary E. Martin

What a "high" seeing those three hundred pages stacked up on the desk --the first draft! I always wanted to print out the manuscript because it gave me such a sense of accomplishment just to see it. @MartinTrilogies

This Monday I would like to share a Wattpad article written by author, friend, and fellow blogger Mary E. Martin.
In this author's experience blog, Mary talks about creating her characters, fleshing them out, and how the character building effort fed her creative process.

"The First Draft and How To Get There"

No Character can come alive on the page unless I know him or her really well. @MartinTrilogies

Savoring "Night Crossing" . . . a Review

When I planned the schedule of blogs with my intention to post this review Friday, August 15, I had not considered that Night Crossing is a book with its own spirit and purpose. There are questions being asked that will arrest progress through its chapters by capturing thought and time. And so, I come late to write my review.

When you drink wine, do you gulp it down; racing to the bottom of your glass? Do you savor it; holding it in your mouth; flicking it with your tongue; allowing yourself the pleasures of experiencing its texture, the changing flavors as it rolls over your taste buds, splashing against your palate. Night Crossing is a story that, like pleasing wine, deserves to be savored.

 

Title: Night Crossing
Author: Mary E. Martin
Series: The Trilogy of Remembrance
Publisher: iUniverse (June 20, 2014)
ISBN-10: 1491737158
ISBN-13: 978-1491737156

The Trilogy of Remembrance comes to an inspired and satisfying conclusion in, Night Crossing. Enter our hero and favorite artist, Alexander Wainwright, vision guided into a swirling dream like progression of thought, darkness, light, and dancing rhythms which open windows to the heart and soul of creative experience. He is the student and the observer of life. He journeys, inspired and driven by compulsions and forces he does not understand, meeting guides and antagonists along the way. Each in turn adds to the mysterious patterns being woven around him. Their destinies entwined.  His muse Daphne, faithful narrator Jamie, and friends both new and old will enter your heart and find their way to places that resonate. A new story unfolds, new mysteries are explored as Alex frees his unique inner light and searches for the place love holds in his art. These characters breathe. They hurt and love, like we hurt and love. Their stories, choices, and struggles give us pause because they are stories we recognize as versions of our own.

I love Mary’s writing, which is eloquent and full of human insight. In Night Crossing, as in the previous books of the trilogy, she reveals surprising depths of interest and perception –both spiritual and aesthetic, into the visual, musical and performance arts.  Through her story telling she has the reader pondering many ideas, concepts and truths relating to creativity, spirituality, and life. Her writing illuminates much and yet leaves room for further exploration. I find her work entrancing and provocative, without being pushy. I will miss Alexander and find myself wondering how she might work him into another novel or series now that his trilogy is complete.

Do I recommend Night Crossing? Oh yes, yes indeed, I do.

Synopsis: Magical light suffuses Alexander Wainwright's paintings. But he must find something new. A vision of a golden sphere studded with gems appears before him-the cosmic egg, source of all creativity. Next day, his art dealer shows him an unsigned painting of the very same cosmic egg dedicated to a Parisian pianist, Dumont. Does the cosmic egg exist not just in Alex's imagination but in the real world? That burning question drives Alex to take the ferry-a night crossing- from Portsmouth to Caen and then onto Paris to find the pianist and the artist. On that trip, the elderly Miss Trump, enters Alex's life with myriad mysterious effects. The ferry capsizes. Alex tries to save her and a young mother and her child. Miss Trump drowns but mother and child are safe. When her body is mistakenly cremated, Alex is seized with an inexplicable sense of responsibility and carries the ashes with him to Paris where he simply comes across Dumont playing in a café. The pianist says the painter, Anton, is in St. Petersburg. Still determined to carry the ashes, Alex travels by train to St. Petersburg to find the artist. Stunning revelations await him. Learning far more than imagined, he finally understands the meaning of his vision and the true purpose of carrying the ashes across Europe. But when he returns to London, he may find that he has lost what he cherishes most-Daphne, his love and muse. This tale is about love so strong it transcends life and death. It's about cruelty and compassion, life, art and the magic of creation. All told, it speaks of that yearning within us for what lies beyond.

Mary E. Martin is the author of two trilogies The Osgoode Trilogy set in the corridors of power in the world of the law, and The Trilogy of Remembrance set midst the glitter and shadows of the art world.

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Trilogy of Remembrance: an interview with author Mary E. Martin

In celebration of publishing part three in her Trilogy of Remembrance --Night Crossing, I am posting an excerpt from an interview I did with author Mary E. Martin, when book two, The Fate of Pryde, was released.

Read our review of Night Crossing when it posts on Friday, August 15, 2014.

It is always a pleasure to speak with an author about their work and process, but Mary's interview was especially interesting. She gave our readers a fair amount of personal insight into what motivates her as an author, as well as her writing process for the Trilogy of Remembrance.  Today's excerpts will only include questions and answers pertaining to the Trilogy of Remembrance.

Mary E. Martin  is the author of two trilogies The Osgoode Trilogy set in the corridors of power in the world of the law, and The Trilogy of Remembrance set midst the glitter and shadows of the art world.

This excerpt has been taken from the Ink Slinger's Whimsey blog for,  August 24, 2011.

Author Mary Martin

Martin: My second trilogy of novels [The Trilogy of Remembrance] is about an artist, Alexander Wainwright, Britain’s finest landscape painter. The genesis of this trilogy occurred many years ago, before the publication in 2005 of my first novel, Conduct in Question, the first in The Osgoode Trilogy.
A writer friend/mentor of mine challenged me to write something other than a mystery novel. And so, I tried to write a romance, with little success. I had a man and woman meet while travelling on [believe it or not] the Orient Express to Venice. After thirty pages, I was getting bored. I knew enough to say that if the writer is bored, heaven help the reader!
At that moment in time, I envisioned a mysterious character who pretty much appeared in the room in my imagination. At once, I knew he was the protagonist for the book. It took a long time to get to know him, but after innumerable character sketches and other jottings, he became Alexander Wainwright, Britain's finest landscape artist. He would be the main character around which the next trilogy would be built. So, I suppose it was Alexander, himself, who inspired the trilogy. Once I got to know him a little bit, I found he had a great deal to say.
My experience has been that the characters an author creates are a part or aspect of oneself. Consequently, the growth of Alexander — a person who believes that there is much more to this world than meets the eye — probably is my inquiring, prodding, reflective self. I present him with many questions to which I personally want to find answers.

The next novel in this trilogy—The Fate of Pryde—will published this fall on Amazon’s CreateSpace. Again, Alexander is the protagonist and I’ve presented him with a new character from whom he has much to learn, Jonathan Pryde. Pryde is an extremely wealthy patron of the arts who wants to commission Alex to create a vision in stained glass for his residence in Vence in the south of France. Alexander hesitates. After all he is a painter, not a glass cutter. But Alex is drawn into Jonathan’s strange and murky world. At the foot of the garden of Pryde’s chateau-like home, stands a bunker protecting his secrets. In this novel, the question posed to Alex is—How can the very best and the very worst of humankind reside in one’s man breast?
And so, I love to present my protagonist with all sorts of problems to reflect upon. I have a few ideas for the next novel, but the trick, as always is to create a driving plot to find all the questions and— a few answers.

Faroqui: How do your books evolve? Do you get a creative burst which eventually matures into a novel? Do you pick a theme and lay a foundation? How do you approach the creative process?

Martin: I think each novel evolves in its own way. A lot like raising children—each one is quite different. It seems I do a lot of work “in the back of my mind” and so, when it’s ready, I sit down and get started. The growth of The Drawing Lesson was quite unusual. In fact it started out as a novella or even three novels and so the structure of a full novel was not really in place at the outset. Parts or scenes of the novel kept “floating up” to me and I would write them down without really knowing why. And so, I made a rule for myself—not to throw anything out until much later. It was like walking on a beach and coming across different shells and having to decide whether to pick one up and carry it home or not. Not until the end of the process did I cut out or change significant portions of the manuscript.
So, sometimes it starts out as an idea or a kind of character or a bunch of questions. I think I’m a pretty “organic” writer in the sense that I like the natural flow of the story to take over and guide me where it wants. I’m a great student of Carl Jung and consequently really believe in the power of the subconscious, which I think is a lot smarter and more creative than I am.

Faroqui: Some people believe that in order to be truly creative a person has to be tormented, or have deep inner turmoil? What do you think of that notion?

Martin: No! At least I certainly hope not. Much is made of battles with inner demons. But it’s interesting you should ask. In fact, Alexander Wainwright does have a battle like that in The Drawing Lesson. Suddenly, this artist, known for his beautiful landscapes bathed in an ethereal light, starts painting trolls—ugly humanoid creatures—along the riverbank of his most recent painting. Of course this heralds a breaking up of his art so that he can advance creatively. I guess I’ve inflicted that on Alex so that I don’t personally have to deal with it. But seriously, I don’t think you have to suffer in order to create. I guess you do go down into the subconscious where wonderfully creative stuff resides, but so does a lot of stuff of nightmares.

Faroqui: What do you hope readers will come away with when they read one of your books? Do you send messages through your work, hoping to inspire perhaps?

Martin: I hope the reader will enjoy looking beneath the surface of life for various layers of meaning and have found moments of quiet reflection. But, I also hope the reader has also been fabulously entertained with a great story and fascinating characters. In the weeks and months to come, he or she will think back to something in The Drawing Lesson or The Fate of Pryde and say— "This person I've just met in real life reminds me of a character in that novel like Rinaldo or Daphne or Jonathan Pryde."

Link to the full interview, 8/24/2011.

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An Invitation from Author Mary E. Martin

Author Mary Martin is using some wonderfully creative online promotion tactics and you will want to see what she is doing. This is one example of putting the available technology and social media to work for you.
Here is the invitation she has sent inviting us join her for the upcoming launch of The Fate of Pryde.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you remember that childhood fantasy of toys coming alive and jumping out of the box to play at night when children are sleeping? What’s happening on my blog in November will remind you of that fantasy.

You may already know that the second novel in the Trilogy of Remembrance, The Fate of Pryde will be published soon—in fact by the beginning of December 2011.


In celebration of the launch, I’m handing my blog http://remembrancetrilogy.com/blog over to my protagonist, Alexander Wainwright, Britain’s finest landscape painter, where he will tell short stories and give his version of events from The Drawing Lesson and The Fate of Pryde. I’m sure some other characters such as Rinaldo and Jonathan Pryde will show up too.

I really want to bring these characters to life by giving them a voice [and soap-box] of their own. You just never know what a real character will say when given half a  chance. 




Throughout November, there will be readings from the novels, some video and photos and maybe some music. Unfortunately, current technology does not permit me to serve you a glass of champagne but if it did, of course, I would.

This launch is different from the usual because the characters will be in charge making it fun for everyone—especially me. It’s a party, so everyone can join in with their comments and questions.

November will be the lead-up to the Twitter Party on December 3rd in the afternoon and Facebook Event where there will be great prizes, such as a new Kindle—preloaded with my five novels—three from The Osgoode Trilogy and two from the Trilogy of Remembrance.

Alexander is already holding forth on my blog and so, you need to listen up!  To follow the fun throughout November just click here
http://remembrancetrilogy.com/feed/rss/  and you won’t miss a thing.

Thanks everyone. See you soon!



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A Fan Inside: Interview with Author Mary Martin

Earlier in the month I posted a sneak peek into author Mary Martin's, soon to be published book, part two in The Trilogy of Remembrance --The Fate Of Pryde.  Today I have the privilege of sharing with you a fascinating written interview with the author.

Mary E. Martin  is the author of two trilogies The Osgoode Trilogy set in the corridors of power in the world of the law, and The Trilogy of Remembrance set midst the glitter and shadows of the art world.

Vonnie Faroqui: Welcome to the Ink Slinger's Whimsey blog Mary. It is really great to interview you for our reading audience. Some of the first questions that fans usually want to ask have to do with that moment of discovery, when you first knew that you wanted to be a writer; in part, because writing is one of those creative vocations that so many of us aspire too. Do you think of writing and being an author as a special calling or your purpose in life?

Mary Martin: Yes, but I had to do a lot of other things first, such as practice law and raise three children, before I felt that way. It’s a sense of this is what I’m supposed to do and that is very satisfying and—fun. I think such a feeling gives you the longer view of the writing life in that you are able to reach out to someone you’ve never met and touch them. As a writer, I live for that.

Faroqui: When did you first know you were a writer? How did you know?

Martin: I think, somewhere in myself, I always knew I wanted to write. In fact, in my early twenties, I did try — briefly. But I quickly learned that I had to earn money to support myself. I decided to become a lawyer because I felt that I was assured of being able to support myself fairly well in that profession. After being called to the Bar, I married, raised three children and practised law for thirty years.
Strangely enough, I began writing at what was likely the busiest time of my life. The children and the law practice demanded a great deal; however, I began my first novel by stealing time late at night or early in the morning. The progress was excruciatingly slow. On one occasion, I had to set the whole project aside for at least a year because of other demands. But when I returned to it, I found that it was still alive. The spirit behind its creation was still there. I think I likely began writing as a form of self-defense. That is, there may be numerous demands on me, but this writing is my own territory, where I can really be myself.
But I think I was first led into the world of writing as a child. It grew from a love of reading stories. I was fascinated that you could enter another world through a book. You could leave your present time and place and enter into an entirely different world created by someone else. For me, that was almost magical.

Faroqui: Tell us what kinds of novels you have written.

Martin: My second trilogy of novels [The Trilogy of Remembrance] is about an artist, Alexander Wainwright, Britain’s finest landscape painter. The genesis of this trilogy occurred many years ago, before the publication in 2005 of my first novel, Conduct in Question, the first in The Osgoode Trilogy.
A writer friend/mentor of mine challenged me to write something other than a mystery novel. And so, I tried to write a romance, with little success. I had a man and woman meet while travelling on [believe it or not] the Orient Express to Venice. After thirty pages, I was getting bored. I knew enough to say that if the writer is bored, heaven help the reader!
At that moment in time, I envisioned a mysterious character who pretty much appeared in the room in my imagination. At once, I knew he was the protagonist for the book. It took a long time to get to know him, but after innumerable character sketches and other jottings, he became Alexander Wainwright, Britain's finest landscape artist. He would be the main character around which the next trilogy would be built. So, I suppose it was Alexander, himself, who inspired the trilogy. Once I got to know him a little bit, I found he had a great deal to say.
My experience has been that the characters an author creates are a part or aspect of oneself. Consequently, the growth of Alexander — a person who believes that there is much more to this world than meets the eye — probably is my inquiring, prodding, reflective self. I present him with many questions to which I personally want to find answers.
The next novel in this trilogy—The Fate of Pryde—will published this fall on Amazon’s CreateSpace. Again, Alexander is the protagonist and I’ve presented him with a new character from whom he has much to learn, Jonathan Pryde. Pryde is an extremely wealthy patron of the arts who wants to commission Alex to create a vision in stained glass for his residence in Vence in the south of France. Alexander hesitates. After all he is a painter, not a glass cutter. But Alex is drawn into Jonathan’s strange and murky world. At the foot of the garden of Pryde’s chateau-like home, stands a bunker protecting his secrets. In this novel, the question posed to Alex is—How can the very best and the very worst of humankind reside in one’s man breast?
And so, I love to present my protagonist with all sorts of problems to reflect upon. I have a few ideas for the next novel, but the trick, as always is to create a driving plot to find all the questions and— a few answers.

Faroqui: What kinds of books do you like to read and why? Are these the same kinds of books that you like to write?

Martin: When I’m writing [which is much of the time these days] I tend not to read fiction. Reading another writer’s novel seems to throw me off my own stride and so, I tend to read non-fiction, such as travel, philosophy, books about various religions and comparative mythology, essays etc; a pretty mixed bag.

Faroqui: How do you find ideas for your books? How do you find inspiration, fill your creative well, so to speak.

Martin: Sometimes, I feel myself running dry and that’s when I take a break from writing. Frequently, I turn to photography. It’s interesting to think about how the two activities relate. I’m definitely a very visual person and that plays a big part in my creating settings. I think the ideas find me rather than my finding them. Alexander seems to be ready with more questions and stories.


Faroqui: How do your books evolve? Do you get a creative burst which eventually matures into a novel? Do you pick a theme and lay a foundation? How do you approach the creative process?

Martin: I think each novel evolves in its own way. A lot like raising children—each one is quite different. It seems I do a lot of work “in the back of my mind” and so, when it’s ready, I sit down and get started. The growth of The Drawing Lesson was quite unusual. In fact it started out as a novella or even three novels and so the structure of a full novel was not really in place at the outset. Parts or scenes of the novel kept “floating up” to me and I would write them down without really knowing why. And so, I made a rule for myself—not to throw anything out until much later. It was like walking on a beach and coming across different shells and having to decide whether to pick one up and carry it home or not. Not until the end of the process did I cut out or change significant portions of the manuscript.
So, sometimes it starts out as an idea or a kind of character or a bunch of questions. I think I’m a pretty “organic” writer in the sense that I like the natural flow of the story to take over and guide me where it wants. I’m a great student of Carl Jung and consequently really believe in the power of the subconscious, which I think is a lot smarter and more creative than I am.

Faroqui: What inspired you to write The Trilogy of Remembrance?

Martin: As I mentioned before, I think Alexander Wainwright inspired me—that part of me which always asks questions.

Faroqui: Did you spend much time considering who you were writing for, or do you write for yourself?

Martin: I think I write primarily for me and my characters. Once you try to fit into some preconceived mold so that you can market your book to a particular group, you lose some of your creative “juices”. Unfortunately, there is a lot of formulaic writing out there and it’s not likely to be the best quality.

Faroqui: If you were to characterize your writing style how would you describe yourself?

Martin: That’s a hard one! Writers are always told they must find their own voice—your own way of saying things. I think it’s hard to find your voice, but when you do, I think you know it because it just sounds like you and it sounds like your characters. I strive for a smooth, economical and polished sound. Whether I hit it or not remains for the reader to decide.

Faroqui: Some people believe that in order to be truly creative a person has to be tormented, or have deep inner turmoil? What do you think of that notion?

Martin: No! At least I certainly hope not. Much is made of battles with inner demons. But it’s interesting you should ask. In fact, Alexander Wainwright does have a battle like that in The Drawing Lesson. Suddenly, this artist, known for his beautiful landscapes bathed in an ethereal light, starts painting trolls—ugly humanoid creatures—along the riverbank of his most recent painting. Of course this heralds a breaking up of his art so that he can advance creatively. I guess I’ve inflicted that on Alex so that I don’t personally have to deal with it. But seriously, I don’t think you have to suffer in order to create. I guess you do go down into the subconscious where wonderfully creative stuff resides, but so does a lot of stuff of nightmares.

Faroqui: What experience in life has been the most helpful in preparing you as a writer and who has been the biggest influence on your writing career and why?

Martin: My law practice itself was a huge inspiration for writing. After all, people would come to my office or sometimes I would make a house call. They would tell me the stories of their lives and, most of them paid me! Later, I came to regard my law practice as my window on the world and my research into humanity, which is my real subject matter. Many fascinating characters with their plotlines willingly came to my office. After years of this, I felt as if there were a burbling stew of stories within me — and so I began to write.
Actually, my law partner, a wonderful gentleman of the “old school” was the inspiration for my first protagonist, Harry Jenkins, lawyer in The Osgoode Trilogy, which was comprised of Conduct in Question, Final Paradox and A Trial of One—all legal suspense.

Faroqui: What do you hope readers will come away with when they read one of your books? Do you send messages through your work, hoping to inspire perhaps?

Martin: I hope the reader will enjoy looking beneath the surface of life for various layers of meaning and have found moments of quiet reflection. But, I also hope the reader has also been fabulously entertained with a great story and fascinating characters. In the weeks and months to come, he or she will think back to something in The Drawing Lesson or The Fate of Pryde and say— This person I've just met in real life reminds me of a character in that novel like Rinaldo or Daphne or Jonathan Pryde.


Faroqui: Do you have any advice to offer others, the would-be-writers out there?

Martin: The path for writers can be long and lonely but also very rewarding—not necessarily financially, but in terms of what really matters—personal growth. Keep working at your craft and your life. The publishing industry is undergoing massive changes and nobody really knows what the next stage will look like. Above all, don’t let anyone kill your creative spirit with rejection. Often, those who send rejection letters are simply looking for the next “sure thing” and cannot financially afford to take any sort of chance. Remember those agents only get paid if they pick a “winner” they can sell and they don’t want to waste time on anything else. Don’t take it as a personal rejection of your work or your talent. Once you have completed and published your work, you may think the hard work is done. I think, today, the greater challenge lies in promotion.

Faroqui: Do you have anything you would like to share with your readers, thoughts, thanks, or news about upcoming books?

Martin: I am always grateful to the readers, especially those who take the trouble to write. The second novel in The Trilogy of Remembrance—The Fate Of Pryde—will be on CreateSpace in the fall. Look for it there or on Smashwords.com. You can get any of the novels in The Osgoode Trilogy at any online bookstore and same for The Drawing Lesson.

Faroqui: Do you have an author’s website where fans can follow your work?

Martin: The Trilogy of Remembrance At this site you should check out the book trailer for The Drawing Lesson, which really captures the mystery and the narrative energy of the story.
The Osgoode Trilogy

A Sneak Peek at Author Mary Martin's book, The Fate of Pryde: second in the Trilogy of Remembrance.

I was giddy with excitement when Mary Martin contacted me to ask if I would review her latest book before it goes to print, The Fate of Pryde, book two in The Trilogy of Remembrance. "Of course, I would be thrilled!" Was my immediate response. As a reviewer it has been an honor to read and remark on Mary's work.

I was first introduced to Mary Martin's writing when I interviewed her for a Writers In The Sky Podcast about The Drawing Lesson which was book one in this series.  Mary's work is superb and she gave me one of the most enjoyable interview experiences I have had. That interview aired on 8/27/10.  Since that time, Mary has become one of my favorite authors.   

Mary E. Martin  is the author of two trilogies The Osgoode Trilogy set in the corridors of power in the world of the law, and The Trilogy of Remembrance set midst the glitter and shadows of the art world.

The Fate of Pryde more than lives up to its predecessor in The Trilogy of Remembrance. If you are a lover of words, ideas, and beauty; if you enjoy concepts and abstraction; if you, like me, want a book that will make you pause and look up, caught by some nuance of thought-seed carefully planted by the author, you will appreciate The Trilogy of Remembrance.

The Fate of Pryde will first be available on Create Space in the early fall and later through Smashwords; which gives you plenty of time to read part one, The Drawing Lesson. 

Now, on to my review . . .

The Fate of Pryde: The Trilogy of Remembrance,
by Mary Martin

Series: Trilogy of Remembrance
Paperback: 334 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 8, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1466263814
ISBN-13: 978-1466263819

With incredible depth of empathy, Mary Martin once again captivates our imaginations and transports us into the heart of artistry. In The Fate of Pryde, part two of The Trilogy of Remembrance, we return to the art world of Alexander Wainwright. Flushed with the success of his recent artistic breakthrough in The Drawing Lesson, Alex finds himself courted and commissioned to create a piece of stained glass for wealthy philanthropist, Jonathan Pryde.

Pryde is a man of immense wealth and power in the art world. Artists, museum boards, and critics alike bend before him. Pryde is a collector and a connoisseur of the artistic vision and Alex’s unique visionary gifts have caught his fascination. Pryde pursues Alex, challenging him both on a personal and a professional level. The further Alex moves into Pryde’s world the more the reader comes to realize that Pryde is dangerously fixated on the source of creative vision, Alex’s vision. Pryde’s desire to understand and to be understood by Alex becomes both a blessing and a source of danger to the artist. There is something not quite right about Jonathan Pryde, but Alex finds himself curiously drawn deeper into the man’s world. What they learn from each other and what they discover about artistic vision is the mystery that surrounds The Fate of Pryde.

Martin understands the healing potential of creativity and art. In The Fate of Pryde she explores the dichotomy of light and darkness and the power of creativity to both reveal and heal what hides within the soul of man. Martin uses the power of creativity as both an antagonistic force, to torment the mind and as a balm for the exploration and healing of her characters. Alex and Pryde both worship at the altar of artistic vision; Alex with open curiosity as a witness to life’s fullness, and Pryde with tormented longing and obsessive desire. Both men are driven forward by their hunger for creative vision. They each struggle in their own way to find a balancing place, one basking in the revelatory healing light vision brings, and the other seeking vision for absolution and redemption. What one man knows the other has yet to discover.

The artistic vision which infuses Mary Martin’s work is pure genius. Her story adeptly illuminates aspects of the human psyche and ego needs, bringing to man’s inner darkness the purifying light of awareness. The Fate of Pryde is a provocative and insightful work of art. I loved it!


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Special Amazon Download Deal! The Drawing Lesson

Author Mary Martin is a lawyer turned full time writer. Her law practice was the inspiration for the three legal suspense novels in The Osgoode Trilogy. 

Now the first book in the next trilogy has been published—The Drawing Lesson, the first in The Trilogy of Remembrance, which is set in the world of art.  Martin and her husband live in Toronto and have three adult children.  

The Drawing Lesson, the first in the Trilogy of Remembrance. 

With magical light, Alexander Wainwright, Britain’s finest landscape artist, creates stunning visions of the beyond. His painting, The Hay Wagon, wins the Turner Prize. His nemesis, Rinaldo, a conceptual artist seeks revenge. Despite his win, Alexander fears the loss of his muse. Seized with a vision, he paints ugly, misshapen, humanoid creatures on his canvas. Searching for his muse, Alex travels from London to Venice and New York, where Rinaldo awaits him to settle the score. But the real journey is within Alexander. Only by saving his tormentor not once, but twice, does he regain his artistic vision.

SPECIAL OFFER - Limited time discount.

Mary Martin's publisher has arranged for an offer with Amazon.com… a download to a Kindle for 99 cents. 

In case you missed it . . . here is my review.

Book Title: The Drawing Lesson

Author: Mary E. Martin

ISBN:  1450229360

Publisher:   iUniverse
Reviewer:  Vonnie Faroqui for WITS

The Drawing Lesson, by author Mary E. Martin stands among the best of literary fiction. She brings wisdom, grace, and beauty to the page as skillfully as the best painter to the canvas.

Alexander Wainwright has won Britain’s celebrated Turner Prize with a landscape painting of The Hay Wagon. He should be thrilled but the taunting criticism of contemporary and rival artist Rinaldo has thrown him into a soul searching spiral of self doubt. 

His beautiful landscapes, once so full of light and presence, begin to fill with creeping, shadowy figures.  These troll-like creatures deny understanding and confuse Alex's artistic vision. His muse seems to have left him.   A journey to rediscover his passion unfolds as Alex attempts to understand the creatures in his paintings.

The journey carries Alex into contact with a range of interesting characters who all struggle with personal inner demons. Alex touches each of their lives with his spirit and allows each in return to touch his own. The action of the story rises as the consequences of past choices return to entangle Alex in self doubt and recrimination, with the story reaching a climax as Rinaldo sets plans in motion to destroy Alex in a scene of public humiliation.

In the end Alex Wainwright transcends himself and his body of work by illuminating the human form with his divine vision, transfiguring on canvas both his inner and outer demons into beings of luminous spirit.

The Drawing Lesson is a deeply insightful book about life, choices, forgiveness, madness, self doubt, and creative inspiration.  Martin has an understanding of humanity, its inner turmoil, needs, and the creative urge that is both honest and compassionate.  This is a compelling and moving story to be savored on the palate like fine wine.

Check out our YouTube playlist, featuring . . . The Drawing Lesson.