Nadine Feldman, Author

celebrating strong female characters and whatever else strikes my fancy

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Happy New Year!

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Hello to anyone who might be reading! It’s been so long since I blogged that I don’t know if anyone is still out there…but here I go anyway.

I don’t normally get too excited about a new year. I am not one for a list of resolutions. But this year I sprang out of bed with hope and joy. I’m not alone. As I cruise social media, I see a lot of posts where people are willing to entertain the thought that this can be a good year.

Last year I stumbled a bit. Though I kept on working on two different novels, I lost motivation to reach out consistently to readers. Part of it is my own life: we are moving cross-country yet again, and finally sold a house that’s been on the market for a long time. We are scheduled to close January 31, so the end is in sight.

Though I won’t get into politics in this blog, I also found myself depressed and deeply concerned about the state of our country. Regardless of what side of the political aisle we are on, we are ever more aware of the flaws in our system that must be addressed if we have the courage to do so. And that’s all I’m going to say, I promise. But in this past year we have also seen an energized electorate as people recognize that we must stay engaged…and that gives me hope.

Despite all of this, I continued to write, to do my work. I will write more about my projects in future posts. What I have learned is, whether or not there is a market for my books, I have to write. It’s how I do life. It’s how I stay reasonably sane.

If you haven’t “liked” my Facebook author page, I invite you to do so. I do minimal promotions, and mostly write about books I am reading or other odds and ends. Visit me at https://facebook.com/NadineFeldmanAuthor. I’m also on Twitter at @Nadine_Feldman.

Thanks for reading, and happy new year!

Writer Updates #amwriting #womensfiction

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I continue to read, read, read, but I am refilling my well with new books. Not to worry, there are plenty of good ones out there! No doubt next week I’ll be back to share my latest good reads.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share an update on my own work.

I’m revising two separate projects, both of them very different, and I’m having a wonderful time! First is Factory Girl, set in late nineteenth-century Scotland. Though the inspiration for the book is my great-great grandmother, Factory Girl includes a fairy rebellion as well! It wasn’t my intention, but they showed up in my story, and I decided to let them stay.

The other is untitled as yet. It’s a contemporary women’s fiction work about Elaine, a 60-year-old woman who has been the rock, support, and head cheerleader for her family, but who now wants to explore her own dreams. With a husband who has decided to jump into politics and a daughter who drops off the grandson without much notice, Elaine is meeting a fair amount of resistance! There’s also a handsome art teacher and an untrustworthy friend in the mix. I just finished the second draft, so this may take a while, but it’s a promising project.

Meanwhile, we continue to try to sell our home in the Pacific Northwest so we can move full-time to the East Coast. So far, the market is oddly quiet, so our move date remains uncertain. But these are good problems to have! In the meantime we’re enjoying a summer that is generally mild and pleasant (with the exception of air quality — we’re affected by fires in British Colombia), and I’m getting lots of yummy fruit from the garden.

See you next week!

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Nadine’s latest novel, What She Knew, is available on Amazon.

Amazon Celebrates Indie Authors! #poweredbyindie

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51Hj2RJUX0L._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_In the month of October, Amazon is celebrating indie authors through its “Powered by Indie” promotion, and I am proud to be one of them. If you’re an author who wants to participate in this month’s activities, there’s also a Facebook page for you to visit.

From time to time my traditionally published friends will ask me: why indie? Why not find a “real” publisher?

Many years ago I wrote When a Grandchild Dies: What to Do, What to Say, How to Cope. For a year I queried publishers but found no one, other than a vanity press, who wanted to take on the project. Why? In part, there weren’t other books to compare it to. At the time I found just one book on grandparents’ grief, and it was out of print. Publishers like it when there are other books to compare with. I can’t blame them. Publishing is a tough business, and I understand and appreciate the need to make good business decisions.

That said, I wanted grandparents’ grief to be recognized and appreciated. As I interviewed grandparents, the complexity of the topic surprised me. For some, it was the first time someone had really taken the time to hear their grief and pain.

Indie publishing allowed me to bring a much-needed topic out into the world to the people who needed it in a timely manner, and the letters I received from grateful grandparents and their families made it all worthwhile.

Switching to fiction has been more challenging. It’s not easy to find readers when so many people are doing what I’m doing. It’s hard to get heard above the noise, and I’m not comfortable making noise. However, indie publishing allows me to play with blending genres and to write exactly what I want. Yes, I work with an editor, and I try to produce quality work…but it may not be deemed “marketable” by traditional publishers.

I have nothing against traditional publishing, and as they say, never say never. However, as long as indie publishing feels fulfilling and enjoyable, I’m proud to be an indie author!

 

Nadine Galinsky Feldman is the author of contemporary (and soon historical) women’s fiction novels. Her debut novel, The Foreign Language of Friends, was a 2012 finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and a 2011 Gold Medal Winner in the eLit Book Awards. What She Knew, released in 2016, has received numerous favorable industry reviews and was named a finalist in the 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

What She Knew eBook Release + Free Book Offer! #freebooks #freebies

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It’s time to celebrate! Pop that champagne cork!

WSK Front Cover CMYKThe Kindle version of What She Knew goes on sale this Monday, February 29! US Review of Books says:  “What She Knew is a wonderful balance of a human-interest tale, romance, and history, €”all wrapped up in a riveting thriller.”

The release date for the paperback version is March 29.

But wait…there’s more!

The Foreign Language of Friends, my first novel, will be free on Amazon Kindle from February 29 through March 4. FLOF can be found here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CPAX3GQ

The Foreign Language of Friends was a finalist in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and a gold medal winner in the 2011 eLit Book Awards.

When four women meet in a foreign language class, their different backgrounds make them unlikely friends. In fact, at first they don’t get along at all! Yet as each faces a major life challenge, they will have to learn to lean on one another. Ultimately, the foreign language each needs to learn is: friendship.

I hope you’ll share this special promotion with all your friends!

What Ifs and Wales

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Portmeirion Village
Portmeirion Village

What if a man finds himself a prisoner in a place of great beauty, unable to go home? What if he loses his name and is known only as Number 6? What if he raises his fist and refuses to conform, saying, “I am not a number. I am a free man!”

Debonair, charismatic British actor Patrick McGoohan asked those questions in the 1960s during a visit to Portmeirion Village in Wales. The result was The Prisoner, an iconic miniseries that remains a cult favorite.

It’s not surprising that Portmeirion inspired a classic. Sitting on the edge of an estuary, Portmeirion has the look and feel of a hillside Italian village in miniature. Upon seeing it for the first time, I let out an involuntary gasp at the stunning, elegant buildings and the abundant nature surrounding them.

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Portmeirion was the brainchild of Clough Williams-Ellis, who asked himself, what if he could create beauty without disturbing the surrounding environment? He spent 50 years working on the answer.

What if? It’s my favorite question. Sometimes “what if” paralyzes me with fear when I’m trying something new and fear the worst. “What if” helps me plan ahead and solve problems before they happen. “What if” ponders my fate had I made different choices as a young woman.

As a writer, I rely on “what if” to come up with story ideas. What if an ambitious female money manager gets caught up in the Madoff scandal and loses the life she knew? What if a troubled young woman with low self-esteem and a burgeoning alcohol problem is the only person who can stop a dangerous bully? What if my great-great grandmother, the one who bore a child out of wedlock and died ten months later of typhoid, was not the victim her story would suggest?

“What if” brought me to Wales. When we decided to visit the U.K., I said, “What if I ask Juliet Greenwood, a Welsh author I met online, if she wants to meet in person?” I did ask, and she said yes. We met first in her home, then she joined us later to relax in Portmeirion.

Juliet recently wrote about her visit here. As you will see, she gathered some incredible nighttime photos!

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Juliet is one of those writers for whom I have great respect. She works hard at her craft and has created two lovely novels, Eden’s Garden and We That Are Left. Getting to know her better in person in Portmeirion made the experience that more magical.

What if I worked as hard to build my stories and skills as Juliet does? Hmm. Something to think about.

Rested and recovered with creative juices flowing, we left Portmeirion for Bronte Country. What if we find a Bronte ghost walking on the moors? More about that next week! As they say in The Prisoner, “Be seeing you.”

Random Five Friday

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Thanks to my friend Tina Fariss Barbour of Bringing Along OCD, I have hooked up with Nancy’s A Rural Journal for Random Five Friday. Don’t know what I’m getting into yet, but I’ll see how it goes! I invite you to visit these blogs and participate in Nancy’s Random 5 if you so choose.

My Random Five for the week:

  1. It’s been a great harvest week for the garden. Blueberries, onions, artichokes, and lots of tomatoes! I’ve had a bumper crop of peas and have frozen several batches, but they’re just about done for the year. The pumpkins are blooming and zucchinis are forming. 
  2. I volunteer at the office of our local public theatre, Key City Public Theatre. We’ve had a hectic week, selling lots of tickets to a musical history of the world, The Big Bang, and getting ready for Shakespeare in the Park. My husband is an actor who will be performing in Much Ado About Nothing.
  3. I didn’t write a regular blog post this week. Well, actually I wrote several, but nothing feels ready for prime time. Bear with me. I’m hoping that by doing this Random 5, I’ll get back to a regular routine, including book reviews and blog recommendations.
  4. My latest novel concerns a Manhattan-based financial planner who gets unwittingly swept up in the Madoff scandal. At the same time, her estranged aunt has died and left her a house on *cough* the Olympic Peninsula. Soon I plan to start sharing my draft with you.
  5. I’ve learned that it’s impossible to predict the weather here on the Peninsula. When we lived in Houston, we would not only know that a storm was headed our way, but we would know when it would  arrive. Here, the forecasts are useless. The other day we had a predicted high of 81, but it hit 63. There was no rain in the forecast, but my deck was wet this morning. Go figure.

Have a great weekend! See you next week!