In the vast plethora of books vying for our attention, publishing can be a daunting prospect for someone who loves to write but gets deterred by the complex and costly issues involved with publishing print books. The Indie Author can take an unhurried approach to publish a book as well as avoid risking high costs. Smashwords is a godsend for indie authors; it allows them to enter the field of publishing gradually so they can pace themselves financially.

Smashwords is the complete program for indie authors. The program takes you through the downloading, uploading, as well as putting on final touches to produce a finished book that will satisfy the most exacting booksellers. Then Smashwords will offer tips and tricks to guide you through the selling and distributing process. I have enjoyed working with Smashwords and recommend it.

I am the product of an over-active imagination and it gives me great satisfaction to put words to paper. I also feel that my books will give my family and all my readers a record of past historical events and how they impact our daily lives, sometimes in unexpected ways.

I think I am going to turn my attention to short stories, possibly introducing them to magazines or other light reading publications.

Favorite authors: Pearl Buck, Toni Morrison, Elizabeth George, Tess Gerritson, Tony Judt, Philippa Gregory, John Grisham once in a while, Peter Mansbridge, almost all historical fiction writers.

Painting, especially watercolors and acrylics. Knitting, quilting. Piano.

I find many books on Goodreads, Smashwords, Kindle, Amazon, Pocketbooks.

I began with an in-depth study of my Scottish ancestors, researching through Ancestry, Family Search.com, many other sites to put together my family tree, taking care to really piece together a story that made sense (although mostly fictional) based on the historical times they lived in. I called it "The Colquhouns in Canada" but I really should have called it "The Colquhouns in America" because my first ancestor, William Cahoone, spent the latter part of his life in New England in 1650 - 1675 (when he was killed by Aboriginals/Indians during the Pequot War).
The book deals with the Loyalist's flight to Nova Scotia, the settling of Upper Canada and Western Canada, the 1837 Rebellion in Quebec and Ontario, the Fenian Rebellion following the American Civil War, many other historical topics and personalities..

Once I've settled on a core idea, I rely a lot on the historical background of the time period of my story to dictate how the book should proceed. It's actually easy to do, but it requires a lot of research.

When I was very young, my Grandmother read "Raggedy Ann" to me. I loved the story and wanted her to read it over and over.

I design and create my own covers to ensure that the book design is completely original. I generally use watercolors. Once complete, I use Pixillion to add the wording. I then complete the process by converting my finished cover with Pixillion Image Converter, to satisfy the requirements of Smashwords. I heartily dislike cheapening the book by sticking an image of a half-naked man with rippling, well-oiled muscles on the cover. It adds nothing to the value of the book.