Hairs on the Back of my Neck

Yesterday I did a past-life regression for a young woman (I'll call her Jill), who saw herself in a life in France and then moving to Africa. She was able to see the date on a newspaper, it was 12th July 1845. She couldn't read the paper, it was in a strange script. She died on that day, her head was cut off during "absolute chaos, everyone is dying". Her attacker was a black man, which at the time I thought was odd as the story seemed to fit North Africa more than the south. She also could tell me the port began with a "J".
This morning I got a phone call -"I'm sorry to ring so early, but I couldn't hold myself in". It was Jill. She told me she had Googled the date, 12.July1845, and found that in the Algerian port of Jijel there was fighting on that day, including attacks by pirates, which probably explains the man from further south.
It is fascinating to have a clear confirmation of a past-life fact, and well done to 'Jill' for seeing the date so clearly! She saw other details well too, for example, they were growing oranges for export.
It encourages me that my two books are set in a real world, where reincarnation happens. Sadly, publishers do not believe in reincarnation, so have trouble with putting my books into a 'genre'.
Can you suggest what genre they might be, when I get them up on Amazon later this year?

Publishing is a lottery

So said Chris Binchy. He also pointed out you should not feel rejected and down because of a rejection letter from a publisher - 'you don't feel rejected by a dud lotto ticket, do you?' !!
Good advice. I will keep going

A Good Critique

I had a half-hour visit with Chris Binchy (novelist, DunLaoghaire-Rathdown writer-in-residence, and Maeve's nephew) in Stillorgan library yesterday, and it was really encouraging. I had sent him the first nine A4 pages of "Despite the Angels" to comment on.
He liked the writing, and though he had a few minor suggestions about style, there was nothing major, and I agree with all his improvements. He liked the idea of the book, and feels it should be published. In fact he seemed surprised that it has not been taken up already by a conventional publisher. But of course, just now is a terrible time for old-style publishing.
We had a long chat about 'genre' because on Amazon as well as with ordinary publishers you have to be clear what genre your book is. Chris feels this is a pity as writers then write to fit the genre rather than writing the book that they want to write. No trouble with me on that one, I have always been a rebel, and so far it has rarely done me much good!
For me the most exciting thing in the meeting was that Chris thought my book is 'almost literary fiction'. That's not good from a sales point of view, as some people are scared of 'literature'. But for my confidence it's great, a good reflection on the actual writing.
I came out with my writing-energy replenished, and my optimism ratings hugely improved. Many thanks, Chris, and DunL-Rathdown County Council for making these meetings possible.

A Successful Author

Our class was visited on Monday by Lawrence O'Bryan, of the recently published 'The Istanbul Puzzle'. He got a three book deal largely because the publishers were impressed by his web presence. And his book is good - a mystery thriller which I am half way through, and enjoying. It was great to hear how he did it. He's now writing 'The Jerusalem Puzzle'. He knows Istanbul well, I wonder if he is travelling to everywhere he is curious about, to set novels there? Like I said, great excuse for some travel.