What inspired you to write your memoir?
All the inspiration one could ever need came from the countless wonderful (and woeful) experiences over 40+ years of farming in two States of Australia – mostly in the last century. But additionally there were the appeals from those we have shared our stories with, to “please, please… write it all down. Write a book… just don’t let these stories die.”
We never could resist a healthy challenge.
About your Book:
‘Brave Beginnings’ is the first of a few books in the ‘Old McLarsen Had Some Farms’ series. In this first book are the stories of our ‘apprenticeship’ on a sheep and cropping farm in the wheatbelt of Western Australia. Unbelievable but true tales abound of two ‘city slickers’ learning the ropes, adapting to a simpler life-style (like wood fired stove, 32 volt electricity, the ‘tyranny of distance’, etc.), and raising orphans – like kangaroos, emu chicks, lambs, puppies, goats and pigs. Each story is formed as a ‘stand alone’ chapter, designed for friendly browsing and easy pick up or put down readability.
How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I have begun self-publishing this first book of the series on Smashwords, and shortly on the Amazon platform with my eight small children’s eBooks. For a long time I despaired of getting my head around Smashwords’ stringent formatting requirements, until a helpful ‘translator’ fro Fiverr did this for me with total success. I now have achieved Premium Status there, thanks to ‘bookaholic’.
And it is going to be self-published again (like my children’s books) because I was hurt badly by rejections many years ago, when there were no other options than posting paper manuscript submissions. Today it is in my control, and after all the creative effort I have put in, I find that suits me well.
How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
It’s strange, I find. So many memories to sort through, some to laugh at, many to cry for in the reliving. I am SO appreciative of being in the incredibly fortunate position that most of the ‘crying’ variety are for sentimental reasons – not the painful type. It is all extremely ‘up close and personal’ and yet I delight in reliving the moments, complete with all their agonies and ecstasies.
In other genres the author is somewhat removed, able to take off with flights of fancy. I find each have immeasurable charms.
Author Bio:
If only my Bio could change like my stories. Ahh well, as Willie Nelson sings, ‘Some days are Diamonds, Some days are Stones) – so here we go again.
Christine is a wife, mother, grandmother – and farmer for 40+ years. This end of her life is being most happily spent on a retirement farm in beautiful South Australia, where she writes, and edits, and promotes, and tries to learn the intricacies of the Internet and her beloved (and oft-times brutish) computer.
She has been a Secretary, Lifeline Telephone Counsellor, Community Careworker, and rescuer of all manner of things, like animals, kids, and discarded knitted toys from Op Shops. Christine’s writing pursuits have included lenses on Squidoo, articles on Ezine Articles, and becoming a self-published author of eight children’s e-books on Amazon.
Today’s series of memoirs have been dancing around the outskirts of her imagination for a long time; some parts coming to fruition in her articles, others tucked away in the darkest recesses of her mind. But this is the true ‘gathering of the clan’ into one place, with one intention – to entertain and educate about another time and place, and an almost forgotten way of living Life.
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link to Book for sale on Smashwords
Your Social Media Links
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/17685686
https://www.facebook.com/ChristineLarsenAuthor
https://twitter.com/cdcraftee
