Finally happy with my book
It’s easy to imagine writers taking long breaks from life, diving deep into their writing on sunny afternoons.
My book was sandwiched between 12 hour work days a s Tarot reader and shaman (rental costs in where I live are crazy high), and solo parenting my 4 home educated kids.
A typical day was-
Write (in bed with coffee) between 7am-8.30am.
Work/drive my kids where they need to be 9am-5pm.
Dinner (cooked in snatched moments through the day) 5-6pm
Work 7-9pm
Family time (box set & pudding) 9-10pm
Often, I would read through what I had written, or write a bit more, before sleep.
Now, as I am writing my second book- on the runes- I have no idea how I kept to those hours, 6 days a week. It probably wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made- and I am more balanced about my work/life balance now.
The first draft of my book was sent to Tarot students. The feed back was that they loved the book- but that the personal details were very raw and perhaps carful editing was needed. It was a valid point; this book was written as a healing journey after a domestic violence incident. It was extremely cathartic- but I wanted the book to be clean of that journey. To be a light, not a dark pit of emotion.
My book is perhaps unusual as it is my core Tarot teaching notes (mainly written about eight years ago) with a personal dialogue woven around my notes. I hoped this would create a readable Tarot book with personal reflection, rather than just a Tarot text book.
So, it was edited carefully- by me, by my publishers editor, then sent back to my students who now felt the balance between raw emotion and editing was right.
Once the book was published checking Amazon for reviews became a daily ritual. The very first reviews were friends and students- and although their reviews may well have been genuine, I couldn’t quite take them to heart as I knew they were in my circle.
Then came the nasty surprise, the curve ball. A one-star review. Now I totally get that my book is not for everyone. It is wordy, long, totally focused on the Rider Waite deck. As I read the review, I knew exactly who it was from- my Mum. A registered letter arrived the next day ending all contact. Sad (OK, devastating) but not unexpected- I had only seen my parents once in the last nine years. I’m still not sure why my mother had such an extreme reaction to my book. My childhood is not mentioned that much, I do talk about my parent’s long work hours- but that is a charge my kids could easily level against me. So here is that gem of a one-star review;
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 30 May 2022
Reading this book I can see that it may well be a good insight into the subject of Tarot. It is interesting that the author has tried to inter-twine her own life "experiences" to illustrate her interpretation of her Tarot cards. The author's recollections of her early life may or may not have been embellished to make for interesting reading or to show empathy with her readers, but for anyone who knew her well as a young person then her facts leave much to be desired and certainly open to challenge. Buy this book by all means but do not believe everything of her life story
I’m glad to say that after that the reviews remained on the whole very positive. Perhaps the review that most improved my belief in my book is this one:
It feels like an intimate conversation, but it is full of Tarot knowledge.
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 31 March 2023
I am a professional Tarot reader, and I have an extensive Tarot Library. I have truly enjoyed reading this book. Every card is explained in depth. Elruna's knowledge of symbols in impressive and she is skilled at explaining them and how they apply to the card. I particularly love her section on the Court Cards. She makes them come alive for the readers by showing how they would behave in specific situations we can relate to. Elruna addressed in the book almost every topic I could think of. Tarot A Life Guided By The Cards is suitable to Tarot readers of all levels, from beginners to professionals. I would have given 5 stars, but I took one off because of the way the book is printed and organized. It makes it difficult to use as a reference book, but it reads beautifully.
I have no connection with the reviewer, though I know (and am grateful) that she wrote a blog reviewing my book.
She literally sums up what I wanted the book to be! If I had created a mission statement- this would have been it! She is right about the way the book is printed. Being such a wordy book, and paying to have the book self-published, printing costs were an issue.
The original form the book was going to be printed as would have seen me making a loss on every book bought! (That is after paying up from for all editing costs). So, I decided the book had to be designed with costs in mind- though the physical book does have a lovely feel, it is more like a novel than a reference book.
And so, I am finally happy with my book!
And to celebrate I have lowered the e-book price temporarily and am hoping to really reach a wider audience. The e-book works better as a reference book because it has an interactive contents page. So, you can click on any card name and go straight there.
I’d love (as I sit in bed, writing this blog with my morning coffee) to make my book a success. So do take a look at Amazon and grab yourself a copy at this low price - just pop Maddy Elruna (Tarot, a life guided by the cards) into Amazon search.
And if you’ve read my book please leave an Amazon review- they make a huge difference to the visibility of my book.
I love this picture of my book, shared on social media by someone else (shared with her permission). Because it may be a Tarot book- but anything I do will always have a basis in the runes - they are the foundation of my life. (rune book currently at about 12 k words...)
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