Help shape the 2'nd edition of Northern Lore!

Take the Poll

I'm currently working to finish up Northern Plant Lore, but immediately following that, I'll begin working on the 2'nd edition of Northern Lore.

I though it would be great to get your feedback on what information you would like updated, expanded, or added.

So head over to www.northernlore.com and take the poll (top right side of the web site)or email me if there is something not on the list editor@northernlore.com

Help shape the 2'nd edition of Northern Lore!

Northern Lore wins Global eBook Awards

Northern Lore wins in the New Age / Non-Fiction category in the Global eBook Awards.

I was shocked and delighted to find out that Northern Lore had won in the Global eBook Awards, and I was very pleased with the comments left by one of the judges, herself an award winning novelist:

“This was an excellent eBook. Thoroughly researched, well-presented, exceptionally well-illustrated. A very good example of how eBooks can readily compete with traditionally published books. I learned a lot of very interesting things from this book and, particularly for “New Age” thinkers and enthusiasts, I highly recommend it.”

Marilyn Jaye Lewis is an award winning author and editor of several books.


I was very encouraged by Marilyn's feedback, and it re-affirmed what I always knew -  that I could produce a book as good as anything published by the big houses, doing everything myself, and enabling me to keep more of the money from the book; higher royalties allow me to continue writing professionally. Currently I split my time evenly between my writing  and web design with my company Asgard Studios, but in the years to come I hope to devote most of my time to writing. I am still very passionate about web design, especially the visual design aspects, and I'm very encouraged that my son has shown an interest in working in the field - hopefully I can pass the torch to him (or at least help him carry it).

In celebration of the win, I am re-issuing the cover of Northern Lore with the Winners badge on the cover, as well as a revised back cover with reviews from fellow authors.

Okay, well I suppose I better get back to work on Northern Plant Lore!

Northern Lore declared a Finalist in the Global E-Book Awards.

Well I got some pretty exciting news last night, Northern Lore has been declared a Finalist in the Global E-Book Awards.

I have some incredible competition, so I'm not too worried about winning or losing, just having my book up there and declared a finalist is more than I hope for.

Northern Lore is Primarily a print book, in the traditional style, but given my long career in technology I decided to simultaneously publish eBook versions for Kindle and PDF readers. I'm sure glad I did, not only because it allowed me to get exposure through this competition, but fully 50% of my sales are the eBook versions! I expected maybe 10%, but not 50%.

So all you authors out there who are humming and hawing about whether to invest the effort to re-design the layout for Kindle, it may have some surprising results!

If you happen to be in Santa Barbara California this Saturday August 20'th, you'll be able to see a gigantic version of my book cover projected during the awards ceremony!

Thanks to all of you who have been gracious enough to buy my book, and a deeper thanks to those who took time to write a review.  I wrote this book for us and our children, to give them a little taste of the past,  to remind us where we came from, and also to bring attention to those areas where the old and new are intersecting, and creating a beautiful future.


Eoghan

Some great feedback from a judge in the Global eBook awards, award winning author Marilyn Jaye Lewis, regarding my book Northern Lore....

"This was an excellent eBook. Thoroughly researched, well-presented, exceptionally well-illustrated. A very good example of how eBooks can readily compete with traditionally published books. I learned a lot of very interesting things from this book and, particularly for “New Age” thinkers and enthusiasts, I highly recommend it."

Keep your fingers crossed!

Eoghan

Global eBook Awards

Nominated for the Global eBook Awards  Non-Fiction: New Age Category

Cross your fingers! Northern Lore is being reviewed in the Global eBook Awards in the Non-Fiction/New Age category.

The Awards are sponsored by Parapublishing, and founder Dan Poynter.


Wish me luck!

Child of the North - Part 2

I'm going to be adding to a 'short' biography to my new book, and I thought it would be fun to share it with you as it unfolds. I'll be adding to the previous days work, so you'll see each post get slightly longer - that's in case any of you missed the first bits; you can't start a story in the middle, can you?

---

In a raging predawn Canadian blizzard, a policeman struggled to drag my pregnant mother through six foot snow drifts to get her into the hospital. By this time she was well into labor. It was a Thursday - Thor`s day. That`s how I came into the world.

I suppose it`s no surprise then that I've been fascinated by our Northern Culture my entire life. I’m proud of the tenacity and resourcefulness my ancestors embodied which brought me into this world.

For thousands of years our Northern forefathers endured biting cold, limited resources and invading empires. Despite this, their culture flourished and their legacy endured; my passion is this legacy and its echoes into our modern world.

   

Early Years

One of my earliest memories was from Kindergarten when I was five. The teacher was asking children in the room what the wanted to be when they grew up. Of course you had the kids who wanted to be doctors, firemen, policemen, maybe even a lawyer. Then the teacher got to me.

    “So, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

    “An Eagle,” I replied.

The teacher just shook her head in irritation and moved on to the next kid.

And so began the theme of my life, a theme influenced by others, but crafted by me. I was never comfortable accepting the societal norm; I tried.

I was fortunate to be born with good genes – I was a strong young man, handsome and popular, even if I did defy convention.
     

On Writing

I first started writing for the oldest and noblest of reasons – love; more accurately, teenage infatuation. Some pretty girl had batted her eyes at me, and I suddenly wanted to be Shakespeare, although the possibility of creating my own reality was also incredibly engaging. My poetry gave birth to the perfect world where I said exactly the right things to the girl of my dreams. What possibilities! My interest soon expanded to prose, where I could explore the same worlds in more detail, if not slightly less lyrically, and I wrote a few short stories.

Unfortunately, as is too often the case, I was told I would never make a living as a writer and I should focus on school or work for my father’s business. My parent’s generation were perhaps more pragmatic than ours; their parents knew the hardships of both The Great Depression, and the Second World War. It was with that influence that their youth was forged, while my own was cultivated in the more liberal 70’s, and I saw possibilities that perhaps they did not.
                         

Despite my dreams, I got married, went to work and started a family.
                     

Luck

Our ancestors believed strongly in luck. In fact they believed that luck could be passed on in a family. Men sought out the leadership of luckier men - better to be on the side of the lucky leader in battle than the unlucky one.

I feel that luck is nothing more than preparation meeting opportunity. The ‘Lucky’ are on the lookout for opportunities, and have cultivated the skills and the will to take action. They often pass those drives and habits on to their children, leading to the notion of familial luck passed down by blood.

Whatever the case is, I indeed have had my share of luck. My most lucky moment was when I met and married my wife. We were young and impulsive, and had only been dating a few months when we ran off to elope. I was twenty three, and she was just nineteen, and attending university. As I write this, we have been happily married for nearly twenty years. Certainly there were trying times. There were times with no money, times with lots of money, times of great pain and family strife, but mostly warmth, and happiness.

‘Luckily’ our impulsive decision resulted in a wonderful life together.
                   

Heroes

Being married, and having my son born two years later, shaped my life considerably. I became not a family man, but simply, a man. This was my call to action to grow up, now being concerned for two lives in addition to my own.

My son and I on the Blue Ridge looking over the Shenandoah Valley

Being a father has shifted my view of the world so dramatically, it has quite literally made me a different person. I can’t imagine what kind of person I would be otherwise; I don’t think I'd want anything to do with that person. If there's one thing in life I am most proud of, it's that my son and I have a wonderful and loving relationship, and I believe, I've been there for him as a father.

When asked who my heroes or inspirational figures are, without fail I’ll say that they are the fathers who show up for the job every day, the fathers who try, and treat their role seriously. I have an uncle and a cousin who are such men, with families to be proud of.

 
Those are my heroes.

Stay Tuned for more of my 'short' biography.

Child of the North

A little blurb from my new book that I thought would be appropriate to share today -

"In a raging predawn Canadian blizzard, a policeman struggled to drag my pregnant mother through six foot snow drifts to get her into the hospital. By this time she was well into labor. It was a Thursday - Thor`s day. That`s how I came into the world.

I suppose it`s no surprise then that I've been fascinated by our Northern Culture my entire life. I’m proud of the tenacity and resourcefulness my ancestors embodied which brought me into this world.

For thousands of years our Northern forefathers endured biting cold, limited resources and invading empires. Despite this, their culture flourished and their legacy endured; my passion is this legacy and its echoes into our modern world."
  

- Eoghan Odinsson