** Fred and Mien Blom's Place **PO
Box 4072 Alice Springs |
Autobiography About writing and selfpublishing On-the-road promotion Presentations Me as an 'Author'
Short Autobiography
I was born in October 1939 and grew up on a small farm in Holland (the Netherlands), the eldest girl in a family of seven children. My father died shortly before my sixth birthday. At the age of eighteen I married Fred and had six children by the time I was twenty-eight.
In October 1971 we arrived in Alice Springs, straight from Holland, and have lived here ever since. My dream of wanting to be a nurse came through in 1975 when I was accepted as a nursing-aid at Old Timers. I worked there until we started our own picture framing and leadlighting business in January 1980.
While recuperating from a nervous breakdown after the death of my mother, I joined the Fellowship of Australian Writers in 1990 to obtain help writing my family history. The result "Father Forgive Us..." Coming to terms with my tears, was launched at Dymocks in Alice Springs in May 2001. It describes the influence that the lives of my grandparents and parents had, especially on my married life.
Whenever my emotions got the better of me while writing about my rather traumatic family life, I went back to our emigration story. Red Hot Soup, the story about our first ten years in Alice Springs, was launched at the National Pioneer Women Hall of Fame the following year, in September 2002.
Writing and researching my autobiography showed me how we are all products of our upbringing, our environment and our genes. Giving everybody the benefits of the doubt because we have no way of knowing how they became the person they are, has been a great help to me. Forgiving ourselves as well as others for the mistakes we make truly sets us free. It provides me with the ability to turn a negative event into a positive experience, which always gives me peace of mind.
I now want to be an example of determination and perseverance, showing readers that there are many other, far more valuable benefits to writing than making money.I am now working on my third book about my experiences of self-publishing, as a self-funding pensioner. I want to inspire readers to preserve their life’s stories for future generations and show them that there are many benefits to writing other than making money. I also want to write about caring for my elderly friends and being involved in the community, which has brought a perfect balance in my life since I retired from business in 1990.
About Writing and Self-Publishing
The idea of becoming a writer came to me in the winter 1990 while I was recuperating from a nervous breakdown. When I came to Australia in 1971, I could speak very little English and writing English proved quite different than speaking the language. Being the eldest girl in a family of eight, growing up on a small farm in Holland, I was never allowed to read other than at school. I had no other education than primary school and I had no idea what was involved in writing a book or getting it published.
Writing my family history surely made me come to terms with my tears! Although - or probably because - I had many painful disappointments, self-publishing and promoting have done wonders for my self-esteem; it has turned me from a shy housewife to a very confident person. My involvement in the community, especially my friendships with and caring for many elderly people, has also taught me a lot about life.
After a dozen rejections by mainstream publishers, we decided to spend our ‘funeral’ money to have “Father Forgive Us…” printed locally first, as we wanted to keep the story for our children and grandchildren in any case.
With Max Kleiner of Asprint in Alice Springs where both books have been printed "Father Forgive Us..."was launched at Dymocks in Alice Springs, May 2001 Mainly due to the support from the two Dutch-Australian newspapers I now can say that we have 'invested' our funeral money in my writing. Shortly after “Father Forgive Us…” came out in print, the Dutch Weekly and the Dutch Courier promoted it for me in a big way through interviews, a good review and selling it for me via their papers. The response from readers through phone calls, letters, e-mails and invitations to talk to groups has been quite overwhelming at times.
On-the-road promotionTravelling in our own campervan in October and November 2001, we visited numerous bookshops in Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory, promoting my first book. By the end of the year, “Father Forgive Us…” was accepted in more than sixty bookshops around Australia. My second book, Red Hot Soup Alice Springs in the Seventies - the story of our emigration - is on the shelves of most bookshops in the Northern Territory.
Although both titles are available via the ISBN numbers, only few shop owners are prepared to order single copies from self-published authors, due to time consuming administration and the cost of phone-calls and postage.
In April this year we returned from a three-month promotion trip to Victor Harbour in South Australia, to the Holland Festival in Melbourne and Tasmania. Several radio interviews and speaking engagements, both in Dutch and in English, were organised for me by readers. Being treated as a well-known author, and being welcomed as old friends was at times very emotional for Fred as well as for me. I am truly grateful for all the generous help I receive to promote my writing. Where would I have been without it?
My first talk was during Book Week in 1998 to a class of thirty 17 and 18 year-old students, at the Catholic High School in Alice Springs. Two years later, still before my first book “Father Forgive Us...” came out in print in May 2001, I spoke to a group of sixty students at the same school. Talking about my sexual experience with my eldest grandson in the audience was rather daunting for me. Truly a great test! It had come as a surprise to me that I was not particularly nervous and had their undivided attention. Time had soon ran out and I got a spontaneous applause from them. Especially rewarding for me was that two girls came up to me afterwards to talk about their own problems with sexual abuse at home.
I have since been invited as a guest reader and had several speaking engagements, interstate as well as in the Northern Territory. Travel permitting, I am happy to speak - free of charge - at any school, club or organisation. A door-price can be arranged and a percentage of the sales will be donated to your organisation in lu of advertising.
Topics of my talks:
~ The benefits of keeping a journal,
~ Self-publishing and promotin
~ Fred's hobby of building and demonstrating 'bellow organs'
~ The benifits of being involved in the community
~ My hobby of native gardening
~ Talking about and answering questions about emigrating,
~ Life in Alice Springs and native gardening.I also like to talk about the many benefits of volunteering in the community and about Fred’s retirement hobby of building and demonstrating European street or barrel organs.
When we're travelling, we're very self-sufficient, our camperbus is all we need for Travel and accomodation.
For further information, please write to: Mien Blom PO Box 4072, or contact me by phoning 08-89550064 or 0438-610070.
Please feel free to