All Pleasure and no Profit!

There are crocodiles out there with huge jaws waiting to gobble up your money and leave you writing for the sheer pleasure and no profit!

How to avoid them? Well, I’ve been really busy sorting out self publishing my book The Turning Zone and will be sharing my experiences on this blog.
It has occupied many hours to sort out how one gets a book listed on Amazon and accepted with Waterstone only to discover that the returns will be minimal if not in the negative zone! But if this is the price of fame, so be it!

It is unbelievable how much the booksellers and distributors want to take – it is the lion’s share. They all say they want to promote independent publishers and authors but they don’t show it when it comes to terms of sale! Anyway, I shall be accepting that unless you lovely people purchase my books from kindle or direct from me (which has the bonus of being signed if you wish) then I will not be making any money out of my venture. So please if you would like to take the first steps to self-mastery through the delightful steps of reading a fun adventure while you learn, then order my book directly from me- like Madonna’s red wrist band it will bring you many spiritual blessings at a fraction of the price she paid!

Want to know how to avoid writing for love then stay tuned to my blogs and find out more. Alternatively, as we have had to become a publisher in order to maintain integrity and acquire ISBNs etc. we will be putting together an economic package for those authors who don’t want to get to grips with the nitty-gritty of the book publishing world themselves and are exploring self publishing.

It will be very simple- ISBN, Barcode and ready to print PDF files of content and cover design with lots of information on how to approach printers, distributors, the terms they will expect, getting listed on Amazon and with Waterstone etc. Hopefully this self publishing package will be available in the Autumn and promoted at the venues alongside The Turning Zone.

Because my publishing company, Benten Publishing owns the ISBN’s I would technically become your publisher and register your work with the central ISBN agency Neilson. I would like to make it very clear at this point that there would be no cost to authors after the initial package has been purchased and they would maintain control over their choice and costs of printer/distributor etc. However, most publishers tend to have a speciality and I would be hoping to concentrate this service on people who want to publish work of a spiritual, ethical, moral or artistic nature. The work may be factual, fictional, pictorial or poetic but responsibility for the content being non litigious would rest with the author and not the publisher (Benten Publishing). Benten Publishing would retain the right to refuse to sell the package for work of an unsuitable nature.

I have already arranged some venues for the autumn where I will be promoting The Turning Zone and doing some book signing. More on these later - keep an eye on my website. Peter has re-designed the cover – see below- and I have approved the final proof so it is at this moment crunching its way through the mill! However, with the PACS summer exhibition looming, a certain wedding following hot on its heels and then the lure of Italy, I shall be waiting until October to really start promoting The Turning Zone in earnest.

The Turning Zone is launched

Have just launcehd the first volume in my contemporary 'grail' quest trilogy- The Turning Zone

It is part of a series which I'm calling Weavers and Watchers and greater detail can be found on the dedicated blog www.weaversandwatchers.berylnoyce.com. The kindle version is already available at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0052DNFM0 and I am busy sorting out a paperback which I will be promoting in shops and shows later this year as well as on my website. For those who don't follow me on Facebook, very briefly the book is an empowering fairy tale for all ages and operates on many levels. It is centred around the Mayan Prophecies for 2012 and merges fact and fiction. As it is the first in the trilogy some revelations have been reserved for subsequent books but The Turning Zone stands in its own right as an engaging adventure story.

Life is suddenly very hectic. As well as launching my first novel and pushing on with the sequel , I am also participating in Petersfield's own 'Show us the Monet' which is showcasing local artists in an exhibition at the Flora Twort Gallery from june 6th to 18th.

The image I submitted is a watercolour/mixed media called Pascali - Rose of Peace.

Just a quick update but hopefully I'll be back soon with more info. If anyone knows of a radio broadcaster wanting a whacky person to interview about their new book please let them know about me!

The Journeyman

Well, once again I’ve been absent for some weeks from blogging- don’t know where the time goes but there’s a lot on at the moment and a big fat family wedding on the horizon - (lots of cream cakes and alcohol!)

I’m in charge of coaxing flowers in to bloom at the right time to decorate the garden and tables as it is going to be a Mad Hatter Tea Party - hoping for sunshine and NO WASPS! If all else fails I have the number of a flower wholesaler!

On the art front I’ve been very busy moving in new(ish) directions and have decided to organise my first solo exhibition in 2012. It will be a selection of themed work employing various media entitled The Journeyman.

The opening image of this blog is an oil on canvas called Kennington Canal and the imagery connotations are obvious. Peter and I spent a fascinating day with our cameras exploring the Kennet and Avon Canal around Hungerford and meeting some wonderful characters along the tow path in the summer of 2010.


Passing Through is another oil on canvas.



It is a landscape of the A3 cutting through Butser Hill in the autumn of 2010. Here colour is important as the vibrant golds and russets of the beechwood sing out before they lose their leaves and winter takes hold. The title of the painting invites questions. Is it the road, or the storm with accompanying waterspouts that is transient- or perhaps both? The structure of the imagery also promotes thoughtful contemplation - alternative routes to the one built by man exist but symbolic gates and brambles create obstacles to be overcome before the natural path can be taken.

The motifs in the new exhibition will relate to the multiple ways in which mankind explores and impacts on inner and outer landscapes.

Some images are already produced or in the making while others are still embryonic. Roadways, pathways, tracks and various forms of navigation play a major role in the paintings which I will be sharing with you here and in my gallery as they manifest.

A few images will be more subtle in their presentation of my theme such as this white rose which is more concerned with inner thought processes and spiritual journeying.


The fragility of colour and texture of the white rose, an eternal symbol of peace, is contrasted with the hard, immovable man made concrete block against which the vase is placed. The background pink is strong and undiluted representing the strength and power of unconditional love which is the only sure route to establishing inner and outer serenity.

In esoteric healing pink is the higher vibration of the heart and green is the colour of harmony and represents the physical heart. I have called this painting Pascali after a David Austen white hybrid tea rose.

Road to Volterra is a pure watercolour and focuses attention on a manmade road which curves and carves its way through the Italian landscape.





Here too there is a spiritual dimension which can provoke other thoughts apart from how to travel to a particular town or city.

Some aspects of the painting are portrayed in painstaking detail, cradling the curves and meanderings of the tarmac while other areas have been left blank. This can suggest how we focus our attention on some things as we journey through life whilst totally ignoring other aspects or even being unaware that they exist. The road is indeterminate in its conclusion- does it turn to the left- a path that is fairly clearly marked or does it travel straight on or turn to the right?

Either way keep your eyes peeled on my blog and website for date and venue of the exhibition.

The novels are still progressing although a little slowly mostly because I’m waiting for feedback from my focus group(family) before the final edit of The Turning Zone. The others are taking a back seat for a while although I’m planning a holiday to Italy in September during which Peter and I will take some time for researching my ’Italian Work’. Hopefully this will involve visits to Rome, Naples, Anzio and Montecassino Abbey.

Add to this my Astrology course and you can see why blogging is spasmodic! Hardly any time for yoga or meditation at the moment either!

Anyway hope you enjoy these new images which are available for sale from my Gallery.

Weavers and Watchers

The Black Pearl of Fararanga Part 1:
The Turning Zone
(A Weavers and Watchers Adventure)

Well it's been a long time since I last posted mostly because I have been incredibly busy trying to finalise the manuscript of my first novel(title as above) and create some illustrations. I've also begun the long haul of trying to get an agent or publisher interested in it but I'm also considering self publication and marketing it myself through the internet and promotions at book shops etc.

Added to this I've also become the membership secretary for the Petersfield Arts And Crafts Society and as the membership subs are due on January 1st it is the busiest time of the year for the membership secretary.

For those of you following my progress on the golf course I advise no holding of breath! Big Bertha must wait for fairer weather and the lengthening day.

The first edition of my novel is for family only and thus will be a valuable and rare commodity in years to come. In return for such benificence I am hoping for feedback and some copychecking before it goes global!

"Sam shrank with horror as the mice raced along the branches and began gnawing at his flesh and stabbing him with lit tapers. Death, he was sure, must be close to hand."

"She was very thin and her arms were
wound round
her chest like fine twine on a spool.
‘I was told two,’ she
said, her eyes
flashing like steel swords."

"It was an unseemly landing,
with much crashing and breaking
of branches, to which the protests of the crows, dislodged from their nests, added a raucous chorus."




















"The Black Pearl sat in the middle of her palm. Yamamina
could feel the weight of a thousand eyes pressing down on
her, watching as her wings and antennae dissolved."

"In the manic
flurries they threw up, Sophie thought she could see weird, disembodied faces. Perhaps they were travellers, like
themselves, who hadn’t found the one and only way.
‘I don’t want to look,’ she said, turning her head away as
they drew closer."




As a taster I have posted some of the illustrations and a preliminary bookcover to wet the appetite.

Constructive comments welcome.

Golf in trainers!

Yes, it was the shoes. I have managed nine holes without a blister and only finding the bunker once!This was accomplished by sneaking onto the fairway in my trainers! Fortunately nobody noticed!

Sadly, just as I was getting to grips with the game, my schedule has exploded and time has constrained my golfing activities to the mind.

For the moment I can only dream of birdies, bogies and bunkers.

Hopefully I will return before too long but I just thought I'd better let those avid followers of my blog know that for now the golf clubs are wrapped in their bag and the balls safely stowed in their pocket. Perhaps I will only ever be a fair weather player but with the shorter days I am finding it hard to fit in the visits to the range. The pen and the brush must take priority for now as I battle to prepare work for exhibitions next year and continue with the second part of my trilogy.

The Making of an Angel: Part 2 Angels in White Space

Angels in White Space is a series of oil paintings depicting the angels in human form with wings. The white space in which they are posed has been built up from many layers to create a pristine purity which is essential to the image. This blank canvas is the space in which the colours of creation are blended to create experience. They remind us that our own minds are like a blank canvas and the colours of our thoughts are the tools with which we create our own unique experiences.

As in the City Angel series, preparatory drawings have contributed to some of the finished work.


Here is the charcoal drawing that preceded the Blue Angel painting.

And here is the finished painting.

I don't think angels will ever take a back seat in my work. Try as hard as I can, they refuse to be ignored. However, I have got some great oil paintinings on sheep coming soon and I have managed to keep them looking normal (without wings!)

Interested in buying one of these images? Click here to visit my gallery.

Short Story Extract

Well, I said I was a writer so perhaps I’d best post some of my writing. I thought I’d start with an extract from a short story.

If you’d like to read it all follow this link to my website where you’ll find some other short stories and a selection of poetry. Post a link to the stories if you think any friends, relatives or acquaintances may like a quick read on the way to the office or waiting in the dentist’s surgery – always assuming they have a laptop or similar with access to the internet.

I apologise for the restrictions of Blogger which won't allow the correct punctuation and page layout but it is correct on the website where you'll find paragraphs and speech indented.

Pock Stones Moor

Do you ever wonder what makes a man cross that line? I’d never had time to wonder, dangerous ground, best left undisturbed. And I’d never loitered too long under black clouds. When that first splodge of rain hustled in on unbroken sunshine that was my cue to pick up my towel and move to dry ground. That’s why I’m up here, looking out over the Thames from a triple glazed penthouse and thery are down there, those fools who sat around waiting for the weather to change.
I never looked back either. No point. There’s only now. That’s something I have in common with Sarah, apart from grey eyes and a passion for Springsteen. Sarah’s a very spiritual person, a people person. Me? I never worried what made a man tick unless it affected his work, like that time Ben pleaded with me to give Dave Hopkins a second chance,
‘Mike, you have to understand, He’s got a lot of problems at the moment-’
‘He’s not the only man to have problems Ben we’ve all got problems only some of us leave them at home where they belong. Either he’s on that plane in the morning or he’s out. I don’t give a shit what his wife says. I got rid of two wives who tried to tell me what to do, maybe he should do the same.’
‘It’s like mole hills, Mike. First one appears and then another and then - ’
‘Jesus, Ben, what do I care about bloody Molehills. Tell him he’s on that plane or he’s fired.’
But then I noticed I was spending more and more time thinking and less and less time moving on. Clouds were drifting in and blocking out the sunshine. Of course a psychologist would say the clouds had always been there, my unacknowledged shadow, whereas Sarah would probably put it down to a traumatic experience on a planet in another galaxy. Me? Well I never really bought into any of that ‘New Age’ crap or Freudian neuroses. My life has always been linear and logical and I liked it like that. When livelihoods depended on your signature there was no room for emotion. I’d seen too many buried under that gravestone. No, I’d had my share of problems and dealt with them until now. Suddenly I was being plagued with my own molehills only I preferred to call them clouds. If I’m honest I think it began with that phone call from Cissy ten days ago...

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