Choices, choices…

Photo by Lauren Macdonald on Flickr

So, my fifth manuscript is finally with the readers, and from the comments so far it sounds like it’s going great 😀

During the couple of weeks my readers have my manuscript, I usually start working on my cover, but also planning out my next book. This is so I’m totally organised and can begin writing as soon as the next month comes around.

The problem is choosing which book to write next.

Starting a new book is always exciting, with the thrill of finding new plots and twists, and figuring out characters to fill the world with! But there’s always a huge amount of nervous anticipation too, because I want to make sure I choose the right one.

It’s probably the same for all authors, but I do write a ton better when I’m really enjoying the story and characters I’m writing. And although I have a load of story ideas, I need make sure I figure out which one suits my current writing mood, and which one will keep me inspired and enthusiastic all the way through.

So, this week will be half working on getting organised on my new release, whilst also sifting through my piles of notes and notepads, trying to find which story is going to grab hold of my interest next.

It’s a tough job, as I already have about 4 which are really getting me inspired!

Starting and choosing a new story is definitely one of my favourite parts of being a writer 😀

How do you pick which story to write next? Do you have a bunch of story ideas to choose from? Is starting a new project one of your favourite things as a writer?

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Progress Report:

Status of fifth manuscript: With the readers. Need to do cover/trailer/marketing.

Books read: 2/4

End of September Indie Review: Written and ready.

Good to be back :)

So, I am back from my vacation 😀 Which was an amazingly good time and I loved it!

Some pics:

Me reading in my amazing colourful pyjamas!

Books we took to read.

Harli enjoying the beach.

A pic of the amazing sunset by my very talented mum- Twisted Pixel on Flickr- Click on pic to go to photostream

I had planned to do some writing and reading whilst I was there, but ended up staring into space for the entire week. I think my brain really needed to do nothing for a whole 7 days.

Whilst on vacation I realised just how stressed out I had gotten. I was so busy and overwhelmed that I was not in a good place! Although I have tried my best to be organised and keep to a schedule, I think I was trying to pour too much into a working day and it was getting too much to handle.

Then I saw this post this morning- http://nhwn.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/remember-to-make-time-for-yourself-not-only-work-and-family/, and it inspired me to make a change that was most definitely needed.

Most of my day is taken up by social media (blogging, facebook, twitter, etc), which I know is very important in building an author platform, but surely, it can’t be more important than doing the actual writing when taking on a writing career, right?

So, my plan from now is to only do 2 hours of social media a day. A big cut from the 5+ hours I was spending on it before! But I really think it needs to be done. It means I won’t be able to comment as much on blogs or re-tweet so much, but I will hopefully learn to utilise those two hours more effectively, rather than letting the social media side of my career drag on and on throughout the day and into the night!

And that was pretty much all that came out of my vacation: a much needed revise of my schedule! I did manage to read one book, but that was about it, I really did just sit, stare, and walk on the beach.

It was the perfect vacation 😀

How long do you spend on social media? Do you ever need to revise your schedule? Are you good at sticking to a schedule? If you have any tips, then please let me know! 🙂

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Progress Report:

Status of fifth manuscript: Editing. (Finally has a title though! 😀 Will do reveal soon).

Books read: 2/4

Mid-September Book Review: Written and ready.

Time for a refuel!

Photo by Twisted Pixel on Flickr

So, tomorrow I am going on vacation (as I may have mentioned already a few times because I’m very excited! :D).

To keep to schedule I was supposed to have finished my edits on my manuscript to send to my readers today, but I found myself rushing through editing to get it out in time. Instead, I have decided to finish my first round of edits and leave it. I will come back to editing after my break and send it out later to my readers.

I will not compromise on the quality of my books in order to keep to schedule! 😀 I’d rather release a quality piece of work at a later date then publish something that isn’t at the highest standard on the date I’ve set. If that makes sense?

I will have a few scheduled posts up next week, but they will be marketing posts. I will make sure to reply to emails and comments the day I get back (Monday 15th September).

Until then, I hope everyone has a brilliant week! 😀

August 2014 Round-Up and September 2014 Plan

Books and Reading Wednesday postponed until Friday, because I am currently writing it! 😀

So, September already!

Actually this month felt rather normal compared to the others which have whipped by! It was still a busy month, but a bit more manageable at least.

Now a round up of August:

– Kept to schedule even though I completely skipped a week of writing.
– Posted every scheduled day.
– Started posting scheduled posts on a weekend.
– Got some great reviews for my books, including my newest, Prophecy of Stones.
– Connected regularly with other bloggers, who I have to say are some amazing, talented, and very supportive people!
– Found the ‘Home’ button on Facebook! 😀 Meaning I can share other authors links more effectively.
– Read 5 books (1 over target, oh yeah!)- Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee, In Search of a Love Story by Rachel Schurig, Sins of the Father by Melissa Barker-Simpson, The Unraveling of Lady Fury by Shehanne Moore, The Camelot Code by Sam Christer
– Started my Books and Reading Wednesday posts!
– Managed to write a couple of short pieces.
– Had an amazing interview done with DKC
– Didn’t do well on marketing 😦

I really am going to have to market better and in an imaginative way!

I have hardly done any marketing and seeing as I am trying to make this my career I am just going to have suck it up and get to it 😀

I’m still tempted by trying my hand at drawing, which I took back up this month after having a break. I did a couple of fan art pieces (sorry about quality, my scanner hates me so I took pics with camera):

Daniel and Teal’c from Stargate SG-1

Anders and Hawke from DA2 (Far too obsessed with this game!)

Maybe a teensy bit obsessed with this Stargate SG-1 too!

Would illustrations of scenes from a book be the type of thing that might get you interested in it? Any idea for other forms of imaginative marketing?

Anyway, moving onto September.

Plan:

1st-5th- Self edits of manuscript/ Hopefully come up with a title!
6th-14th- Vacation! Woohoo! 😀
6-21st- Off to the readers/Work on cover/ Work on blurb/ Create interest in my other books (aka. The dreaded marketing!).
17th- Mid-September Book Review.
22nd-29th- Final edits and read out/ Finish formatting/Drum up interest!
24th- End of September Indie Book Review.
30th- Release day!

Wow, that was a bit confusing 😀

Goals:

– Read 4 books (which I should hit as I plan to read A LOT on my vacation).
– Do some actual marketing instead of grumbling about doing it 😀
– Continue to actively support others and find new inventive ways of doing so.
– Write short and prompted pieces on regular basis.

Some other stuff that went on this month:

Elaine Jeremiah released her latest book, Reunion of the Heart!

The Amazing Winter (which should be her title with the amount she manages to accomplish!) got signed twice!

I won a copy of A Gift of Wings by Stephanie Stamm on the blog of L.Marie!

Blimey, that was a lot longer post than I meant it to be! Should be an exciting month 😀

How was your August? Have you got much going on in September?

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Progress Report:

Status of fifth manuscript: Editing first draft.

Books read: 1/4

Mid-September Book Review: Read, need to write review.

Romance Weekly Blog Hop #lovewritechat

It’s Romance Weekly Blog Hop day! 😀

If you’ve come over from Mikki Cober’s blog then welcome. If not, then why not check out her answers?

The questions are rather topical this week as I am all about the editing at the moment with my latest book.

1.When do you decide that you’ve done enough editing and changes would now be making it different, not better? So it’s the time to submit.

I think it really is an instinctual thing. At some point, I think a writer just knows it’s time to let their work go. Generally most authors will never be completely satisfied with their book, but at some point you just got to do it 😀

For me, it is definitely the point when I am getting ridiculously nit-picky over things, small things that I’ve gone over like fifty times and barely changed. By that point I know it’s time to finish it and let it go (totally not singing the song from Frozen or anything now!).

2. When and how do you accept change advice by rejection letters and critique partners?

I am always open to advice and criticism, and I am lucky that my readers all tend to spot different parts about my writing.

Taking criticism and knowing you will have to edit and change your work based on other’s opinions is just part of the job. It has to be done, and I view it as a great opportunity to see what areas of my writing I can improve on.

3. When you’re not writing, how do you spend your day or do you create your day around your writing?

Writing does tend to be my focus nowadays 😀 When I’m not writing, I am generally always thinking about it.

If I’m not writing and really want to take my head out of the game I play video games, read, or do some drawing, those are generally my go-to activities to stop me thinking about writing completely.

Some interesting questions this week!

Now find out what Carrie Elks has to say on the subject, I always love her answers to the hop questions, well, all her posts in general actually!

How would you answer this week’s questions? How do you know when it’s time to stop editing and let it go?

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Progress report:

Status of fifth manuscript: Editing first draft.

Books read: 0/4

Mid-September Book Review: Currently reading.

And it’s done! With bonus teaser!

Photo by Oliver Hammond on Flickr

Yesterday I wrote, ‘The End’ on my first draft of my fifth book!

I have to say, considering it was supposed to be a light novella at under 30,000 words to give me a bit of a break, it kind of took on a life of it’s own!

I did skip a week at the beginning of August where I didn’t write at all (naughty, I know!), so when I realised I managed to pump out over 45,000 words in 3 weeks I was revelling in quite a lot of triumph!

I’m really starting to get my writing routine down and sticking to it 🙂

It’s always a rather exhilarating moment to finish a first draft, but it does tend to be only for a moment, because then I get the sinking feeling of knowing how much editing there is to do next 😀

And I have to say, I was worried about going back and reading this one. For some reason I got it into my head that the writing was terrible and I was going to practically be changing everything.

So, when I started reading through and looking at editing, I was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I had told myself it would be! In fact, some parts were pretty darn good, if I do say so myself 😀

There is still plenty of editing to be done, but I have to say I’m enjoying the editing a lot more now I realise it’s much better than I thought, especially considering it’s a first draft.

And now, I am going to brave and post an unedited teaser/excerpt from my new book!

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“And now, it’s time to get physical,” she said.

“Huh?” Alex asked, broken from her thoughts.

“What you like in a man, in his looks. But I think that’s pretty easy to determine.” FG slapped her wand against the desk’s surface, the bottom drawer flinging open and making Alex almost topple from her chair in surprise. From the drawer floated a dog-eared, well-read romance novel that Alex only brought out when she was certain she was alone.

“No, you can’t have that!” Alex yelled, trying to clamber over the desk to retrieve it. But it was nestled in the fairy godmother’s lap before she even had the chance.

The front cover was a vivid purple, the title, ‘Love of the Best Kind’, emblazoned in hot red, curling front across it.
“See? There is a romantic buried beneath that professional exterior of yours.” FG chuckled but Alex flushed red, sinking back into her chair and hoping it would swallow her whole.

FG flicked open the book, the crumpled pages falling open with ease. Her brows raised as she scanned the words and her eyes slowly widened.

She snapped the book shut. “Well, maybe not so romantic, but certainly passionate.”

Alex sunk further into her chair with a groan, covering her eyes with her hand.

–

Hope you enjoyed it!

How are you guys doing with your writing projects? Do you dread the editing phase? Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by your own work when going back and reading it over?

*As usual, I will be away over the weekend and back on Monday to reply to comments and emails 🙂 Have a brilliant weekend everyone!*

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Progress Report:

Status of fifth manuscript: Editing first draft.

Books read: 5/4

Mid September Book Review: Currently reading.

Taking a step back…

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend! 😀

I know it’s normally Romance Weekly Hop day today, but due to the bank holiday there is no post this week. Though if you’re interested in checking out the hop, it starts with Nina Mason. It’s all about first kisses!

So, I so have to admit I was really glad for the long weekend as I was completely stuck on a scene in my book when writing on Friday. I had NO idea where to take it and I think I tried to rewrite it in about ten different ways, seeing how it would best to write it in order to move the story and characters forward.

Well, it was hard and it was just not going to happen!

So, over the weekend I didn’t touch my writing. But, as if often the case, I couldn’t stop thinking about 😀 I went over and over it in my head trying to figure out how to write this rather crucial scene which is a turning point in the story.

All weekend I still had nothing

Zip.

Zero.

Nadda.

I was having a slight panic when I went to bed last night thinking I’d have no idea where to go when writing today, and this is my last week to get the first draft finished!

And then at about 3 o’clock this morning it came to me! I was tossing and turning trying to think of this scene and just couldn’t sleep and the solution came out of nowhere. I mean, it was something I hadn’t even thought of, something so completely different to what I’d come up with so far.

And it was absolutely perfect!

It just made me realise what a good idea it is to take a long step back from your writing sometimes if you’re struggling. I think I got myself so focused on the scene and the little picture, that I forgot to look at the whole thing.

So, this morning I sat down to write and managed to pump out about 3,000 words in an hour and half! I was on a roll and it felt really, really good 😀

Have you ever been really stuck on a scene? How do you deal when you get stuck? Do you ever have to take a break from your writing to look at it fresh?

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Progress Report:

Status of fifth manuscript: Writing first draft.
Word count: 3188 (Total word count: 39698).

Books read: 5/4

End of August Indie Review: Written and ready.

When not writing is not your fault…

Some days you go to start you writing.

You have a cup of tea or coffee.

You have a snack.

You have all your research.

You have your notes.

You have your plan.

You are ready to get going!

You come to settle into your seat and BAM!

No writing for you today 😀

Though, even with Harli saying ‘no’ to writing some days and I have to untangle my stuff from beneath her, I have gotten a lot written and am coming along really well on my next book!

How is your writing coming along? Are there ever things that stop you from writing?

**It’s a bank holiday in the UK on Monday, meaning there won’t be a post on Monday, though I do have some scheduled for the weekend. But I won’t be around until Tuesday next week to reply 🙂 Have an awesome weekend everyone!**

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Progress Report:

Status of fifth manuscript: Writing first draft.
Word count: 6054 (Total word count: 36793)

Books read: 4/4

End of August Indie Review: Written and ready.

Now let’s try it that way…

I realised something recently about my planning process.

For each book I have written so far, I have planned them each with a different technique.

I haven’t done this on purpose 😀 It is just something that has happened naturally as I started to plan.

It was an interesting observation about my planning style that I didn’t really notice until today. Possibly it’s because I write different sub-genres and it works better in my head for certain genres to be planned out certain ways.

– Stolen Bloodline: I didn’t have much of a plan at all, I wrote scenes that I liked and then worked them all together.

– The Queen’s Jester: I made an incredibly detailed bullet point plan that had every single scene and moment detailed on it.

– Heart of the Arena: I did something similar to The Queen‘s Jester, but the bullet point style was loose, only detailing big scenes and not specific moments.

– Prophecy of Stones: I planned out like a map. The characters go on a quest-style journey, so I plotted out the map and the route they would take, then I noted down what happened at each location on the map.

– For my next book (number 5!): I have taken the approach of noting down scenes on notelets and spreading them out on the floor.

Obviously there are a lot more notelets than this! But you get the idea.

The notelets have been brilliant as I have been able to see the gaps where I need to fill in scenes or link scenes together, but I’m not sure it would have suited the way I approached writing my other books. These different ways of planning have certainly showed me how much variety and individuality there is in the writing process, and it makes me wonder how I will plan out book number 6 😀

So my tip for the day is: If you ever feel stuck or get a bit of writer’s block, it might be worth trying out a different method of plotting a scene, short story, book, poem, etc. You never know if looking at it in a different way might just jog something new 🙂

Have you tried out different planning methods? Do you use one method that works for you all the time? Do you have any planning tips or tricks for others?

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Progress Report:

Status of fifth manuscript: Writing first draft.

Word count: 5100 (Total word count: 8863).

Books read: 3/4

Mid-August book review: Written and ready.

Well, what a weekend!

Well, this weekend has been rather… interesting 😀

A lot happened and went wrong, which means today I’m still up in the air as we’re trying to fix and sort everything out at home.

Unfortunately, this means I haven’t even been able to write one word towards my next book! And I’m not sure when I’m going to be able to start.

To be honest, I’m getting antsy to begin, as I love starting new stories and have so much excitement for it that I can barely keep it contained. But, life does like to throw a spanner into the works at times and put a halt on my carefully laid out schedule!

Catching up with my writing shouldn’t be too much trouble, I will just have to cut down on something else to allow me to up the amount of hours I can write, when I get a chance to actually begin writing!

It just goes to show that no matter how much you plan a nice, scheduled writing routine, life doesn’t always let that happen! You just have to write when you can, and not let these hiccups weigh down on you 🙂

Seeing as things are a bit all over the place, I won’t be around much today or possibly tomorrow either, but I will try to keep up as best I can. Hopefully I will be back on track with commenting, emails and reviews at the end of the week.

I’m really sorry to anyone waiting for replies or reviews, I will get to them straight away as soon as I can!

Have you ever had to stop from your writing routine? Does life like to get in the way of your writing time? How do you cope when your schedule gets so thrown off course?

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Progress Report:

Status of fifth manuscript: Waiting to start writing first draft.
Word Count: 0 😦

Books read: 0/4

Mid-August book review: Written and ready.