Structural edits and real life

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Once again I have been a very bad author when it comes to communicating with people. I’m not going to lie; one of my favourite things about writing is that it is a solitary pursuit. I still have to work with a lot of idiots in my day to day non-fiction life, so writing is a little bit of special me time.

Anyway, sharing is caring, so here we go. What have I been up to? I’ve sent the first draft of my next novel to my special bunch of alpha readers and have been patiently listening to their feedback. Luckily, it’s been consistent across the board, which is so much nicer than having to choose between conflicting opinions.

I’ve also begun the structural edits for it and so far it’s not looking too shabby. Of course, there is still always the chance that something will need to change and I’ll have to go back and reorder whole chunks of it (or worse, every writer’s nightmare, delete whole sections and rewrite), but at the moment it still looks promising. Line edits, I know already, will be a different matter. Autocorrect seems to have had a field day with this one.

It’s a bit of a departure from other things you may have read from me, but more about that next time. It’s not fantasy like Blood Inheritance, or crime like The Crochet Killer and A Taste To Die For. Let’s just say, I’ve tried to get in touch with my softer side…

Questions of certainty

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It’s strange how you can be doing something you love and, for that matter, for it to be going really well, but still experience moments of absolute terror and doubt.

This is completely what happened to me this week. I had a moment when I questioned, for the first time in probably nearly two decades, what I would do if I decided that writing wasn’t my dream job and I should just give it up.

Live some kind of normal life instead.

It was a strange, dark and yet, at the same time, completely illuminating moment. I have been writing for so long that I still do it for pleasure, even when I have no intention of sharing it with an audience. If I don’t write for a few days, I start to get twitchy. I have creative energy and I need to use it. God didn’t give me any other talents, so writing it is.

But that traitorous little voice was there, the one that reminded me how much easier it would be if I just gave it all up now. If I stopped and concentrated on another career instead. How I would get so much of my time back, time that I could then spend with family and friends or on other hobbies. How I wouldn’t have to deal with rejection and failure that is part of every writer life, even once you are published and successful.

It was Steven Pressfield’s Resistance in full force and it nearly took hold of me completely.

I’ve pushed that feeling down and have been coming back to myself and my dreams with a fresh pair of eyes. It is hard, this dream of mine, possibly it is yours too. It doesn’t end and it is always challenging. But despite the free time and the glittering grass on the other side, it really is what I was meant to do.

So, tonight, I’ll sit here and keep on doing it. But if you have those moments of doubt, about anything that part of you truly believes in, know that it is entirely normal. It’s better to work through it than live a life not trying.

 

Drafts, alpha readers and no chocolate

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It’s been a busy week here at the writing den, but mainly all positive.

I managed to iron out some tricky scenes in the book I’m publishing later this year and have been able to send it out to my alpha readers. This is the part that starts the journey of fear and self-doubt. Whilst it is still in my hands, then only I can have an opinion on it. As soon as it gets sent out to other people, I know the road to publication has begun.

That road can be fun and rewarding, but it’s guaranteed to be nerve-wracking along the way.

I’ve had my first review back already and the good news is that there is nothing structurally or fundamentally wrong. A little extra character development here and there, a bit of tweaking, but not a throw it in the bin and start again problem. Which means, if others come in saying similar, then I can set it aside for a few weeks before going back to look at it with a fresh pair of eyes. I already know I need a different title, so I’ll let that mull over for a little longer. I’d like a different cover art style for this one too as it’s a slightly steamier book and I’d quite like to reflect that.

On a non-writing note, I’ve given up chocolate for Lent. I’m not a religious person, but given that I have a wedding in three months time, it seems like as good a time as any when my Christian friends are also giving things up and are therefore less likely to lead me into temptation. So between now and Easter, all kinds of deprived madness is possible.

Getting the sex right

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Author confession: I am completely incapable of writing sex scenes during the day.

Sadly, during the day is when I usually write. Which means I’ve developed the terrible habit of just leaving the sex scenes for later and carrying on with the plot. As a result, I now have a completed manuscript; completed, that is, apart from huge chunks of missing sex scenes.

So I have an evening ahead when I have to write nothing but sex scenes. I know for many authors, this is very much not a problem. For me, I’m really not looking forward to it. Even writing this post is an avoidance tactic for getting on with it. Why? Because writing a sex scene badly can turn a good book into a laughing stock.

I know I have read countless books that have been excellent: good characterisation, an engaging plot, tension in all the right places. Then along comes a cringe-worthy sex scene, filled with all the wrong words and impossible positions and the urge to keep reading is over with faster than the improbably quick first roaring/raging/tumultuous orgasm of character A.

So I want to get the sex scenes right. I don’t want to win any bad sex awards. One of the biggest joys of being a writer is the privilege of bringing worlds alive for others. That includes all parts of the book, even the ones that are hardest to do. Getting a sex scene right means I can leave the reader wanting more.

Getting a sex scene wrong is more likely to put people off their dinner.

Setting my goals for the coming year

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Wow – 2015 was a crazy year. I ticked off some pretty big goals and I have taken a little time over the holidays to take stock. It’s a good way to actually recognise the achievements, rather than just ticking off a box and moving onto the next thing.

So what do I plan for 2016? Not as many books, that’s for sure! I self published three novels in 2015, in the interests of getting my books out there to share with you all. I learned some pretty hard lessons along the way too. That’s also good – hard lessons are easier to learn and move you further forwards than a smooth ride.

So this year I’m planning to release only one book. It was originally going to be the sequel to Blood Inheritance, but after some careful review and discussions, it became clear that I was going to do that because it is the one I most want to do, not the one that other people want to read. Getting that straight in my head has been tricky, but I’m there now. It’s a bit too early to say what the next book is going to be (as the first draft is only just now being completed), but I think it will have more of an appeal to my core audience.

I’ve also got a wedding to plan, a month honeymoon to indulge in (under strict instructions not to do any business) and some additional travel. My alter ego has a book to do as well, so in the interests of not killing myself, I’m planning things out a bit more this year. I guess that means from a writing perspective, as well as a life perspective, the overarching theme for this year is:

Work smarter, not harder!

I hope that you’re all working towards your dreams this year, and wish you every success.

Kindle Royalties (Part Two) – still the enemy?

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A while ago, when Amazon announced a new way of paying royalties based on read page counts, authors and publishers threw their arms up in despair. The reality was, it was most likely to affect self-published authors and only with the books ‘borrowed’ rather than purchased, which I discussed in my first blog post on the subject.

It’s been happening now for several months and we finally have some data on the subject. For those of you sensible enough to just enjoy reading rather than killing yourself writing, monthly royalties are broken down by territory and then again by purchased and the amount you’ve earned by total pages read.

The other me works with data to fund the writer me, so this little method, no matter how crude, fascinates me. I’m all about data driven decisions and it would be foolish for someone not to analyse the data they have available and use it to inform their strategies. At this time of year, when I’m planning for 2016, it will certainly influence things.

So, what do I know?

  • The United States is my highest paying market
  • The UK is my second highest paying market
  • In the US, I don’t sell many more books, but my ‘borrowed, total read pages’ payments are three times that of sales, bumping it into the lead
  • In the UK, this is just above total sales by little more than a couple of quid each month
  • My other markets are Canada and New Zealand and I’m happy to just have people buying books from there given how damn expensive it was when I’ve lived/travelled there

Borrowing with Kindle Prime has clearly taken off more in the States than the UK and other countries, that’s for sure. The good news for me is that when people borrow my first book The Crochet Killer (shameless plug) they read more than just the first few pages and give up. They tend to read the whole book, which is fantastic news for me. And I completely understand not shelling out the cold hard cash for an author you don’t know if you have an alternative, it’s essentially the same as using a library.

So there you have it. Borrowing a book and reading it can still make an author happy. None of the figures I’ve talked about above have been massive, certainly not enough to be a full time writer and that whole private island thing is still a million miles away. But enough to let me know that people are reading and enjoying my writing, which is what we all do it for in the first place.

 

Slips back into the world innocuously…

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Well, it’s been a crazy, relaxing month since I last posted. Forgive me platform-building gods, for once again I have sinned.

November really was a month of contradictions for me. I had just over two weeks where I did nothing other than read amazing books and lie by a pool in wonderful tropical heat. No business books, no personal development, just fiction of all genres. I told myself I didn’t have to do any writing at all, there was no pressure unless something started buzzing into my brain and needed to be let out.

Luckily, I came up with a tonne of creative ideas, which was just a bonus. Most of them writing related, but some not.

The other two weeks of the month were solid writing. I mean, SOLID. In a few days I completed NaNoWriMo at the beginning to get traction on a project I needed to get done. So I was pretty wiped out after that, because 10,000 words per day when you have forty hour day job commitment going is tough. The there was a (lovely) surprise request for a full edited manuscript. A structural and line edit on a 120,000 novel is a tough thing to pull off in ten days but I think I just about squeezed it across the line.

So crazy and relaxing just about sums it up.

So now I have until the New Year off from writing, to concentrate on letting my brain recover and planning for the coming year. I have a couple of business and personal goals I’d like to achieve, so I need to give them the attention they deserve.

Also, I need to begin Christmas shopping. I’ve still got ages though, right? RIGHT?

Restless Wanderer

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It doesn’t matter how good life is, or what else is going on, there are still moments when I get a hankering to just hit the open road. I’ve decided that Instagram is a deadly force when it comes to generating these feelings. All those beautiful sunsets and places to see that I’ve yet to visit. I’m fairly well travelled, but there will always be a part of me that wants to see what the world has to offer.

To close out the year, I’m just going to have to settle for a little bit more Europe. Hardly a burden, I know, and a luxury that I am most definitely grateful for. With NaNoWrimo kicking off this weekend, I’m using it as a serious motivator to get a deadline met. A healthy dose of competition never hurt anyone. But as soon as it’s done, I’m packing a suitcase and going undercover for a couple of weeks. I’m going to escape the grey for the beach.

I need a mini writing sabbatical (given the last one was spent doing last minute editing that was requested and therefore not really what I wanted) to get my brain in gear. To also let it be completely out of gear so I can do some creative free-wheeling for a while.

But first, time to psych myself up for a little bit of crazy writing time. Coffee, chocolate and late nights, here we come!

Life Happens

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There has been a dearth of updates recently because, well, life happens.

I know life happens all the time and is generally a poor excuse for not doing any kind of updates or letting things slide. But I’ve had some big life happens moments, so I’m going to allow myself to use it as an excuse.

The biggest one of these is that I got engaged and set a date for the wedding that is significantly less than a year away. Trust me, that has led to lots of celebrations, alongside a healthy dose of mind-numbing fear (always good). It’s also led to a lot of reassessment of what matters, what doesn’t and what really needs to get done today.

I had already made a rough plan of my writing goals and deadlines for 2016. This little piece of good news has caused me to radically rethink that. I know that if I stuck to my original plans, nothing would be achieved to its best potential, and the night before my wedding I didn’t want to get stuck doing last minute edits or cover art reviews. It also means I have to put traditional publishing above indie, which is a bit of a shame. I’m determined to still publish the follow up to Blood Inheritance in 2016 though, as the bulk of the work has already been done.

So, be kind to yourself. Life is about many things and achievement is only one of them. Sometimes there are (good) bumps in the road and they’re just as important as meeting any deadlines.

Goodreads: where the brave fear to tread

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Believe it or not, I’ve never been a member of goodreads. Now I’m signing up at last.

So many of my author friends absolutely loathe the site. I mean they hate it so much, they actually rank it lower than going to Amazon to look at your reviews, which for popular authors is a very special kind of torture. That alone was enough to put me off.

Now I’m increasingly hearing that it is the best way for Indie authors to connect with their readers, as well as finding cool people who are writing the same things you are. My reading list is undergoing something of a review at the moment (too many books in the same genre for far too long) so this seems like a pretty good idea.

I guess I’ll find out in the next few weeks whether or not I’ve been missing out by listening to others. Or it could be a damp squib of a place that is on the decline. I’m going to hold out for the best case scenario: it’s full of awesome people to meet who are passionate about books and can teach me a thing or two.

If you see me on there, feel free to say hi and forgive me if I mess things up (I invariably do) whilst working it out.