Tag Archives: dirty little war

Looking ahead to 2018

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2017 was a strange year for me, with a fair few ups and downs. I’m looking forward to doing things a bit differently over the next 12 months. I want to write more, connect with my readers more and spend less time getting pointlessly angry at social media. So what’s upcoming?

Lesbian fiction

Tis not quite the season any more, but if you’re desperate to hold onto the time when snow meant good things rather than a pain in the ass commute to work, then Happily Ever After This Christmas might be a lighthearted way of keeping the memory alive. I had great fun writing this and it was one of my high points of last year.

I’m working on a lesbian divorce story and honestly, I’m not sure how well it will go down. It’s not a comfortable read, but I think it’s an honest portrayal of many relationships. The one thing I have learned from 2017 is don’t publish something unless you’re absolutely sure. I’ll be thinking a bit longer on this one.

 

Lesbian Book Bingo

If you’ve been living under a rock, then you might not have heard about Jae’s Lesbian Book Bingo. It’s a fun way to read more of the books you love, branch out into some subgenres that you’ve never considered before and have the chance to win goodies along the way. Even though I’m probably not eligible for prizes as one of my books (Dirty Little War) is included, I’ll be playing along simply because it’s a great way to read more.

Check out the suggested reading list for January: Women In Uniform

 

Urban Fantasy

I have a (very) rough first draft of Book #4 in the Lazarus Hunter Series completed. There are still several subplots I want to interweave, but that’s not on my plan until March at the earliest. After the slowest of slow burns, things between Elizabeth and Monica reach boiling point.

Over the next few months I’ll be thinking about how to give back to fans of this series. Most likely it will be in the form of beta copies (where you’ll have chance to feedback and influence some plot points), free novellas and maybe some deleted scenes. If I move the series away from Kindle Unlimited, which is a definite possibility, then anyone on the reader team will get copies of the full series for free.

The planning is still in the early stages, but if you want to jump the queue and get involved then let me know at ckmartin.author@gmail.com, especially if you’ve already left a review on one of the books.

So that’s my rough plan for 2018. It’s staying flexible because I have some major personal life changes on the way and I refuse to beat myself up this year for things beyond my control!

Wishing you a happy, book-filled 2018!

September Roundup: Promos and short story thoughts

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Current Promo (time limited offer)

Dirty Little War eBook – on sale for 0.99 September 28 – October 5.

If you enjoy this novel, don’t forget you can sign up to get a free follow on chapter by signing up here. It contains spoilers for the entire book, so don’t read it until you’ve finished!

You’ll get notified of any new releases, but that will be all (I hate spam).

 

 

Don’t forget, if you enjoy it, leave a review! 

In other news…

There’s been lots of travel this month, which is great for coming up with new ideas. I’ve got a few bubbling away, but I’m also looking forward to all the new season TV to get a feel for what is good out there right now (and to see if Supergirl can redeem itself).

I’ve got a second round of edits back for my standalone romance and also my Christmas romance, so that’s a nice stack of work in the queue. Add that to my plans to relaunch the Lazarus Hunter series in October and the final quarter of the year looks to be as busy as the first. I’m really excited about all these books though, so I can’t wait to share them with you.

Short stories have been on my mind a lot lately. I don’t know many people who read short stories in the lesbian fiction genre unless they are free. From conversations with friends, even those readers with a Kindle Unlimited subscription prefer to get something longer (and therefore of perceived better value) than a quick read. I’m conscious that my sample size is small, so if you have any strong feelings, then comment below and it might change the direction of some of my plans for 2018.

 

Don’t forget, if you want to take advantage of the promo, make sure to click on the links above before it expires!

New Book Update, New Website and Time-Limited Offers

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It’s been a flurry of activity this week as we’ve been prepping for the release of my new lesbian summer romance (publish date 26th May 2017). For those of you already subscribed to the newsletter, you’ll be getting an email next week with a sneak peak of the cover and the back story to writing the book. If you haven’t signed up yet, follow the link on the sidebar over there (or click here).

 

As of today, my existing back catalogue will be available in paperback via Amazon. As much as everyone likes the convenience of an ebook, there are times when a good old-fashioned physical book is what you want. This has been on the project plan since the beginning of the year, so I’m glad they’re finally ready. Whoo-hoo!

To celebrate, I’ll be running some special promotions for the ebooks next week. Firstly, because it’s Mystery Week on Goodreads, The Crochet Killer will be free 1-5th May. As a bonus, the sequel, A Taste To Die For, will be too.

For those of you more into urban fantasy, Blood Inheritance will also be at a special sale price 1-7th May. For you lesbian romancers, Dirty Little War is up for grabs during this week too. The prices increase throughout the week and go back up to full price on Monday, so get them as soon as you can.

The website has been redesigned to put more emphasis on the books and less emphasis on my random blog updates. Those can still all be found below if you’re interested, but they’re no longer the focus of what I’ll be doing on the site. This page will now focus more directly on news than my general life activities.

We’ve put a lot of time and effort into standardising across all media. As an independent author, you learn a lot of things as you go along. I published my first book back in 2014 and had no idea really what I was doing, or if anyone would even read it. Since then, things have changed dramatically in the publishing space (although I still don’t feel like I know what I’m doing most of the time) and things needed updating. With a new book out shortly, it felt like the right time to get things set up for the next year of book releases properly.

Thank you for your support and remember, if you enjoy a book, please leave a review!

Where’s Wally? (Spoiler alert – somewhere warm and sunny!)

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It’s been a while since I did a blogpost, so apologies for the lack of updates. So why have I been missing in action? It’s been a bit of a whirlwind month and I’ve finally begun a nice long writing sabbatical.

Although I released Dirty Little War in 2016, most of last year was taken up with non-fiction work. Although 2017 started out the same way, I did manage to wrap up all those annoying projects in the first quarter so I could put the second quarter of the year to good use.

Specifically, to write the lesbian romances and urban fantasy stories that had to be put aside for far too long. To get myself back in the mood, the wife and I are in Europe, working on books and  taking time out from commuter hell. With the farce that it Brexit, it makes sense to enjoy this before the British politicians ruin this forever.

So, other than sampling lots of delicious wine and tapas, what does this mean…?

Research, right?

Creative – new ideas and first drafts

I’ve started researching a new urban fantasy idea that I suspect will have romantic undertones, but the characters haven’t quite fully formed yet. There is a definite connection between them, so if it turns into something interesting then it might be a 2018 release, which sounds far away right now, but these things roll around quickly!

I’ve also been putting the final touches (helped by all that food and drink ‘research’) to the first draft of my 2017 summer romance. The plan is currently to release before June, barring any last minute hiccups or the complete thumbs down from my editor.

Editing – the slow, tortuous road to publication

Another plan is to release the second book in The Lazarus Hunter series later this year. Full disclosure: I’m not happy with it in it’s current form, so I intend to do a serious edit before handing it over for someone else. It’s been a stumbling block for two years. Given that this is not a lesbian romance, or even with two specifically lesbian main characters, I’m also toying with branding options so people don’t leap from the romances to this expecting the same thing. It’s a tough one and I’ll probably end up reaching out to get opinions on it.

Publishing – and all the other bits that go on behind the scenes

Nothing yet, other than putting marketing plans in place and thinking about book covers. I’ve got a working title for the summer romance but again, it could get canned when my first round of test readers get to it. Instead I intend to enjoy this quiet time to actually reappear online after simply having no time for such things for months.

Planning and dreaming – what’s coming up next week

It will be a ‘more of the same’ kind of week. So I probably won’t do another blogpost and instead focus on getting the first draft truly finished so I can get the edits started on that. It feels strange not to have client meetings taking up so much of my time, so I want to get a few more ideas in the bank. The third quarter of 2017 is still up for grabs, so if non-fiction takes over again for a few months, I’d like to have something to run with in the background.

But for now, more wine, more good company and more romance. Research is the best thing ever.

Writer Life: Busyness, business and books

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Wow, this week has been a busy week. Between consultancy work and non-fiction, I’ve been working 16 hour days to get everything done. The reward? I get to spend the weekend exploring the beautiful south coast of England, giving my brain time to relax. I went tramping through a forest last weekend and was amazed by the boost just being outside with time to breathe and think gave me. So I’m trying to make this a feature of my life, to compensate for the hours spent in hotel rooms or chained to the desk.

I’m also now weighing up an iPad Pro for work on the road, so if anyone has any experience of whether that works or not, then hit me up.

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Creative – new ideas and first drafts

Book four in The Lazarus Hunter series – now tentatively titled Things That Die In The Light – had to go on the back burner this week. I still managed to get around 5000 words completed to keep my brain engaged with the characters and the story. I like the way it is going so far but I can already see places where I need to ramp that tension up a bit! The title definitely needs some work though…

I also pitched the idea for another non-fiction book to a couple of people, so that’s an exciting step forwards too.

Editing – the slow, tortuous road to publication

Some final minor tweaks last weekend to the non-fiction book, but they were simply some references changes, so nothing too strenuous thank goodness!

Publishing – and all the other bits that go on behind the scenes

In week two, Dirty Little War has received some pretty great reviews, from people I definitely don’t know. There’s always a bit of a writer’s doubt that your mum is writing good stuff to make you feel better, like when you found out those Valentine’s cards you got as an early teen was just her using her left hand to write. Unsolicited stranger reviews are always amazing.

Okay, so I am still getting to grips with Facebook. I’m still not a huge fan, but have begun to see the real value it offers in connecting people. I’ve been able to talk with readers and other authors to get valuable insights into how I can write things that excite not only me, but also the people who want to read my fiction. So I guess Facebook is going to stay part of my life for awhile.

I’ve published a non-fiction book as my alter-ego this week, which has been an altogether different experience to publishing genre fiction. It’s been exciting though and I’m feeling really positive about it.

Planning and dreaming – what’s coming up next week

I’m having the weekend off now to spend time with my wife as she’s been somewhat neglected this week. Monday will bring with it a week of non-fiction marketing (honestly, no more fun for me than any kind of marketing) and getting back to Things that die in the light. If I can get 8000 words drafted in that small space between getting up and having breakfast, then I’ll count the week as a success.

Writing Best Bits

The best writing bit this week was letting something go. That sounds strange and with better timing on my part, I wouldn’t have had two large projects come to a conclusion so close together. One of my goals for next year is to better plan the contingency time so that if other people slip, then the pressure doesn’t fall on me!

Weekly success score: 7/10 (not enough downtime – even if I’ve done a lot, being a workaholic loses points, not gains them. Life is for living!)

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