20210108 – New Year’s Resolutions

I have written before that I don’t like making New Year resolutions, they tend to get broken shortly after they are made. So let’s go over how I did last year. 1. Get the first draft of book 4 finished by the start of April 2020. Well that was an epic fail it is still not finished. 2. Write the first draft of book 5 by the end of 2020. Again an epic fail, although I did manage to add to my notes. 3. Get book 2 and 3 into paperback by May 2020. WEll I managed to get book 2 into paperback before Christmas 2020. Book 3 has most of the work done. I will have to see if I achieve these goals before setting any more for 2020 I did manage to get some reading done, however, getting through a pandemic and trying not to have my clinical depression get any worse became my main goal of 2020. 2021 I need to get a new computer (at least new to me.). My computer died at the end of 2020 just after I had published my book 2 on paperback to Amazon. Once I have access to a computer I want to get book 3 out on paperback. In the meantime I will continue to write book 4 on my iPhone and in my note books. Ah the thought of picking up my fountain pen and flowing words across paper, I miss that form of writing. I still have to get a cover for book 4, I am still considering the style for no 4. I would like to get book 5 finished this year, yet I know how much work still has to go into it. So I will just have to keep writing and see how far along I can get. I would like to try and read more books this year. Reading helped a lot during this ongoing pandemic. If you have set yourself any new year resolutions or any other goals for this year, I wish you luck in achieving them.

20201229 – Books I am Reading

I am currently just over half way through “the Hobbit” I should finish by the weekend. One of the benefits of a Tier 4 lockdown due to the pandemic, plenty time to read. I received a copy of the “Seven Devils“ by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam as a Christmas present. Books are great Christmas presents and I’m looking forward to reading this one.

#fantasy, #darkfantasy, #epicfantasy, #storytelling, #swordandsorcery, #writerslife, #amwriting, #authors, #dragons, #books, #Kindle, #Amazon, #AppleBooks, #Kobo, #Lockdown, #amreading, #scifi,

Paperback – 20201225

Book 2 in paperback

Merry Christmas to one and all. 🎄.

It arrived the week before Christmas, the first copy of book 2 in paperback. I am now going through book 3 preparing it to go into paperback. Will be swapping between that and finishing the first draft of book 4. 

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20201206 – Writing

Last month was #NaNoWriMo month, and for myself, it was an epic fail. My plan was to finish the first draft of book 4, which had I stopped writing back at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, I never got very far with that. However, it was a success in another way as I did end up finishing the re-writes to book 2. I got the manuscript back from proofreading and managed to have the digital files uploaded to Apple Books, Amazon Kindle and Kobo before the end of November. If you already have book 2 on digital, you can update on your device to the 2nd version. On the 4th of December, the paperback version of “Hell Followed After” subtitle “Where He Goes, The Light Will Follow” which is the 2nd book in the series “The Legend of Zanta Klaus.” Became available on Amazon. I can reveal the paperback cover, I have ordered a copy of the book, however, you will have to wait until the end of the month for a pic of the book itself. It is December, and delivery dates are now stretching into weeks.

Photograph of the cover of the paperback version of book 3

I am back working on book 4 and at the moment I have no idea when I will be ready to publish, updates on another blog post. #fantasy, #darkfantasy, #epicfantasy, #storytelling, #swordandsorcery, #writerslife, #amwriting, #authors, #dragons, #witches, #books, #Kindle, #Amazon, #AppleBooks, #Kobo, #NaNoWriMo,

20201107 – writing update

 

It’s been tough lately. Funnily enough, the last few days have got me so hopeful & happy, I have been rewriting during Covid-19. Yesterday I finished the rewrites and printed out my manuscript. Book 2 will be coming out in paperback soon.
Celebration time. 🎉🎉🎉

 

 

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20200929 – writing update

Firstly it has only been a month since my last blog post. However, I am still alive, and I wish to give my condolences to everyone who has lost a friend or family member to COVID-19. As time passes, I am starting to hear of friends and others who have survived COVID-19 and are now on the difficult road to recovery even months after surviving the disease.

A writing update, I could just as well call this a lifestyle update as I changed my routine and have over the last month settled into having my alarm clock going off at 7am. Hope goes out into the back garden, and I put her food in the bowl, then while she eats, I make my first coffee of the day. Afterwards, I make porridge, and I am sitting at the computer writing before 9am, sometimes well before 9.

What has changed, you may ask. Firstly I am sticking to this new routine, and secondly, I am not looking at any news or email until the evening. The result is a vast improvement in productivity. How sustainable this is will depend on how long I can manage with a low intake of coffee. I am trying to keep it to 2 mugs max before lunch, after a while the brain adapts, and you have to drink more coffee to get the same productivity. The other day I was at the desk until lunchtime, and by then I had 4 mugs of coffee, I was buzzing, I was on a roll, I had not had writing word counts like it since before the pandemic.

We are back into increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases, and by the way things are going at the moment we will all be back into a tougher lockdown by November if not before. Flu season is approaching so get your jab. I have been reassessing what my writing plans for winter will be. I lost so much time during the first lockdown, trying to look after my mental health. Hopefully, I am better prepared for lockdown 2 when it comes. Either way, I am back to doing rewrites of book 2 before I get it put into paperback, my plan is to get the rewrites done by mid-October.

After that, I need to do further research before I restart work on the 1st draft of book 4. The hope is to start back on the writing on the 1st of November, at the moment I have just over 49,000 words of the first draft done. Book 5 is just a skeleton at scarcely over 7,000 words of the initial draft, I have no date yet when I will get back to number 5. However, it will be when I am no longer working on book 3.

 

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20200901 – Books I am Reading

It has been a few months since my last blog post. However, I am still alive and my condolences to everyone who has lost a friend or family member to COVID-19. As time passes I am starting to hear of people who have have survived Covid-19 and are now on the difficult road to recovery.

For a while, during the lockdown, I was handling it quite well, and then the depression decided to sink its teeth into me, the only thing I could do to slow the downward spiral was to get out and walk. Now I am back reading and back to writing. I read two novellas by Samantha Shannon, “The Pale Dreamer” which I have had for a while but just never got round to reading and “The Dawn Chorus,” which was published just recently. I have enjoyed all the Bone Season series of books, and I am looking forward to the next book in the Bone Season series “The Mask Falling,” publication date is 16th February 2021.

I have also read the Falconer trilogy of novels by Elizabeth May, “The Falconer,” “The Vanishing Throne,” “The Fallen Kingdom.” Set in a kind of steampunk version of Scotland in the 1800s with fairies. These are the first books I have read by Elizabeth May, and I plan reading other books by this author when I get through my current pile of books in my to be read pile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#fantasy, #darkfantasy, #epicfantasy, #storytelling, #swordandsorcery, #writerslife, #amwriting, #authors, #dragons, #books, #Kindle, #Amazon, #AppleBooks, #Kobo, #Lockdown, #amreading,

20200425 – 5th weekend in lockdown

This weekend is the 5th weekend in lockdown.

I am back to preparing my second book to be formatted into a Paperback. When the pandemic lockdown started, and all the Festivals were cancelled, like many folks, I just lost the will to write. I am now making progress on the work needed to be done and in planning my work for the rest of the year.

I finished “Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Golden Samovar” by Olga Wojtas earlier this week. I got halfway through by reading a chapter or two each evening and then had to binge read the second half in one sitting. Definitely a lockdown read. I will be purchasing the second book by Olga Wojtas, “Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Vampire Menace” when I can get to a bookseller. I want it in paperback rather than the digital version.

This is Princes Street, Edinburgh in the lockdown

 

 

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20200412 – Pandemic isolation update

It has only been a couple of weeks since the lockdown came into effect. I have been doing spring cleaning, re-watching several DVDs from my collection and I finished reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman.

I am now reading Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradury.

I went for my daily exercise in the ghost town on Saturday. George Street Edinburgh.

A sign of the times.

The Grassmarket pubs all boarded up, the streets empty.

The West Bow, the pavements deserted and no cars. You can breath and smell the air.

Let us hope by the end of this pandemic that East Princes Street Gardens are restored and the Council stop allowing it to be used for commercial purposes, i.e. the Christmas market. It has been 4 months and the gardens are still closed to the public.

Stay safe everyone.

 

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20200328 – my writing goals for 2020 update

 

As I said in my last post, I’m not into doing new year resolutions as they tend to get broken shortly after they are made. However, I never expected a pandemic when I wrote that. All my plans for this year have had to be abandoned. Edinburgh is in lockdown, heck the whole country and the rest of the world is in lockdown. Wherever you are reading this, I hope you and your family are safe. If you have lost loved ones to this pandemic, my condolences and prayers are with you at this time.

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We live in difficult times. Theatres, cinemas, restaurants, Festivals including Book Festivals have been cancelled including the Cymera Book Festival which I had hoped to have the paperback versions of my 2nd and 3rd books ready to sell there. I had sold book 1 in paperback at the festival last year. A lot of authors are having the book launches for their new books cancelled. Some have been doing online book launches. I will have to plan a virtual book launch for when I finish my current work.

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Like a lot of people in lockdown, I have started spring cleaning. I am sure there are behavioural scientists out there who could give us a 70,000-word book on why people do this. I am, however, blaming it on procrastination now that I am stuck inside rather than being here willingly. When I stop procrastinating I will get back to doing rewrites of book 2 in preparation to get it into paperback. Once that is done I will move on to preparing book 3 to go into paperback. All the reasons for my deadlines have gone out of the window, now I have to make myself new deadlines so I can make progress on my work. I think my best option will be to split my time between preparing books 2 & 3 for paperback and doing the drafts on books 4 & 5.

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One thing I did not expect the panic buyers to clear off the shelves was black pepper, I went to 4 supermarkets today before I got a small jar. 😦 who the heck is stockpiling black pepper?

Whatever your goals are for this year, I wish you luck in achieving them.

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Stay safe.

 

 

#fantasy, #darkfantasy, #epicfantasy, #storytelling, #swordandsorcery, #writerslife, #amwriting, #authors, #dragons, #books, #Kindle, #Amazon, #AppleBooks, #Kobo,