July Update

Hey, hey…

So, I have been thinking about the way life works and how it’s really tricky trying to fit regular blogging into life, but also how regular blogging can be a good thing. And so I have come up with a plan… a monthly recap blog post, interspersed with the occasional “I gotta share this” blog post…

Also, down the track I’m looking to redesign my website so it has a better landing page and the blog is more of a side project — and I’d probably separate out the different topics I like to touch on.

Writing Progress

Early July saw a few more Beta reader comments come in for WARRIOR’S TOUCH which I worked to address. I also still had a few of my own niggles about the ending, but I thought to wait until I received feedback from

And so it begins… again

The blank page.

That dreaded blank page. It’s horrible!

Why do we do this to ourselves?

I think, largely, it is because writers are gluttons for punishment. We’re never happy, and if we should be then we will find something to keep us down. And what better way than to start a new project?

Read a 1-star review of our work, you suggest? Yes, that is a good plan, too… Unless you get the kind of 1-stars you’re proud of (and I have been, lately… I’ve really liked them).

I am lucky this time around in that I’ve written two previous books in the same series I’m continuing on, so I have a decent string of events I already know I need to cover to tie off the loose ends. But

Swag!

So, not only is HEALER’S TOUCH free (ebook versions) everywhere, but you can also win SWAG!

Swag? You ask.

Swag! I say.

What’s swag? you ask.

Swag is… well it’s… it’s…

Oh, let me show you.

Swag!

So, go, GO to the KRISTELL INK website and enter the Rafflecopter to win!

Good luck!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you enjoyed this post, you can vote for it over at Springfree Family Times and help me win a trampoline for my family!! (Just picture me jumping on a trampoline – glee – yeah… now you wanna help me win, eh?)… You get free stuff, I get free stuff… win-win, no?

Blog Hop

What a fab way to finish the year: With a re-cap/where-I’m-at post as part of an Author Blog Hop. So, here goes.

A brief run-down of 2013 from me: My book, HEALER’S TOUCH, was released at the end of January by Kristell Ink (part of Grimbold Books). I think it’s done not too badly for a debut novel published by a small publisher. My understanding is that Kristell Ink are really taking off, so I feel privileged to have got in on the ground floor. It’s all up, up, up from here.

We hit a bit of a snag when we split from Holland House to become Grimbold authors, but that’s all done and dusted now, all smooth sailing (Gosh, look at the cliches! Just look at them!).

As far as the rest of life goes, my son turned 3 in September and finally moved on from his terrible twos soon after and is becoming quite a pleasure to have around (phew!). And work has just seemed to get busier and busier. I’m sure it’s all very positive, but we (my husband and I) are stressed a good deal of the time (we work at the same company). Not super great for our parenting and my writing, but we’re managing. There are positive moves being made at work that may lead to reduced stress… or more, who knows?

Anyway, back to the Blog Hop. I was tagged by Elaine White. You can also see what she’s up to on her Facebook Page, Twitter and Goodreads profile.

–

Here’s how a blog hop works. Elaine tagged me, so I answer the four blog hop questions in my blog, which I will link to Elaine’s answers to the same questions on her blog. Then I will reach out to five random authors to continue the hop!

Read on to find my answers to the blog hop questions.

–

What are you writing?

I am currently (still) working on

I feel I have succeeded

Hey yous fellas… and fella-ettes…. is that how it works? I must ponder on that… (perhaps “fellas” is asexual… sure… I’ll take that).

I’ve been quiet.

Basically, I’ve been writing, or working, or mothering, or (heaven forbid) tidying and cleaning… (shudder)

Sometimes I think to myself “My blog is part of my “author platform” (I quote because I totally understand what that means), I should make it interesting so people will want to read my book”…

The thing is, I may be published, but I am an amateur. I have no guru-spec-tac-u-lar to spill over you and imbue you with the magic of “you can do it too” (although, by the way… you can do it too).

I have me. My book exists in digital and paperback formats…

Round, round, get around, I get around…

I think I’m getting better at this interview thing…

On another note… I was struggling with making progress on WARRIOR’S TOUCH over the past couple of weeks. Then last night, I had a thought about a scene that was OK, but just wasn’t quite doing it for me… Write it from another POV! At the moment, the scene is in Llew’s POV, but I’m going to have a go at Jonas’ later today. As soon as I had that thought, a whole lot of new dialogue came flooding in, and even a whole new scene! I had thought I’d keep WT in Llew’s POV, even though the story is more about Jonas’ issues because, as a reader, I get quite attached to reading through a particular character’s eyes. But I think it’s going to go a little closer to 50/50. There are a couple of Braph POV scenes again, too. And a new POV…

Oh, and I crossed the 60,000 word mark last night. Yeah, na, I’m not 50% through the story…

The long hard road from anonymity…

Guess what.

My book was published at the end of January and I’m not famous yet.

I know!

Seriously, though, I’m sure we all know by now that selling books comes down to more than a matter of having a book out there. First and foremost, it has to be a good book. If you would like it to sell well, it also has to find wide appeal (and sign a movie deal). Now, that sort of thing is hard to predict. It’s a matter of giving the world what it wants when it wants it. You can’t guess this based on what’s been selling. By the time you finish your book, the world will very likely have moved on. So we come back to the good old: Write what you want to read and hope. It’s all about hope.

There is one thing that will help your book sell (once you’ve already written a good one): word-of-mouth.

But how do you get it

A Review: Healer’s Touch

Oh my…

That is all I can say. Honestly, when I read reviews like this, it makes me wish I could read the book the way readers can.

Healer’s Touch is a mix of romance, steampunk and high fantasy done the right way and written in just the right kind of style. I have to say that this book has made me a fan of Deb E. Howell.

I have a fan (o: It’s exciting and scary all at once. I mean… RESPONSIBILITY! Argh! Right, back to falling back in love with WARRIOR’S TOUCH.

Read the rest of the review HERE.

Celebrating Authors: “I was learning bass guitar until I got too pregnant…” – Author @deberelene

I was interviewed over at Celebrating Authors. If that title doesn’t grab you, I don’t know what will… Pop on over if you just can’t get enough of me (o:

Celebrating Authors: “I was learning bass guitar until I got too pregnant…” – Author @deberelene.

The Barren Island Challenge

… What books would you take with you to a barren island.

You can find out which five I’d take if there was a strict limit (take a fully loaded eReader, I say!… or tablet… something that can play music, too)… Um, where was I? Right, yes, see which five I’d take and why HERE.