Category Archives: writing

It’s been over a week since I last blogged about my progress on the first book in the Guardians of Hades series. I’ve been working hard on it since then, and it’s now up to 64000 words. That’s a little over half of the book written in first draft.

I’m not really feeling it today though, and wasn’t yesterday. I think my writing schedule is causing me a headache and has made me stutter a little. My flow has stopped for the moment. Now I have to do something to get it back again, and while I do that, I need to keep on top of things.

I don’t think it’s helping that I’m stuck in my house today. I don’t mind writing at home, but it’s full of distractions, which is why I prefer to head out to a cafe when I need to get a serious amount of words on screen in every writing session. I’m a good writer though, so I always have a plan. Yes, I’m not feeling the writing bug right now, but that doesn’t mean I can kick back and do nothing, allowing my schedule to get totally out of hand. I’m experienced enough to know there is no point in forcing myself to write when I don’t feel like it. That means I have only one real option. I get all the promotion stuff, admin work, emailing, arranging of dates for a huge promotion run for Her Demonic Angel, etc done and off my list. This means that I’m effectively exchanging time I had set aside for that stuff in the rest of the week for time I can then use to write when the bug comes back and firmly bites me. Clever, eh?

I think my lack of interest in writing today may also have something to do with the fact that I didn’t get any done yesterday. I was stuck in admin hell, getting more books up onto Apple and a lot of other stuff that needed my attention. I had thought I could do it quickly (don’t we always?), but I woke up feeling under the weather with a bad throat, and that sort of slowed me down.

But still, on a more positive note, the book is coming along nicely and I think it’s turning out pretty good. I’m getting a shiny editor for it because I’m intent on this one turning out as nothing but terrific and I’ve recently become obsessed with a freelancing site that I’ve found really wonderful people on (the people who translated Covet into German for me). I think it will be nice to work with an editor for a change and I’m interested to see how much time it frees up for me. I still have to edit the book before I then give it to an editor, but I’m hoping it might cut some time out of my schedule. That means I can write more. Yay!

Now I need to crack on and get everything on my list for the week done and I can hopefully end the week back on schedule with this novel!

It has been a long but fruitful week. I’ve completed the first round of proofing for Her Demonic Angel so I can now focus on getting the first draft of Guardians of Hades Book One written. Exciting news for me, and hopefully for you too.

I had a slow start because of my writing jitters, but I managed to get the first chapter written on Tuesday, and on Wednesday increased that to the first three chapters, ending with around 11500 words written in the first two days. That’s below my usual output but it has been a very slow start with this book.

I’m picking up speed now though. I had some ideas for tweaks for the first three chapters, so my first task this morning was to go through each chapter and complete my tweaks, improving the description and adding some things I had thought about on my day off on Thursday. I finished today at 20500 words, and had to force myself to stop because my back was getting achy from sitting for so long and my fingers were tired. It’s closer to the speed I like to write at, clocking up 9000 words today. Hopefully, I can hit my optimum 10000 words a day next week and then we’ll be flying.

I’m really enjoying writing the series so far and I’m still really excited about it. I think you guys are all going to absolutely love these godly brothers. I’ve reached a scene where all seven sexy heroes are in the same room with the first heroine, and hell, she’s finding it hard to concentrate despite her dire situation. There are a few brothers that scare her, but her hero and the eldest brother have her mesmerised!

I’ll hopefully wrap up this chapter on Monday and then I get to dive back into the heroes head as he has a meeting with his brothers to address a few sticky issues, namely his antagonist.

Writing for two days in my usual cafe in my town has led to a decision that I don’t like it there as much as I like it at the Starbucks near where my husband works. It’s much easier to concentrate there because there are less kids running amuck and the seats are more comfortable, and the lighting is natural. It’s just a nicer place to work. The local cafe in my town has bench seats like Starbucks, but the seat is too deep so I can’t sit with my back against the padded back, and I end up hunched forwards and get a crick in my neck. Not a great environment for writing.

I’m hoping to spend time at the Starbucks next week and my productivity should rise to reach my daily writing targets.

Still, with the first 20000 words of the book done, I now have a better impression of the characters and the story, as well as the series, and I really do think you guys are going to love it!

I am both excited and very nervous today. It’s that weird mixture of trepidation and adrenaline and doubts and confidence, and general craziness that sometimes hits an author when they’re about to begin writing something new. It’s the blank canvas effect I used to suffer when painting or drawing. You know what’s in your head, and you want it to look as amazing as it does there when you get it down onto paper, but you have these niggling voices that tell you it’s not going to… it’s going to suck.

My stomach is somersaulting better than most Olympians.

I know the way to overcome the nerves is to sit down, get a playlist together that suits my characters and the book, put that music on, scan my outline for the book and just let it flow, but it’s never as easy to do something as it is to say it… or think it.

I guess I’m writing this post mostly because I’m extremely excited about finally putting fingers to keyboard on a first draft of the first book in this series (and also extremely nervous) and also because I know a lot of writers out there will be able to empathise with me on this one, and it might help a lot of new authors if they know that if they get a case of the butterflies before or even during writing a book, it’s perfectly normal and even the most seasoned of writers experience it.

For me, the nerves this time around are there for several reasons. The Guardians of Hades series is one that I originally came up with back in 2008 and since then I’ve been working on it in dribs and drabs, never quite finding the time to sit down and write it. I wanted to be at the top of my game when I wrote this one. I wanted to have ironed out every little bump in my writing so I could do a fantastic job on it, because I REALLY wanted it to look on paper as it does in my head. I knew that back in 2008, I wasn’t at the level of writing to do that. I had some issues to overcome, and much more to learn. I’m constantly learning–from each book I write, each book I read, each article I scan over, and everything I hear. I never stop learning and I never stop trying to reach the top of this writing game, and I know that to reach that pinnacle, I need to keep learning and not stagnate and declare that I’m perfect and I don’t need to grow as a writer. Every writer needs to keep growing, keep learning, and keep reading. If you think you don’t, then you’re only hurting yourself.

The other reason I’m experiencing a bad case of the jitters is because I’m writing this series for a proposal. Yes, a proposal as in something that will become a submission to an editor at a publishing house. I have always maintained that this series was going to be the one I approached New York with and I stand by that, even in this age of indies. I’m a success as an indie writer, but I’m not one to count my chickens before they’ve hatched, meaning I don’t bank on indies being forever as successful as they are today. I want a slice of both pies, a foot in each pond, and any other metaphor you want to throw in there. I also still believe that to reach my maximum potential audience, I need to keep expanding and break out beyond where I am now, and to do that, I need some major backing. I’ve built myself a very good platform and I have fantastic readers who support me through thick and thin, but I want to take that to the next level. I want to reach new readers and there’s still a huge percentage of them who prefer paperbacks to ebooks, or who prefer published to indie. I don’t fall on one side of the argument or the other about indie vs published. Both are writers, and I’m a writer, and to reach my goals, I need to take advantage of every possible avenue open to me.

I was recently given the opportunity to speak to the wonderful agent of a very wonderful author who hooked me up with her. I honestly never expected the agent to email me, or for us to strike up a conversation about this series, or her to see the potential in it and my author brand. I can’t thank this amazing, friendly author enough for what she did for me, a relative stranger and also a kindred soul. She’s given me a boost up the ladder towards that star I’m trying to reach at the top. Now I just have to live up to my hype and produce a book and a series that will blow not only the agent away, but New York with her.

Wish me luck!