My Blog

My musings about the world, self publishing, living abroad, and my author career.

crisis knitting

crisis knitting

I'm sitting down to write this and I'm really not sure what I want to write about. I have a list of possible blog topics, but somehow none of them seem relevant right now. This is a weird time, for everyone, where the norms are not normal. Where there is an...

Self publishing 12: write to market

Self publishing 12: write to market

The idea of writing to market is considered by some to be selling out and so being untrue to your creative spirit. And some people do take it to that extreme, but it doesn't have to be. To my mind what it means to write to market is to write your story being aware of...

Homeschooling report

Homeschooling report

Like many round the world we have been watching the coronavirus pandemic spread. This is an unsettling time for everyone, especially those who, like me, find themselves in the high risk category. In order to minimise the spread and control the need for hospital and...

My values

My values

I read a lot of books, across multiple genres, but I want to make a statement here about what I plan to write. I have chosen to write Young Adult books because I fell strongly that there is a need there for female characters who work to find where they belong. Setting...

Dragon Shift: cover reveal, preorder & bonus!

Dragon Shift: cover reveal, preorder & bonus!

Today I am announcing the first book in my new Young Adult fantasy series, that is now available for preorder. Dragon shift Half-bear-shifter half-dragon in a world where dragons are thought extinct, Birgith must face the ultimate test of her shifting ability to be...

Self publishing 11: what’s your goal

Self publishing 11: what’s your goal

Early on in your writing career you need to take some time and really think about why you want to write and publish, as not everyone has the same goals. There's no point comparing yourself to anyone else when you don't understand what you're trying to do or what their...

2019 effort analysis

2019 effort analysis

Part of me acting more professionally as an author last year, was that I logged what activities I did, and my word count against each project each day. I had been logging word count for a while, but towards the end of 2018 I started logging time as well. Part of that...

Self-publishing 10: series v standalone

Self-publishing 10: series v standalone

For the next instalment of my series on self-publishing I'm going to look at the pros and cons of publishing a book as part of a series, or as a standalone title. A series is where there are multiple books that follow the same story, and the main story arc is only...

Setting yourself up for success

Setting yourself up for success

With the beginning of the new year means a new start. A new set of goals and plans to follow. Ina previous post I went through the top level of what my goals are for this year. Behind that I have a more detailed plan which says what I want to achieve every day. How...

Self-publishing 9: preorders

Self-publishing 9: preorders

The idea of a preorder is that you set up all the details of your book with the online retailers before your book is available to purchase. This means readers can order the book in advance and you get guaranteed sales on the day you launch it. Amazon has recently...

Annual review 2019

Annual review 2019

My goals for this year were: Publish a least six things Stick to schedule Finish the house renovations I've published four things in 2019: the last of my individual short stories in January, my two non-fiction books in June and my collection of short stories at the...

My best books of 2019

My best books of 2019

Last year I wrote about the books I'd read and most enjoyed in 2018. So this year I'm doing it again. My Goodreads target for this year was to read 52 books (one a week) and I've logged 107 so far, with almost a month to go for the end of the year. More than double...

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