I’ve finished and just started…

Hello!

Today I’ve watched the FIFA World Cup Final – still feeling a bit gutted England weren’t in it, but excited for the next stage of their development – and completed the first draft/very detailed outline of my next project.

I’d aimed to write the draft, aiming for 20,000 words, in June. But as it stands, it’s 20,001 words and not quite June anymore. Looking at my progress chart, there were a couple of weeks in the middle where I didn’t write a single thing. I know I got disheartened with the plot, or lack of one, but I didn’t realise it was that long.

In the end, I decided I just needed to write words, to get something on the page, so I could make a proper decision. I’ve actually got a story now, for starters – there were a couple of aha moments as things fell into place, especially as I was trying to fall asleep. But I did it.

It needs about 60k more words, a title and a much clearer structure. But I’ve started.

 

Advertisements

Write with Fey

Hello, dear readers! Today I’m welcoming another guest to share her book with you – this time Chrys Fey, whose new book will help you navigate the world of writing and publishing.

I’m still busy querying my novel, gearing up to write a new one (I’m planning another month-long blitz, so I’ve been jotting down the most random of ideas in preparation), and submitting a couple of short stories to competitions. As you read this, I’m finishing off a new flash fiction with a Sunday deadline!

Phew, that’s a lot of work… Anyway, here’s Chrys’s new book, enjoy!

 

NEW RELEASE & GIVEAWAY!

Catch the sparks you need to write, edit, publish, and market your book!

Write with Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication offers an abundance of data in one handy book. From writing your novel to prepping for publication and beyond, you’ll find sparks on every page, including 100 bonus marketing tips. You’ll also discover how to write specific scenes and characters, adding depth to your work.

•        Spark One: Being a Writer

•        Spark Two: Story Essentials

•        Spark Three: A Book’s Stepping Stones

•        Spark Four: How To

•        Spark Five: Character ER

•        Spark Six: Editing

•        Spark Seven: Publishing

•        Spark Eight: Marketing

•        Spark Nine: Writing About

•        Spark Ten: Final Inspiration

With so much information, you’ll take notes, highlight, and flag pages to come back to again and again on your writing journey.

BUY LINKS:

Amazon US / Amazon CA / Amazon UK

Barnes
& Noble / KOBO
/ iTunes

 AUTHOR BIO:

 

Chrys Fey is the author of the Disaster Crimes Series, a unique concept blending romance, crimes, and disasters. She’s partnered with the Insecure Writer’s Support Group
and runs their Goodreads book club. She’s also an editor for Dancing Lemur Press.

Fey realized she wanted to write by watching her mother pursue publication. At the age of twelve, she started her
first novel, which flourished into a series she later rewrote at seventeen. Fey lives in Florida and is always on the lookout for hurricanes.

 

Chrys Fey’s Links:

Website / Blog / Amazon
/ Goodreads

Facebook / Twitter

GIVEAWAY!

Open to
all from June 4th 2018 – July 6th 2018

Click here to enter or
use the form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Introducing C. Lee McKenzie

Here’s something a little bit different for you today, a middle-grade author! I’ve know C. Lee for a long time through our blogs, so it’s great to have her here today to celebrate the launch of her new book.

If you’ve got kids, check this out. If you know some kids, check it out too. If you don’t know any kids, but love great stories, check it out too 😉 

Take it away, C. Lee…

---

Hi Annalisa,

It’s great to be here today. Thank you for giving me a chance to talk about this new book.When you offered to lend a hand, you mentioned that your readers weren’t likely to be my audience for this one since it’s written for the middle-grade reader. So I thought I’d tell about the night a bookseller gave a presentation to a group of rather senior citizens and brought picture books along with others for her talk.

She began with a story about an overheard conversation in her bookstore. It was a father telling his daughter to put that picture book away; she was older now and should be reading more advanced books. Then the bookseller, held up a picture book and began to read aloud. I admit, she was a great reader, and I along with the rest of the audience, fell into the story. When she came to almost the end, she said, “Well, you get the idea,” and closed the book. There was a collective “No!” that came from the entire audience. We wanted to hear what happened to that goose!

She’d made her point. If it’s a good story, it will capture and hold your imagination no matter what age it was intended for.

I write primarily in two categories of fiction: Young Adult and Middle Grade. While the booksellers put these on shelves designated for those age groups, my readers are often a lot older. One reviewer who has become a fan of my Young Adult (thank you ever so much) admits to being a sixty-year-old male. He has read and reviewed all of those books. My Middle Grade also has a middle aged audience. They tell me they pick up these little fantasies for a quick, fun escape from their real world. Some read them to be sure they’re okay for their children.

For All My Work Click HERE For a Gift Click HERE

Some Very Messy Medieval Magic is book three in The Adventures of Pete and Weasel. Alligators Overhead was the first in the series, and The Great Timelock Disaster was the second. Instead of my writing the overview, here’s the short trailer that gives you the idea of what happens to these two adventurers.  

All my books are available online. 

 

Some Very Messy Medieval Magic is available at these locations. 

 

AMAZON . B&N . KOBO  . SMASHWORDS . YABC 

Print ISBN 9781939844460 / EBook ISBN 9781939844477

 

Order through Ingram, Follett, or from the publisher

EBook available in all formats 

Thank you again for the time and space on your blog, Annalisa. I loved popping over to your neck of woods for a chat.

 

Stuff, other stuff and nonsense

Greetings!

Hmm… I’ve been sitting here for five minutes wondering what to write next – I blame it on a lack of tea.

I’ve sat back from blogging for most of April because I know a lot of my regular visitors are taking part in the A-Z Challenge, so they really don’t need me clogging up their feeds. I’ve visited a few, and the topics are as interesting and varied as always. I don’t comment for the same reason – these bloggers are probably starting to wilt a bit now.

I’ve not been writing much recently. Without any new ideas, I’ve been playing around with some old short stories, and then abandoning the changes anyway – so there’s very little to report there. My novel is still out on submission to agents – one requested a full, and I’m still waiting to hear back from that before I send anymore out.

Photo by Geert Pieters on Unsplash

 

There are some changes at work too, and a lot of my focus has been on that. Nothing too major – I have to take on a few exercise classes, when my preference is one-to-one training in the gym, so it’ll definitely take me out of my comfort zone, and I’m not keen on that. I don’t have a writing comfort zone of any kind, so I think I deserve one in my day job. Alas, my boss does not.

Aside from that, April is passing in a blur of birthdays, cake, shopping, sunny days and watching #2 son in his first ‘proper theatre’ play (as opposed to school or community halls – both of which are completely proper and always very well done).

#2 son on the far right,  picture from the Young Company @ The Theatre Royal Plymouth

What takes you out of your comfort zone?

 

 

Spring is springing

After some very cold and snowy weather, today felt properly Spring-like.

This is what a happy dog looks like, once he’s run around and exhausted himself!

The awesome thing about this time of the year is waking up when it’s light, strolling rather than rushing to get through errands, and being able to sit outside the coffee shop with my hot chocolate.

I feel so much more productive – although, alas, not in a writing-new-stuff kind of way, yet. I spent this afternoon designing new business cards, I’m in the middle of a week long interview on Audrina Lane’s Facebook page, and I’m working on my newsletter relaunch (again, but for real, this time!) Click the SIGN UP button on the top right to receive your copy, launching mid-April.

Do you ever feel happy for absolutely no reason? A surge of euphoria that bubbles over until you’re smiling inanely at random people who are walking past? That was me today. I felt like Artoo in that picture, perfectly content, even when paying a bill.

What’s your favourite thing about Spring?

Cat & The Dreamer, Free Today!

Okay, lovely people, just a really quick message to say that my first novella, Cat & The Dreamer, is free for Kindle all day today – Monday 12 March!

Please buy it, share this post, shout it from the rooftops, and go door-to-door around your neighbourhood!

And if you feel moved to do so, a review would be very much appreciated.

You can check out the book from this link right here.

 

 

 

 

So, what’s Cat & The Dreamer about?

Well…

“In my world, I am fifteen, the age I was when I met Rachel Carr, the age I was when Rachel Carr killed herself with a tonne of painkillers and two bottles of rum.”

Julia survived a teen suicide pact: her best friend Rachel did not. Years later, Julia is introvert and insular, spiralling into depression, shrouding herself in daydreams to protect herself from reality – a controlling mother and a huge burden of guilt.

When Adam walks into her office, Julia knows he won’t be interested in her; Cat, her flirty blonde colleague, has already chosen him as her next conquest. But his presence alone is enough to shake Julia up, and make her realise real life could be so much better.

Except Cat has other plans, lurking in Julia’s imagination, torturing her, telling her she should have died too. And she’s right, of course, because Cat is always right.

 

Here’s the link to the Kindle page one more time

(I think three links to the same offer is as much as I can squeeze into one post)

 

 

The art of neutral thinking

Have I ever told you why I became a writer?

Well, obviously there are several reasons, but one of them was because when I was very young I’d have dreams nightmares that felt very real. I’d be coming home from school to find my family missing, or running away in the middle of the night. I’d dream my sister ceased to exist, or that we’d been caught up in a devastating fire.

And I was terrified that my thoughts would make these things actually happen! Aged 4, I didn’t really understand that I didn’t have that kind of power.

I started to write these thoughts down, and gave the characters different names, so that they would suffer and my family would be safe.

Phew!

Fast forward to this week. I sent off my first batch of queries. And then I started to envisage the outcome.

First, I imagined signing contracts and drinking Champagne in celebration. Everyone was cheering and I was making a speech.

Argh! No! What if that causes the universe to spite me? What if that would just bring many rejections to my inbox?

Next, I pictured the rejections, a long slog through my list of agents, getting to the end.

Argh! What if that makes the rejections happen?

Logically, I know my brain still doesn’t have that kind of power, but what if…? So, now, I’m practising the art of neutral thinking, where I try not to veer too far to the positive or negative. I’m focusing on – if I really must – the agent opening my email, and…

… and nothing. I’m trying to pull myself away, panning the camera back like the closing scene of a movie while inspirational music plays and the screen goes black.

(Well, you did say you wanted to be with me for the querying process, although this might not be quite what you meant 😉 )