Sunday 29 April 2012

Life Collides

I'm in the middle of a short story collection and struggling to make the edits on the novella waiting in the wings. I hoped to have a lot more done than I've managed recently but life has stepped in. No longer can I manage the chunks of words I was powering through merely weeks ago! Now it's a happy day if I break into the hundreds! I have updated the free story you can find under the tab 'Free Story'. It's gone through some edits since I first posted it so it should be improved ;)

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Free Short



I decided to make today focused on getting some editing done instead of trying for my word quota. I've gone through one of the promotional shorts for the 'Swamp Children' series that I'm working on. It's free up on the blog, under it's own little tab! All you have to do is click on 'Free Story' and it'll take you right to it. I'm also going to have it up on all the usual sites for free for anyone interested.

Friday 13 April 2012

Friday the 13th

Happy Spooky Day!


I'd forgotten all about it until I got on the internet this morning so I thought I'd share the well-wishes. My day has actually been lucky so far. I've been chapters into the sequel of 'A Swamp of Bones' and really unhappy with it. I didn't manage many words on it yesterday at all despite deciding that was where I needed to focus my time. Instead I wrote another short story, letting the ideas run wild. This morning it's been a struggle to get even 500 words down on it. But then I scrapped it all and I've started it over. Normally I hate doing that but these first 400 words on the new book have been easier than any of the other thousands I'd had written for 'A Swamp of Blood'. Finally it's kicking off and maybe I'll actually manage my 5000 words today despite the glorious sunshine and the sadly frozen fingers. After a breakfast (brunch?) of champions (half a box of strawberries and some slices of turkey) what could go wrong on this unluckiest of days?

Thursday 12 April 2012

April 12th

Finally back on the horse after an extended Easter break. Managed my 5,000 words yesterday, a minor miracle since I finished 'A Swamp of Bones'. I've also managed to write the promotional short story for the series and started up the second book. So much going on but struggling to keep focused, the sun's finally out and it's so hard to resist! And there's always a mind melt over how much editing happened in the last novel. I can hardly face it so I haven't touched the novella I've been done with for almost a week. It's scary knowing that's waiting in the wings!

Also, went to Hunger Games movie over the weekend. I fully expected to dislike it and chose it only because everything else was an hour away. Loved it. Loved the movie and spent all of tuesday reading the second and third book. They were so amazing and most amazing of all, they didn't frighten me into stopping my writing. Everyone get intimidated by the amazing authors out there and sometimes that can really slow me down. Not this week though! Maybe sunshine has magical powers....maybe there's a story hidden in there...

Monday 2 April 2012

A Swamp of Bones: Published!


A Swamp of Bones is now available online! It's taken a while but the first YA paranormal Swamp Children book is finally out.

Makani, 19, lives in the northern swamps, the last stronghold of humanity. Separated from her family, she wanders, searching for them. When a Seer warns her that her little brother and sister are being held ransom in the southern citadel, Makani’s desperate to get there before something happens to them. However, she’s never ventured that far and with her limitations she isn’t sure she’ll make it or what she’ll find when she gets there. 

In other news, I've started the sequel, A Swamp of Lies, but because that'll take a while to get through, I'm also writing a novella, Things in the Swamp, featuring one of the characters from A Swamp of Bones. I'm hoping that will be finished and ready to go in the next couple of weeks but no promises!