Author Archives: Karen

Prying the Story Strands from the Ether

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Sometimes in writing you strike a problem, like painting yourself into a corner, and sometimes it can be hard to find a way out of the problem I’ve written before about brainstorming and bouncing ideas of other people to see what works and what doesn’t. But this time nothing was sticking.

I’ve recently had this problem with my dark Angel story. I had started writing it, but had crunched to a halt, trying to work out where I wanted the story to go. I’d spent some sleepless nights trying to work out the problems, but unfortunately nothing was coming together. Brainstorming only seemed to complicate matters.

I decided I needed to work out what I had and where I wanted the story to go. I had a fair idea of the storyline, but it wasn’t flowing, it didn’t seem to be cohesive and the storyline kept falling part.

I had a piece of paper and I wrote down what I already had. I had about seven or eight chapters already written, but it kind of felt rushed. Like too much was happening in the first few scenes.

Then I worked out where I wanted the story to go. I knew where I wanted it to start, where I wanted it to head, and the climatic ending.

Then I filled in the gaps.

And it worked out! After working out a sentence or two for each part of the story structure I expanded it out until I had chapters. And this is where a character from the previous book needed to come back into this story, and with the addition of this one character, everything fell into place.

And it means that the chapters I’ve already written don’t have to be ditched. I only need to rework them to fit them back into my story structure.

I think the problem came from pantsing the story, and as I told you before, I am a plotter, and so not taking the time to plot out how I want the story to go was my problem. Unlike pantsers, I don’t feel like I’ve already done the story when I plot it out. I feel like it’s a guideline for me to work from. If I find a new direction to go in, I can, but I have the plotting there to come back to and weave the story together.

This angel story is going to be published under my other pen name, because it’s has more fantasy elements in it – in fact it’s all fantasy crossed with science fiction, but at this stage, I’m only concentrating on getting the story to come together.

I hope to have Quin and Stef and this story finished before the end of the year. Fingers crossed I can get it done.

Changes are Ahead

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Two years ago, I decided that I would have a five year plan to being a well paid author, earning money from my writing.

I’m no where near that now, and I don’t seem to be closer than I was then.

But never fear, I’m not giving up. As I said in my rant a couple of weeks ago, I can’t stop writing, I would honestly go insane with the voices in my head.

Two years ago, I did go wide – which means that I was publishing my books through Kobo and Draft to Digital, which also distribute to other book sellers. I was even in KoboPlus which is like Kindle Unlimited – a subscription platform for people to read my books for free (technically not free,) and I get paid per page they read.

And apart from 15 books, Crickets. Nothing, zip, narder, zero, zilch. Which is quite disheartening really.

So I am shrinking everything back and putting it all through Amazon, which means I can register for Kindle Unlimited, and I will have a bit more success with my books.

Plus, it means that instead of trying to send people in all directions looking for my books, they can find them at Amazon, or on my website. And with Booklinkers, it will send them to the readers nearest Amazon outlet, rather than to the US site that I have been using previously.

This means that I can focus my attention on sending people to one place, my funds can be better spent on advertising for one place, and it means that I can get paid for the page reads of those who have Kindle Unlimited, and hopefully I will find an audience there.

Valuing the Values

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After last week’s rant, I thought I should write about something a little bit lighter in nature. I thought I would talk about who I am, and how I want my writing to reflect that.

I’m a compassionate person who has a lot of empathy for people, and then I work in an industry where empathy is a major characteristic of the workers. I have a soft spot for animals, and if I had my way, I would adopt every stray cat I could. It also makes me vulnerable to people who want to take advantage of my kind and caring nature.

I’m loyal to my family, work family, friends and I’m there for them whenever they need me. I will fight for my family and stand by them whenever they are in a battle mentally or physically.

I’m honest with everyone around me. What you see if what you get, even the weirdo face pulling and strange clothing that I wear. It’s part of who I am and what I do.

These values are what I want to share in my writing.

Cursed Love was about loyalty to a dead partner and ensuring that the curse would not continue through Jinny’s family line. Compassion played a role too, when Ethan found out what she had been through.


Running Away is about loyalty and honesty in all the wrong places –Larissa’s boyfriend lied to her, her employer was dishonest though she tried to be loyal to the company. Harley ran away from the lies that he was facing, but he continued to lie to Larissa, for his own safety.

In Compromising Positions, Jo has compassion for Edward, and appreciates Logan’s loyalty, and the honesty between Edward and Logan as they work through their issues.

Second-Hand Daughter, and Sylvia’s compassion towards Peyton and not wanting her to end up in social welfare care, and their growing loyalty and honesty with each other as the story develops.

Finding Amy Archer – her life was turned upside down by her husband’s lies, and her loyalty and compassion for her friend show you how deep a relationship will go.

Finding Sam Healey – Sam’s life was all about happy childhood memories, but then she discovers her family secret, struggles with the lies she’s lived with her entire life.

Curse of the Taniwha is all about compassion for others, which Rena has an abundance of, but for the wrong person, and then her loyalty lies with her beast.

Carol’s Christmas, it’s her employees who have the compassion and loyalty that Carol seems to lack.

These values are all part of my business plan as well, and will feature a lot through my books in the future too.

And Now for a little Venting

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I had high expectations for Carols Christmas. I’d hoped that the fact I was donating money to charity would help with sales. Except they haven’t.

It’s not the first time I’ve had my expectations blown out of the water. All of my books have done worse than I thought they would. I think Second-Hand Daughter is a slight exception, but not by much.

I wonder if I’m writing boring shit, or stuff that people don’t want to read. I know that I have fans who like my work, and I deeply appreciate all of you.

But this time, I wanted to raise money for Breast Cancer New Zealand, because it is one of the charities I support (the other one being Daffodil Day at the end of August).

As of 19 October, I’ve raised $16 to be donated to Breast Cancer New Zealand. I wasn’t expecting to donate hundreds of dollars, but I had a goal of $50 – I’m not even half way there.

I realise that things are tough financially for a lot of people at the moment, but sometimes I really wonder whether writing is worth the pain that I constantly put myself through, but then I have way too many ideas going through my head to not write. I just don’t have enough time or energy to write everything I think about. (I do make notes of these ideas.)

Thank you for listening to me carry on. I just needed to get that off my chest. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

RIP Diane Keaton

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Today, I learnt a sad fact of life. Everyone dies. Even those that you love and respect, and aspire to be like.

Today, 12 November 2025, Diane Keaton died. Self-titled as ‘the kooky actress’ she won a lot of accolades and awards for her roles over the years, whether they were serious or comedic. She wasn’t a comedian, she just managed to make things funny, by stating it as fact, or through her timing.

She had a tomboyish clothing style and favoured wearing vintage men’s clothing and often wore hats and different coloured lenses in her glasses. Whether this was because she liked the look or not I can’t find out. But I love yellow lenses which brings light into your eyes when it’s dark out.

The first movie I really saw Ms Keaton in was the First Wives Club – with Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn who are also favourite actresses. She plays someone who was really loved her husband and didn’t believe that he really wanted a divorce. She really seemed to have her head buried in the sand, but once she realised it was for real, she really came into her own.

In Something’s Got to Give she co-starred with Jack Nicholson, and Keanu Reeves. She wasn’t so ditzy in this movie, which was about forgiveness and discovering one’s own joys in life.

I especially loved her in The Book Club, and it’s sequel – really showed her quirky style and insecure nature.

I watched her being interviewed by Ellen and it was hard to say if she was playing a role on the show, or if she actually is like that in real life. She seemed nervous, anxious and high energy all at the same time. She laughed freely, and seemed embarrassed by simple questions. It made me really relate to her.

She never married, but had relationships with many of her co-stars. She adopted children on her own, and she seemed content to be on her own.

I shall miss her refreshing style, someone who had nervous anticipation and yet managed to always look on the bright side of life.

Being a Girly Girl

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I’ve always been one to get into shorts and jeans rather than skirts and dresses. Don’t get me wrong, I love to dress us and feel like a girl, but I tend to be a bit tomboyish.

But since I’ve finished up gardening, and started my new job, I’ve discovered my love for all things girly all over again, and now I’m wearing dresses and skirts, and even started to wear makeup!

I didn’t expect this to be a positive of working in doors. The main reason for working indoors was that it was warmer in winter, and also it would be easier on my body. But actually getting to wear dresses and skirts, and lovely blouses and getting out of my trousers and shorts has been quite refreshing.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love my trousers and shorts, because I don’t like being cold, but where I work is climate controlled, the temperature needs to be at a certain temperature, so as long as I have warm gear going into and out of the office, I can wear skirts and dresses to my little hearts content.

And I’ve started getting my nails done again. I love having long nails, and while I was gardening, it just wasn’t feasible to have them, dirt got under them, they would look chipped and ratty in no time at all, but now, because I’m only typing at the most, I can have the elegant nails.

And I’m wearing mascara! and Eyeliner! I don’t tend to put makeup on unless I was going out for the evening, but I’ve even been experimenting with tinted moisturiser and eyeliner!

It’s nice to be in touch with my more feminine side for a change. So I’ll continue to buy nice dresses and makeup and keep my feminine side happy.

Finding New and Inspiring Things To Do.

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I joined a gym, not long after I started my new job, and it was a little hit and miss to start with, but I got into a program, and had a personal trainer (who also runs the bootcamp that I go to) and started to really get into it.

On discussion with my personal trainer, I decided to up the ante a little and now I am in a three day a week program. It isn’t about building muscle, because that isn’t what I want to do, at this stage. Instead we are doing some corrective work, and then some muscle work to help.

Corrective work is because we discovered I have hyperextension. I always knew I was a little kookie with weird elbow angles, and knees that want to go backwards, so I’m doing exercises to help strengthen those muscles to prevent injuries from happening. I’m also doing exercises for my Archille’s that I slightly ruptured in December last year.

As a result, my mental health has improved, and my brain is just buzzing with ideas, which keep flowing, and I can’t keep up! I have a notebook with story ideas that I might have to get a ghost writer to finish for me!

Overall, I’m really enjoying the gym visits. It helps with my mental health, and I listen to podcasts while I’m exercising. I’m starting to get into a rhythm of attending three day a week, and settling into a routine of writing, editing and gym visits as well as my work schedule.

A Big Push

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The stars are aligning and things are happening and I’m caught in the middle!

First of all, on the 30th September, I have to get the edits for Finding Faith, my first Racing Harts novel to my editor. I’m working my way through these at the moment, and have 9 days to get through about ten chapters, which isn’t too bad. And I’ve already started editing Gaining Grace. If I can do at least two a day, I’ll be happy, except I have work on Saturday and Sunday, which doesn’t allow me to do those two days, so I have to try and sneak in 4 extra edits somewhere into my calendar.

And then on the first of October, I have the launch of Carol’s Christmas, my breast cancer story. I can’t wait to get this out into the world, and start raising some funds for Breast Cancer New Zealand. $5 from every paperback and $1 from all ebooks will go to the foundation for all books sold throughout the month of October. I’m really looking forward to being able to send the money to Breast Cancer New Zealand and tell them that there are lots of lovely caring people out there who contributed towards the donation.

So, I had better knuckle down and crack through these edits so I can focus on selling as many books as I can.

Living Your Best Life

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It has been obvious to me lately that we need to be living our best lives.

So what does that look like for me?
Living my best life is being with those I love, doing the things I love, and not taking things for granted.

Stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something new isn’t something that I do often, but when I do, I’m always grateful for the opportunity to try something new. I always yearn to do the things I love, and I’m slowly getting back into doing those things again.

Writing is something that I’m passionate about, and as long as I can write, I will continue to do so. But recently I’ve decided to go back to writing the slightly off the wall books that I’ve always wanted to write, like fantasy and science fiction. Why? Because that is where I really enjoyed the story telling and developing a whole new world (worldbuilding). To a degree I get to do that with Tuivale and my Men in Kilts series, but it doesn’t have that fantasy aspect that takes the story to the next level, adding elements that are otherworldly, or just out of this realm of possibility.

I will continue to write contemporary romance and Womens Fiction, because I still have a lot of what if questions that need answering, but I have a need to express my inner weirdo to get it out of my head and onto paper.

Sickness and Writing

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I’ve been sick this week, and as a result, very little has been done.

You’d think with having time off work because of sickness would allow me more time to get jobs done, which yes, I did clean the house, do the laundry, the multitude of dishes etc, but writing…nothing was done.

This is it takes a certain energy to write, edit, process when I’m writing, and when I’m sick, it’s like my brain is scrambled eggs. It can’t quite comprehend what I am supposed to be doing without trying to figure out who is chasing who, who is using what weapon, and weather cold spaghetti is worth eating…and that’s in my writing.

As I have two stories on the go at the same time, it’s hard enough keeping storylines straight without being sick. Being sick adds a whole new dimension of “what was I thinking” to the entire endeavour.

But never fear, I’m feeling much better. Better enough to get out for a walk and clear my head.