Author Archives: Karen

2026 Writing Goals

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I sat down the other day and wrote a list of things that I want to accomplish this year in my Writing. I ended up with 10 in my writing planner, and another 17 which I wrote up while at work on Saturday. Some of them overlap, so lets have a look and see what we can make of the two lists.

Attend the Riwaka Fair and sell my books (6 books!) This was on the 2nd of January and I sold 6 books. That’s 4 more than last year. And I even made a couple of connections with people who were interested in writing. I love encouraging people, so I like making these connections and sharing information.

Publish Finding Faith in March – ebook and paperback. I’ve also written the start of a prologue, that I will release in February – I just need to finish it.

Publish Gaining Grace in July – ebook and paperback.

Publish Having Hope in November – ebook and paperback, and I need to create an epilogue to show the girls in the future – not sure how far yet.

Finish writing Quin and Stef – I want to get this done by the end of March2026

Finish writing Revelations I also want to finish this by the end of March

Write and complete Modern Cinderella by August 2026. I already have this outlined, so it shouldn’t take much to write it up.

Write and complete Redemption by September – this is the last of the Angel books, so I can edit and publish them for 2027.

Start writing Simon and Mel starting in October / November.

Edit Quin and Stef (for publication 2027)

Edit Modern Cinderella (for publication 2027)

Edit Resurrection (for publication 2027)

Edit Redemption (for publication 2027)

Earn $500 from my books (Jan to Dec 26)

Establish Alli Harris – create a website, facebook and instagram page for my darker writing (more fantasy and science fiction romance.)

Create an audio book of Cursed Love – This is one thing I want to achieve this year, in my learning a new skill, is recording and editing Cursed Love. I’m actually keen to video me reading it and releasing it on Youtube – but I need to get a bit more confident in front of the camera.

Have 500 people on my Catherine Mede facebook author page, and 500 people in my newsletter list. Currently I have 210 and 310 respectively, so I don’t think 500 is too big an ask.

I think that just about captures everything. That’s seventeen items all up, so I will keep you posted on updates, probably once a quarter, so that we all know where I am at, and you guys can kick my butt if I don’t get things done on time. Nothing like a bit of accountability.

How did I do in 2025?

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At this time of the year, I like to look back over the previous 12 months and determine whether I achieved any of my goals or not. While I didn’t manage to get a lot of my own personal goals (weight loss), I have started on a very determined regime that is working towards that. But we’re not here to discuss how heavy or light I am…you want to know the writing successes I had this year.

I wanted to write 3, maybe 4 books this year. I have written two, and if you count the two half books, I have written three books. I wrote the last of my Racing Hearts series, (Having Hope) and started writing my Tuivale series – Men in Kilts. I am over halfway through Quin and Stef’s story, but I tell you what, they keep giving me headaches those two.

I also wrote Resurrection, the first in my angel story I’m also a third of the way through Revelation. And I’ll start Redemption next year. I’ll be releasing this series under Alli Harris. This story gave me a migraine until November when I really sat down, looked at what I had written, and reworked my plot, so I have a definite idea of where I want the story to go. I will finish that next year and start on the last story in the series.

I wanted to publish three books this year, but I only published two.

I published Finding Sam Healey and Carol’s Christmas – mostly to crickets (as in, there was no one there to purchase them). I felt quite disheartened, because I pour so much love and attention into my stories, and I enjoyed writing them, and several people have said that they enjoyed reading them (and I love hearing from those who have read my books). I did consider giving up writing, but to be honest, I have way too many story ideas that I can’t give them up. I need to get them out.

Carol’s Christmas was my ninth book released, and next year I am publishing my Racing Harts series with Finding Faith coming out first, in March 2026. Gaining Grace will be in June or July 2026, and Having Hope will be in October or November 2026. I’m really excited to get these books out there because I’ve loved writing this series. The characters were so much fun to write and their partners – are so dreamy! I especially like Hope’s boyfriend, but you’ll have to wait to meet him.

My last goal was to write full time, and earn $50k a year, so that I didn’t have to go back to work. Of course, I was unemployed at the time, and I could give writing a lot of my time, and I got into a great routine of writing in the morning, and then finding something else to do with my day. I was applying for job’s flat out, because… well We need money to feed us and pay bills, and I was going for all the weird and wonderful jobs – including a DoC ranger, and an office position at JB HiFi. Instead, I got a job, working part time as an administrator at the hospital, and it threw all of my writing plans out the window. The hours were unusual and I work on a fortnightly roster, including weekends, so I found I was doing slightly less writing than I wanted. But I have to admit that I can do writing while at work, and I frequently do, especially in the weekends.

So overall, I achieved my writing and publishing goals, and I would love to extend myself further but I still need to make that elusive $1000. Will that happen this year?

I’ll share my writing goals for 2026 next week.

This time next week…

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Christmas will be all over. Wrapping paper will be in the bin, food stored in the fridge, bellies full, kids with broken toys after screaming around the house with them.

But here I am, taking one day at a time, and still trying to work out which half of the week I’m in.

Because I work part time, I’m finding it hard to keep dates in my head, unless I’m at work. All I know is that today (as I’m writing this) is the 21 December and it’s Sunday. I’m pretty sure tomorrow is Monday, and I work tomorrow, but instead of starting at 1pm, I’m starting at 9:30 am and working until 2:30pm, because we’re helping out another ward, which have no staff for the next two weeks, so our morning admin is going to work up there for the three days before Christmas.

In the meantime, I’m still trying to work out how many days there are until Christmas, and I’m pretty sure it’s not two weeks, like my brain is trying to tell me…lol.

But I hope you all have a merry Christmas and will see you all next week, sometime, before New Year…hopefully!

The year ahead

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The days are ticking down to the inevitable, a time when plans are made, changed, remade, ideas are brought to fruition, then die before the day is out.

Yes, I’m talking about New Years eve. What are you goals for the year?

I have a few in mind this year, not all writing orientated, which makes a change. Normally I don’t make personal resolutions because I know that New Years isn’t the right time to make such things, because tomorrow is another day for a procrastinator, and I often decide to make a goal and start on the track to achieving it straight away.

This year, I’ve started eating healthier, but making Japanese meals when I cook three nights a week, and having smaller portions when my partner or son cook the other four nights.

I got a new job, part time, working 20 hours a week and earning good money from it too. It feels good knowing that I have an income while I wait for my books to start selling.

I learnt Maori at a conversational level, and I love to learn, but what I want to study next could mean a few years not writing, which isn’t really an option for me right now. I will put that on hold for a bit, and see how things progress. I have enjoyed not studying for the last half of the year, the first time in a long time that I haven’t been filling my brain with information. But my job does a good job of doing that, so I’m not really missing out.

I’ve also been going to the gym since pole was cancelled. I could go to another pole studio, but that would mean driving an hour two and from Nelson to do that…and that isn’t economical for me. So instead, I go to the gym three times a week, do a bootcamp once a week, and walk the other three days.

Next year, I will start to see results of my gym going. I have a personal trainer that I’m working with, and I want to lose some weight with it. i think with the regime I’m on now, I should start seeing some results soon enough.

Writing-wise – you all know how I went this year. I’ve been pleased with progress, but getting a new job has kind of put a dampener on things, along with going to the gym, but I think I have a workable solution, which is what I’m all about.

I plan on having a blog post before New Years with my writing goals I’ve achieved this year, and a one the following week with my goals for 2026, so keep an eye out for those.

Tropes

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It’s all the rage at the moment to talk about tropes when you discuss your book, or to have them in the blurb on the back.

What are tropes I hear you say? A trope is a recurrent theme or a motif, recurring character type.

But you probably know them better by the books that you read.

In romance, you have the Second Chance romance, grumpy sunshine, fake dating, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, opposites attract, love triangle, love at first sight (and a lot more)

In Fantasy, you have chosen one, the quest, reluctant hero / ruler, hidden world, Inconvenient prophesies along with some of the romance tropes if it is Romantasy.

Science Fiction, you’ll find dystopian society, time travel, interstellar politics, alternate universes, creepy robots, genetic engineering, AI concepts.

Mystery books often have the grizzled detective, amateur sleuth, small town with secrets, ticking clock while Cozy mysteries might have a normal woman turns detective, a bakery, maybe even a witch.

Actions stories have treasure hunts, puzzles and riddles, exotic locations, double agent, mandatory chase scene and a lot more (Matthew Reilly excels at fast paced action in his ‘save the world’ troped stories.)

Horror books even have their own – monsters, deals at crossroads, summoning spells (often done whiole drunk), creepy swamps, broken down vehicles, evil geniuses with unusual weapons (chainsaws, machetes).

Do you have a favourite trope? I particularly like second chance romance, enemies to lovers, actually, pretty much all of the tropes available in Romance.

I sat down and tried to work out what the tropes are for my new Racing Harts series, which is being released next year. This is what I came up with:

Finding Faith is Motorsports, rivals to lovers and championship dreams

Gaining Grace is motorsports, second chance romance, and achieving goals

Having Hope is motorsports, He falls first, and keeping secrets.

Which one are you looking forward to reading?

I will be putting the books out in February, June and October next year, and I’m working on a funding program, where you can give as little as $10 per month to have the three books signed and delivered to your door. If that sounds like something you’re interested in, then please let me know.

Moving Toward 2026

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It’s at this time of the year that I start to get my thinking cap on, and come up with a plan for the following year. December seems to be a time for reflection and thought about what I achieved in the previous eleven months and what I want to achieve moving forward.

This year is no different. I’ve managed to write two books and half of two books (so technically three books), which is great. I tried an experiment in January and carried it on throughout the year, and I can write in more than one genre at a time.

But then I started working part time, and that made things a little tricky. While I could write in the mornings, because I have so much free time at work, I have been writing while there…and neglecting writing at home.

And then I started going to the gym, and my writing time pretty much disappeared at home.

But I need to be writing at home. I can’t guarantee that I will have writing time at work, so I need to juggle my time again and work out what routine will suit me best. I know that I do my best writing in the mornings. I also like going to the gym early, which is three mornings a week.

There are only so many hours in the morning for me to work with.

I’ve also been reading paperbacks in the morning’s, in bed, once I’ve made my coffee. And I’ve been enjoying this time to myself and setting myself up to start my day.

And you might be thinking, well hell girl, you’re reading and drinking coffee in bed, and then getting up, going to the gym and or writing? You don’t start work until 1 – what are you worried about?

I have a one-hour drive to my job. I pretty much stop what I’m doing by 11am and have lunch and get myself ready for work.

And I’m getting up at 6am, having a coffee and reading in bed, getting up about 7:30 and having breakfast, before hitting the gym by 9 and home by 1015. So technically, I have three quarters of hour to write in… but it doesn’t happen like that.

I need to make it happen. And it will, and this is why I use this time to do some …planning and adjusting and thinking. To work out the best way to move forward in 2026.

What happens when you start creating

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Have you ever noticed when you write, or create, that you’re suddenly inspired to create or write more, not necessarily in the same story or oeuvre, but it’s like a lightbulb goes off in your head, and suddenly you have ideas, more than you know what to do with.

When I’m writing, I’m solely focused on the story that I’m writing, and getting that done. But if I’m driving my car, or listening to a podcast, ideas seem to be brewing in my head. Circulating and percolating. And the next thing, I have a good idea for a story. I have three story ideas I’m toying with at the moment, a bounty hunter / assassin, a sequel for my Ice Planet (Shards of Ice) story, and a Cinderella retold story. They are all vastly different stories too, one is a fairytale, one is a science fiction romance and the other is… well it isn’t quite sure where it wants to sit yet, other than it’s a woman who helps abused women escape their partners, and makes the ex’s pay for the privilege. I mean, where on earth did that story come from? I was listening to a podcast about the Pinkertons when the idea of a woman who helps other woman and basically distracts the husband while her team of specialists get the woman out of the house and gives her a whole new identity. I mean there’s still a lot of concept that needs to be worked out, and a storyline, but I can see her, wearing leather pants, long flowing hair, femme fatale type.

I love coming up with up with story ideas, and I write them down, because sometimes I forget things or lose a train of thought, but I have notebooks everywhere with bits of story ideas in them. I’ve taken to carrying notebooks around with me because you just never know when an idea will strike. And sometimes it’s just an inkling, and other times it’s a full on complete concept of a story.

And this all happens because I’m being creative and feeding my creativity with reading, writing, watching programs, listening to music, or podcasts – anything can trigger an idea. Music was instrumental in my first Dragon story, which still needs to be completed. I haven’t quit on the idea, but the story became the neverending story, and I couldn’t have that. I need to find an end point and then a start point for the next couple. The story is still perculating.

Don’t give up if you find that you can’t find the inspiration or ideas aren’t flowing. Try a different medium. If you write, listen to music. If you draw, play a game, or watch a movie. Look at photos online. If you create music, read a book. Find another way to get those ideas up and running.

Finding Balance at the End of the Year

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November is quickly slipping away, and I generally don’t do much writing in December and January because, you know, family events and summer and stuff.

So how do you find a balance between being creative and ‘the silly season’?

I’m not much of a Christmas person, though I have to admit that in the last couple of years, I have actually hummed a Christmas Carol or two. But I haven’t broken out into a full on rendition of Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer yet. When that happens, you know that hell has probably frozen over. I’m not a Grinch. For years Christmas was a period of pain for me because of the toxic relationship I was in, and all the directions I was being pushed and pulled in. All I wanted to do was go bush for three weeks and come back when it was all over.

But slowly, I have been starting to actually get into the spirit of Christmas, although it has to be in December, because October is not CHRISTMAS! Even my bootcamp instructor gets into the swing of things with Christmas carols blasting as we’re sweating and swearing. And it normally includes a Christmas ensemble, complete with Christmas socks. I haven’t gone down that road yet. Please shoot me if I ever do.

But being a creative, I need to be doing something to keep my mental state above the median strip. I need to be able to have some outlet in which my brain can get the endorphins (or whatever it is that I’m supposed to be getting) and keep me in a positive mood.

Often it is doing something like paper crafting, card making, or something similar. I have a book that needs to be edited by 7th January (WHAT WAS I THINKING!) so that will take up some time. Of course, there is also my gardening, which brings me joy and happiness. (My roses are looking AMAZING!)

This yearChristmas is looking different too, because I’m working Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but doing the dayshift hours instead of the afternoon shift hours (double time and a day in lieu). I’ll be working through the holidays, so that means that some writing will be done over that time.

And catching up with family, because my family are important to me, and it will be lovely to see them and spend time with them over the holiday period. We have plans for the three days I have off over the holiday period and head over to Wineborough to catch up with Mum and head through to Pictown and see Dad.

I always try and plan to have lots of positives going on around Christmas, and I think that has really helped me to get over the funk that it used to bring. It’s not a period I wish to escape from anymore, now it’s a time when I get to be with and enjoy time with my family.

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.