Tag Archives: Carols Christmas

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.

Q3 Mid Quarter Progress Report

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We’re half way through July and things are happening.

I have the edits back for Carol’s Christmas and I have it away with my friend, Carole for her to check it out and proofread – don’t worry, she’s an author as well. I hope to get this off to two of the lovely lady’s who shared their cancer story’s with me for them to check it over as well. I kind of want their approval before I proceed any further. My plan is to publish this book in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I also want to donate some of the funds from the book to the Breast Cancer Foundation. I’m thinking $5 for paperbacks and $1 for the ebooks. That’s my thinking at this stage.

I was thinking about publishing another book this year, but I think I will hold off on that, and focus on writing, because I have my editor booked for Finding Faith, my first Racing Harts book for the end of September 2025, which means that I will probably publish all three Racing Harts books next year.

I’m well on the way with my Men in Kilts series, which will be released in 2027. It sounds like a long time away, but I don’t want to burn myself out trying to write and publish 12 books a year. I’m already stretching myself to writing two books at a time, because I want to start publishing under my new pen name next year as well.

My new pen name will write Speculative Fiction – which is anything other than normal. Pretty much Science Fiction, Romantasy (Romantic Fantasy), Urban Fantasy. This is my first passion, and I want to write these again. Some will be spicy (full of sex), some will be sweet (kissing at the most), but it will be dark, because that seems to be where my stories have been going.

But never fear, because while I like writing dark, I like light and fluffy too, and for that reason I’m really enjoying writing Quin and Stef’s story in my first Men in Kilts story. It’s not quite a Romcom, but it’s pretty close, so very light-hearted.

Towards the end of the year I will have a publishing plan going forward, at this stage, I’m enjoying the writing process still, and can’t wait to get Carol’s Christmas out to you all to read. I had a lot of fun writing this book, which is another Women’s fiction. It has a strong female lead who discovers that money isn’t always the answer, and that people matter more than you think.

The End is Nigh

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I’m working through the edits for a book that is due with my editor on 25 July, and I could very easily just blast through the last few pages, and just send it.

But I’m not like that. I prefer to take my time and make sure that I have everything done.

Of course, I’ve already read through the manuscript and altered it, added or deleted from it countless number of times That can often take me a few times before I’m happy to proceed with the final edit.

So what do I do when I’m running a final edit?

The first thing I do is read through it and add in or take anything that does make sense. This might be taking out words because I got over wordy trying to explain something, or used too many words in a sentence.

The next step is to use ProWriting Aid to go through it and make sure that things make sense. I sometimes accept the changes it recommends, and sometimes  I don’t, because it will change my voice if I go with their suggestions.

Then I like to run it through a text to speech to hear it. This is invaluable in picking up those errors that you miss because you’ve already read it forty times. It will pick up those ‘is, if, it, in, of’ that you’ve misspelled. Sometimes it misreads words like retrain (ret rain)???

My last step is to spellcheck before I format and get it ready to send through to my editor.

Progress Report

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We’re half-way through 2025, how did that happen?

So I thought I better update you on progress I’ve made so far. I’ve published Finding Sam Healey, thanks to those who brought a copy. It was a low key entrance into the world, but I’m seeing some results, so that’s great.

I’m currently working through edits on Carols Christmas, which is a modern day retelling of the Christmas Carol. This is due to the editor on 26 June, and I’m steadily getting that finished. It isn’t a big book – clocking in only just at 40k, but I love the story, and the fact that so many people helped me to write this book is just mind blowing. Thank you to everyone who has talked to me during my research into Breast Cancer. Two of them will get to read the finished product before anyone else for their comments and thoughts before I release it, which I’m hoping to do in August 2025.

I’m battling my way through my Angel story for my new pen name. I’m only struggling because I keep running out of time when I’m editing so much at the moment. I want to try and limit my writing to three months, so getting a story written in three months, which is totally doable for me. I just need to be a bit stricter with my deadlines.

Once Carols Christmas has been through the editor, I have the first of my Racing Harts books to be edited. There are three of them. Finding Faith, Gaining Grace and Having Hope. Those names might change, but that’s what I have at the moment.

Writing-wise, I’m in the process of making vision boards and plotting out my Men in Kilts series. Hence the very odd photo I posted yesterday (if you didn’t see it… here it is again… I can’t stop looking at it, for all the wrong reasons so I can’t use it. It’s AI generated…)

He’s rather stunning, but I can’t take my eyes of her missing thigh…and what is her arm and hand doing???

There are seven books in that series so far, and it will be a fictional New Zealand Town that it’s set in, and I can’t wait to start delving into the lives of these men who like to wear kilts (Thanks Mum!)

So the next six months will be busy with writing, finishing off the first angel book, then two more, and starting on my Men in Kilts, and editing the Racing Harts. All going well, I might get one of the Racing Harts books out by the end of the year… Fingers Crossed.

Getting things Done

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I’ve been on tenterhooks all this week because I knew that my edits would be due in this week. And until I get the edits, I’m a bit of a nervous wreck, because I don’t know if my editor has liked the story or not.

The deadline passed, and my nerves grew even more, because what was going on. Was the story really crappy and she was taking a while to get through it? Did the storyline not come through properly? Were my characters flat?

On Friday I got a message from my editor. “Hey, I hope you’ve had a good week. Just wanted to send you a quick update that I’m nearly finished with your copyedit and expect to have it back to you mid next week. What a story! Wow!” I hope that means that she’s enjoying the story!

I’m also in the process of putting a store together to sell my books direct as well as through Kobo, Amazon, and Draft2Digital. If I do this, I will probably make the books cheaper for people to buy the books through me, and more expensive if you buy through other retailers. As a result, my website is looking a little different at the moment, but it’s a work in progress.

I’ve been writing Grace’s story, and I hope to get that finished next week or the week after. My Angel story has kind of ground to a halt, because my characters need more work. They aren’t dimensional enough. I need to make them more ‘realistic’. Hopefully it’s a small glitch that I can work on and get back writing in no time.

I’m also editing Carol’s Christmas and working my way through those. I’ve also been back to my lady friends for some more information from them about their procedures to fill in the details that I missed the first time around. The ladies have been really lovely and helpful, and I really appreciate their time.

Keeping up with Myself

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The last couple of weeks have been hectic. Learning a new job, writing two stories, editing Finding Sam Healey…

I have officially started into my normal roster, which means I’ve worked this weekend. Some of you are probably thinking – why would you work a weekend. Easy – I do it once a fortnight, and I get paid handsomely to do it. And you know what, there is plenty of time in each shift to do my own thing. So yesterday I started editing Carol’s Christmas! If this keeps up, I’ll run out of writing before I do editing!

But I have my regular roster, so I know when I have time for writing and when I’m working, so that gives me a clear idea of where I’m heading, because the last three weeks, I didn’t know when I was working half the time. But now it’s clear, I can set some boundaries around my writing time.

Because things have been so chaotic, I decided to focus on editing instead, and after missing my deadline, (and with agreement from my editor) I was able to get the document to her on Thursday. I will know how good, bad or ugly the story is by the beginning of April.

And now that is out of the way, I can crack back into writing. Which I have been itching to do, because I haven’t done it for a few days – maybe two weeks now. It will be good to get back into writing and I hope to have at least one of the stories finished by mid-April.

With all of the mess that has been going on, it is nice to finally be coming out the other side and starting to get back into normal and routine, because I cope better with that than chaos and crazy.

Moving Forward

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A lot of reflection is done at this time of the year. Looking back to see what went well, what didn’t, how things can be improved, and a writer’s life isn’t any different.

What went well this year – the launch of Second-Hand Daughter. It actually went better than I expected, and I can’t explain why. I wonder if it was the topic, discovering your husband had a secret second life you had no idea about. Anyway, the book sold okay (not thousands, that will be in years to come) but it sold well.

What didn’t go well was the launch of Compromising Positions – this is a fun little romance, but for some reason, I didn’t sell many copies at all. Another writer friend of mine launched her contemporary romance at the same time (November) and she didn’t make many sales either. We both have to wonder if it was too close to Christmas, and people were looking at big ticket writers for their books. It’s hard to say.

As a writer, we often bombarded with so many mixed messages. Write to market / don’t write to market. Write from your heart / don’t write from the heart. Write what you know / write something new / don’t reinvent the wheel. This year, I followed my own thoughts and feelings, and now, more and more people are saying, follow your own goals. I published two books this year, the most I’ve published before. And I loved every minute of the writing and editing process, until I have worked on the piece entirely through and think it’s shite. Then I put it out into the world, and let it float away into the abyss of Amazon / Kobo / Draft2Digital to be swallowed up in the millions of other books out there.

I’m really pleased with both of the books I produced. I’m looking forward to putting more out there next year, which will include Finding Sam Healey, which I am currently editing, and then Carol’s Christmas. Whether I start publishing the Racing Harts series I’m not sure, but I intend to write three books next year.

I wrote three novels this year. The Dragon story, which is part of a five book series, and needs a lot of work, because it became a never-ending story. That doesn’t work in the publishing world, but that’s okay. It needs work.

I also wrote 2 other novels, in the Racing Harts series, Fatih and Hope’s stories. And I hope to have Grace’s started in January. I have ideas for about five other stories, which are all up in the air at the moment, so I’m not sure what will come next, but I’m hoping to write my Ice Planet sequel, featuring the son of Kelvaras and Vyvica.

I’m contemplating splitting off my fantasy / science fiction books under a separate pen name, but again, not something I am fully decided on just yet. If it happens, I’ll let you know, because you’ll want to follow one or the other, I don’t expect everyone to follow me on both. There will be the odd one or two of you, like me, who will read just about anything. I read a large variety of books, and can’t say I’m solely a romance reader. If I have a thriller, I will enjoy the storyline even without romantic elements. But that’s a whole other blog post!

I will list out my goals for 2025 on 6th January, I intend on having a decent break this year. No laptop, no notebooks, just 10 – 14 days of nothing but reading. We’ll see how that goes then aye?

Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely Christmas. Stay safe out there and look after one another. Look forward to catching up with you all in the New Year.

The Week Covid Hit

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Went out to a friend’s 50th Birthday last Saturday night, it was fabulous, got to catch up with some other friends I hadn’t seen in a while.

Woke up Sunday morning feeling sick, and it wasn’t alcohol – I’d had 1 cider the entire night. I battled through the day, sore throat, slight cough, nose blocking up.

Woke up Monday morning, not feeling much better. I was going to go to work, but then I thought, perhaps, just maybe, I should do a covid test. (I work at lifestyle villages – you know, retirement homes).

And I did, and it was positive!

It’s a year since I last had covid, so it was quite funny really, that one year later I had it again. And I got it from my son, who had been off work since the Friday feeling sick.

OK, so I let my boss know, let my big boss know, then filled in a leave form for sick leave for 5 days (we have 5 days isolation here in NZ – but it’s no longer subsidised by Government, so I had to take sick leave.)

Ok, so a free week at home… what to do.

Last time I had covid, I could get out of bed and do stuff, but by lunchtime I was back in bed regretting getting up. My partner couldn’t lift his head off the couch, and my son was just coughing every now and again, and still going about his daily routine.

This time, my partner – who was conveniently away on Sunday night – was covid free, so he stayed with his son for the week, and it was only me and Bill.

So, I was surprised when on Tuesday, I felt okay. It was like a head cold, nothing in my chest, just all nasal. Nasal irrigations helped, and I didn’t feel too bad at all. I got some writing done, some editing done, and I finished editing one story, and started on another!

I also got out in my garden, planted some potatoes, some more seeds for the vegetable garden, I did a little bit of weeding, cleaned a couple of little bits of the house, and read. And read and read and read. Man, I was sick of looking at books and screens by Thursday afternoon. But there wasn’t much else I could do. I wanted to conserve my energy, because I didn’t know if Covid was going to bite me in the butt after a couple of days, or not.

But it turns out not. I tested negative on Saturday – which is the shortest period for me. Last time, I was testing positive 9 days later, 6 days this time.

So, I got stuff done, and I rested, and read some books. What else is there to do when you have covid?

I officially finished writing Carol’s Christmas, finished editing Whiskey Rose on Wednesday, and started second round of editing on Secondhand Daughter, all on Wednesday. And I did some plotting on Dragon’s Lore. I hope to crack on and get some editing done on Secondhand Daughter finished by the end of the month, because November is NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month – and while I’m not sure I’ll write an entire novel in that time, because I don’t write a lot in any one day, I want to get some writing done on Dragon’s Lore.

I hope you had a better week than I did.

Kia kaha

Catherine.