Moving Forward

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Karen

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.

Looking Back to Look Forward

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Karen

Last year I set some fairly high goals for myself. And now I’ll go over what they were and how I did.

Write Dragon Story – This I managed to do early on in the year. I plan on making this a series, however this was a neverending story, so I need to reassess this story and find a cut off point and decide what I want to keep and what can go into the next book.
Write Faith’s Story – This I achieved as well, in early October.
Write another story – in November I wrote and completed Hope’s story in the Racing Harts series, so really pleased with this.
Edit Second-Hand Daughter – not only did I edit this, but I published it as well in May 2024
Edit Compromising Positions – edits were completed and was published November 2024
First draft edit of Finding Sam Healey – These I started, but I haven’t completed them yet. I have a date with the editor for March 2025, so it will be published next year.
First draft edits of Carol’s Christmas – this hasn’t happened, but I’m not too upset about that.

Overall, that isn’t a bad year considering I was working fulltime for most of it. The results are pretty epic. At this stage, I have yet to find another job, so I now have to have a real think about what I want to achieve heading forward. I would love to be able to quit work and write fulltime, however I have some limitations as far as that is concerned (will talk about in a future blog post), and to start making money from my writing, I might have to write to market, which isn’t where my heart is. I want to write what I want to write, and that means that I need to find readers who want to read my work, and that proved elusive this year. I guess I could focus on writing in the first quarter of next year and really push my publishing timetable, but I also don’t want to burn out.

It’s a fine line between doing something you love for money and doing something you love for the enjoyment of writing. I guess it is something I really need to work out over the next couple of weeks as we start the full on countdown to Christmas.

Reading, Writing, Editing and Planning, Oh My!

Posted on December 8, 2024 by Karen

I finished Hope’s story on Thursday, much to my relief. Because coming up to Christmas things will start to get really busy, even if I’m not working.

I’m hoping to start Grace’s story in January, because when I write, I like to keep the flow going by writing every day, and with Christmas, then New Years, there would be too many disruptions for me to keep the continuation of the story. And as I explained last week, Grace’s story is actually going to be the second story, even though I’ve written it last. There is an overarching story over all three stories, and threads of that will need to be woven in with Grace’s story and then continued on when I edit Hope’s story. This is the story of their dad, who left the girls when they were young, after their mother died. I also plan on writing a prequel novella and sequel novella to wrap up the story.

And talking of stories, I’ve headed back into Finding Sam Healey and reworked my first chapter or two. The first part of the book are letters, so that part has been edited. And now I’m into the diaries part. I’m enjoying what I’m reading and sometimes surprise myself with how much I like what I’ve written.

I’m toying with my next few stories and starting to think about my plan for next year. There will be at least two books published, possibly three, but we’ll see how we go. Planning the next twelve months will be fun.

And the Edits Start

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Karen

Last year I wrote Finding Sam’s Family, which I changed the name to Finding Sam Healey, to reflect the Finding Yourself series which started with Finding Amy Archer. I thought having the surname worked better than ‘family’. While I’m editing, I refer to my book by the initials, in this case, FSH. FAA was Finding Amy Archer. It’s just something I do.

When I’m editing, I do a quick read through, taking notes on post its before I sit down, with said post its and work through the story, and incorporating any of the changes I thought of. This might be as simple as ‘change the start of the story’ to ‘first person POV (point of view). Once I’ve worked my way through some of the edits, I will bundle up a bunch of them and send them to my critique partners for them to read and make sure that it makes sense, that they like the characters, and the storyline follows logic.

Once I get the critiques back, I work through them and make any changes that may be needed. Sometimes it can be hard to swallow some of what the partner’s say, but sometimes it is crucial to the story, so changes are made. If both say the same thing about the same part of the story, then I know that something needs to be worked on.

Once I’ve edited the next section, I send away to the critique partners and I get it back, and this continues until the story is edited thoroughly. I then put it through a spell / grammar check, and I listen to the story being read back to me. It’s surprising how many words are missing, or wrong words used until you hear it back.

Once that’s all done, I normally book it in with my editor, unless I have already done that. But a novel can take me a couple of months to get through, so even though I’ve started editing, it might not be finished until January, all depending on how I go.

At this stage, I’m looking at booking the editor for February, and hopefully release Finding Sam Healey May next year.

At this stage, I haven’t started writing anything new. I like to have a break, plus still trying to work out if I want to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. I’ve done it before, and I’ve done Camp NaNo, which I also won. I like to have a break to allow my creative juices to flow, and they are flowing. I have about five story ideas lurking in the depths of my brain.

Hope you all have a lovely week. Take care out there.

A New Season

Posted on September 1, 2024 by Karen

Yay, spring is here! Well, not technically, but today is the first of September, which is the first day of Spring, but we’ve had daffodils flowering since April, so perhaps it’s actually autumn???

Well, it has been a busy week for me, not at work, but writing-wise. Had two days off work last week because of rain, which sounds nice, but it isn’t. Not normally, but these two days I used to format up Compromising Positions ebook for Advanced readers, and I put something out in my newsletter about that. If you didn’t get my newsletter, why not? You should be able to sign up if you are on my website.

So, I have a pre-order up for Compromising Positions as well, it will be launched on 1 November 2024. Two books in one year! I know!

Not only that, but after to-ing and fro-ing over my plot in Racing Harts, Faith’s story, I have finally decided on the course of action, and I’m near the finish line, only like 5 or 6 chapters away. Considering I knock out about half to a chapter each time I write, that could be done by next week. And I actually did write every day last week, except for the weekends, because, well, I like to have a break too.

And I am working through the Sam Healey edits. Slowly, very s l o w l y… I’m dragging my feet on that, and I can’t really explain why. I guess I felt that formatting Compromising Positions was more where I needed to spend my time. (I wasn’t procrastinating at all, I promise…)

Anyway, how is your week going? Anything exciting happening in your world?

Take care

Catherine

Post Conference Thoughts

Posted on August 18, 2024 by Karen

Some of you probably didn’t realise that I hadn’t posted a blog, or any of my usual posts on Social Media last week, it’s because I was at the Romance Writers Conference, creating havoc and merry hell with these two…

Janet Elizabeth Henderson, myself and Carole Brungar

Well, actually, Carole and I behaved ourselves, it was Janet that seemed to be behind all the mischief, she is so much fun, and it was the first time I’d met her, even though we’ve been friends for a few years now. And it was fabulous to hang out with Carole, we’re writing buddies, we check in with each other regularly to make sure we’re on task.

The conference was amazing, full of interesting people, great presenters and amazing talks. I managed to ace it with all of the workshops I attended last weekend, none of them were duds. I got to meet Cathy Yardley, Becca Symes, Sacha Black and Fiona McArthur. They are amazing authors themselves, and Cathy, Sacha and Becca also run Author businesses supporting other writers in their creative endeavours.

On Monday, Mr H and I were chased from Christchurch to Wineborough by a front that caught us at Kaikoura where it rained, blew like billy-o and hailed. Apparently a similar squall went through Christchurch, probably about the same time.

We spent the night in Wineborough before heading home on Tuesday, and then I had to return to work on Wednesday, but I had post conference blues by that stage. I’d felt so inspired and on fire when surrounded by like minded people, but when you are away from them, you feel less like doing things.

This week I’ve also came to the strange realisation that I don’t like writing the last 25% of the story, because I don’t want to put my characters through the dark moment. It’s not a normal thing, but it is for me, I guess it’s some kind of trauma response, but I also recognise that they are going to get back together again, but my characters become quite real within my head, and they are the one’s arguing against it. Now that I know that, I can assure them that it’s okay (even when they do argue against me), and that they will have their happily ever after.

I got Compromising Positions back from my editor, and I have finished those edits. I have it up on pre-order, which I will announce in my newsletter (make sure you’re signed up for that…)

I’ve also started the editing process on Finding Sam Healey, I’m loving this story, and can’t wait to dive back into it.

And so, back to your regularly scheduled program… lol

What have you been up to this week?

Getting into the Swing of Things

Posted on August 4, 2024 by Karen

I got my edits back from my editor for Compromising Positions, and she really liked it. It’s always a good thing when you editor likes your work. So I am slowly working through these edits as well as my Finding Sam Healey edits.

And I’m still writing Faith’s story. I know, I know, I should have finished by now, and I honestly wished I had, but I haven’t really been knuckling down in the mornings and writing. But that will change this week. I will knuckle down and write, except for Thursday, because I’m heading down to Christchurch for the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference.

I went to the last one in Wellington two years ago, and I’ve been looking forward to this one, in Christchurch. I’m looking forward to catching up with Carole Brungar and Janet Elizabeth Henderson, two of my writing friends to be able to sit and chat with them in person, rather than through Messenger.

Because the conference is over a weekend, I will try and blog next Monday, but I’m taking the long way home, via Kaikoura and staying in Wineborough for a night with my Mum before heading back to Motropolis.

I always come away from the conference feeling inspired and excited and fired up, so I’ll either finish Faith there, or I won’t be far away from finishing it when I get back.

Chugging Right Along

Posted on July 28, 2024 by Karen

I’m happy to report, that I am actually writing and editing, although editing is STILL at the note taking stage. That’s because I keep getting caught up in the story and have to read the page rather than skim read it. I’m excited to get back into Sam Healey’s world.

I’ve also been writing on Faith’s story, and thinking a little ahead to Hope’s story, which I think will be a grumpy / sunshine story. It was going to be friends to lovers, but it’s not a trope I enjoy reading, so I thought, why push myself to write something I don’t like, and I do enjoy a good grumpy sunshine story. Also, I’m thinking of making her love interest big and tattooed… just playing with ideas at this stage.

My mental health is on an upswing, which is unusual for this time of the year for me. But I’m taking it as a positive and have some plans around my health that I will be implementing on the next few months. It’s all good and I’m excited that I am finely feeling good again.

Getting Stuck In

Posted on July 21, 2024 by Karen

This week has been all about getting stuck in and getting jobs done. Writing, editing, tidying, cleaning, gardening, you name it, I probably did it.

I’ve been writing in the mornings before work again, which has been good. I have to keep reminding myself that I haven’t written myself into a corner, because I know where I want the story to go, it’s just that I seem to keep going off in tangents. I’m hoping to get myself out of that thought pattern tomorrow.

Editing has been a bit slower, I haven’t finished my skim reading, because everytime I start, I actually read through the chapter, which isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m hoping to get into the full edits this week.

I’ve also started cooking Japanese food, Udon soups, ramen meals, rice dishes, I’ve been making them all, and even had a go at crispy pork. Strangely you don’t seem to need as much food when eating Japanese. I’ve also been looking into some of their philosophy, and I’ve been trying to follow some of them, like cleaning every day. I try and clean every day, and following this theory is actually refreshing.

Work has been all about catching up on the small jobs that tend to get left and become big jobs. Getting in and finishing a big job makes me feel good and I like feeling good about my work. At home, I pruned my roses this weekend, so again, feeling like I’ve accomplished something.

How was your week?

Getting my Act Together

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Karen

After feeling under the weather for a few weeks, this week I have actually started to feel better. Each day I woke up with less of a rattly chest and less nose draining into my throat. I’m still not 100%, but I am getting there.

And a lot has happened in a week. I finished the edits on Compromising Positions, and that is now with my editor. I started writing again, and got about 1800 words written on Racing Harts, Faith’s story. I’m about two thirds of the way through, so I need to get that final push to get it finished. I’ve set a deadline of 31 July, but I probably won’t get it, but it will be close.

I’ve also started editing Finding Sam Healey (originally called Finding Sam’s Family). And this is what the first pass of editing looks like:

The first pass is a skip read, while writing notes. This helps when I am doing the next part, which is a chapter by chapter read through, and I can add in the bits I’ve commented on (or delete, depending on the note.)

I have to admit that the moment I started re-reading this, I got excited about diving into it. Oh, and the reason I changed the name of the story – to fit in better with Finding Amy Archer. I hope to use this type of title in future stories about women finding themselves.

So I’ve been busy, a little. I can’t say that I’ve written every day, but I have started again, and I have been doing my pass through on the first round of these edits.

So what has your week looked like?