Do I need to upgrade?

Posted on 25/01/2026 by Karen

I’m not a patient person. I mean, I can be, if I know something is worth waiting for, but when my laptop decides to be the slowest thing on earth, my patience wears thin. Very quickly.

I’m starting to think that I need a new laptop. I regularly back her up, but it just seems to keep running slow, and when I’m trying to edit, I think the edits are being undone faster than I can do them. I’ve spent two hours on the computer this afternoon, and only done six edits, because then the program crashes, and I have to find the version I was working on, which I did save onto the hard drive, but then strangely disappears when I try to find it.

It’s frustrating, and even worse, we’re on copper wire for our broadband. Because we live in a rural area, there aren’t any plans to put fibre past our door, and they want to cut the copper next year. Which is all well and good, but we don’t want to pay for satellite wifi, and mobile wifi will only really sevice 3 devices, if we’re lucky. We have about eight devices that need to run off the wifi…

And to make the copper thing even worse, during the summer period, it slows right down, because of the extra holiday makers who are jumping online! And a couple of the programs I have rely on wifi, so I can’t ditch it all together.

I love my little laptop, she’s done me proud over the last few years, since I first got her – which would be about 9 years ago! And we’ve done a lot of writing together. And I don’t need an expensive laptop, just something that focuses on writing, and the couple of programs I need.

I don’t know. I’m not exactly a decisive person either!

Racing Harts! Racing Hearts!

Posted on 18/01/2026 by Karen

Well, we are well and truly into the new year, and things have been ticking along. I have slowly been working my new routine into my day, and it’s been kind of working. The next two weeks are going to be very trying, as I am working mornings, while my co-worker is away, so no gym, and any writing will have to be done at work. I will be home in the afternoons, but that isn’t the best time for me to be writing, so we’ll see.

It does mean that I will be able to crack on and edit Having Hope, which I have started to get into. I can’t tell you how much I love these stories, the fun I’ve had putting these girls through their paces and making them realise that the men in their life are the one!

Which brings me to my next thing, I have the covers! And they are just gorgeous! I can’t wait to share them with you, but the thing is, you guys are going to have to work to see them. That’s right, I’m going to do a cover reveal at the end of January. How many covers get revealed, will depend on you. So check out Wednesday’s post to find out more.

In the meantime, I will be formatting Finding Faith, and when I get Gaining Grace back from my editor, I will put the first chapter of the that into the back of Finding Faith and I hope to have all the pre-orders up by the end of January (fingers crossed).

In the meantime, I have a prologue and an epilogue to write for this story,

The prologue will be available before the launch of Finding Faith (probably in my newsletter, so if you haven’t signed up already, what are you waiting for) and the epilogue will be available only to those people who have read the books and once Gaining Grace has been launched.

Who, What or Where is Motropolis

Posted on 11/01/2026 by Karen

Last week, I attended a local fair, which is held annually. It was a lovely day, and I sold 6 books, which I was wrapt with. It might not sound like a lot, but for me, that is 6 more than I normally sell in January.

One lady picked up the book and read my bio, and asked why I put Motropolis as the place I live. And I thought it would make a good blog post.

You see, I’m quite a private little introvert, who does things quietly. I don’t like making a big song and dance about where I live, or what I do. So, when I moved from Tapawera to Motueka, I decided to call it Motropolis, to make it sound like a huge centre.. Plus, it’s a play on the name. (And there is a business centre here called, Motropolis.)

I also called Marlborough, Wineborough – for obvious reasons, and Blenheim I have call Wineheim – again for obvious reasons. So now, if I say I’ve been visiting with family in Wineheim, you’ll know that I’ve been to Blenheim.

I got my manuscript “Gaining Grace” away to my editor on Saturday, so Sunday, I gave myself a wee rest from the computer (until I had to write this blog). I need to think of a suitable celebration for doing such things as, finishing a manuscript, getting it off to the editor, publishing it. Any suggestions would be welcome.

This week, I will focus back into my writing routine. Now I’m going to the gym earlier, I can get myself sorted for my writing hour or two, and hopeful start cranking out those books for you.

2026 Writing Goals

Posted on 04/01/2026 by Karen

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?

Posted on 28/12/2025 by Karen

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…

Posted on 21/12/2025 by Karen

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

Posted on 14/12/2025 by Karen

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

Posted on 07/12/2025 by Karen

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

Posted on 30/11/2025 by Karen

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

Posted on 23/11/2025 by Karen

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.