October 4, 2024

October writing update

The countdown to Halloween is on, now that it’s October. It’s my favourite themed season; what horror author wouldn’t love all things Samhain?

Coffee and writing time with a ghost for inspiration

Writing-wise, I’m still making progress with all three of my WIPs. I’m two thirds done with the first draft of each. Lots of coffee helps. I’m planning to have the ghostly short story collection ready for publication in 2025, and hoping to have both novel drafts finished by the middle of next year too.

Writing research

I found an interesting spooky booky for the season that has been helping with writing research, especially since two out of my three WIPs are ghost stories. This gem, pictured above, covers murders solved by psychics, or cases where ghosts present evidence themselves. Fascinating stuff if you’re into the paranormal – as I am.

Spooky Skinnybones hanging on the Halloween tree

What else provides writing inspiration while I’m chipping away at my various projects? The Halloween decorations are up, and help to keep me focused on all-things-horror. This skeleton decoration was something I got from a fellow poet at the Free Verse Fair in London. The little dude has since dubbed it ‘Spooky Skinnybones’ and it takes pride of place hanging by its neck from the Halloween tree, lol.

Ready to watch Beetlejuice 2

My hubby, son and I also went to see Beetlejuice 2 recently. Watching horror helps to keep general spooky themes floating through my head as disembodied phantoms, so I tend to watch scary films regularly. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve watched all of the horror movies available on Netflix, lol. Pictured above is The Avenue cinema in Belfast, with all the home comforts of sofa, ottoman and a full menu to order. Can’t beat a burger and large glass of red while watching a film.

Anyway, that’s all for now. As we near the end of 2024, I can say that my writing plan for this year is on track, as expected. Phew!

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September 30, 2024

How do children affect writing time?

The other day, my phone decided to pop up a memory. It was taken a number of years ago, when I was pregnant with my son and reading through the final draft of my debut novel, Gods of Avalon Road. I always print the final drafts as a proof copy using Lulu, as I find book form easier to read than an e-copy on my laptop. You can see the photo here, on the left.

Anyway, the photo inspired today’s topic: how do children affect writing time? A trip down memory lane got me thinking about how I have managed to make time for writing with a youngster and minimal child support. It isn’t easy when you have a dependent, but it isn’t impossible either. I’d like to share my experience with you, and offer tips to help – whether you’re a parent, or considering becoming one – writing and children can coexist quite harmoniously; believe it or not!

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September 26, 2024

Autumn Kindle countdown sale on my spooky eBooks

Gratuitous self-promo post, why not? To celebrate autumn and the start of the spooky season, I’m running a Kindle countdown sale on all of my ghostly eBooks. For this week only, four of my books are just 99p. You can grab a discount copy from the following:

Belfast Ghosts trilogy
Diabolical Dreamscapes

Happy reading! 👻

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September 22, 2024

Happy autumn equinox! Spooky season is here

Mabon is here! It’s officially autumn, though today here in Northern Ireland the weather is actually quite lovely and warm. Best of both worlds for me, since summer is my favourite season, though Halloween is my favourite themed time of year.

Enjoying the autumn colours in my pumpkin cardi

Hey, did any of you get to see the super moon on 17th/18th September? Well, I didn’t. Despite living on a hill, there is a lot of light pollution in my area because of tall buildings, which sadly prevented me from seeing the aurora earlier this year, though this wouldn’t have prevented me from seeing the moon. I went out in my front garden after dark, and out the back too on both the 17th and 18th, and couldn’t see the moon anywhere, though the stars were lovely.

I love autumn. Halloween is my favourite themed season, as I love the spooky season, and I also enjoy all the autumn colours. We’ve been having unseasonably warm weather here in Northern Ireland so I can’t complain.

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September 17, 2024

Getting bad book reviews and ratings – keeping a level head

A few days ago, a reader began to binge-read Diabolical Dreamscapes. They found my book through sponsored ads, which I was able to see through the dashboard, and they read the whole collection in two days flat. Hurray! Or maybe not. After that, the anonymous reader left a 2 star rating. Not a review; they didn’t explain why they didn’t like it. They simply left a rating. 

The thing about readers is that, just as they are strangers to me, I am also a stranger to them. They find one of my books through advertising, give it a go, and leave their thoughts via a rating or a review. Whether good or bad, I value their feedback as it’s objective – they don’t know me at all and are therefore expressing an opinion on my book, rather than making a personal point. Of course I’d love for everyone to like my work; but that isn’t realistic. Nothing is universally popular. 

Nevertheless, I’d be lying if I said that negative reviews have no effect on me. So much time and effort goes into writing and producing a book. Here are a few things that help me when a negative rating or review lands on one of my books:

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Posted by on September 17, 2024 in Writing.

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September 13, 2024

Friday the 13th – superstitions and book recs

Happy Friday the 13th!

Apart from Halloween, this is my second favourite themed time of year. What horror lover wouldn’t want to ritually watch Friday the 13th on Friday the 13th? Yep, my hubby and I will be enjoying some rioja out of our Halloween-themed skull glasses later and watching tragic Jason, and his creepy mum, Mrs Voorhees.

But, that’s all for the grownups. What about for the kids? You want to know some fun Friday the 13th superstitions from my childhood? Alright then, here we go:

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September 10, 2024

Traditional, Indie and hybrid publishing – how do they compare?

Usually when an author starts out on their publishing journey, they might begin with self-publishing their book to build up a few reviews and develop a readership, before approaching a publisher and following the traditional route to publication. In my case it was the opposite. In this post, I’d like to share with you my experience of being an author starting on the traditional route, before moving to hybrid publishing, and finally launching my own Indie imprint. Here, I’ll share with you my thoughts on which route might suit certain authors based on their circumstances.

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Posted by on September 10, 2024 in Publishing and tagged , , , .

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September 6, 2024

Why is there a stigma about writing horror?

Fifteen years ago when I published my first short story, The Woman and the Stiff, in an online magazine called Blood Moon Rising, I remember the reaction of one of my colleagues. She said, “Oh, I didn’t know you write horror? Remind me not to get on your wrong side!” It was a joke with a jag, of course, and we both laughed awkwardly. Was she implying that I had skeletons in my closet – maybe literally? The story itself is one of dark humour about a man who gets murdered by hoodlum teens and reappears as a zombie to warn of the dangers of road rage. If you’re interested, it has since been republished in my collection of strange and macabre short stories, Diabolical Dreamscapes.

Just because I write horror doesn’t mean I’m a serial killer, or that I live in a Gothic castle full of spiders, bats and ghosts rattling chains as they walk the halls. Actually, maybe I need to get onto a property website and rectify that second point (lol). Just joking. In reality, I suppose I’m a fairly ordinary, average person.

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Posted by on September 6, 2024 in Writing and tagged , , , .

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September 2, 2024

Why writing time is me time

Working on one of my WIPs a few days ago

We’ve all heard it: the best thing to recover from a hectic lifestyle is taking some ‘me-time’ to reset. That can be many things, for different people: a bath with aromatherapy candles; listening to music; going for a run in the park; retail therapy, etc. I’m an introvert, so having alone time is not only welcome, it’s essential. But how does writing time factor into the mix?

I find writing time relaxing. I find it therapeutic. I write to entertain myself. Long before I even decided I wanted to be an author, I used to keep a diary. I started journaling in this diary when I was seven as a record of ‘special events’ in my life, such as my aunt’s wedding, at which I was a bridesmaid. I never intended for anyone else to read that diary, and it has long since disappeared, probably into a bin.

I still enjoy writing to entertain myself, however, I now write fiction for an audience rather than a diary for myself. Authors want readers. We want people to discover our work. That doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. Ultimately I write to satisfy an itch. I write the story that I feel most excited about.

I can understand authors who say that they don’t find writing relaxing. Some treat it as more of a business with deadlines, and contracts, and word counts, and so on. Even saying all of that gives me a shudder! I treat writing as a passion that I feel lucky enough to be able to articulate into words and share with the world. It’s my introverted head-space that I look forward to when life gets fast, and crazy. A little slice of calm in a chaotic world.

Ah, writing bliss!

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August 29, 2024

Motivation to finish my ghost horror novel first draft

2024 has been a slow literary year for me. After the time pressure I put myself under in 2022 and 2023 to complete my Belfast Ghosts trilogy, I made a conscious decision to take it a bit easier this year.

That being said, I’ve been chipping away at the first draft of my current ghost novel draft (WIP#7) since May 2023. Pretty slow going. I normally complete a first draft in about 6 months, and I’m only up to 50k words on this current project in 14 months.

A recent Google search gave me a much-needed dose of motivation to keep going with my latest WIP. I’m not sure how Google results work, but I’m currently sitting at number one for a “horror authors Northern Ireland” search. It was a reminder of where I’m at with my published books, and the path I’m hoping to continue on for my future books.

As any author knows, writing can be a marathon or a sprint. I’m in my marathon phase this year, and trying not to completely stall. I’ve had moments where I’ve thought, ‘is this project worth writing?’ or ‘am I losing my enthusiasm for this manuscript idea?’. I suppose many authors can relate to that. We want to feel passionate about the books we write, and we want them to find their audience in the world.

Topping a search for “horror authors of Northern Ireland” has certainly given me some much needed direction. I can see the finish line with this particular first draft; all I have to do is focus and get it finished. Hopefully it’ll be ready for publication in 2025.

Sometimes motivation arrives in unusual, but highly welcome, ways.

Posted by on August 29, 2024 in Writing and tagged , , , .

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