April 18, 2022

April reading update

Back in January I set myself a reading target of 20 books on the Goodreads Challenge. So far I’ve finished 5 books towards that goal.

I’ve mainly been reading horror and psychological, though I’ve tried to branch out a bit with my current reads, which are YA dystopian and contemporary women’s romance – both genres I don’t normally read.

Frieda McFadden, who writes psychological thrillers, has become somewhat of a go-to lately on Kindle as I can always guarantee her books are great and page-turning reads. She is a doctor by day, so I find the medical angle of many of her books intriguing. Suicide Med, one that I read a few months ago, focused on medical students and the one I’m currently reading, The Locked Door (pictured above) follows a surgeon who is escaping the stigma of her past as her father was a convicted serial killer.

Of course, this year I also mixed in a few classics that I still can’t believe I hadn’t read: Heart of Darkness, very different to the film Apocalypse Now, and The Great God Pan, which included 3 novellas. My favourite of those three was the titular story; I liked the Shining Pyramid and the White People less. Overall though, a good and creepy read.

Having read five books by April is not that many, but when you factor in editing a finished novel manuscript, writing another novel work in progress, reading submissions for Bindweed Magazine: Midsummer Madness Anthology 2022, full time day job work and looking after an extremely energetic preschooler, that number suddenly doesn’t seem so shabby anymore. 😅

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April 13, 2022

Read, write, edit, repeat

My life recently has been a steady juggle of balancing day work with literary time and family life. Since family life takes priority, I tend to squeeze in writing and editing time on breaks at work or for half an hour after school ends (I work in a grammar school – although I’m currently on Easter break) and reading time while I’m having breakfast or after my wee bookworm has gone to bed. Simply put, there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I’d like to do – but I make the most of the time I have.

Reading time:

I subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, so I try to read as much as I can and I’ve been getting into writing more reviews lately too. Although I prefer reading paperbacks, ebooks are handy as I can read on my phone, which is helpful in bed at night or if I have a moment to spare during the day. Of course, I make reading with the little literary lad a priority too. Thankfully he loves books as much as we do, and has even hoarded many of our books, which he stuffs onto his own book shelf.

Writing time:

I’m chipping away at novel WIP#5, which is currently at around 26.5k words. Anyone at work who sees me in the staffroom after school always comments on how industrious I am. I try my best…

Editing:

My next novel is due for release later this year, so I’m in between editing projects at the moment. I’ll be busy again soon though with Bindweed Magazine, the literary journal that my hubby and I run. Submissions will close at the end of April for our forthcoming anthology, Midsummer Madness 2022, so I’ll have a lot on my plate with editing and formatting the ebook and (if time permits) typesetting the paperback version.

Repeat:

Besides all of the above, did you know I’m a fan of bad movies? My hubby and I love Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and Rifftrax. There is much to be learned from watching terrible, cheesy B movies as a writer – I find it helps sharpen my editing skills, particularly in finding plot holes in my own work. And so, the cycle of read, write, edit continues. ☺️

Posted by on April 13, 2022 in Writing and tagged , , , , .

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April 10, 2022

Celebrating two years of my keto lifestyle

The first covid lockdown seems like another lifetime ago these days. Back in 2020, as the UK entered the first one on 23rd March, I had reached my heaviest weight ever and my BMI was 31, which is obese. Before pregnancy, I had taken for granted that I was of slim to medium build. I didn’t have a sweet tooth, or eat carb-heavy meals generally. During pregnancy I developed an insatiable sugar and carb craving. I binged on cake, chocolate, ice cream, pancakes and multipacks of crisps. I allowed myself by using excuses: I was eating for two, or that I would indulge myself and go back on track after the baby was born.

But my cravings didn’t subside after the birth of my child: I continued eating sugary junk when I was on maternity leave and even after I had gone back to work and my little one was in childcare. At work, I pigged out on cookies and biscuits in the school staffroom. My bad habits had become a lifestyle.

Before lockdown happened, I knew I was having health problems from being overweight. My heart raced as I walked upstairs. My ankles, hips and back ached constantly. I couldn’t run after my child. I knew that if I continued I would end up with diabetes, or even bowel cancer, which runs in my family. As a person who can’t do moderation, I knew it was a case of all or nothing. So, I researched the keto diet and went cold turkey from my high carb diet, keeping to under 20g a day.

It took me 5 months to lose 3 stone/ 42lbs. Finally when I reached my pre-pregnancy weight, a healthy BMI of 24, I stopped. Since then I have maintained the weight I lost. It hasn’t been easy; I have had to go back to keto intermittently in order to control my cravings. In January this year I made the decision to stay low carb permanently as a lifestyle choice, instead of slipping back into bad habits with cake and chocolate, putting on up to 14lbs, and having to go through keto flu all over again. This way, I know I won’t have yo-yoing weight as I’ll be staying on track all the time.

I’ll admit, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Easter and birthdays are tough as the temptation to binge on chocolate is all around. But, being able to play with my child and have an active lifestyle is more important to me – much more motivating than a quick fix of sugar.

Posted by on April 10, 2022 in Biography, Health: Keto diet and sugar addiction and tagged , , , , , , .

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April 8, 2022

Promo samples of The Buddha’s Bone

I’m really chuffed with these sample excerpts of The Buddha’s Bone. They arrived in the post from Lulu a couple of days ago. Basically, they contain just the first chapter, synopsis as published on all of the online retailers and a few reviews from Goodreads.

Why did I do this, then? Well, it’s much easier than carrying around a copy of my book at all times, which isn’t practical. But on a few occasions, both business and social, there have been times when my writing has come up and I’ve found myself empty-handed. Not any more. These pamphlet-sized excerpts are easy to pack in my work bag, handbag, or just to grab on the go for any occasions that require a dose of promotion. Writers, what do you think? Handy, or not?

Posted by on April 8, 2022 in Novels and tagged , , , , .

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April 4, 2022

Forthcoming novel ready for my beta readers

After another round of edits I have printed a third version of my final manuscript from Lulu, ready for my beta readers. The two copies arrived on Saturday, and I’m keeping my fingers, toes and everything crossed that my beta readers will give it the double thumbs up so that it’s really, truly finished this time and ready for the next stage: typesetting.

I always use Lulu for printing as I find it handy. Some writers use KDP for printing drafts to proof read; the upside of this is that personally, I think the paper quality and binding through Amazon printing is of better quality than Lulu, but the downside is that you need to have the book available on pre-order, or already published to avail of author print copies. As I’m not at that stage yet – I haven’t yet properly formatted and typeset my manuscript – using KDP wouldn’t be suitable at this stage for me. Lulu allows you to either print privately, which is available only to you, or to enable public distribution, which requires an ISBN. I definitely recommend Lulu if you’re looking for a good quality printer to proof check your manuscript; it’s straightforward to use and relatively inexpensive to order a few personal copies.

So what’s next for my book? If my beta readers approve it, hopefully I can go ahead with typesetting and have it ready for ARC reviewers by summer. My anticipated release date will be in October this year. You can follow updates on my current projects page.

Posted by on April 4, 2022 in Novels and tagged , , , , , .

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March 31, 2022

Update on supernatural novel manuscripts 5 and 6

I’m happy to say that after a couple of weeks of writer’s block because of anxiety at world events, I have been back to chipping away at both novel drafts #5 and #6. Both are supernatural manuscripts; as you may know, book 1 in the series (Title and cover reveal later in the summer this year) is forthcoming in October 2022. My two current projects are at 18,386 words for novel WIP#5 and 5691 words for novel WIP#6. Novel WIP#6 would have been more than 6k, except I decided I didn’t like the first chapter and cut it completely. I felt it was irrelevant to the plot and character development of my protagonist, so I scrapped the whole thing. I have no qualms about cutting out huge sections of a draft if they serve no purpose and I never write filler chapters just to get my word count up – every chapter should serve the story arc.

Novel WIP#5 is going well. I also cut a section, though not an entire chapter, as I felt it wasn’t motivated; the character acted in a way that simply didn’t fit the direction the plot was going. A bit of tweaking after the cut sorted that issue and the story is back on track. I’ve been powering ahead with this one mainly because the story is more straightforward than WIP#6, which requires research into medieval Ireland (spoiler alert – apologies).

Writing a novel is hard work. I rely on my chapter outlines heavily to remind myself of where I’m up to in the story. The further into a book I go, the more I tend to forget what happened earlier and need my notes to make sure there are no continuity errors. My chapter plan notebook is always open with a red pen handy as I type. If I lost it, well, that doesn’t bear thinking about…

I will keep you posted on how it’s all going as one – or both – novel drafts progress. Though at this stage, it’s looking like it would be a better use of my time to keep going with WIP#5. One way or another, rest assured I’ll be writing many more updates on this.

Posted by on March 31, 2022 in Writing and tagged , , , .

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March 26, 2022

Novel insanity: I write therefore I am

Lately I’ve been asked on a few occasions about how long I’ve been writing and where I get my ideas. I told them that I’ve been writing since I was little. It’s one of the first jobs I wanted to do, apart from being an astronaut and a palaeontologist. I wrote my first short story when I was nine and had my first poem published at 13 in the Write and Shine Anthology.

The bottom line is, if I didn’t write, I wouldn’t be me. I’ve always written. In fact, I honestly think it keeps me sane. Above is a visual representation of what I think would happen to my brain if I didn’t write. The words would have to come out of my head somehow; they would simply bleed out through my skin. As for my ideas, they pop in there seemingly randomly, and come from everywhere and everything. It’s usually sparked by something in the real world, rather than TV or books though. For example, my current horror novel WIP#6 was inspired by the Christmas lights I was hanging up in my house in December that kept malfunctioning. Before I realised they were broken, I was left feeling seriously spooked. Those things put me through one hell of a major gaslighting session, I’ll say that!

Writing every day takes effort – and discipline. The hardest part I find is fitting it into a busy schedule. In order to keep myself motivated, I have learned to change my outlook over the decades: when I was younger I focused on word count targets. Nowadays, I’m happy if I even get one sentence written and don’t set rigid targets each day, week or month. Any progress on a manuscript draft counts, even if that means cutting out parts that no longer fit the story. Improving and moving forwards is the flexible destination I like to reach with my writing now; when I stick to this mindset then, voila, I find myself with a finished book in no time. Well, maybe a year or so at any rate (ha, ha!)

Posted by on March 26, 2022 in Writing and tagged , , , .

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March 21, 2022

Happy World Poetry Day 2022

(I write therefore I am)

Happy World Poetry Day 2022. Instead of making a video reading this year (you can watch any of my previous poetry readings on my YouTube) I thought I’d let you know about my recent poetry books and share a sample poem from each collection:

The Redundancy of Tautology (Cyberwit Publishing, 2021)

Ripe Fruit

            

Will I ever grow up?

The vine says no

Which vine?

Not the grape vine-

the vine with spreading lianas

the vine delving into

the depths of a slumbering

consciousness

            

Why bother growing up?

When the acrid clouds are waiting…

            

It is better to stay

young and unplucked

free of herbicide,

free of pesticide,

            

hanging on the vine.

            

Many of the poems in The Redundancy of Tautology were first published in print and online literary journals. If you want to read some more, you can check out the following links:

“The Redundancy of Tautology” first published in Dead Snakes Magazine, 2016.

“New-sense” first published in The Open Mouse, 2014.

“A faraday cage will keep you safe, Thou dost protest too much, Life is a-changing, Long haul, Show not tell, Ripe fruit” first published in Mudjob Magazine, 2013

“Landmass” first published in Jellyfish Whispers, 2013.

“English Litter-ature” first published in Boyslut Magazine, 2013.

Continue reading →

Posted by on March 21, 2022 in Writing.

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March 16, 2022

How many people who write a novel finish it and how many get published?

Out of curiosity this week I decided to search for some novel writing statistics, specifically how many people write novels. The results were surprising. Here’s what I discovered.

Continue reading →

Posted by on March 16, 2022 in Novels, Writing and tagged .

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March 12, 2022

The Buddha’s Bone advertisement in Mslexia Issue 93

My copy of Mslexia came in the post this morning. I have an advertisement for The Buddha’s Bone in this issue (no. 93), which is the issue for March, April and May 2022. You can see my ad on the second and third photos.

Mslexia is a UK magazine aimed at women who write. It includes info on how to write, self-publish your work, as well as submission calls, events and conferences for writers. As my copy only arrived today, I’m currently reading it with my coffee (Good morning from here in Northern Ireland!) so I will write another review post once I’ve had a chance to read through the whole magazine.

If you want to buy Issue 93 of Mslexia, you can do so here. The timing of my copy arriving coincided nicely with International Women’s Day, which was on Tuesday 8th March, especially given Mslexia is aimed at women writers. However, regardless of whether you’re a woman or not and indeed, whether you’re a writer or not, I’d recommend buying a copy. More and more literary magazines have been going out of print and I’m definitely in favour of supporting or subscribing to those that I can, whenever I can afford it. Hopefully you’re the same. I’d imagine if you’re reading this post, like me, you must be a literary type of person. If you’re a reader, you’ll benefit. If you’re a writer, you’ll benefit. So, it’s win-win, as far as I can advise. At the very least, like myself, you might even be able to blog about it. In any case, I’ll be writing a review post at some point, so stay tuned.

Posted by on March 12, 2022 in magazines and tagged , , , , , .

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