Blogoversary Celebrations!

Wow! I can't quite believe it but here I am, one year on and in that time I have published my first two books and written two entire novels!

It was last November that I wrote my first blog post tracking my journey up to the decision to self publish on Kindle and aren't I happy that I did! I uploaded Witchblood on January 6th and began furiously writing the sequel WitchCraft which I uploaded in June. Today I have just finished writing WitchLove, the third and final part in the trilogy, and in doing so completed the NaNoWriMo challenge of writing 50,000 words in a month! Let the editing commence.

Before I started blogging I really had no idea of what it was all about and being a fairly shy person I baulked at the idea of keeping it going, but actually it has been really fun and I've met loads of great people: fellow writers, friends, bloggers and even dare I say it... fans! As I'm writing this my blog count stands at 20,503 hits and currently I'm averaging at about 100 hits day which is more than I ever expected. SO a huge thanks to everyone who has supported me along the way. It means a lot to me.

So to celebrate the end of a great year I promised I'd post an excerpt from WitchLove. You'll find it on the 'Excerpts/Trailer' page by the end of the night... remember it hasn't been edited yet ;)

Also instead of a giveaway I'm looking for another Beta reader to read through WitchLove and let me know if there are any inconsistencies. So if you want to get your hands on WitchLove before the publishing date and think you know the characters from my first two books inside out leave a comment below along with your location and I'll pick a random winner at the weekend. 

Bella's Wish

So what with all my recent Twilight obsessing I have been watching loads of Twilight related YouTube videos and I came across one which was asking Kristen Stewart about her role as Bella. Asking how she related to Bella. Kristen said pretty much what I thought, that 'every girl projects their own personalities onto Bella.' She said 'there was no distinct character she was playing, she was just this girl in this extravagant situation.' I think that is one of the reasons Twilight became so popular, because Bella might be moody, she might be quiet, but she is after all just a normal teenage girl that needs her dad when things go wrong.

I think this is the reason I loved Twilight so much... and I think that is one of the things that got me thinking about creating my own story. I wrote Witchblood after loving Twilight. It wasn't that I thought I could do it as well, and I didn't want to copy it. No, but I what I wanted was to be that girl and know what it was like to be the vampire after she'd been turned. It was Breaking Dawn, that intrigued me the most and left me wanting more.

As soon as Bella found out about Edward and fell in love with him she wanted to be turned and it took her three books to convince him. And why wouldn't she? Vampires are sexy, strong and stay young forever. What I wondered was how many other readers wondered what would have happened if Bella had been turned at the end of the first book. So I went one better I turn Jess in the very first chapter!

Basically I was satisfying my own desires. I wrote Witchblood in first person and whilst Jess is different to me in many ways, in some ways she is similar. So the reader gets to be a vampire (and a witch) through Jess. What surprised me was that it turned out it wasn't all a bed of roses, being turned into a vampire doesn't necessarily solve your problems... in fact in Jess's case it definitely makes more!

So has my Twilight obsession been satisfied with writing my Witchblood trilogy? NO, has it heck! It turns out that a project I started as a kind of fan fiction... have a stab at writing has turned into a full blown career choice. Witchblood has ended up being totally different to Twilight and taken me on a completely different ride... but I still love Twilight! In fact I love Twilight so much that I've recently started to learn the piano... just so I can learn to play the beautiful music from the soundtracks!

A Celebration of Twilight

So I went to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 at the cinema yesterday and I thought that this week I'll devote my blog to all things Twilight, for I owe a lot to Stephanie Meyer. It was her books that introduced me to the genre and gave me the idea of writing my own supernatural UK based fiction. Without Twilight I would be lacking five amazing movies and five fantastic soundtracks from my collections. My bookshelves would possibly have two entire shelves of black covered YA fiction missing... I could go on!

Now books first... which is your favourite and which is your least favourite? I can't decide which one between Twilight and Eclipse would be my favourite book, but New Moon was definitely my worst. I was SO upset with Edward for leaving her in the middle of the woods like that!

Sticking with the books (but okay you can think movie characters too if you like, as one is so firmly entrenched with the other!) Whose team were you on? And did it ever change? Personally I have always, throughout the books and films been a Team Edward girl (even when he annoyed me and disappeared in New Moon!) I know some fans had massive issues with Robert Pattinson playing Edward, but I can't imagine anyone else now, can you? I think he did a fantastic job. They all did... My only issue with casting was possibly Rosalie... I'm not sure.

 

Now talking movies, which movie has been your favourite? I think they did a great job keeping them as close as possible to the books. I absolutely hate it when a film or series is changed completely from the books (*cough cough True Blood cough hate it!) Now I'm finding it hard to answer this one, because after just seeing Breaking Dawn Part 2 I'm totally in love with end of the series! It was amazing and I'm not giving any spoilers here... but wow! The ending was just perfect. I'm sure I didn't breathe for about five minutes, my heart was racing and it was one hell of an emotional roller coaster! There were some amazing shots, like this one:



 

It has the perfect mix of Romance:

 

Humour:

 

and Action:

 

Have you seen it yet?



Celebrations... and More Writing!

Well guess what, we are approaching my blog's first ever anniversary on the 29th... Apparently this is called a blogoversary and should be celebrated with the respect it demands! So I'm having a think and came up with the idea of a sneak peak and maybe I'll have some prizes too.

So if you're a Witchblood fan and are patiently waiting for the release of WitchLove in February, make sure you log on and find me on the 29th and I'll post an excerpt for you.

WitchLove itself is going really well at the moment. After a really slow October I have to say joining NaNoWriMo was the best decision ever. My word count is now past the 50,000 point and into the final five chapters. Things are hotting up, Jess has decisions to make, battles to fight and friends to save :)

As you know whilst I'm writing the blogging is taking a back seat, but make sure you keep an eye out and come back for the party on the 29th!! Any excuse for a cake!

Witchblood Has Been Nominated!!!

Wow! Well here's a nice surprise. Yesterday I received a tweet asking for my email from one of the organisers at CYBILS saying my book had been nominated for the Cybils award!

Now I don't expect for a minute to win this thing because for I'm in the biggest category (Fantasy & Science Fiction) against the likes of Cinder, Crossed, Terry Pratchett's Dodger, Insurgent, Pandemonium... and more books published by the likes of HarperCollins & Egmont!

 

If you want to check the page of nominations out, here is the link. Witchblood is towards the bottom of the page as the're split into 'Middle School' and then 'Teen' AND they're alphabetical, so you need to whizz all the way down to the 'W's!!

 

http://www.cybils.com/2012-nominations-fantasyscience-fiction.html

 

 

Still a girl can dream...

 



Shhh... I'm Writing!

So Halloween is over, my giveaway is done and dusted, and the prizes are going in the post today. I have gone quiet on my blog, you may be wondering... well there is a reason! Mainly because of last month being so busy I really didn't get much WitchLove writing done so this month I have decided to join NaNoWriMo... Crazy I know! 50,000 words in a month... balmy!

 

So those of you who haven't heard of NaNoWriMo basically it means loads of writers join up and pledge to try and write a 50k word novel in a month. My Novels are about 70k, but as I already had 25k done I had about 50000 left to write which is perfect! There are forums and regional coffee meet-ups to keep you motivated. I haven't been to a meet/ write-up because I'm not sure how much writing I'd get done! But so far it is working. I worked out that I needed to write 2000 words a day, every day for the month (with weekends off to be with family). It doesn't sound too bad but with other commitments and insomnia raging 2000 words today is proving tricky! So far I've done 1000 and I am helping in school this afternoon!

The good news is that with some luck WitchLove will be completed (in first draft stage) by the end of the month. Which means I can do a read through before Christmas and get it to my proof readers and Beta readers in January.

I know some of you want it sooner... so maybe as a treat I'll blog a chapter excerpt soon. So tell me would you like to read about Jess in Manchester after the explosion or would you like to read about Jess in America meeting her family coven??? And if you want to keep an eye on the novel's progress check out the word count widget on the main page!

Keep tuned!

Giveaway Winners

A massive thank you to all the people who visited my blog this last week. I had a massive 111 entries for the giveaway!

So a big CONGRATULATIONS to Sara Walker who won the Goodie bag consisting of book bag, bookmark, magnet, angel pendant & edited e-copies of both books. Rafflecopter also chose a 2nd winner for runner-up prize consisting of a bookmark, pendant, magnet & ebooks going to Kim Deister.

Contact me and I'll get these parcelled up and in the post this week, enjoy!

Ps Do you like my new vampire contacts? They were bought for Halloween but turned up today... so I'll have to wear them to Breaking Dawn movie instead :)