WitchWar: Available for Pre-order

I can't believe I did it! I am all finished just in time for Christmas! WitchWar has been edited, re-read, edited, read, and edited again, before finally uploading to Amazon and Smashwords. It should be available to pre-order at all your usual digital haunts.

Today I have been arranging some promotional editorials for the blog tour and designing the tour banner. What do you think? It still takes me hours on GIMP but I think I'm getting better!

I have a week of book blogs already signed up, but if you are a book blogger and would like to join the tour, please let me know and I'll send you the information.

If you are a WitchBlood fan, please pre-order WitchWar and help me hit the charts running on January 8th!

As I probably won't blog again before Christmas, I would just like to wish everyone a 'Happy Holidays'. I hope you all have a lovely time and find stockings full of books!

Final Month Countdown!

I have just been through all the edits my amazing Beta readers found; so massive thanks to Kim, Claire and Marley...  love you guys!

WitchWar has now been sent off, for its final proof read and I hope to get it out to bloggers for review, by the 14th! At the same time I will be making it available to pre-order and with some luck all is good for a publication date of the 8th January.

After my little competition last month to guess who the character is on the cover of WitchWar, I can tell you that Jane, aka Treat-Fairy-Jones is the winner for correctly guessing it was Ariel. Jane, I will be sending you a copy of WitchWar at the same time as the bloggers... an early Christmas present!

Talking about Christmas, I must dash as I have a ridiculous amount of things to do! Keep in touch on the FB page, I always enjoy messages and posts!

WitchWar Cover Reveal!!!

So this week I've been super busy. I  have done a full read through and first edit before sending it to my proof reader. I've also re-done the WitchFire... again! I just didn't like it! I have also decided to test out Amazon Select which means it has to be exclusive to Amazon for three months, but I want to test out their promo options and it will now be listed in Amazon Unlimited for you guys to borrow!

It is also time for the cover reveal of WitchWar! I am really pleased with it; I hope you like it too! Let me know what you think... and who do you think the picture is of? I will give a free copy of the book 1 week before publication to the first correct answer! Answers in comments please... or on my Facebook page.

It is Done... Let the editing commence!

I'm feeling really excited! I finished the first draft on Saturday at noon, after doing an 11.5 hour writing slog the day before and then finishing off whilst my daughter was at fencing and swimming classes yesterday morning!

I plan to do a full read through next week and then get it sent off to my lovely beta readers the week after.

What is exciting me even more is I have the cover done! I really want to post it but you're going to have to wait for the cover reveal next week!

Now the clock is ticking and I need people with blogs or social reading pages to get in contact. I need cover reveals, reviews and any promo articles you fancy!

I didn't feel happy when I finished WitchHunt. I had just moved house and was stressed and I decided it was the last one, but it never felt quite right. This time I feel great! I think WitchWar is the perfect last book. The series is going out with a BANG!

Blood Baths, Death and Time Travel

Ha! I'm liking that title! 

So it's been a while since I blogged, but you'll be glad to know that I have been writing and I'm heading into the home stretch. I've just reached 60k words and I'm finishing chapter 20. I'm hoping to finish the first draft at the end of next week, so keep a look out for celebratory, giddy blog posts, before I get stuck into the drudgery of editing! 

 To get back to my title it is referring directly to this book. It is quite scary and there are some deaths, but I promise to do my best not to break your hearts (mentioning no names, but looking at Allegiant sitting on my book shelf!!) I am also putting a call out to book bloggers. If you have a book blog and or post reviews to Instagram, facebook or any other social media site and would like a free digital ARC of WitchWar please get in touch. Ideally you will have read the previous books in the series but I think you'' be able to pick it up as there are brief reference points for new readers and it is set ten years on from the last book anyway. If you would like copies of the previous books let me know! I will be running a Blog Tour early January and will get ARCs out before Christmas so you have plenty of time to read. 

 Looking forward to hearing from you! Find me on Twitter & Instagram under @EmmaMwriter or on my Author page on FB.

Writing Targets and Mammograms!

So the last couple of weeks have been tough for writing because of time out, what with mini-breaks in Barcelona and this week I had a hospital appointment at the breast clinic for a mammogram, so Monday and Tuesday I was not in the mood for writing. Luckily for me it turned out to be nothing more than a hormone irregularity, but it really made me feel for women who have worse luck with their diagnoses. The appointment itself was amazing, the nurses were kind and gentle, the doctors and even the Consultant were all brilliant and made the experience as reassuring as possible. I know I've said this before but we need to keep our NHS. They are amazing!

With that behind me I did my best to get back into my 2000 word a day daily writing target and yesterday I was so engrossed I even wrote after the school run and managed 3000 words! Today I've just done another 2000 so I'm finishing the week on a grand total of 33,366!

I should be halfway (if it wasn't for my week off writing... but I'm almost there!)

Oh and for any Instagram fans out there, I have just joined... I know I'm late to the party, but still I'm there now and trying to get the hang of it! https://instagram.com/emmaMwriter/



Have a great weekend!

Refreshed, Energised and Back at It!

So last week I was too busy to write. We had an amazing weekend in Barcelona. It has now beaten Paris to my City Break top spot! I love Paris, it's beautiful and the food is to die for, but lets face it Barcelona also has great food, its architecture is stunning, pretty much everywhere you walk, but especially in the Gothic Quarter and along the Passeig De Gracia AND it has a beach/marina! In Paris you can't sit by the ocean in a restaurant drinking Sangria!

We arrived home Monday evening and Tuesday was a right-off organising stuff, but I am happy to report that the last three days I have got stuck in and have hit my 2000 word target every day! WitchWar is now up to Chapter 9!

Time Flies...

When you're having fun... And also when you're not! It also seems to constantly be on an upward trajectory. Each year goes faster than the last. In January I had a mild freak out when my eldest child turned 10! Today we were visiting a secondary school open morning, in preparation for submitting her senior school application next month! I watched her as we walked around the school, sauntering along behind me, her arms linked with her friends, chatting and completely unaware of how 'ready' she looked. Sometimes I watch her and think 'how on earth can she be ready for senior school?' But today I saw it, she was composed and confident. She amazes me everyday and it baffles me how my colicky baby turned into this beautiful, funny creature.

So this post isn't about writing, truth is I'm not writing at all this week. Time is flying by too fast; I have another open evening to attend tomorrow, I have guests arriving on Thursday and I'm going to Barcelona on Friday. My writing is important to me and I'll get back to it next week, in the mean time I'm going to ferry my kids all over the area to various activities and try and catch every special moment, file it away and catch extra cuddles while I can... Talking of which I can feel a Halloween party moment coming on!

WitchWar Week Two

Phew! Am I glad it's Friday!

I didn't think I'd make it through the week on target as it's been really tough this week.
Yes this was me!

I've been in a bit of a writing slump and making it to the 2000 word target each day has been killer! But somehow I have done it! I have just finished now, at 2pm and my total word count is 20,010 words! Go me!

Here's a reminder...
'WitchFire', the prequel to the WitchBlood Series is currently FREE only for one more week and then it will be full price again!

Transforming Flying With Fire

Hello!

So my first week back at writing went really well and I'm happy to say I completed my 10,000 words target! so my word count for WitchWar now stands at 10,161 words.

I have also been working on a new front cover for Flying With Fire. As FWF seems to fly below the radar of a lot of WitchBlood fans (& FWF is also a prequel with crossover characters) I have decided to rebrand it. This is going to mean a new title, which will be 'WitchFire' and a new cover.

Here is the cover, what do you think? I think it will fit in well with the others in the series.

I am Writing!

You can't force yourself to write, at least I can't. I know some people... writers who suggest just knuckling down and putting pen to paper and writing anything until eventually the block will pass, but for me if I don't want to write I just can't write, and the last year has been so full of new things with moving to a new county, making new friends, settling in and more importantly settling the children in. On top of this I have a house which is tricky to keep on top off and where almost every room needs attention and decorating... don't even get me started on the state of the garden! Add into that a disappointing plumber that completely turned my dreams of a beautiful family bathroom into a stressful disaster zone that took hundred to fix and you have my mental state!

I began to come out the other side of my writing slump as we came into summer, but before I knew it, the kids had finished school and I hadn't made a start. Instead of return to my blog with false promises I decided to keep it to myself, enjoy the summer, but begin the planning process in my head. The kids went back to school last Thursday and I spent those two days clearing any admin... I even did my tax return four months early!! So on Monday with nothing in my way I made a start. My target is for 2000 words a day, 5 days a week; and so far I've done it!

I know I always said I wouldn't write another WitchBlood book, but I had a brilliant idea. An idea that couldn't be wasted! So hang on to your pants! There's going to be more witches, vampires, flying spells and fearsome fangs. It's 10 years on. Have Jess & Daniel made it?

I hope you'll be able to find that out soon, when WitchWar is published sometime before Christmas if all goes to plan.

In the meantime, if you haven't read Flying With Fire, you really need to, as there will be character crossover in WitchWar! Flying With Fire really is the prequel to WitchBlood and consequently I think I'll be re-branding it soon, so watch this space.

To finish here is a picture of Clary from the Mortal Instruments, but she depicts Brittany perfectly in the scene I just wrote this morning!



Excuses, excuses, excuses!

So here I am again apologising for not updating the blog and generally being a rubbish author! 😉

I haven't got any excuses except for the fact that life just seems to constantly get in the way, and as the DIYer of the family buying a new house last year has filled up my days! The last two months has been taken up with redoing the family bathroom and trying not to despair when everything went wrong! I'm still not done. The plumber I hired was rubbish, so now I have another coming to fix the issues! Hopefully it will be sorted this week... I really hope so because the following week we are going on holiday and I have a lovely couple coming to stay in our house and look after all our menagerie!

I WILL write another book. I WILL do it this summer! I'm determined! It may be the new series I made a start with or it may be a WitchBlood sequel... I had another idea for a book! The ideas are there, I just need to make the time!

Smoke - Week Two

Well I've got through my first week of writing fairly successfully. I finished on just under 5000 words, which when I was deep in the middle of writing Witchblood, I could write 5000 words in two days; but for this project I have set myself a target of 1000 words a day, at least until I get about 1/3 of the way in, mainly because this project is so new and somewhat daunting!

Reasons for this are as follows:

1. Completely new genre - no vampires!
2. Completely new characters to learn and install in my head.
3. I'm writing alternate chapters / alternate POV, so each time I start a new chapter I have to switch mindset.
4. I'm also switching from 1st person to 3rd person, so Bea is written from 1st person and Will is written from 3rd!

I think it's working out! It was a bit of a challenge but I think it is going to work!

I've also added another book to my Goodreads Challenge. I finished The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy the night before last. It was pretty good. I enjoyed it. It was certainly different and rather weird, in a good way. I'm not sure it's worth all the 5 stars it gets, but it was worth reading and I'll probably read the next one at some point.  

Planning Done. Let The Writing Begin!

As you can see I have added a new word count widget to the right hand side bar on the blog so you can now keep an eye on my progress, and you'll see the title there too!

This may change as I get further into the book, but for now it is going to be called:

SMOKE

The Burning Trilogy

What do you think? I have just finished chapter one from Bea's perspective and I am about to start chapter two from her twin, Will's.

I am also signed up for Goodreads Reading Challenge, are you? I have only set myself a target of 30 books this year as writing this new book will take up a lot of my time, but I've already read 3 books and just starting 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' which I've always meant to read but never got round to!

Here's my Goodreads link if you want to see my books:

New Year: New Book: New Series

Happy New Year!

Yes, I've not vanished from the face of the planet. I just took some time out!

I have a couple of New Years Resolutions this year, do you? My husband and I have been married for 11 years and we have lots of love and trust, but somewhere along the way we have lost some of the fun, do you know what I mean? So my main resolution this year is too laugh more. Instead of us flaking out in front of the TV post 9pm I want to play a game once a week, chat more...

So Resolution One - Have more fun!

Resolution Two is about my writing. After 6 months off I am ready to get going, and I know the series I want to start writing. It will be another Young Adult / New Adult crossover series (like Witchblood) but this one is more apocalyptic than supernatural. I know Dystopian fiction has been there, done that, but I honestly think I've thought of something new and fairly original. I'm quite excited about it. I'm not sure it would be classed as Dystopian... more apocalyptic. Its not going to be set 100 years into the future anyway. Like Witchblood it will be familiar to the reader. The locations will be real. Like Witchblood, I'm going back to writing in 1st person, but this time I'm going to try dual POV and alternate chapters. It depends how well I can create two distinct voices. Fingers crossed I can pull it off!

Here is a little teaser photo I found on the web that I have pinned to my inspiration Pinterest board!