Flying With Fire: Progress Report

So I thought I'd update the blog this afternoon as I've done 1800 words of my daily 2k target and I've hit a wall... and secondly the blog needed updating!

It's been weird suddenly thrown back into writing. Initially it felt nice, but after 4 hard days slog my brain feels a little fried! I think a daily target of 1500 is my ideal. It leaves enough time for daydreaming, pulling story threads together and the afternoon free to do the everyday stuff like tidy up after the pets & kids, and buy some food!

I really wanted to get the first draft finished by the Whit holidays, which I hadn't initially realised was in 4 weeks time... now 3. That's a tighter deadline than doing NaNoWriMo! With two children I don't write at the weekends so even doing 2k a day, 5 days a week on top of the 23k I already had; I'm not going to quite finish... but at least I should be in the last chapters! Currently I've almost reached 36,000 so I guess I'm pretty much half way through!

The other thing slightly unnerving me is my writing method. I've always been a 'fly by the seat of my pants' type writer, but I do usually have a basic chapter plan and knowledge of my crisis points and how the characters are going to escape them... or not! This time... errr... not so much! I've got an old chapter plan, which only covers the first half of the book and which I have deviated from several times already! I think I know how I am going to 'save' one character, but I'm totally clueless as to how I'm going to solve another, very big, complication!

Hopefully it will come to me over the weekend!

I have also been searching for some visual inspiration as I love fantasy art and I find it helpful and inspiring. I found this great image on DeviantArt...

New Book... New Plan!

So Easter is over, the children are back at school and my laptop is switched on. From the messages I get either via Facebook or Amazon reviews I am aware that there are some amazing people out there who want to read something new, written by me of all people! I am also aware that my new project, which is totally different, and rather exciting (for me anyway) may well take anywhere up to another nine months for me to write! So I have come up with a plan.

Actually I just found my half written Witchblood tie-in novel 'Flying with Fire'. I actually forgot that I had been writing this last year! I've spent the morning re-reading and editing and actually I'm quietly confident. If you are a WB fan then this will quite possibly hit the spot. The word count is already at a nice rounded 25,000 and you'll get to see what happened to Brittany at her boarding school. With only another 50-60k words to write I will aim to have the first draft done by the Whit school holidays and the book published before the summer holidays.

What do you think? Do you still read YA paranormal?

If you want to keep track of my writing I have updated the word count meter on the right!

Voting is closed!

So it looks like we have a winning name! Thanks for all your input. 'Sam' he is!

What is his name?
Selection
Adam	30%
Sam	45%
Jack	25%

Now I can get back to my story evolution exercises!

Keep an eye out on the blog though as sometime soon I'm going to have to have rethink about the design. I think its time I have an 'Author page' rather than just Witchblood... For any newbie writers out there, learn from my mistakes and don't create a website address the same as your first books because it makes things somewhat complicated when you want to write something new!

For now though I think I'll have to just change the design and landing page and keep the address. Any smart techies out there and I would love some ideas on how to create an author page without losing all the blog traffic!

New Series : Male Character Name Poll

Right! So I've been doing some more character sketches and plot sketches today for my new series and I have this guy...

Well I don't have Michael Fassbender, but he is the inspiration for one of my main characters. He is the dad to an 8 year old girl called Lucy and the step-dad to my main protagonist 16yr old Liv and her twin brother Will. He is 35 and is loving, protective, loyal and a teeny bit controlling! He is an office designer.

I just couldn't think of a suitable name, probably because I had his real name stuck in my head lol. So I put out a call on my facebook page and got loads of great ideas. Now I'm stuck deciding between my three favourites. Which is your favourite? You Decide!

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

What is his name?
	Adam
	Sam
	Jack
pollcode.com free polls

The Mortal Instruments

So for this week's blog I thought I would do a brief review of the Cassandra Clare 'Mortal Instruments' books which I've been reading as I want to discuss 'doomed relationships' in series.

Up until Book Five (the current book I'm reading... or trying to) I have really enjoyed the series. It is something a little bit different from other paranormal YA series. I love the world building as it reminds me of the HP series in which the muggles live alongside and completely oblivious to the wizards. In Cassandra Clare's series the humans are living alongside all the supernatural species under the sun, and yet it is totally believable!

Clary is a great character and unlike a lot of YA protagonists I didn't find her annoying or unrealistic in her reactions. She comes across as fairly average, likeable and funny, but can be strong when she needs to be; which happens more as the series progresses. In Book One : City of Bones Clary finds herself drawn into the world of the Shadowhunters and her life is turned upside down. As seems the norm with this genre Clary soon finds herself in the middle of the obligatory love triangle and when things get tough with Jace, the rather irresistible and arrogant shadowhunter, she begins dating her best friend, Simon, which I found a little strange and unbelievable. Simon is a great character and is there for Clary throughout the series, I just wish the love angle had been left out as in my opinion it adds nothing to the story.

All of the first four books are totally readable and addictive. They are very easy to read and you soon find yourself loosing track of the time and becoming immersed in Cassandra Clare's world. The action scenes, are well written and exciting and the twists and turns have you double guessing plot lines throughout!

However... and this is my main negative point, over the last four books I did guess that the Clary / Jace 'problem' would be resolved and thoroughly enjoyed book four when this was all coming together. The 'happy ending' was well deserved after their struggle throughout the previous four books... So why oh why did the author feel it necessary to split them up again!! Ahhhhh! I have only got part way into Book Five and I honestly can't be bothered reading anymore. To be honest I am now fed up of seeing how many ways Cassandra Clare can keep them apart! Personally I would have much preferred to have these final books with Clary and Jace working together as a team. They could still have had the mighty battles and I'm sure there will be plenty, after all the Faerie Queen is a loose cannon and Valentine & his psychotic son are still on the rampage. So why the need for more Clary / Jace drama?

Hopefully one day I'll return to Book five and finish it, but for now I just can't be bothered.

What do you think? Have you read the series and if so what do you think about Book 5?

Do you like constant relationship drama or think it's too much?

Catching Up

Well, what can I say?
"Sorry"?
I'm totally terrible and I've completely let the blogging thing go! In fact I've completely let the writing thing go too!

I think to be honest last year, what with finishing WitchLove, writing 'Genevieve' and then writing the final book 'WitchHunt', all along with preparing for the IOW Literary Festival and moving 200 miles south kind of floored me!

I was intending on moving in, publishing WitchHunt at the end of October and then taking the rest of the year off to settle in and think of a new series idea; but in reality the new house was a mess and has needed a lot of TLC. I think as well, the longer I stayed away from writing the harder it seemed to get back into it.

I had a great idea for a new three book series, but I just didn't know how to get it going, and I was a little wary as it is a complete change for me in genre. It turned out that redecorating the tiny spare bedroom and turning it into a craft / writing room did the trick! Initially I intended it to be a craft / sewing room (as I love all things crafty!) but I found that with the sun streaming in the window and the lovely view of the fields all I wanted to do was set up my laptop!

Merely a week later, here I am, blogging away and I've even written the four main character sketches and the first two paragraphs! I'm starting to feel the excitement of getting pulled into another imaginary world!

2013 Year in Review

Wow! What a year! In the space of just 12 months I have published two novels and a short story; sold my house four times and finally moved with my family, 250 miles south to Somerset! In February 2013 we put our house up for Sale and I published book three in the WitchBlood Series, 'WitchLove'. In March I had my best sales rankings ever and sold 5000 books in one month! In April my husband got an amazing new job in Somerset and as the house was already for sale we decided to make the move a little more terrifying and explore a new county! That was where things became a little stressful!

In the months that followed we had three house sales fall apart further down the chain, my husband had to start his job in Somerset, leaving the children and I behind every week and I had the final WitchBlood book to write! At the same time as all this craziness I was invited to attend and run a workshop at the Isle of Wight Literary Festival in October. Even though I had never done anything like this before I accepted thinking we would at least be moved by then and nearer to the IOW! Little did I know just how many times things would go wrong! In the end we finally exchanged on our house two days before I was due to speak at the festival on the 19th October! The weekend was a whirlwind and my husband drove me there and back in three days and three days after that I was packing our belongings and waving goodbye to all our friends. My daughter, and our cat travelled in my car, whilst our son travelled with my husband & the dog in his car!

We arrived here on the 25th October, I somehow managed to publish 'WitchHunt' the final book in the series on November the 6th; and even with the mountainous task of DIY, decorating and cleaning involved I can honestly say I haven't looked back! I love the tiny Somerset village. I love hearing the sheep and the chickens in the morning and I love how everyone is so friendly and welcoming. What I don't love, is the mud! I am not a particularly 'car-proud' girl and tend to wash my car about once a year... but here I washed my car 3 times in as many weeks... and then I gave up! Buying a new white car last summer was my worst mistake. I really should have bought black... or even that new metallic coffee coloured brown. Now that would be perfect!

So it's been chaotic to say the least, but the children love their new school and Christmas was a good one. Hopefully 2014 will be a little quieter. A little calmer! So Happy New Year from Somerset!