Summer 2025

Well, it’s made it. Summer is here!

We had a really hot start – or end of spring, whichever you want – but we’ve now got nice weather.

Although, along with the nice weather comes the bushfire warnings. No rain equals dry loads. Keep safe out there, everyone!

I know I talked about ghost hunting last time, so might do some more in a week or so. Just depends. I will keep you posted on that.

Updates

Clans in Conflict

For those who don’t know much about it, this is a series about a clan that is lost travelling through dimensions due to a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong and about the city-state Part 2 concludes in.

Dark Dimensions Part 1 and 2 is recounting that journey to Torkandisch. Dark Reign is the next book in the series and covers the next 12 months in the city-state.

The Dark Road is back with the beta readers. This story takes place about 16 years later. Lots in Torkandish has changed and there is lots of intrigue and heartache throughout this book. Some funny instances, too.

But Dark Beginnings will take us back to where it all started in Tordun, covering Vlad’s rise to power and, perhaps, that fateful experiment, along with the first 15 years of dimension-hopping. Dark Beginnings is still on the backburner. I have started this and I will return to it.

So, that’s what’s in store for anyone who wishes to immerse themselves in this world.

There are also going to be other stories, along with a special edition of Dark Dimensions where the two parts are combined. That will be in the future.

Speaking of other stories, Deadly Convergence is centred on Torkandisch 5 years before the Clan lands in the city-state and follows a crime that twists into something else. This is available only on Kindle and on Kindle Unlimited.

Also, I have a story that revolves around Ryan Locke of Dark Reign and Deadly Convergence. This is currently being edited before going to beta readers and the editor.

Consequences

This series follows the rise of Marek from a mastermind thief to the saviour of a nation.

Heart of Deception is now available through Amazon and Draft2Digital.

Legacy of Risks will follow in the next few months, once cover art is finalised for it. The reason why it will take a few months is because I’m applying The Emotion Thesaurus options to it.

Dangerous Heart will then go to beta readers.

Watch this space.

There will be some short stories come out and, possibly, a fourth book that covers events much later after Dangerous Heart. Definitely a “watch this space” moment.

Other Universes

Strefinobhan

With Heart of Deception released and my work on the Otherworldly Emergence series coming to a conclusion, I should be able to get back into editing the first book of this series and sending it to beta readers. I am still unable to say when this will happen, but hopefully sooner rather than later.

Paranormal

Again, this will have to wait until work on the Otherworldly Emergence series is completed. One of my paranormal pieces, however, is in the Emergence series, so stay tuned for updates there.

Speaking of which, you can find the Otherworldly Emergence information at the website below.

Bushland Castle Productions

I have finished editing one novella, Not your Normal Heroes. I am still editing the other and will have that editing finished by the end of the week.

Both stories have gone through some beta readers and have been received well and will be going to more beta readers on Friday.

Pitches for this novella series has now closed and we are working hard on our manuscripts to bring them to you in a timely manner.

All of the information regarding the novella series is at the website:

https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/emergence

While you’re on the website, is information about their nonfiction series Australia: Living in the 70s. If you have a life story about living in the 70s in Australia, check the website for more details on that series. I know if I were to submit, it would all be about CountDown, Sandman vans and learning about Unionism through school (and other things, of course).

Also check out their podcast – Finding Elara. Learn about Mindfulness from other creatives – not just writers, but other creative persons, as well as worldbuilding and other information.

At the end of each segment, there’s a prize drawn. Go in to win books and other goodies!

Not only that, but Finding Elara has just made it onto YouTube. There is a Halloween special up that features one of my short ghost stories being read out live. So, just search for Finding Elara and have a listen. I’m the one in the blue hat.

Grow Write

Once every fortnight, Grow Write meets at the Midland Library in Midland, Perth, Western Australia. We are very excited to announce that our very first anthology is complete and it is almost ready for publishing. Watch this space as I will be sharing the cover with you!

Emotions and head hopping

This time, I want to talk about emotions. Because emotions are what keep your reader in the book – well, apart from intrigue, suspense and action.

What I mean is your reader will connect more strongly with your characters if they show emotions.

Now, this can be really hard. I know, because I find it hard to write emotions. At least I did. That was before I got a copy of The Emotion Thesaurus. I’m sure I’ve already mentioned it before, but this really did open my eyes to emotions in a story.

I chose to write first person for that very reason. Because I couldn’t connect with the emotions of my protagonist when I wrote in third person. In third person I can talk the emotions over with the reader through the character.

I also discovered that head hopping is an easy mistake to make – let me rephrase that.

If you want a scene that is written in third person to be only from the point of view of one character, then there can be no head hopping in it.

To write a scene from one person’s point of view rather than from many is your choice to make and all the shows I’ve watched on television make it hard to stick to one character in a scene because they show that same scene (at different points) from different characters’ perspectives.

But I’m not going to talk about scenes from multiple points of view in this because that just does my head in to think about. So, I’m going to limit this little gem I’ve worked out to a single point of view scene. Got it?

So, head hopping. This can be an issue if your scene is written from one person’s point of view. I’ve done it myself – even in Not your Normal Heroes. Because that is the first story for a long time that I’ve written in third person.

It is a natural thing that if you are writing a character’s response, you just think like them. It’s like speaking both sides of a conversation. (Don’t ask, it’s not easy to explain.)

It’s a matter of watching out for things like this:

“Rafe calculated the distance from where they stood and nodded.”

This scene was actually in Jordy’s point of view, so he wouldn’t know that Rafe was calculating the distance in his head. He would see what Rafe’s facial expression was and that would tell him what Rafe was probably doing.

So, this is where The Emotion Thesaurus comes in handy. I can read where I want a character to react, then consult the thesaurus to see what others would observe from that character. Like a widening of the eyes, a crease to the brow or a particular tone of voice, like a growl or higher pitch than normal.

The closest thing I can say that the thesaurus does is it lists body language in ways that help a writer to understand it. To be able to convey through body language what the character is seeing in other people.

Such as what does anger look like? What does fear look like? Or relief? These questions are vitally important to writing more rounded characters. (Yes, I will go through what I’ve written one day and apply the thesaurus to them.)

Same with smells. What does mildew smell like? What does a sewer smell like? I’d love a reference book that provides those ’cause I’ve started writing a list by researching what those types of things smell like.

Therefore, for those scenes where you want people fully immersed, try thinking about how you can relay those smells, those feelings, those tastes. Think about what noises are going on in the background (another thing I have trouble with) and what the character can see.

All of these will give your reader a much better sense of characters and action in your written works.

Spring is finally here!

Yes, the cold has retreated for now. We have had rain, and we’d like a lot more, but for now we have lovely weather – not too hot and not too cold.

There’s not really a lot to say – lost for words for once – wait, no, I have some ordinary news!

We grew potatoes! Self-seeded ones and apparently we have self-seeded tomatoes, too! Have to keep an eye on them!

And we took public transport into the city a week ago for a meeting. Yes, I have those that are totally unrelated to this, but I have to tell you – I was in a room with a whole heap of professors, doctors and students! It was rather daunting, to say the least. I just have to hope I held my own with them all.

Okay, onto updates

Clans in Conflict

Dark Dimensions (edition 2), Dark Reign and Deadly Convergence are still available through various places. Although Deadly Convergence is only available through Amazon currently.

The Dark Road is still with the beta readers and because of other projects, this is a little on the backburner. It will be exciting when it’s up there, though.

Dark Beginnings is still on the backburner. Hopefully I’ll be able to get to it soon.

The other Kindle Unlimited story is still being edited and we’re nearly at the end of that. This is an informal editing and has yet to go to beta readers and the editor. Also hasn’t got a title, either!

Consequences

Heart of Deception (edition 2) is finally published. It will be released on 28 November 2025.

Join Marek on his first encounter with the royal family of Albermarle.

Legacy of Risks (edition 2) is still with beta readers. Hopefully it won’t be long, now.

Dangerous Heart is on the backburner until I’ve done all this other work. I promise, it will be out.

Other Universes

Strefinobhan

All books in this series are on backburner whilst I work on some urgent manuscripts.

Paranormal

My usual paranormal stories are also on the backburner, but one is being rewritten for the Otherworldly Emergence series.

Speaking of which, you can find the Otherworldly Emergence information at the website below.

Bushland Castle Productions

As mentioned above, I am currently editing both stories for Bushland Castle Production’s Otherworldly Emergence Novella series.

I have finished editing the other one and am about to submit that story. I’ll be trying to lose something like 2800 words, however. As usual, I’ve gone overboard.

Pitches for this novella series has now closed and we are working hard on our manuscripts to bring them to you in a timely manner.

All of the information regarding the novella series is at the website:

https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/emergence

Also check out their podcast – Finding Elara. Learn about Mindfulness from other creatives – not just writers, but other creative persons, as well as worldbuilding and other information.

At the end of each segment, there’s a prize drawn. Go in to win books and other goodies!

Writing group

As some of you may be aware, I run a writing group called Grow Write in Midland, Western Australia. I am proud to announce that we are in the process of publishing our very first anthology. I am soooooooo looking forward to that book coming out! Stay tuned for more details.

It’s in the final formatting stages, so should be out soon.

Characters

I’ve often been told by my editor to ‘stop hurting him or I’ll take him away’.

You might think that that’s a fair and reasonable comment.

However, you have to remember that my stories are full of action and dialogue. Often an action character, be they hero or something else, must go through a gamut of emotions to grow into where they must end up.

Like we have to, sometimes.

Let’s not shy away from the fact that trauma is part of everyday life. The secret is to even it out with other emotions.

So, we all have bad days or bad years. It’s part and parcel of life.

Take Macbeth or Julius Caesar (Shakespeare’s version). They’re prime examples of what an author can do to a character to get them where they have to be by the end of the tale.

I will say that having an experimental character where you can do the worst to a character is an eye-opening experience and I do recommend it. I have shared a bit of my experimental character and I’ve been told that I should publish it, but it’s a very controversial work and I’m not sure where I would publish it.

Afterall, it’s my commentary on what’s wrong with humans at the moment. My experimental character touches on human trafficking, addiction, weapons of mass destruction, certain trades that are frowned upon, abduction and betrayal. And that’s all you’re getting. Let me just finish on – it’s a really dark work.

So, don’t be afraid to hurt your characters. Don’t be afraid to take them to the depths of darkness and bring them out into the light again. That can be metaphoric or spiritual or, even, physical. The character you have at the end will be a strong character.

Back home!

My apologies! I have been away for a few weeks and only came back last week, so I wasn’t able to post!

We had a great time, caught up with family, got to see Newcastle, NSW, and met two amazing dogs, Haze and Bella. They love their humans.

The weather was awesome and there have been lots of changes since I was last in Newcastle. We actually stayed in a small semi-rural area just south of Newcastle and had an absolute ball. The weather was beautiful most of the time, although for our day in the Hunter Valley, clouds did cover the sun. Weather was pretty good, though.

We also went all the way down to Wollongong – just to drive along the Sea Cliff Bridge. What an amazing piece of architecture that is! It was another beautiful day, but if you’re planning this trip, make sure you don’t go during school holidays – talk about busy! We didn’t get much footage, so our family is going to go back down there and take some pics and a better video of the bridge.

Mind you, the small town of Scarborough is gorgeous to drive through. Very picturesque.

But enough about my holidays and me! You want updates on my writing!

Updates

Clans in Conflict

On the coming weekend, the ebook versions of Dark Dimensions Part 1 and 2, Dark Reign and Deadly Convergence will be available for free across all platforms. This is part of the “stuff your kindle” extravaganza, but I will post more details about that later this week.

The Dark Road – this is currently on the backburner while I finish other work. I am still looking for more beta readers for this, so if anyone’s interested, just buzz me and we’ll chat.

Dark Beginnings – until I get The Dark Road published, this is on the backburner. So, if you want to know about Vlad’s rise to power, please contact me about being a beta reader and we’ll talk.

There will be another short story in Torkandisch coming out soon. It’s just going through editing at the moment, then I’ll get the cover art for it.

Consequences

Heart of Deception Edition 2 – there has been a slight hiccup with the cover art – just needs tweaking – but I have a release date (unless there’s another hitch) of 28 November 2025. There is a reason for this – originally, I’d planned for 31 October (obvious reasons) but with the hitch, I’ve delayed the release. 28 November is my Dad’s birthday, so it’s fitting that I use that date.

Legacy of Risks Edition 2 – again, looking for more beta readers for this – especially someone who has experience in a wheelchair or a back injury. Just buzz me if you’re interested.

Dangerous Heart – this also needs beta readers. So, same message.

Once these three are out, I have some short stories that I’ll put up in Kindle Unlimited. All about Marek and Squeak when they were a lot younger.

Other Universes

Paranormal

Strefinobhan

Both of these are on backburner due to my involvement in the Otherworldly Emergence with Bushland Castle Productions.

Bushland Castle Productions

As mentioned above, I am currently editing both stories for Bushland Castle Production’s Otherworldly Emergence Novella series.

I have finished editing the other one and am about to submit that story. I’ll be trying to lose something like 2800 words, however. As usual, I’ve gone overboard.

Pitches for this novella series has now closed and we are working hard on our manuscripts to bring them to you in a timely manner.

All of the information regarding the novella series is at the website:

https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/emergence

Also check out their podcast – Finding Elara. Learn about Mindfulness from other creatives – not just writers, but other creative persons, as well as worldbuilding and other information.

At the end of each segment, there’s a prize drawn. Go in to win books and other goodies!

New resources

As I said last week, thanks to Selina Shapland’s recommendation, I am utilising The Emotion Thesaurus all the time.

Not only that, but I’ve also invested in The Emotional Wound Thesaurus and The Emotion Amplifier from the same authors. I can’t wait for them to arrive!

Reviews

I don’t know what is worse and best for a writer.

As writers, we go through various stages when we are creating our worlds and characters for everyone to enjoy.

From day one, we are plagued with thoughts like:

Is it going work?

Is anyone going to read it?

Are they going to enjoy it?

Will they mention it to others so that we get more readers?

And sometimes, even:

Have I published the best possible work I can?

Could I have made it better than what it is?

Why did I think I could do this?

No-one’s going to love my work.

No-one’s going to read what I have written.

These are natural thoughts and we all have them go through our heads at one point or another.

To help us with these thoughts, we share our work with trusted friends and family. People who will tell us they love our work and that we should keep going. Get it out there. Publish it! People are going to love it.

And those are great words of encouragement.

But sometimes, as an author, we need more. We need objective feedback. We need constructive feedback. Even if it’s after we’ve published – that’s why we can unpublish a book – or even make it a second edition.

And that’s where reviewers come in. They often pick up issues that our proofreaders, editors and beta readers (and those who are lucky enough to have them, ARC readers) may miss. Because they have an objective outlook.

They are professionals at what they do. They love what they do and they love helping authors by giving them the truth of the work that they’re reviewing.

Some reviewers out there don’t want money for reviews. They do it for the love of reading and helping authors.

Now, this may not be the glowing review you crave, but if you read into the review, they will often point out issues and make constructive comments about resolving those issues. They can be one last minute check to make sure everything works.

Most of them have rules that are clearly spelt out on their website – or some will clarify in an email – if they receive a genuine question about their rules and expectations.

So, my advice is – if you approach one of these free reviewers, read their rules and expectations carefully. Make sure you understand what they want from you and what you can expect from them. If you don’t, then ask for clarification.

There is nothing worse than someone not providing what a reviewer has requested.

Reviewers are ordinary people like you and me. They have a right to respect and that respect includes providing all of the information the reviewer has requested.

They don’t get paid for reviewing your book, but they can get lots of readers to read what you have written. They can get you those readers who want more. Who are invested in your characters, your world, your plots.

So, please, pay reviewers the respect they deserve.

Is winter over?

We can only hope so. It’s been wet and cold. I won’t say over long, but it seemed at times to be like that. Today was a beautiful day and we drove out to Ellenbrook to join in on a writers’ group. Coming back home along West Swan Road was picturesque as always.

I can only think that it’ll be wonderful in a few weeks’ time – not too cold and not too warm. Just right. Oh, wait, that’s a line, isn’t it?

Updates

Clans in Conflict

Dark Dimensions Part 1 and 2 – nothing really new to report on those, although 17 to 19 October is getting closer!

There is a further story currently being edited that is set at roughly the same time as Dark Reign. This will be a shorter story, similar to Deadly Convergence.

Dark Reign and Deadly Convergence the same as with The Dark Road and Dark Beginnings.

Consequences

Now, here is an update.

Heart of Deception is in the process of being republished as Edition 2. I have got the cover art and we are waiting for the proofs to be delivered so that we can check the colours before I finalise the publication.

Stay tuned for the launch date!

Legacy of Risks and Dangerous Heart are both in the same position. Hopefully, in a few weeks, more updates will be out about those.

Once they are out, there will be short stories released about the country of Albermarle, so stay tuned for those.

Other Universes

Paranormal

I am working with a beta reader on these, but they are progressing.

Strefinobhan

Mal’s Story

I am meeting with the beta reader this week and, hopefully, I’ll be able to start editing this. The beta reader has come up with a couple of possible titles, so stay tuned for that.

Colliding Worlds is still on hold.

Crime

Murder

The half-written story about a murder in Sydney is on hold as I am currently doing some very heavy editing in the Bushland Castle Production novellas.

Bushland Castle Productions

As mentioned above, I am currently editing both stories for Bushland Castle Production’s Otherworldly Emergence Novella series.

I have finished editing the other one and am about to submit that story. I’ll be trying to lose something like 2800 words, however. As usual, I’ve gone overboard.

Pitches for this novella series has now closed and we are working hard on our manuscripts to bring them to you in a timely manner.

All of the information regarding the novella series is at the website:

https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/emergence

Also check out their podcast – Finding Elara. Learn about Mindfulness from other creatives – not just writers, but other creative persons, as well as worldbuilding and other information.

At the end of each segment, there’s a prize drawn. Go in to win books and other goodies!

How do I write my book in a way that others will read it?

So, I’ve been helping a friend out recently and it’s brought to mind something a mentor told me 3 years ago.

We all have a story within us. We all want to share that story because that’s what we do as humans – we are storytellers. Goes right back to before writing and heiroglyphs, etc.

But when we write, there are rules and there are conventions. Rules we need to stick to, but conventions can be ignored. It’s knowing which are which that can be tricky.

Because conventions change with time. Even though some currently conventions date back to the 16th century, there are new conventions coming out every day and some conventions get retired.

But the one thing that stood out to me 3 years ago is all the traffic that we have to drive our story through to get to a reader.

Yes, I’m going to use a driving analogy. Because writing a story is a journey. It’s a journey from the first idea, whether it’s a dream or something you’ve thought of, doesn’t matter, to the “printed” word being either on a screen or in a book. It’s a real task to go from the first kilometre or mile to the destination – I did think about putting “final” there but decided against it!

So, you’ve got your book written. You’ve gone through it maybe once and you’re happy with it. It ticks all the boxes. Now you have to get people to read it. Once upon a time, that was pretty easy to do. There was just music, festivals and conversation. Now, it’s a whole lot different. Even with the advent of television, people still read a lot. Now? Too many distractions. Let me list them.

Facebook

TikTok

SnapChat

Twitter/X

YouTube

Instagram

Tindr

Tumbler

Streaming TV/movies

Gaming

And a whole heap more.

So, before you’ve even published, one of the things that is important to think about is – will people read my book?

The next important thing to think about is – how will I get their attention off ALL of those other distractions to commit to reading my book.

This is the hard part. Getting people to focus on what you’ve written rather than all the guff that’s out there – especially the stuff written by a robot or a computer program.

There are various ways of doing this, but the main thing is to keep your writing interesting, concise and engaging. The plot of your book – doesn’t matter if you’re a pantser, plantser or a planner/plotter – must go from start to finish. It must be clear, even if there are side plots along the way. Flashbacks, if you have any, should be appropriately placed and signposted – otherwise, your reader might be lost in the back roads of your story.

And this is where a good beta reader, editor and proofreader come in. Between them, they can guide your story to be better than you can possibly imagine. They can help you address any issues, however minor. They can hone in on where a reader might get lost in the side quests your story introduces and end up wondering what happened in a minor situation rather than focusing on the plot you want them to.

New financial year

Yep, you can tell it’s a new financial year! For those creating invoices, profit & loss sheets are now in a new year. Yeah, I’m grousing!

Our weather has turned sharply cold again but the fire is nicely keeping us warm.

On the bright side, I have some new beta readers who are currently working on various books for me. I am very grateful to them!

Okay, updates.

Clans in conflict

Deadly Convergence is still available here.

Still editing the other Kindle Unlimited book.

The Dark Road is still with the beta reader, although I may have another option there.

Dark Beginnings – I am still working on this but it is a little on the backburner at the moment.

Bushland Castle Productions

The novella series of Otherworldly Emergence closes in July.

All of the information necessary is at the website:

https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/emergence

Join me in being part of this amazing opportunity.

Consequences

Heart of Deception is currently with the cover artist prior to being published. Can’t wait for that to come through.

Legacy of Risks is now with a few beta readers, so when I get that back I’ll update that with any changes necessary.

Paranormal

I have gotten back into my ghost hunter/daemon hunter story. I have yet a few things to work out, but I am writing in it.

For those curious about the spelling of daemons, yes, they are demons, but not of this world. They come from Nina’s world, therefore they are “different”.

Shifters

These are currently on the backburner while Aleksander and Blair work out where their story is going.

Malevictus

Let’s not talk about editing. I am struggling to edit this one. I need to edit it, I know that, but it’s just not there for me. It’s a matter of digging in and getting it done. (sigh) This hasn’t changed.

On other news about that, the second book is coming along.

Rules of writing

I often see things that purport to the “10 Rules of Writing” or “Follow these 10 rules and your book will sell”. These are often not rules.

In the words of either Stephen King or G R R Martin, there are no “rules” to writing.

Some of what we think or believe to be rules are conventions, not actual rules.

I have chosen to follow the Australian Government Style Manual and the Macquarie Dictionary for grammar, punctuation and spelling rules. Those are what I follow.

Everything else, to me, is a convention – like too many words that end in “ly”. It’s a convention. Not ending a sentence in “with” or something like that – it’s a convention.

Not starting a sentence with “and” or “but” – it’s a convention.

And, interestingly, most of these conventions were brought about in 1700s. Or thereabouts.

What I think, then, is that the English language is an evolving language. Take the word “Google”. It used to just be a brand name for the search engine on the Internet. It’s now a word in the dictionary.

“Google” is a prime example of the English language evolving as time moves on – like it has done all its life. So many words come from different languages. English comprises of a lot of old English words, but there are an awful lot of Latin, French, German, Greek and a whole heap more.

But going back to the rules.

One thing that I have taken on as a rule is this – my first draft (the raw writing I first put down) was told to me by my characters. It’s my job to write that story down as they tell it to me.

Then every draft after that is me refining that story so that others can understand it when they read it. So that others will be engrossed and drawn in by the characters, the setting and the plot.

That’s my job. Whether I do it well is a different matter.

But that is something I’m learning every day. I do trip up sometimes and that’s when I learn even more about writing.

Writing doesn’t come to us without a lot of hard work. We work at our career – and to me, writing is a career – and we work hard to improve throughout our writing career.

Never forget – we’re not too old to learn something new.

Talk to you all next fortnight!

Winter

Wow, did this hit with a vengeance! Soooooooooo cold!!!

And yes, the fire has been lit yet again! In fact, we lit it on Friday and all the cats abandoned us. When we got up yesterday morning, the embers were still warm!

Other than that, not a lot to say.

Updates

Clans in Conflict

Deadly Convergence – is out! This is a novella that happens 5 years before Dark Reign. It’s a story about a bank robbery involving Alex Travis (Dark Reign) and his partner, Chris McLaren. For those who have read Dark Reign, Chris is Alex’s former detective partner. That’s all I’m going to say.

Feel free to pick it up here.

The other Kindle Unlimited book is still being edited.

The Dark Road – still with beta reader.

Dark Beginnings – this is a story of where it all began. How Vlad became the Supreme and how Tordun grew. Still in development.

Bushland Castle Productions

The novella series of Otherworldly Emergence closes in July.

All of the information necessary is at the website:

https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/emergence

Join me in being part of this amazing opportunity.

Other Universes

Paranormal

I haven’t forgotten my paranormal pieces. At the moment, I’ve even added a ghost hunter to them. Which is interesting because he is using prayers to send ghosts onward to wherever they go after death. Matt is being built in a direction I have never gone before, so I’m challenging myself on his creation. While the concept is sound, I don’t really create characters like Matt for obvious reasons that everyone will see when his story comes out. No spoilers!

Shifters

I haven’t forgotten my shifter, either. He’s a bit on the backburner with the Otherworldly Emergence series coming out.

Malevictus

Same with Mal and his brother, Alloric. Although Alloric is exploring on his own – those who have been a part of this pair’s creation will know what I mean by that. I am working on that every now and then as well as editing Malevictus’s first story. Hmmf. Editing. Love to hate it.

Editing

While we’re on the subject of editing, there is one thing about editing that is interesting. It’s the place where you can learn to hone your craft.

I remember reading somewhere that one of the big name authors said – may have been Stephen King, but I haven’t read his book, so I’m not sure. Anyway, the person wrote that the first draft of any piece is the characters telling you the story and every other draft is you refining that story for your readers. Paraphrased, of course.

It’s also the place where, and this IS from Stephen King, you should not be afraid to kill your darlings. And we all know what he means by that.

Which I have done. I remember when I rewrote Dark Dimensions, I took something like 3,000 words out of it. Much to my dismay, it grew by a further 10,000 words. These things happen.

There are a couple of things that can cause issues with editing – like whether you’re a visual author or word-by-word. I am very much a visual author. I don’t see the words, I see and hear a movie while I write.

If you’re like me, this makes editing that much harder. Because an editor – and a proofreader, for that matter – both read word-by-word. It’s how editing works. At least that’s the end of the process.

When you’re editing your own work, you’re looking at trying to make the words work better, so sometimes you can still have that movie going while you’re editing.

But sometimes, you need to turn that movie off in order to edit what you’ve written. That’s where the hard part comes in. It’s a matter of being disciplined in seeing the words as well as the movie. It’s turning your whole thought processes around to see those words, yet still know where they fit in the movie.

Hence, I hate editing with a vengeance. But I do it. Because I want my work to be the very best it can be before it goes to the editor. I want my editor to see that I am growing in my craft. That my darlings are becoming more and more appropriate and useful and there’s nothing that I need to delete or change.

So, that’s my take on editing. But it’s only my take. You might have your own.

I dare you to go out and see what your editing can accomplish!

Happy writing until next time!

March is here!

First up – my apologies! I ran out of time for my last instalment!

Okay, updates.

Kindle Unlimited

Both stories are finished. Just waiting for beta readers still, then they’ll go to editing. Once they’ve gone through editing I’ll be able to get their covers and upload them! Excited and scared to see how they go.

Clans in Conflict

The Dark Road

Still waiting to hear back from the beta readers, but it shouldn’t be too long, now. I hate waiting. What about you?

Dark Beginnings

I am still writing this but I have given it a rest while I see what’s going on. I will get back to it, but I’d like to get The Dark Road out there first.

Consequences

Heart of Deception

Still waiting for beta readers. Again, shouldn’t be too long.

Legacy of Risks

I have actually sent this to a friend who can give me a better understanding of how this is going. Hopefully, they’ll enjoy what I have written.

Dangerous Heart

Currently tweaking this to fit with the other two books. I’d rather have it close to what they are before publishing it.

New universes

I have been working on the shifter, Alek. That has become very complicated family-wise as well. I don’t know if he and his cousin will forgive me.

Paranormal

I am looking at putting one of those into an anthology that a group I am part of is putting together this year. Just have to go through it.

The English Language

What is it with our unique language? Some words get combined while others don’t. Take the list below:

Insofar

Straightforward

Loungeroom

Bedroom

Bathroom

Nevertheless

Moreover

Moreso

Northbound

Westbound

Eastbound

Southbound

I know there are more out there – I should make a list of them! But why not the ones below:

Diningroom

What is it about those words that allows them to be combined, yet others aren’t allowed to be combined?

And what is it with spelling a word and yet the context used either has two different sounds or meanings?

Take

Lead – you either lead someone around or it’s a metal

But the metal sounds like “led”

February start

Wow! Already February! Hopefully, it won’t be as fast (I know, wishful thinking). Anyway, I have a lot of news.

Big one, big one – I have entered the Western Australian State Premier’s Writing Awards. Fingers are crossed that something will come of it.

Also, I have expanded my distribution and all 3 books will be released to other online stores on Wednesday 12 February. There are a few places I wouldn’t mind adding, but they’re emails to the company and I’ll look into that later.

That took me just about all of yesterday (Saturday)! But I got it done!

Kindle Unlimited

I have finished two stories to go into Kindle Unlimited, I’m just waiting for beta readers to have a look at those.

They’re both part of the Clans in Conflict universe and Alex Travis plays a role in those.

Clans in Conflict

I am still waiting on beta readers for The Dark Road. I’ve been promised they’re nearly finished, but I’m getting a little antsy on that.

For that reason, Dark Beginnings is still on hold. And that one I’m actually struggling with because there’s going to be a lot of politics in it and – well, that’s not really my strong point.

Consequences

Still waiting on proof readers to finish with Heart of Deception but it shouldn’t be too much longer.

I’m still editing Legacy of Risks and that’s still plodding along.

New universes

I had a quick look over Malevictus’s story yesterday and, yeah, that will need looking at before it goes out to beta readers.

And I’m still writing Alek’s story. (Don’t worry, I’m a little annoyed that it’s another Alek/Alex, too.) Poor shifter’s been through the ringer, just like his cousin.

Paranormal

I’m looking at a publishing house for the paranormal, but that will be a long way off. Any short stories will probably go under that banner as well.

New writing program

As I said last time, I have discovered Lore Forge and while I love it, I have had a few instances in the past week where it has frozen and blanked all the text. When it came back, all the text was there, but it was a little disconcerting. (Understatement – heart-pounding, sweat pouring – come on! Where are those words????)

I still like using it, though. It’s stripped back and works with my strange brain!

We’ve finally hit some cooler weather, but only until next Friday, then higher temps again. Oh, well, summer will be over soon. Like, 2 more months … then I’ll probably be complaining about the c-c-c-cold! Haha

Anyway, got some more writing to do, so have a great 2 weeks!

Full Steam Ahead

So, we’re almost half-way through January 2025. Can we all believe it? Where on earth did 2024 go? Did we all fall asleep and miss it (oh, wait, that’s Flash Forward!)?

Okay, updates on books.

Clans in Conflict : www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CTHRMJQW

The Dark Road is still with a beta reader, however, I have had verbal feedback that the story fits with Dark Dimensions and Dark Reign, so I’m just waiting for that to come back and then I’ll send that to the editor.

Of course, the other two (three) books can be found at the above link.

Dark Dimensions – sometime in the future I will combine both books and offer them as a special edition.

Consequences

Heart of Deception Edition 2 is currently with proofreaders, so hopefully that will be back soon. The cover will be completely different, but I’ll do a cover reveal when the time comes.

Legacy of Risks Edition 2 – I am still in the throws of editing this. I have decided to do a heavy edit, which means turning as many paragraphs around to see which works best. Of course, being a pantser and an author who sees everything as a big movie (yes, sounds and smells as well), I find this really hard which is why it’s taking a bit longer than I’d hoped.

Dangerous Heart has been rewritten, but I may do a heavy edit of that, also. Just to be sure it’s the best it possibly can be.

Other work.

I have decided to be brave.

I have a paranormal story of about 10,000 words which I’m going to put up on Kindle Unlimited. Just out of curiosity more than anything. Just to see how it goes. Wish me luck!

Website

The website is still progressing. Hopefully I’ll be able to work on it a bit more. I have been distracted by all the Christmas/New Year celebrations!

Other writing stuff

English spelling and meanings

I won’t cover everything here – there’s just too much!

Gotta love the English language – when you can have two words with similar spelling but mean different things and sound completely different – or two words with exactly the same spelling but sound and mean two different things.

Take for instance, the word ‘lead’.

LEAD – to lead someone around – this is pronounced ‘leed’ but basically someone or an animal follows you around – or it could be a group of people or animals.

LEAD – a metal – this is pronounced ‘led’ but relates to an actual physical metal (yeah, don’t quote me – it could be an alloy but I don’t have a scientific bone in me!)

Then you get this as well.

LED – you have led someone around – this is pronounced ‘led’ but is not a metal. It is a past-tense of the ‘lead’ in the first instance, meaning you’ve led someone or an animal or a group of people or animals around.

Have I confused everyone yet? I’m not surprised if I have! As I said, the joys of the English language!

If you’re very unlucky, I might put some more of these gems out in a fortnight!

Until then, have a great fortnight and conquer the world!

New year

Well, it’s almost the end of 2024!

What a year it’s been.

I’ve successfully wrenched control of one of my books from the defunct publisher and managed to publish a second edition of it. So, it’s in 2 parts, but in the future I may put out a single version so both parts are in one book. At over 160,000 words, it’s going to be a huge book.

I have also successfully published its sequel. This was due to be published by the original publisher, but I’m glad it wasn’t because I didn’t have to jump through any hoops to publish it.

So, on with news!

Clans in Conflict

As I said, Dark Dimensions Parts 1 and 2 are available to purchase from Amazon. I have yet to take it to other distributors. I’m still working on that.

Dark Reign, the sequel, is also published through Amazon and will be distributed more widely hopefully some time in the near future.

The Dark Road, the third book in the series, is with beta readers to check for its pacing, etc., and whether it actually works as a story.

Dark Beginnings – the story of Vlad the Supreme – is currently being written, but I still have a lot of other things to do before I can finish that.

Dark Dimensions Parts 1 and 2, and Dark Reign can be found here: www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CTHRMJQW

Consequences

Heart of Deception Edition 2 has been edited and is with a beta reader to see whether they can pick up any issues with it. Cover artist is already working on the cover art for that.

Legacy of Risks is still being rewritten. It will be an edition 2 when it’s completed. That needs to go to the editor and beta readers, so it will be a while yet.

Dangerous Heart has been edited but needs tweaking, but as it has not been published it is still an edition 1.

Website

I am still working on my website rebuild. With all of the upheaval with Christmas and New Year, I didn’t really get a chance to work on it, but I will get back to it. I have built some of it but I need to really spend some time on it.

General stuff

Aircon is fixed just in time for another heat wave from Tuesday onwards! We’ve had some cooler weather which was a great respite, but now the aircon is fixed it’s much more bearable.

Hopefully, next time I’ll have more news to share with you!

In the meantime, have a safe and great New Year and talk to you in 2025 (oh, that’s scary!)!