Writers can often be plagued by self-doubt; this one certainly is! During the creative process idea's that pop into your head can get you really excited about your work and create something of a mini adrenaline rush; you can't wait to get this latest little gem down on paper! (or laptop!) Then, of course you sit back and admire this literary masterpiece and after a while the shine seems to where off - maybe it wasn't that brilliant after all? Perhaps it was pretty poor? No, actually it was downright rubbish! How could we even think about putting this in the story? No, it's got to go!
So, it's hard sometimes not to follow that by hitting the delete button, instead of remembering that you have just re-read it for the umpteenth time and therefore it's obviously not going to have the same effect on you. It's like re-reading your favourite book; I can't remember how many times I've read Pride and Prejudice and although I still love to read it, it will never have quite the same magic as the first time - there's still magic it's just a different kind of magic - like settling down for an evening with an old, familiar friend!
However when someone else reads your work their comments are invaluable; you're getting that 'first impressions' effect again and when they get that same feeling you had when you wrote it you finally know that you were right to stay away from the delete button! I love it when readers understand the characters the way you were kind of hoping they would, or when they comment on a particular setting or scene; you know exactly what you're trying to convey and so it's great to know that someone else is 'seeing' it too. Of course constructive criticism is just as good - knowing what the reader doesn't like is just as important as knowing what they did.
I suppose what I'm trying to say here is the next time you read a book, especially if it's not the latest blockbusting best seller, spare a thought for the one who put their heart and soul into creating it and let them know what you think!
Happy reading!
Kim
Saturday, 30 May 2015
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Arthur's Sword : Published!
So, finally The Chronicles of Prudence the Foundling Fairy Vol. 2 is now published and available to purchase from Amazon on kindle or in paperback. It has taken a little longer than the 'week or so' that I promised in my last post, but as my daughter (and i.t. adviser!) is currently pregnant with Grandbaby no. 2 I have done all the formatting and editing myself as I think she has enough on her plate right now!
As I said before I am really pleased with the story and the way it is progressing. I did intend to take a break and concentrate on my other project (a ghost mystery) once vol. 2 was finished, but I can already feel Prudence pulling me back into her world - especially as I did leave her and her friends in something of a precarious situation at the end of this book! Nevertheless I'm exhausted - this year has been pretty eventful - and I do feel I need time to re-charge the creative batteries a little so a short respite may be in order.
Of course I do also need to concentrate on that necessary evil when self-publishing; marketing. Promoting the new title, as well as volume 1 is something that I have been neglecting of late so I suppose that must take priority now. As you've probably gathered this is the part of the whole process that I really don't enjoy, so I'm just going to say; it's out there -
enjoy!
Kim
Sunday, 12 April 2015
Yay! It's Finished!
Hello everyone - it's nice to be back! I know it's been a long time since I published a post but I was absolutely determined that my next post was going to be 'Yay, it's finished!' So here we are at last; The Chronicles of Prudence volume two, Arthur's Sword is finally finished! It's only taken me a year - a tiny bit longer than I had hoped, but when you're holding down a full time job sticking to any kind of schedule for writing is proving to be difficult. I am pleased with the way the story has gone and the development of the characters, particularly Prudence and Rupert - I've had a lot of fun with those two! It's also been great to be able to weave in a little more of the Arthurian legend into the story and as well as dragons, magical swords and a dark wizard, the Lady of the Lake also makes an appearance in this volume.
I am now in the process of editing which some writers seem to find tedious, but I quite enjoy. It's nice to be able to go back and just 'fine tune' a few things and make sure you're completely happy with everything. The hard part with editing is knowing when to stop; it's so easy to just keep 'tweaking' and thinking that there's always some little way you can improve things when most of the time the improvements are just not necessary.
Publishing should follow in a week or so and then I am going to take a little break (well the decorating still needs finishing!) before tackling volume three, and getting my other project 'The Legacy of Vengeance' finished.
Thanks for reading - and staying with me
Kim
Wednesday, 11 February 2015
A & E, Mickey Mouse and a new kitchen!
Despite my resolutions for the new year I have been a little slack again with the old blog posts - however I really do have genuine, proper excuses this time! First of all I haven't been too well (going for the sympathy vote here). I've been having a few problems with low blood pressure which resulted in a dramatic - and embarrassing - dash to A & E from work. Happy to say that after a quick m.o.t the issue has been resolved and everything seems to be back to normal again now although it did leave me a little lacking in energy for a while.
We have also been planning a little family trip to EuroDisney with my Granddaughter. We were originally planning to go at Easter, but trying to get everybody together has proved to be a bit more difficult than we had first thought and so we are now going next weekend as this was the only time we could all get the time off work together! Now, as my passport had expired I had to sacrifice a precious day off to go to Peterborough to get that sorted. Would just like to say on that note that this process was a lot simpler than I thought it would be!
Finally, the new kitchen; this has been taking up a bit of time as I'm sure you can imagine although it has infected me with the 'let's decorate' bug! And, in fairness the whole house is in need of a little TLC.
On the plus side, despite all that has been going on I am making good progress with the two projects I have on the go at the moment. I only have a couple more chapters to do of the second volume of the Prudence series so that should be ready for editing very shortly.
I would also just like to share with you this picture, drawn by the amazingly talented Lucy Daine. This is a picture she has done of Prince Rupert, one of the characters from the Prudence series of books. She is also helping me with the design for the cover of the new book.
We have also been planning a little family trip to EuroDisney with my Granddaughter. We were originally planning to go at Easter, but trying to get everybody together has proved to be a bit more difficult than we had first thought and so we are now going next weekend as this was the only time we could all get the time off work together! Now, as my passport had expired I had to sacrifice a precious day off to go to Peterborough to get that sorted. Would just like to say on that note that this process was a lot simpler than I thought it would be!
Finally, the new kitchen; this has been taking up a bit of time as I'm sure you can imagine although it has infected me with the 'let's decorate' bug! And, in fairness the whole house is in need of a little TLC.
On the plus side, despite all that has been going on I am making good progress with the two projects I have on the go at the moment. I only have a couple more chapters to do of the second volume of the Prudence series so that should be ready for editing very shortly.
I would also just like to share with you this picture, drawn by the amazingly talented Lucy Daine. This is a picture she has done of Prince Rupert, one of the characters from the Prudence series of books. She is also helping me with the design for the cover of the new book.
If you would like to see more of Lucy's artwork check out her facebook page Serendipity Art here
Kim
Friday, 23 January 2015
The Legacy of Vengeance - new title
I am currently working on two separate projects; the first being the second volume of The Chronicles of Prudence and the other a ghost/murder/mystery. This is just a little post about the latter of the two. The legacy of Vengeance is actually just a working title and I'm not sure yet if it's what I'm actually going to go with. I'm not completely happy with it to be honest, but I'll see when I've finished if it feels right or not.
The story centres around the character of Alex Sherwood, a young doctor with a successful career and a seemingly stable and secure future. However, Alex has a dark and tragic event in his past which haunts him continually. As a young boy of sixteen Alex was living in the small market town of Daringby, a peaceful and happy existence. During the summer of that year a team of archaeologists arrive in the town to investigate a local ancient monument. Alex and a group of his friends volunteer to help out on the dig and soon develop a keen interest in the subject. Other local people however are not so keen on digging up the site as there are a lot of local suspicions about the place being haunted, and they prefer to stay away. The idea of ghosts though, just piques the interest of Alex and his friends and one night they decide to go up to the site to do a spot of ghost hunting. They become separated in an early morning mist and rather than ghost,s a much more sinister protagonist stalks them and one of their number, Alex's girlfriend, Lydia Garnham is brutally murdered.
As the police investigation into her murder drags on with little success local gossip and suspicion begins to fall on Alex; a lover's tiff that got out of hand being the way most thoughts are going. Although there is little evidence to really point the finger at anyone let alone Alex the gossips do not relent and eventually Alex and his family move away and start a new life in a new town.
For fifteen years Alex never goes back to Daringby although what happened there continues to haunt him. He finally returns to visit an old friend and discovers that all those that were with Lydia at the site on the night she died are still just as disturbed by what happened as Alex. Why was her killer never found? Why was there such a lack of evidence? Why didn't any of them see anything? And, what happened to the murder weapon? Once he is there Alex soon realises that he can't just walk away from Daringby again; he has to do something, however remote his chances of success to find some answers.
He joins forces with Abi Jordan, the daughter of one of the archaeologists who had been working on the site at the time of Lydia's death, but he then discovers that Abi has her own motivation to find the truth when it becomes obvious that her father is not being entirely honest about his own involvement in the events of that night.
So that's it, a very brief outline that I hope is enough to make you want to read more! I am working on having it ready for publication by the end of April, but as you all know I'm rubbish with deadlines so be prepared for that to get pushed back a little! I will keep you updated!
Kim
The story centres around the character of Alex Sherwood, a young doctor with a successful career and a seemingly stable and secure future. However, Alex has a dark and tragic event in his past which haunts him continually. As a young boy of sixteen Alex was living in the small market town of Daringby, a peaceful and happy existence. During the summer of that year a team of archaeologists arrive in the town to investigate a local ancient monument. Alex and a group of his friends volunteer to help out on the dig and soon develop a keen interest in the subject. Other local people however are not so keen on digging up the site as there are a lot of local suspicions about the place being haunted, and they prefer to stay away. The idea of ghosts though, just piques the interest of Alex and his friends and one night they decide to go up to the site to do a spot of ghost hunting. They become separated in an early morning mist and rather than ghost,s a much more sinister protagonist stalks them and one of their number, Alex's girlfriend, Lydia Garnham is brutally murdered.
As the police investigation into her murder drags on with little success local gossip and suspicion begins to fall on Alex; a lover's tiff that got out of hand being the way most thoughts are going. Although there is little evidence to really point the finger at anyone let alone Alex the gossips do not relent and eventually Alex and his family move away and start a new life in a new town.
For fifteen years Alex never goes back to Daringby although what happened there continues to haunt him. He finally returns to visit an old friend and discovers that all those that were with Lydia at the site on the night she died are still just as disturbed by what happened as Alex. Why was her killer never found? Why was there such a lack of evidence? Why didn't any of them see anything? And, what happened to the murder weapon? Once he is there Alex soon realises that he can't just walk away from Daringby again; he has to do something, however remote his chances of success to find some answers.
He joins forces with Abi Jordan, the daughter of one of the archaeologists who had been working on the site at the time of Lydia's death, but he then discovers that Abi has her own motivation to find the truth when it becomes obvious that her father is not being entirely honest about his own involvement in the events of that night.
So that's it, a very brief outline that I hope is enough to make you want to read more! I am working on having it ready for publication by the end of April, but as you all know I'm rubbish with deadlines so be prepared for that to get pushed back a little! I will keep you updated!
Kim
Sunday, 4 January 2015
Reflections and Resolutions
This is not the most original of subjects for this time of year I know, but like everyone I am feeling a little reflective. 2014 was definitely something of a memorable year for me; getting my work into print was a dream come true and I still can't believe I can actually call myself a published author now! I have had such a lot of support from friends and family and I really want to thank everyone for that especially all those who bought the book and have been so positive about it. It's a great motivation to know that others are actually getting some enjoyment out of what you are doing. A special mention has to go out to my daughter, Kay who has helped me so much with all the technical stuff. I really couldn't have done this without her.I didn't really make much use of the time I've had off for Christmas - which wasn't a lot I have to say - but Christmas is for relaxing with the family, having fun and eating chocolate which I certainly managed to achieve!
So, resolutions.............
Well this is easy; I need to be a little more organised with my writing, both the stories and this blog. I know, I couldn't be much worse surely - at least where the blog is concerned! I am going to attempt to stick to deadlines a little more. I did ask Santa for a few more hours in the day or days in the week, but he wasn't very forthcoming so I'm going to have to make do with what I've got! Oh yes, and a little less chocolate from now on!
For the first half of the year I have two projects on the go, the second volume of 'The Chronicles of Prudence' and 'The Legacy of Vengeance' a sort of romantic ghost mystery aimed at a bit of an older audience. I am setting myself the goal of having them both finished by April. 'The Chronicles of Prudence' shouldn't be a problem as that is in the final stages of writing and the ghost story is one that I have had kicking around now for a long time so it's just a case of reworking and updating. I will be doing a separate post shortly all about 'The Legacy of Vengeance' and what to expect from this story.
So, that's it - I'm really excited about the coming year and I hope you'll stay with me through all that 2015 has to hold.
Kim
Sunday, 7 December 2014
A little thing called Christmas
I know, I'm so undisciplined when it comes to my writing! As I've said before I think that's what I like about self-publishing - you don't have to stick to other people's deadlines, although I know when I'm back at work tomorrow I'll be wishing I was at home writing! Still, this time of year is so much fun - especially when you have a two year old granddaughter to share the fun with! As far as 'Arthur's Sword' is concerned I have revised my target date for publishing (again) to early in the new year - and I really, really am going to try and stick to that!
Kim.
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