Ah, the baby is out with husband shopping for food, the
cinnamon rolls are rising in the oven, I’ve done the washing up, put on the
laundry, managed to brush my hair and
pour a coffee. I’ve not drunk the
coffee… it’s now stone cold, and I expect I’ll have the baby and husband come
in any second, put a stop to my writing, and any chance of updating my blog
(until baby has afternoon nap in which I’m actually meant to be tidying up the
allotment).
Things have been manic.
As my friend Kirsty says, “Yes, it has everything to do with having
children.” So it’s not just me being
disorganised (is that me relieved or worried?)
But I just can’t help myself.
I’ve been doing more writing now, having given Wyvern Publications a
limited amount of time while I focus on my own work (after three years of
helping other authors, editing other manuscripts, and learning things about PDF
that I never knew I’d need to know, I’m now looking at getting my own work out
and about).
We’re also mid-move.
Still waiting on one mortgage (or re-mortgage) but the company changed
the rules half way through our application and have asked us to re-apply and
pay more fees (which I am assured by our financial advisor he’ll get back for
us). I’m sure everything will pan out
fine, but home isn’t home anymore, it’s become a building site. Not to mention, I can’t get over how much
builders make. On a per-hour basis, it’s
looking mighty fine – I think doctors get less!
So, maybe I’ll stop this writing lark and pick up some tiling equipment
(as that seems to need less start up items than the rest of the building
choices, lol).
Oops, rolls out of the oven now (nearly missed it!) and
coffee still stone cold but now half finished.
Right, where was I?
Ah, just a writing update (curses, the door is opening and I’m needed
for baby-pushchair retrieval)…
Okay, now, where was I.
Writing. That’s it. I’m halfway done with the latest edit of
Blood Tide (followers will know I’ve been reworking this novel for the past two
years) and I’m hoping to (truly) get it up on kindle before Christmas. It will be my first time using the kindle
upload pages, although I’d like to do the same with The Faerie
Conspiracies. I’m not even going to look
for an agent for Blood Tide – it has dialect and therefore is risky. Agents aren’t taking any risks. Main publishers aren’t either. There is a revolution in the publishing
industry and it’s been easier than ever to self-publish. Agents are in dire straights, but still need
authors, who no longer need them. The
average self-published author makes $10,000 a year from their writing (this is
an average, about half will not, according to recent survey, make more than
$500, many won’t make their money back if they’ve paid someone to do it for
them). But have a look at the kindle
book Memory of Snow by Kirsty Ferry – you’ll find some excellent fiction just
at a click of a button.
Aside from editing Blood Tide, it’s been all about keeping
up with the quota of stories needed for knowonder.com, who’ve been amazing to
work for. It may have taken a few months
longer for the re-launch, but the wait was well worth it. Lillia and Rose, my latest children’s novel
is going more slowly than I’d anticipated, but I don’t mind. I’m enjoying taking my time over it. I’ve also been sending some submissions out
to various paying anthologies.
With the house move on hold, most of my jewellery making has
been on hold too. But I have got a
workbench sourced (second hand kitchen top) and some more tools for cutting and
soldering. I’m keen on working with some
traditional techniques for a set of medieval rings that I can take to the next
Oyster Fayre.
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