NaNoWriMo 2023 Project Announcement

Hi all, 

With November on the horizon it's time for me to announce my project for NaNoWriMo. This time, I'm going to be writing 50K words of the first draft of Original Elementals #7: Stormburst. Now that I've taken a break to write Missing Constellations, I feel a lot more refreshed to step back into the Elemental Dragons universe. 

First off, what is NaNoWriMo? It’s a yearly writing event where you have the month of November to write 50,000 words. This can be for a new book or an already existing project. I always start new books for this event.

This book will be bittersweet as the main character, Logan, is based off my late cat, Rocky. Everything will be written in his perspective, though he won't be exactly the same as his clone, Rocky, in Elemental Dragons. I miss my cat a lot and I'm hoping that this book will bring me further towards healing. It's going to be hard to write as he's always going to be in the back of my mind but I know he would want me to keep writing. 

This story will focus on Logan and his dragon, Stormburst. His mission is to help Sea Serpents. Although it isn't going to be as easy as he expected. First he needs to track down a Sea Serpent, which is difficult when you're locked up in a camp with guards patrolling at all hours of the morning. He already doesn't trust Zmei so will not be listening to their advice much. 

Stormburst is not fully developed enough to fly with a rider, but because Western Dragons are so new their companions aren't aware of this fact yet. She has had a growth spurt between books but not enough for her to support Logan on her back. The book will delve into his disappointment with this and how this affects his relationship with her. 

The other Originals will appear as well, but mainly Benjamin as he is Logan's best friend. 

I'm looking forward to diving back into the Elemental Dragons universe as I really need to scratch that itch to write about dragons! Completing this book will draw the series even closer to it's end and I can't wait to start publishing these books. 

That's it for this week! I hope you enjoyed reading, see you next Sunday. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these fantasy book bundles:

Silver Winged September: KU Fantasy Adventures that take to the sky!

Abundant Woo-niverse Giveaways for Magical Realism, Supernatural, Paranormal, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi

Why I Love Participating in Anthologies

Hi all! 

If you've been checking out my other publications page, you've probably seen the list of anthologies that I've been published in. When I write short stories, I submit only to anthologies now. Why? Read below! 

Physical copies. 

Anthologies are far more likely to do physical copies when published. I love lining them all up on my bookshelf to see how much I've been published in. One anthology that I was included in even sent out a physical copy as part of the payment for submitting, which I thought was really nice. 

Builds your portfolio. 

You can add Anthologies that you've submitted to when you're pitching to agents and publishers. The fact that you already have work out there shows that you're dedicated to your craft and also boosts your letters if you're struggling to find stuff to add to it. 

Free Submission. 

I only submit to anthologies that don't have a submission fee. Not because they're not worth it, but because I don't think it's right to charge authors a lot of money to have one short story published in the book. I know some authors prefer only submitting to paid ones, but I like to keep my budget for my own books. 

Different Themes. 

I've found that my writing has gotten a lot better when I broaden the themes. My favourite theme so far is one about nephilim. I found the subject so intriguing that I knew I needed to write something for it straight away. 

Collaborative Project. 

I really love reading other authors’ stories. I love seeing an insight into how their minds work and how their writing differs from mine. You can find your new favourite author in an anthology if you look hard enough! 

More Variety. 

I can write a variety of short stories or even submit ones that have been sat in my folder for a while. It gets them out there and it also drives me to go outside of my comfort zone on some occasions. 

That's it for this week! I hope you enjoy reading, see you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

Silver Winged September: KU Fantasy Adventures that take to the sky!

Abundant Woo-niverse Giveaways for Magical Realism, Supernatural, Paranormal, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi

July Camp NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up

Hi all,

Another NaNoWriMo is done! This one was for Missing Constellations, which I’m hoping to launch as a Patreon exclusive at some point. This event was the best I’ve done in a while and I found myself getting more and more drawn into the story.

Missing Constellations follows Ataraxia and Laelaps, two constellations from Greek mythology who become stranded on Earth. The book contains various creatures from mythology, including: the Namean Lion, Scylla, Charybdis, Chrysomallus and Cerberus. There will be more as I continue writing, as I’ve found that the story isn’t quite done yet!

Instead, Missing Constellations will now be a trilogy. The series will be called Empty Skies, and the other two books will be called:

Book #2: Freezing Constellations

Book #3: Blazing Constellations

My final word count is…

I managed to complete the first draft the day after NaNoWriMo ended and the story is over 77K in total.

Ataraxia is a lot more adventurous than Laelaps and is more likely to rush headfirst into situations. Her power means that she always escapes anything, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t get hurt. Laelaps’ power is to always catch whatever he chases. Unlike Ataraxia, he is anxious and hates fighting. The book explores his anxiety and how much he struggles with everything that they have to do. But Ataraxia is always by his side and willing to help in whatever way she can.

They are joined by the Namean Lion, who calls himself Ichor, and Cerberus. Together, the four of them battle to take down The Remnants. A trio of beings who represent the anger and loneliness in the world. They were locked away in Tartarus, but have now managed to escape. They have blessed three monsters with immortality in exchange for getting rid of the constellations. The one that they fight in this book is The Missing, who has blessed Scylla with immortality. Scylla uses a pack of dogs to do her bidding for her and wants nothing more than to rid the world of the gods and the constellations.

I’m not sure when I’ll start writing book two as I want to get through the rest of the Original Elementals series first. But I would still love for this series to be a Patreon exclusive and then eventually end up on Amazon. I love this universe and I can’t wait to share the stories with you.

That’s it for this week! Next week I’m going to be talking about my first solo book signing, so keep an eye out for that! See you next Sunday.

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before they disappear!

Celebrating Book Lovers

Angels of August: Fantasy Novels & Box Sets Galore

A Milestone in NaNoWriMo

Hi all,

Ever since I joined NaNoWriMo in 2018 I've tried my best to take part in all of the events that they offer yearly. I've written fourteen books during NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo and I've just hit a massive milestone...

One million words written!

If you haven't heard of NaNoWriMo, it's an event that happens three times a year where you have to hit a writing or editing goal. I always go for the usual 50K words in a month.

I've never counted up all the words that I've written but I'm so glad that NaNoWriMo gives you the option of doing so on your profile. I've seen that number tick up over the years and I'm so glad that it's now at one million. Every book that I've written for NaNoWriMo will eventually be published and I love adding the covers to each of the projects and marking them as published.

If you're curious, the projects that make up the one million words are:

Elemental Dragons #3: Glass and Ice

Elemental Dragons #4: Cinder and Fire

Celestial Plague #2: Heaven

Years 

Mute

Curse of Anubis #1 (Name Change Pending)

Curse of Anubis #3 (Name Change Pending)

Curse of Anubis #4 (Name Change Pending)

Original Elementals #1: Frostbite

Original Elementals #3: Shadowhunter

Celestial Plague #4: Hell

Original Elementals #5: Tempest

Orignal Elementals #6: Sunrise

Missing Constellations

I'd love to hit two million words written and I will keep writing for NaNoWriMo events. It has helped me so much with my writing and I love adding my daily word count to the website to see the numbers tick up.

That's it for this week! Next week I'm going to do a wrap-up for July Camp NaNoWriMo, see you then!

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

Celebrating Book Lovers

Angels of August: Fantasy Novels & Box Sets Galore

My Feline Co-Author

Hi all! 

It's been a while since I wrote a post about Mishka, so I thought I would rectify that! She's my five year old cat who has been with me through several books. 

Writing. 

She assists me with my writing, usually by headbutting my phone or laptop. Occasionally she will place a paw on the keyboard to try to add stuff in. If I spend too long writing and not paying her enough attention, she will walk all over me until I pet her. She's always making sure that I take enough breaks. 

Editing. 

If I spend too long editing, she let's me know by screaming or walking over my laptop. Unfortunately she has a habit of deleting sentences that I often have to re-write anyway. A bit annoying, but helpful in the end.

Formatting. 

While I'm formatting my books, she usually takes this time to curl up beside me. Either by my hip or by my armpit. I guess this is the time she knows not to disturb me too much, except if I've done it too long without a break. 

Uploading books to Amazon. 

Despite publishing eight books, I still get nervous whenever it's time to hit publish. Luckily I have Mishka beside me. Just stroking her while she purrs eases my anxiety while my book uploads. She makes me feel better about the whole process. 

Marketing. 

Now we're back to headbutting my laptop. She loves doing this, just to let me know that she's still around and wants my attention. Whenever I run Amazon ads she wanders in front of the screen so I can't check the numbers too often. Either that or she paws at the keyboard.

Despite her being annoying sometimes, I wouldn't swap her for anything in the world. She's become a vital part of my author career, even if she is just screaming. I know I'm not the only one who has pets that help them write, quite a lot of authors have fuzzy companions to help them! 

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week. 

My Favourite Greek Myths

Hi all! 

As I am now writing the first draft of Missing Constellations, I thought I'd tell you about my favourite Greek myths. 

Laelaps and the Teumessian Fox. 

This should come as a surprise to no-one as I'm writing a book about them! This was always one of my favourite myths, mostly due to the fact that it's a paradox. They can't touch each other without one winning over the other. I always knew I wanted to write a book about them and I'm so glad that I can do that now. 

Perseus and Medusa. 

There are so many iterations of this myth but I still think it's one of the best. In some, Medusa is the victim and in others she's just a monster. Either way, Perseus defeating her with the gifts that the gods gave him is always a great read. 

Pegasus. 

Winged horses are always beautiful in my opinion and Pegasus will be in Missing Constellations too. I couldn't leave out one of my favourites! 

Hercules and Cerberus.

I named one of the dragons in Elemental Dragons after the three headed canine so of course it would be one of my favourites! I love how Hercules managed to wrangle him in the end and marched him out of the underworld. 

Jason and the Golden Fleece. 

This one is really popular and I can see why. I've watched several films where Jason has had to retrieve the golden fleece and the story never gets boring. The fleece is even mentioned in Missing Constellations, but I haven't decided if it will make an appearance yet. 

There are so many great myths out there but these ones are definitely my favourites. I grew up watching Jason and the Argonauts and Hercules. I loved reading mythological books before I went to sleep too. It's no wonder that I'm now writing about the myths themselves! 

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

PS; last day to check out this Sci-Fi bundle!

SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS THAT KNOCK YOU OUT JUNE 1ST -- JULY 1ST

The Impact of Writing on Mental Health

Hi all! 

This week I wanted to talk about the impact writing can have on your mental health. Writing can help me immensely when I feel low, but sometimes that can reflect what I write. I thought I'd list a few things here. 

Relieves stress. 

Even if you only write a few words a day, I've found that writing can be a huge stress reliever. It lets your mind wander for a bit instead of worrying. 

Get your emotions out. 

Writing can be a good way to get your emotions out, good and bad. It may help you with how you're feeling and relieve some of the pressure. However, this can also be a double-edged sword. I find that when I'm mentally ill, this reflects in my writing a lot. I tend to write the characters with what I'm going through and how I'm feeling. This is especially evident in Street Rats, which has taken over the entire story. 

It's an escape. 

You can escape for however long you want in writing. Even if it's just for a few minutes every day. It gives your mind a rest from what's going on in the world. But this can get unhealthy if you're doing this too often, you need to make sure that you're not making yourself more sick by writing longer than you need to. 

Improved mood. 

It can help improve your mood as it gives you something else to focus on. Afterwards you can come back from it with a clearer mind. 

Organises your thoughts. 

Writing can help you organise your thoughts and feelings by writing them down. You don't even need to write a story, you can just write about your feelings and what made you feel that way. 

I hope this blog post can make you feel better about writing, even if you don't feel like you're in the best mental state. I've found writing to be such a good thing for me and it gives me an escape but also a way to get my feelings down. I love writing and it has definitely helped me when I've been at my lowest. 

That's it for this week, see you next Sunday! 

A Fun Monthly Writing Challenge

Hi all,

This week I’m going to talk about a monthly writing challenge I usually take part in, called Furious Fiction. I was introduced to this by the chairman of my writing group. He sends the email around each month and we can participate and share our stories if we want to. I try to take part as much as I can, though sometimes because of NaNoWriMo or not being able to come up with an idea for the prompt I don’t contribute.

First off, what is Furious Fiction?

It is a writing challenge that launches on the first weekend of each month. On the Friday, an email is sent out with the prompts and you need to squeeze it into 500 words. They usually supply a few words that have to be in your story as well as another challenge. This month’s was to write a story in the middle of something. I went with the middle of a trial, which Bastet has to complete without being killed by a zombie lioness.

The email goes out on Friday and you have 55 hours to write your story and submit it. The ones who manage the challenge are Australian, so you have to go by Australian time to submit it before the deadline. They have a countdown on their website when the challenge is live which is really handy to keep track of how much time you have left!

So far all of the stories that I have written for this challenge have been set in the Curse of Anubis universe. Two have been in Bastet’s perspective, while the others have been various unnamed characters that kick off certain events of the story. I’m hoping to get these stories submitted to anthologies instead of collecting them together for the Curse of Anubis Short Story Collection. There are other stories that I want to write for that book, but Furious Fiction really helps with getting other ideas out.

I’ve participated in a few of their challenges and I find them all really fun, it’s a good way to flex your writing muscles and write on a strict deadline. Some of the words that you have to add in can sometimes be hard to work in too, so it takes a lot of thinking.

I love participating in this challenge and a lot of the members of the writing group that I’m a part of write stories for it too. It’s really interesting to see what others come up with the same prompts and deadline. I’m going to try to participate as much as possible, even if I don’t win! The winner and the shortlist entries are all displayed on their website once all the entries have been read. The winner receives $500.

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS THAT KNOCK YOU OUT JUNE 1ST -- JULY 1ST

Summer Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books in Kindle Unlimited!

Pride Month - Character Edition

Hi all!

Last year I wrote a blog post about the dragons in the Elemental Dragons universe for Pride Month. This year I thought I would list the characters that I have written so far that are LQBTQIA+. This will be for characters who are either main characters or important side characters, so not every character is included. You may not know them all yet, but they will all be appearing in my books in the future.

Elemental Dragons

Wes - Gay.

Braith - Lesbian.

Violet - Asexual.

Original Elementals

Francesca - Lesbian.

Lucia - Pansexual.

Su-hyeon - Gay.

Tiegan - Genderfluid Bisexual.

Benjamin - Bisexual.

Mute

Audra - Asexual.

Briar - Non-Binary.

Hanne - Demisexual Lesbian.

Years

Cheyenne - Bisexual.

Celestial Plague

Raya - Bisexual.

Shannon - Lesbian.

Ashleigh - Asexual Aromantic.

Jenna - Lesbian.

Cindy - Lesbian.

Curse of Anubis

Darrus - Bisexual.

Fawn - Non-Binary Pansexual.

Eddy - Demisexual Pansexual.

Bastet - Lesbian.

Sekhmet - Bisexual.

Mafdet - Demisexual.

Thoth - Non-Binary.

Street Rats

Hailey - Bisexual.

Blythe - Lesbian.

Eularia - Lesbian.

Rix - Genderfluid .

Shiloh - Gay.

Missing Constellations

Laelaps - Gay.

Teumessian Fox - Asexual.

I am Bisexual myself, so I know the importance of including LGBTQIA+ characters in my books. I like to explore the relationships between characters and show that sometimes it’s not as easy to be in a relationship as some make it out to be. A lot of my characters are Bisexual and I think it’s important to raise awareness about Bisexual relationships.This list isn’t complete as the more books I write, the more characters I will create. There will be plenty of LGBTQIA+ characters in my books in the future and I can’t wait to write about them,

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

Summer Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books in Kindle Unlimited!

SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS THAT KNOCK YOU OUT JUNE 1ST -- JULY 1ST

April Camp NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up

Hi all!

With Camp NaNoWriMo over with, I thought I’d talk a bit more about the project I was working on. Original Elementals #6: Sunrise is almost complete, I’m hoping to get it done within the next few days.

This book follows the first Light Elemental, Lucia, and her dragon companion, Sunrise. The two of them have never gotten on, due to the fact that Lucia wishes that she had a different dragon and has made several attempts across the series to try and swap him for a ‘better’ one. Because of this, Sunrise is quite angry and depressed, he doesn’t play like other dragons and loves to fight. This one is set outside of Aria, so the other Originals only make brief appearances. This book also delves more into the Amphiptere species, how they act and why Lucia’s father uses their scales and feathers to make clothes.

My final word count is…

The rest of the first draft should be finished in the next few days and then I can take a break until Camp NaNoWriMo in July.

The main character was a lot of fun to write about, as she’s gotten some screen time in the other books but the other Originals don’t see her as much more than an annoyance. In Sunrise, she got her chance to shine and grow and lose some of her attitude that has been showcased in the other books. She’s also another one to complete defy Zmei and forge her own path, even if her opinion was different than when she started. She has never trusted Zmei and knew that when it was time for her mission that she wouldn’t complete it.

The Amphiptere are showcased in all of their glory in this book. Ever since I wrote the short story, Orange to Blue, I’ve wanted to write more about them and explore them a bit further. In Sunrise, they live on a farm in the mountains that Lucia’s father runs. They are kept in small cages but are fed well. They shed twice a year, on the Summer and Winter Solstices. Their shed skin is then collected to be fashioned into clothes.

Overall this book was a lot of fun to write and once I’ve finished it I can take a break from the Original Elementals series. I’m still sticking to my plan of writing three books and then a completely different standalone to keep my mind fresh. But I’ll talk more about that project in July!

I hope you enjoyed reading, see you next week!

PS; don’t forget to check out this giveaway:

Great Books Giveaway!