Sara Martin's Blog, page 6

An unexpected visit from the inspiration fairy

Photo by Thomas Lefebvre on Unsplash

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes during my little bout with Covid. The worst is over now, thank goodness 🙌

I was worried I’d fall behind with writing while I was sick, but apart from one zero word day, it didn't impact me too much, and I was able to stay on track.

Also, something strange happened. On the day I felt sickest, that’s when inspiration decided to strike. I went to my computer, half delirious, and a torrent of words came out. I also re-outlin...

Clashing with the Covid 😷

April is here. A fresh new quarter for fresh new goals. Too bad I’m not feeling very fresh right now.

T has Covid. I’m still testing negative, but I have symptoms, and it’s impossible to isolate from each other in our small home, so it’s likely I have it too.

This is our first experience with the virus. After avoiding it for so long, it seemed inevitable we’d catch it eventually. And here we are.

We received a large grocery order yesterday, and we’re hunkering down for a week to recover. Fingers cr...

Money musing and K-drama watching

I’ve been thinking about money lately. Last Tuesday was census day here in New Zealand, and one of the questions was about income earned in the last year. I worked mine out, and the result surprised me. I earned a whole lot less than I thought I did!

This, combined with a few other money-related incidents, and worry set in. I started to think maybe it’s a sign I should look into getting a full-time income again…

But I quickly came to my senses.

The lifestyle I have at the moment is what allows me t...

Why Comic Sans is my favourite font

What a year 2023 has been so far. It’s only the beginning of March and I’ve already dealt with far more challenges than I anticipated.

The good news is that I’m still trucking along, making progress on my goals. I’ve only missed writing on three days so far this year—a level of consistency I don’t think I’ve ever achieved before. I’m nearly half way through revising my draft, work on my cover design will be starting in a few days, and I plan on putting a pre-order up next month. I’ve also finally...

Valentine's Day giveaway ❤️

I’ve teamed up with 50 fantastic authors to give away a huge collection of sweet contemporary romances to two lucky winners (including my book My K-Drama Life: The Complete Trilogy). Plus, the Grand Prize winner gets a BRAND NEW eReader! Enter below 👇

Enter the giveaway

P.S: I'm determined to keep this newsletter a happy space, but I still have to quickly mention what’s going on in NZ right now. It turned out the floods in January were just a precursor to the weather event that was to come: Cyclon...

Once upon a wet and stormy night

Photo by natsuki on Unsplash

Chaos unfolded in Auckland last Friday.

When T and I headed out at 4:30 pm to have dinner at his parents’ house, it had already been raining non-stop since Thursday evening, and the rain turned torrential during the drive.

“I’ve never driven in rain this bad before,” T said.

My heart was pounding almost as hard as the rain.

We arrived okay and warned his parents about the severity of the weather, but they were still keen to go to the play we had tickets for.

After dinner, ...

What's in a name? (+ FREE romcom books 🤭)

Hello, hello.

First thing’s first, check out the free romcom books here! ➡️ Link

I don’t have much to update you guys on in the way of my personal life this week, so here’s a writing update instead.

I’m about 30% into the revised draft of my WIP. Working my way through Act 2 (for those familiar with story structure, this is the “fun and games” section of the story) and just enjoying all the shenanigans my characters are getting up to.

I have booked a cover designer for March, which is kind of scary ...

New year, new vision

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Happy New Year everybody! How did you celebrate?

I used to get so hung up on "doing something" for New Year's Eve, but these days, I just don't care. Sometimes, I don't even stay up until midnight 🤷‍♀️

This time, I watched Glass Onion with T (pretty fun, but overall an average film), then we played EXIT: The Sinister Mansion (SUCH FUN!). By then it was nearly midnight, so we stayed awake in bed and counted the last ten seconds until 1 Jan.

My word of the year for ...

A gift from me to you 🎁

It’s nearly Christmas! I’ve landed in my hometown to spend the holidays with my family.

Thanks to movies, songs, and books, I tend to romanticise the notion of a “hometown.” I really enjoyed growing up here in Hawke’s Bay, NZ, to the point that it feels like a magical place. Whenever I return, there's a rush of memories. I get that wonderful sense of nostalgia.

It's just me, my younger brother, and my parents, so Christmas is a very low key affair for us. It’s nice, but I like this time of the yea...

The irony of my life right now

Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash

The year has flown by. Work is winding down. Christmas is around the corner.

Have you done your Christmas shopping yet? I’ve left it very late this year… Oops.

I have to say that as an adult, I don’t find Christmas very fun anymore (more stressful than anything). That said, there are a couple of things I like to do to lift my spirits:

Read a LOT

Buy myself a present

Mostly I’m just looking forward to 2023 and the fresh start that will bring. January tends to be...