Sara Martin's Blog, page 8

I succumbed...

Photo by Paico Oficial on Unsplash

It’s late June. Nearly half the year is over! I’ve been in a slump lately (writing, life in general), but I feel like I’m starting to emerge from it. Time to set some goals for Q3 and make the most of the rest of the year. In other news:

I have finally succumbed and bought a blanket hoodie. Does it look ridiculous? Yes. Am I living in it? Also yes. It’s winter in NZ and my house is cold, okay?

I watched the K-drama, My Liberation Notes. First two episodes, I was a...

I want to share a little secret...

I want to share a little secret. I hate talking about my work-in-progress because there's a voice in the back of my mind warning me that I might never finish it, and I shouldn't promise something I can't deliver.

Time to get over that fear. I'm a decent chunk through this book now and it feels right to finally drop a few details. It might even push me to work harder and finish it sooner (fingers crossed!).

So, here are a few little tidbits about my upcoming book. Make sure to read until the end fo...

My year in Portugal

In 2019, I decided to run away to Portugal to live out my romantic dream of being a writer in Europe.

I had enough money saved up, a little bit of income from the book I had already published, and I had just been made redundant from my full-time office job. I was feeling disillusioned with the 9-5 working life and the get up, go to work, come home, go to bed, rinse and repeat cycle. I needed a change of pace and scene. My boyfriend was also on board with moving overseas. But where?

Porto as the su...

Blanket hoodies: yay or nay?

It’s late autumn here in New Zealand and the weather has turned cold (just one week ago I was sitting outside in the hot sun!).

I always thought they were naff, but suddenly I feel tempted to buy a blanket hoodie a.k.a Oodie (Are these a thing outside of Australia/New Zealand?). These days, since I work from home, I’m all about comfort over style. But are they as cosy as they look? I’m worried about the sheer amount of fabric and whether it will drown me and feel heavy on my small frame. Then aga...

5 simple ways to show your love to authors

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Like many authors, I don't earn a full-time living from my books. I write for the love of it. But some days I feel more motivated than others, and it's great to have the encouragement and support of my readers to keep me going.

I'm sure a lot of other authors feel the same way, especially the little guys who aren't selling big numbers and sometimes think about giving up 😢

If there's an author you want to give extra support because you love their work, and you want th...

Giveaway time!

Today, I have a fun surprise to share with you...

I’ve teamed up with 45+ fantastic authors to give away a huge collection of sweet romance books to two lucky winners! The grand prize winner also gets a BRAND NEW eReader. 🤩

You can win my novel The Practice Kiss, plus books from authors like Shirley Jump and Cate Woods.

Click the button below to enter.👇

Enter now

Finding my motivation again

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

Writing has been a huge struggle lately.

It's an all too familiar feeling. I get to the middle of my first draft, and I realise that I've fallen out of love with my characters and the plot. Every sentence is painstaking, and my daily word count dries up to a trickle. The voice inside my head says, "This book sucks."

Pushing through it doesn't work because my feelings stem from fundamental problems with the story. The only thing that helps is to go back to the drawing...

K-drama-inspired novels offer lessons in love

The article I mentioned in my last newsletter is now live! I am so happy to have been interviewed for this piece 😄

Here’s a snippet:

K-Drama-Inspired Novels Offer Lessons In Love For Rom-Com Fans

Romance is not the only genre in Korean dramas, but it remains one of the most popular—especially in the US. Fans are always looking for one more k-drama romance to fall in love with.

However, their next flirtation with the k-drama rom-com could be a novel. The growing popularity of the k-drama romance has ...

Something exciting happened

A big thank you to everyone who has joined my newsletter since my last update. Here’s what I’ve been up to over the last six weeks.

Something exciting happened! A journalist who writes for a major publication contacted me. She's interviewing me and two other authors for an article, and one of those authors is a big name. That's all I'll say for now, but I'll share the link once the article is up.

Progress on my WIP stalled last month when I went away on a short trip and didn't write. But now I'm b...

On cracked book spines

"Don't crack the spine."

Those were my boyfriend's words when I picked up one of his books to read.

The request bemused me. What's wrong with a cracked book spine? Opening a book up normally, without over-extending the binding, shouldn't cause a cracked spine, anyway.

He told me off for how far I opened the book. I shrugged him off as being overly cautious, then opened it wider just to tease him and get a rise.

I hadn't intended to actually crack the spine, but I did. Oops!

He was pissed off. He stil...