K.M. Allan's Blog: K.M. Allan, page 12

Thoughts That Run Through Your Head When You Release A Book That Was Hard To Write

Usually, when I release a book, I like to do a bit of tongue-in-cheek post about the thoughts that run through your head, such as:

Reading Your Book: Thoughts That Run Through Your Head Thoughts That Run Through Your Head Now You’re A Published Author Thoughts That Run Through Your Head When You Release A Second Book

I did have thoughts for what is now my third book release too, but they weren’t so funny. Why? Because this was the hardest book to write.

And it wasn’t because I was writing it during 6 COVID lockdowns that spanned 290 non-consecutive days. Or the hell that was months of homeschooling. Not even the mental and physical toll of three postponed surgeries, one major surgery, one unsuccessful surgery, and a follow-up surgery I’m still yet to have, made the book hard to write (although none of those setbacks helped).

This book was hard because it wasn’t working.

It was my fault. I’d written the initial draft in 2017 before the first two Blackbirch books had been published and the storyline needed to be adjusted. While I knew that and attempted to do those rewrites during 2020 and 2021, I held too tightly to the original ideas and couldn’t see that they weren’t that great.

The first round of beta readers tried to tell me. I listened to some feedback and attempted to make things work. The second round of beta feedback said the same things, and I realized I hadn’t fixed the real issues. I also seriously considered giving up. Very seriously considered it.

I honestly didn’t know what to do. I felt I didn’t have what it takes to write my own book, a book in a series I’d been working on for twenty years, where I knew the story and characters inside and out.

It was a ridiculous notion, which goes to show you how bad my headspace was at the time (and that perhaps the setbacks of 2020-2021 had more of an impact than I’d realized).

Add in 7 months of additional rewrites and the book is now published.

Do I love it? More than I did those first ten drafts. It took until draft number eleven for me to realize what all those beta readers were really saying with their feedback and to make the right changes that ultimately led to a better version of the story. One of the first betas even reached out to me after they started reading the published version to let me know how much stronger the book is and that it reads beautifully now (thank god and thank you, Belinda! I really needed to hear that).

With all that in mind, these were the thoughts that ran through my head as I read the manuscript one last time before preparing it for publication—and danced that fine line of wanting my book into the world for others to read, and not wanting anyone to read it at all.

Thoughts That Run Through Your Head When You Release A Book That Was Hard To WriteHere’s my latest book. (Don’t) buy it.It’s full of frustrated tears and the memory of aching muscles from hours of work hunched over a laptop screen.It’s created from sentences I wish I could write better.It features paragraphs I wanted to shape into beautiful images but felt as if I fell short.It has the echo of feelings I felt so strongly, but didn’t have the skills to put on the page with the conviction I wanted.It includes scenes that didn’t achieve what I set out to when I started them.It has chapters I wanted to do justice to but couldn’t work out how.There are typos in there, I’m sure. Ones I’ll find a year from now that will haunt my thoughts from time to time.I wanted to do the best I could. I’m not sure if I did.I don’t remember the words of encouragement from early readers. The compliments on plot twists and character arcs. At things that surprised them, made them laugh, made them feel. I only remember the flaws they pointed out. The confusion and the misunderstandings that I can only hope I fixed.It’s not what it was when I started writing. It’s not the exact idea I had in my head. Some of it is better. Some of it is not.It’s hours of my life. Missed events. Early mornings. Late nights. Sacrificed time with friends and family.It’s what consumed me for years on end.It was, and still is, endless anxiety.It’ll be sold for as cheap as possible. Most of the money made will cover the cost of printing. It won’t give me a living wage or mirror the work put in, yet it still won’t be cheap enough for some readers to consider buying it.I didn’t write it to make money. I wrote it because I had to. Because the desire and need to put these words on the page outweighed everything else.It’s an itch I have now scratched until the next book calls to me.It’s something that turned out better than I thought.It’s something that won’t ever be good enough.It is the best writing I can do right now.It is something I could write better in a few years’ time.It is my art.It is a piece of my soul.It is entertainment for others.It is someone’s future fave book.It is someone else’s waste of a read.Here’s my latest book. Please buy it.Here is my latest story. Would you like to read it?Here is my latest lifelong dream. I hope you enjoy it.

So, those were my thoughts. Did you read any you could relate to? What has popped up in your head during your writing journey? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

If you would like to read Blackbirch: The Ritual, it and the other two books in the series are on sale for a special price right now for a limited time. You can get them in paperback or ebook from various retailers. All the links can be found on this page: Blackbirch.

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Blackbirch: The Ritual Is Out Now!

By now, all of the world’s time zones have ticked over to the 17th of August 2022, which means Blackbirch: The Ritual is officially out in the world!

It is now available from the usual retailers of paperbacks and ebooks! Scroll to the bottom of this post for all the buy links, and/or keep reading to find out more about the book and how I celebrated.

Blackbirch: The Ritual

This is the long-awaited third book in The Blackbirch series and takes place after that cliffhanger in book 2, The Dark Half.

While book 3 doesn’t start directly after the events of book 2, you will get answers for that ending, new mysteries, and new enemies as Josh deals with the aftermath of what happened with Kallie and Cade at The Playhouse. You’ll also get to see the relationship dynamic shift between Sarah and Max, new romances, long-awaited first kisses, and Eve’s return after disappearing for most of book 2. Where has she been and what has she been plotting? Sheriff Stevens’ motives and what’s in the files he gave to Josh at the end of The Dark Half are also revealed, as well as more magick and abilities!

Book Charts

Thanks to pre-orders and sales, Blackbirch: The Ritual hit #1 and #2 on the Hot New Release Contemporary Fantasy For Young Adults, #1 on the Hot New Release Wizards & Witches Fantasy For Young Adults, and#6 on the Best Sellers Contemporary Fantasy For Young Adults on the Amazon.com.au charts!

A big thank you to everyone who helped make this happen. I never expect to see my books on charts, so it’s always a wonderful and humbling surprise when they appear.

The Art Of Celebrating

In the lead-up to release day, I dropped some paperbacks at my local Dymocks bookstore and was asked to sign them (a first for me and a real thrill!). I also added a copy of the book to my own bookshelf alongside the other two books in the series, which is something I’m sure all of us writers dream of doing. The end of release day was then capped off with some tea (in my Blackbirch Bookstore mug, of course!) and a cupcake treat.

While we’re no longer in lockdown (as was the case for book 2’s release), I am still waiting to have major surgery, so I’ve only been venturing out when absolutely necessary. That kept my celebration to a minimum, but I’m hoping to eventually share a hot drink with my awesome #6amAusWriters friends whenever I can catch up with them next.

Buy Blackbirch: The Ritual

As promised, here are the buy links. The paperback and ebook are at a special launch price for a limited time!

The Beginning and The Dark Half are also heavily discounted if you haven’t read books 1 and 2 yet.

Thank you to everyone who has or will buy a copy. I truly hope you enjoy it!

Paperback
AmazonAmazon.com.auAmazon.co.ukBarnes&NobleBook DepositoryBooktopiaEbook
AmazonAmazon.com.auAmazon.co.ukBarnes&NobleKoboEbook (other sellers)Add To Goodreads

Click the image below or here to add The Ritual to your “Want To Read” shelf.

And there you have it! Thank you so much to everyone who patiently waited two years for this book. I hope you enjoy this story just as much as you have the others, and please know that I am eternally grateful for all of your support, social media sharing, and book reviews. It really does mean the world to me and makes the hard parts of this writing life worth it. Happy reading!

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Blackbirch: The Ritual Cover Reveal

Welcome to the cover reveal for Blackbirch: The Ritual! Without further ado…

Book three in the Blackbirch Series will be released on August 17th, 2022 (yes, in two days!) and will be at a special launch price for a limited time.

Blackbirch: The Ritual

After the devastating events at The Playhouse, Josh is once again grieving. Unwilling to put Sarah and Max in more danger, he vows to deepen his abilities alone and stop the mysterious threat Kallie warned was coming. But his powers aren’t as strong as they once were.

Something is siphoning his magick, and he doesn’t know where to turn. Can he have faith in Eve after her sudden reappearance? Or should he side with Sheriff Stevens, whose help comes with secrets the lawman isn’t prepared to reveal?

When Josh is faced with enemies—both old and new—he has a choice to make: fight the one who threatens to take everything from him, or put his trust in an enemy who promises to cast a ritual that will give everything back.

Paperback Pre-order Links:

    Ebook Pre-order Links: Goodreads Reviews

“This series just keeps kicking goals. Love it!”

“K.M. Allan has done such a wonderful job with this third installment of the Blackbirch series. The story rips along at a rapid pace.”

Add to Goodreads:

The Blackbirch Series

Book one, The Beginning, is out now and available at a discounted price for a limited time!

Paperback & Ebooks – Amazon/com/au/uk

Book two, The Dark Half, is out now and available at a discounted price for a limited time!

Paperback & Ebooks – Amazon/com/au/uk

 

Things To Accept When You Put A Book Into The World

There’s a lot of work and emotion that goes into putting a book into the world. After all, it comes off the back of years of writing, self-doubt, triumphs, rejections, and elation.

There are expectations too, your own and from others, but like the meticulous planning of your novel that went out the window with draft seven, you can’t control expectations or how your book will be received.

What you can do is accept that you’ve reached a huge goal, and a few other things, such as the following…

Things To Accept When You Put A Book Into The WorldYou’ll Get Support… The First Time Around

If the book you’re putting into the world is your first release, congrats! There will be plenty of support.

If you’re active in the writing community and have supportive friends and family, everyone will be just as excited as you. They’ll buy your book, tell others, share your social media posts, and some will even leave you a review.

If your latest book is your second, third or more, the reality is that the support will wane.

Is anyone obliged to buy, read or support your work? No. Do you expect them to? No. Are you a little hurt when they don’t acknowledge a release, no matter if it’s your fifth or fiftieth? Sure, you’re only human. But support is support, and you’ll humbly and graciously take whatever anyone is willing to give.

Marketing Doesn’t End

It doesn’t matter if you’re traditionally published or self-published, most marketing is up to you.

You’re also required to do regular long-term marketing. You need to keep it going months after release, and most of the time, you’ll feel you’re getting nowhere and just shouting into the void at people who don’t care, would never buy it, or have bought it and just scroll on.

By the time you’re onto multiple releases, there’s multiple marketing to keep on top of. I currently alternate between both books I have published (promoting the first one week, then the other the next), and soon I will add my third book into that mix. Does it help? Hopefully.

In the world of social media, you’re gaining new followers all the time. Not all of them have heard of your work, so it is important to talk about your releases regularly. A snippet of your story shared, or a glowing book review could catch the eye of a new follower and just might be what encourages them to take a chance on your work.

Market around anniversaries too. Do giveaways if you can. And if you notice Amazon has reduced the price of your book at some point (they seem to do this randomly and with no notice to you), make sure you let your followers know. Just a screenshot of the special price and a post about it is enough.

Try not to worry that you’re bothering followers or talking about your books too much. As long as you’re not spamming your feeds multiple times a day with the same post or posting nothing other than book/marketing posts, you’ll probably find you’re not actually doing enough (the irony!).

Balance marketing content with different writer/you content, and keep it consistent and regular. It’ll all help in the long run.

Elements Of Your Book Will Be Misunderstood

No matter how clear you think you’ve made things, how you picture a character in your head or your intention behind your written words, someone will misunderstand or misinterpret what’s on the page.

This happened to me when a review incorrectly stated that my books don’t have any diverse characters. One of the main characters of the series is mixed race, the main character in book one is a POC, and there are minor characters throughout the entire series who have diverse backgrounds.

I tried to get this information across in the names of characters and minimal descriptions because I wanted readers to make up their own minds about how a character looks without me imposing it on them.

This, of course, is most likely what led to the confusion of this reader. That’s a lesson I’ve now learned for future releases, and if I was just starting to write this series now in 2022 instead of when I did, which was back in 2001, I definitely would have taken a different approach.

At the end of the day, you can put as much info into your book as you think is necessary to lead a reader in the right direction for picturing a character, understanding their actions, getting their personality, even what they’re wearing and where they’re standing within a scene, and it can still be misunderstood. Someone else’s interpretation is not in your control.

What you can control is making things as clear as possible, and then learning and improving from the experience if you find out later that you fell short of that goal.

Reviews Will Always Be Scarce

In the two years since my first and second books were released (6 months apart), the first has so far garnered 51 reviews, and the second 19 (this is on Goodreads. Amazon has 20 and 12).

I’ve sold more of each book than those numbers, so I know more people have read them or (hopefully) intend to read them at some point (who among us hasn’t bought a book and then left it languishing in our TBR pile for two years? *Raises hand*).

Some readers don’t have Goodreads or can’t leave a review on Amazon because they haven’t bought enough Amazon products (yep, that’s a thing). Some just don’t leave a review because it’s not what they do after reading a book. That’s fine, they’re not obligated to. This is why reviews will always be scarce, and why you need to chalk them up to another author issue that’s out of your control.

In the same way that you can’t control if a review will be terrific or terrible, you just have to hope and be happy with every review that you do get. So, thank you to anyone who has or will ever leave a review for one of my books. It is always appreciated.

Sales Can’t Be Predicted And Will Ebb And Flow

Sales could start out high, slow to a dribble, then dry up completely until your next release. Or they could come in low, have a boom for a reason you may never know, and sell a few copies a month for a good stretch of time, and then nothing for 6 months.

You’ll try different marketing options, Facebook ads, Book Bub campaigns, social media posts, book cover competitions, and learn how to make an animated book teaser video. Some of these options may work, but some will be more work than they’re worth.

Your sales may surprise you, or they may be bitterly disappointing. Most likely, the only thing they will be is not enough to allow you to quit your day job.

You’ll Be Surprised By Who Picks Up Your Book

My books are YA, which means they’re written for young adults and feature teenagers as the main characters. I only personally know of two actual teenagers who have read my books. Everyone else has been older, some even in their 50s and 60s.

Does that mean I’ve failed to find my target audience? Yes. Do I care? No.

I read across genres too. If a book sounds appealing to me, I’ll read it, no matter who it’s supposed to be written for. A good read is a good read. I hope that’s what anyone who picks up my books thinks too.

It’s You Who Will Be The Harshest Critic

And finally, no one will know your book like you do.

No one will love it as much. No one will spend as much time reading its words as you. No one else will know about the bad first drafts, the darlings that were cut, and no one will agonize over the typos spotted a year after release.

No one else will remember that one slightly negative comment in an otherwise glowing review or the misunderstandings about your book and the characters. They won’t feel the failure of book sales that grind to a halt or experience the wishes that you’d written/edited/done things differently.

The harshest critic of your work will always be you, but you also need to be your biggest cheerleader.

If your book is out in the world being read by strangers, you’ve achieved something others—writer or not—may never experience. Embrace that!

Accept it along with the much-appreciated and waning support, the endless marketing, the misunderstandings, the up and down sales, the elusive reviews, and a wonderful and unpredictable audience.

From time to time, please remember those things over your self-doubt and give yourself the praise you so rightly deserve for putting a book into the world.

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

July 2022 Roundup

Welcome to the July 2022 roundup!

Well, this was yet another blink and you’ve missed it month! July went by so fast for me, mainly because I spent a solid two weeks of it working on the final draft of Blackbirch #3. The awesome #6amAusWriters on Twitter ran a #WinterWritingWarmUp event, and I used the two weeks of meeting at 6am to write and sprints throughout various different days to get an ARC (advanced reader copy) completed.

I’m happy to say those two weeks were exactly what I needed and the ARC is now in the hands of the readers I’d promised copies to. I’ve now spent the last week taking a creative break to get some space from the words so I can look at them again and finalize the print copy. Once that’s done, I’ll be announcing the title, cover, blurb, and release date, so please keep an eye out.

This month I also celebrated 5 years of blogging (which was technically in June, but I missed the anniversary ), and this is what else I’ve been up to…

What I’ve Been…Writing

Blackbirch 3 – Just when I thought I was finished, I added over 3,000 new words to the ARC version of the MS (draft 11 for those counting along). I received some very awesome advice from one of my beta readers (Thanks, Emma!) to make sure I was putting what I know in my head, on the page. This is writing advice 101, and I thought I had been doing that, but hearing it from her and having a look at the MS after a 2-month break made me realize there were places where I wasn’t actually following this advice as well as I thought I was/could be. It made a huge difference and resulted in some much better chapters that I ended up being really happy with.

Watching And Reading…

Thor: Love and Thunder – Did we need a 4th Thor movie? Maybe not, but I’ll take this over the boring Thor 2 any day. Still hung up on his big love, Jane Foster, Thor has been wandering aimlessly with The Guardians Of The Galaxy helping others. When New Asgard is threatened by Gorr the God Butcher, he teams up with Jane, who can now wield Mjölnir (for reasons I won’t spoil), Valkyrie, and Korg to find out why Gorr is out for vengeance. There are the usual action battles, humor, and post-credit scenes, but my favorite part was why it’s titled Love and Thunder, which is revealed in the closing scene.

The Black Phone – While the advertising of this movie has really played into the kidnapped kid’s vibe, it’s a supernatural story at its heart and a pretty good one at that. Based on the short story by Joe Hill, The Black Phone centers on a 70s-era town plagued by a spate of child kidnappings. When Finney is the latest child taken, his sister Gwen could be the key to finding him. Given visions in dreams, she knows things the police haven’t publicly released, and the detectives in charge of the cases turn to her for help. Meanwhile, Finney is in a basement with a black phone, one that rings and connects him to the children who were murdered before him. It’s a slow burn, but once the connections of what Finny is told to do by the other kids, and his sister’s dreams all come together in the last half of the movie, you’ll be glad you watched it.

The Umbrella Academy (Season 3) – Worth watching for the Footloose dance battle ten minutes into the first episode alone, season 3 sees The Umbrella Academy go head-to-head with The Raven Academy. They are the alternative timeline version of kids who were adopted instead of them after the season 2 time-meddling shenanigans, and the rest of the season is the consequences of those actions. Vanya becomes Viktor, Allison gets the worst character arc and is made so unlikeable, Klaus learns the true extent of his powers, Luther finally gets a break in love, 5 is still 5, and we finally get to follow the story of a Ben who’s not dead. If watching, stay on the credits of the last episode for a mid-credit scene that hints at the direction of the next season.

The Difference by C. D’Angelo – When Rachel realizes her life isn’t making her as happy as she thinks it should, she decides to delve into her family history, mainly the hidden story of her Italian-immigrant Grandfather’s journey to the US. It’s something he never spoke about when alive, and she feels it’s her duty to uncover why. It’s also a good distraction from the mild depression she’s sinking into, and the staleness she feels in her years-long relationship. After a year of dead ends, and research leads that go nowhere, Rachel and her partner decide to journey to her grandfather’s hometown in Italy in the hope of uncovering the truth and any still-living relatives. In my opinion, it takes a while for the story to get where it’s going (Rachel in Italy), and before this, she spends a lot of the book being whiny and oddly obsessed with the Titanic and her Grandfather. By the closing pages, though, the author does turn all of this on its head. Rachel’s inner transformation via the things she discovers about her Italian side redeems both the character and the story, and I did enjoy the book as a whole by the closing pages. I would also read more by this author as she did a great job describing the food, scenery, and relationships of the other characters. Recommended for readers who like family history stories.

If you’ve got any good book recommendations, let me know in the comments, or be my friend on Goodreads and share your books/recommendations with me!

If you’d like to add the Blackbirch books to your “Want to Read” shelf and/or check out the reviews, click the following images!

Taking Photos Of

Winter. This has to be one of the coldest winters we’ve had here in Australia for a long time. It’s been very rainy too and that has hampered my daily walks and kept me inside for most of the month, which is great for hitting writing deadlines and avoiding Covid, the flu, and other people .

On The Blog…

In case you missed any of my posts, or want to read them again, here are the latest blogs.

June 2022 RoundupLessons Learned From 5 Years Of Blogging6 Ways To Make The Most Of Bad Feedback

This month, I was also interviewed by VoyageMinnesota Magazine (thank you to Jaya Avendel for nominating me). You can read the article at the following link:

Daily Inspiration: Meet K.M. AllanWriting Tip Of The Month…

#WritingTipWednesday posts are added to my social media feeds every week and here is the most popular tip for this month. It’s taken from my blog post, Writing Tips For Action Scenes.

For more tips, visit my Writing Tips Pinterest Board.

Blackbirch Review Of The Month…

This review comes courtesy of Blackbirch: The Dark Half and was the most popular review posted this month on my social media feeds.

If you’d like to read the books released so far or find out more about each novel, here are the links:

Blackbirch: The Beginning (Book 1)Blackbirch: The Dark Half (Book 2)

If you’ve read either of my books—and haven’t done so already—please consider leaving a review or a star rating. It really helps indie authors get their books noticed, and also helps fellow readers find books they’ll like.

Quote Of The Month…

I’ve hoped you’ve enjoyed my July Roundup. Let me know what you’ve been up to in the comments!

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

6 Ways To Make The Most Of Bad Feedback

While writers handing their manuscripts to beta readers are looking for honest notes and help on their work-in-progress, sometimes that feedback is much harsher than they were prepared for.

Maybe the beta reader is a tough critic or that (shock horror) the MS isn’t at the level you thought it was.

This revelation can sting, particularly if you thought what you sent off was the absolute best you could do.

Convinced the MS was more final stage than WIP, in your (humble) opinion, it was completed. You’d done the hard work and critiquing and you know for a fact there were no typos and you just needed another set of eyes to sign off on the okay (and your genius) so the MS could be sent off for querying, submission to that comp, or to self-publish.

But that’s not the feedback you got.

It wasn’t as polished as you thought. The story wasn’t as clear. The MC was (more shock horror) unlikable. There were still typos. Not one, but multiple, even though you’d read, listened, and spell-checked every chapter a million times (yep, a million times. You counted).

It’s deflating. It’s embarrassing. It’s a what-the-hell-do-I-do-now? crying-in-the-shower moment. That “finished” MS still needs work, and you have no clue what to do to fix it, or where to start. You have been given the key, though. That bad feedback that you want to dismiss so easily is where you start.

6 Ways To Make The Most Of Bad Feedback1) Leave It For A Beat

Don’t respond to the beta, especially if it’s going to be with anything other than a thank you for their time.

Give it a day and then write back with your thank you and to let them know that you’ll be looking over their comments. You can also politely ask if it’s okay to come back to them with some clarifying remarks if need be.

Do not rant at them. Do not tell them they got everything wrong and how dare they say your MS wasn’t perfect because it was (there’s your humble opinion again).

They may have gotten some things wrong. They may have misunderstood what you were writing, but that’s not necessarily their fault. Something in the way you’ve written things could have caused the issue and you need to check for that possibility.

If it’s obvious from their feedback that they misunderstood, or if they’re raising issues no one else has, it’s likely they’ve given you feedback that you don’t need to use. If, however, what they’re saying is right, flying off the handle is not the way to go.

Sit with the feedback before writing back. Process everything before responding and go with that adage of not shooting the messenger. If you don’t, you could lose a valuable beta reader and/or friend.

2) Categorize The Feedback

When you’ve had the time to calm down, read through the feedback at least twice. Once you’ve done that, categorize it.

Misunderstood.Needs Improvement.Ignore.Needs Fixing.Good Feedback.

Misunderstood

If your beta’s feedback is based on their misunderstanding of what you’ve written, highlight it and make a note of why. It could be as easy as a typo or a dropped word messing up the meaning of a character’s explanation, which is an easy fix.

Needs Improvement

If a beta has flagged a paragraph because the wording tripped them up, the staging confused them, or the descriptions are over or underdone, categorize it as “needs improvement.”

Ignore

Use this for feedback that you don’t agree with. It could be the beta didn’t like what you named your MC. Or they could have suggested cutting a scene for length’s sake, not knowing it contains important info that is needed to set things up later and they missed the significance (which happens).

Needs Fixing

This is for the feedback that is spot on and you’ve got no problem with fixing what needs to be fixed.

Good Feedback

For your own mental health, if there’s any good feedback (and there should be), flag it and read it when you need a morale boost.

3) Feel Your Feels

Just as you’d be celebrating any feedback that praises your work, you need to embrace the parts that make you feel like you aren’t a good writer so that you can move on.

Maybe it’s right, maybe it’s not. Maybe you need to listen to the feedback, maybe you don’t. Feel it all, the devastation, the frustration, and then put it aside.

Sometimes, people won’t get what you’ve written, no matter how clear you make it. The way they approach things, their own life experiences, the way they would write a story, or what they’d want to see happen as a reader just won’t align with what you have on the page.

That doesn’t make them right or wrong, or you. Just go with what works for your vision of the story. You’re bringing it to life and you have the final say. If you know in your writer-heart-of-hearts how you want the story to be, trust yourself.

4) Go Back With Clarifications

Now that you’ve processed the feedback, categorized it, and felt your feelings, go back to the beta if you need to.

Sometimes, letting them know what you were trying to achieve, clearing up a misconception, or reminding them you had certain info in a specific chapter but they missed it, helps, and you may not need to make as many changes as you thought you would.

Another benefit of clarifications is that the beta can tell you more about the reasons they came to the conclusions they did. In those cases, it may be that you need to make an important mention bigger or add another reminder to a past event somewhere else in the story. If so, add those notes to your categories.

If your beta is open to you asking follow-up questions, remember not to go back defensively. This beta is trying to help you. They want a good book from you too. They have the distance to see your work without rose-colored glasses, so don’t dismiss what they have to say outright.

If they’re nice enough to clarify things for you, listen to them and use what you can to make your book as good as it can be.

5) Break Down The Changes

Remember those categories we assigned our feedback to? Now it’s time to take them and brainstorm your fixes.

After that, go scene-by-scene, and plan the changes you’ll need to make.

With a plan in place, you’ll see it’s not so overwhelming—although it’ll probably still feel that way.

6) Make The Changes

With your plan, you can now make said changes!

Work those words, once again, for the millionth time. Hope, once again, for the millionth time that this is the last time, and then get the MS out to another beta.

Eventually, it will be right. Eventually, the feedback won’t be all bad and your book will be ready to leave your editing desk for the query trenches, all the comps, and the virtual and real bookshelves of the world!

Just remember that it wouldn’t have happened without that bad beta feedback and you making the most of the invaluable help you were given.

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Lessons Learned From 5 Years Of Blogging

I recently received a notification from WordPress congratulating me on the anniversary of my blog.

As of June, it’s been around for 5 years! That might be a long time to some, or a short time depending on how you measure things, but in either case, it’s enough to learn a lesson or two, so I’m sharing some of what I’ve discovered about blogging since 2017 and I hope you find it helpful.

Lessons Learned From 5 Years Of BloggingMake Things Easy To Find And Easy On The Eyes

While you’re free to choose any layout for your blog that takes your fancy, don’t forget that it’s important to make sure it’s functional for your readers.

They are the ones who will navigate it, so my first lesson is to make it as effortless as possible.

While I’ve stuck with my current look/theme for a while, I started with a darker one that matched my book series rather than the content of my blog.

Now I have a “light” look that incorporates pictures I’ve taken and fits better with posts about writing and productivity. I also follow these tips:

Make your fonts and color scheme easy to read.Use good quality pictures (you can get free ones from Canva, Unsplash, and Pixabay).Don’t over clutter the sidebars.Have a clean, intuitive site menu.Keep pages like your About and Contact updated with the latest and correct info.Make sure the parts on your site that you want viewed/used are up front and center. Don’t make it hard for visitors to find things. As an example, for the first few years, I had the standard Subscribe and Follow buttons halfway down my sidebar where they would get the occasional subscription/follow. When I moved those buttons to the very top of my sidebar, I started getting new subscribers/followers almost daily.Organize your posts. While I’ve missed the boat on putting my posts into categories, the tag feature is great for grouping things together. Using widgets like the Recent Posts and Top Posts in your sidebar is also an easy way to automatically help readers find your best content.If you have a specific group of posts that you’d like to direct attention to, consider adding them to their own menu. For my site, I have menu listings for my Writing Checklists  and my book series, Blackbirch so they can be found easily.Be Organized And Try To Work Ahead

One key to consistent posting is being organized with your ideas. Knowing what you want to blog about and when will go a long way to helping you stay on top of your blogging.

Does it mean you need to have 6 months’ worth of posts ready to go? No. Some bloggers do that and it works for them. If you think it’ll work for you too, go ahead. I like to blog no further than a month ahead, mainly because if I’m working on more posts than that, I won’t get any other writing done.

If you can’t get a month ahead, try just one blog post ahead. That way, if the unexpected comes up, you have a reserve post to either use while you’re gone, or to take the pressure off when you’re back because the work is already done.

Being organized also means a blogging routine. I separate my book writing into one week, and my blogging into another. It helps me focus on a particular type of writing for a limited time without the guilt of choosing one over the other or the chaos of trying to do both at once. You can read more about this routine in my blog post, The Art Of Authoring.

Try to keep your ideas organized in your go-to method (Word, notebooks, the notepad app on your phone, etc). I use Scrivener and I sort my ideas and drafts into years and then months (as pictured below on the left).

Some of the note files are just titles, some have words already added, and some even have research. When I’ve published the post, I’ll copy the published version of the text into the note file and replace the icon with a tick.

This allows me to keep my own up-to-date records of all my posts and makes it easy to create social media graphics for things like my #WritingTipWednesday posts, which are based on the info in my blogs.

Having all of your blogs listed together like this also ensures you aren’t writing content that is similar and then posting the topics too close together (it happens). It’ll also stop you from naming your next three blog posts all “6 Ways To…”

You’ll Always Feel Like You’re Shouting Into The Void

It takes time to build up your content and for that content to find a place, even if your goal is just to put your blogs out with no expectations or plans to get thousands of followers or make money.

If you stick with blogging long enough, there will be a time when views and likes on your posts will be good. You’ll gain followers without trying and you’ll have a run where it seems as if every post is a hit. But even that will fade.

While things won’t go back to zero, they will slow down. Interactions will wane, and posts won’t be shared, liked, or commented on with the same ferocity.

You’ll be back to shouting into the void. That’s the nature of blogging, and the best you can do is go with it.

Know Your Limits And Change Things Up

If you’re serious about blogging, you’ll need to post regularly, and it will take up precious time.

Some bloggers post daily. Others weekly, biweekly, or monthly. You can even post every quarter if that’s what works for you. Know your limits and stick to them. It’s better than blogging every day for two months and then neglecting your blog for two years because you couldn’t keep up the pace.

A lot of bloggers who were around when I started 5 years ago aren’t now. Life, COVID, and everything in between just got bigger than blogging for them. They knew their limits.

I used to blog every week. When my first book was released in 2020, I realized that was no longer viable if I wanted to actually release my second, third, and fourth book. I dropped my blogging to three posts a month, stopped my newsletter, and turned that content into my Monthly Roundup blogs.

Those are the changes and limits that allow me to keep blogging regularly and still make progress on my other writing goals.

Know your own limits, make the changes that ensure regular blogging works for you, and enjoy it.

Some Posts Will Work, Some Won’t

While every post written is done with care and you’ll hope it will connect with your readers, not every post does.

Sometimes the blogs you like the most are the ones that fall flat. Then there are some that just take off, surpassing all of your expectations.

My first big post was Writer Resolutions For The New Year (And How You Can Achieve Them). I published it during my second year of blogging (2018) and it was picked up and featured in the Discover section of WordPress. Why this post? I have no idea. Perhaps because it mentions Beyonce? It was the first of my blogs to be shared widely and it really bumped up my follower count.

The next big post and the one that now has the most views (over 4,000 and counting) was from my first year of blogging (2017) called The Importance of Writing Badly.

This post didn’t actually take off until 2020 when someone shared it on Reddit. Why this post and why 3 years after it was first published? Another mystery.

My latest post to do more numbers than usual is Grieving A Writing Life. I published this one last month (June 2022), but it resonated with other writers and took off on its own, gaining triple the stats of my new posts.

So, that’s 3 out of 233 blog posts in 5 years that have worked better than any others.

If there’s a secret formula for nailing a blog post every time, I don’t know it.

What I do know is that there will be weeks when trying to come up with a topic or even penning a blog post will be like pulling teeth.

Then there will be times when inspiration strikes and you’ll churn out posts and ideas like it’s the easiest thing in the world. Trust me and go with those moments and ride the inspiration train to the end of the line.

Write about topics that inspire and interest you. There’s always someone out there that will relate. And then sometimes, now and then, for reasons that may never be known, a lot will relate.

Celebrate The Wins

My last lesson is to celebrate the wins. Blogging is a fun activity and should be treated as such.

Choosing how to celebrate is up to you, but don’t just wait for the big milestones. Celebrate your first post, the one that hit a certain number of views, that first comment, the first share, even the post you absolutely loved writing that barely made a ripple when you posted it. It’s all worth savoring and appreciating.

I’ll end with a big THANK YOU for a great 5 years! I’ve met some wonderful writers, bloggers, and now real-life friends through my blog. You guys keep me motivated to blog, and I hope my posts give something back to you. I’ve also learned a lot from finding, reading, and following your awesome blogs, too.

An extra special thanks also to Chris, Sandy, Felicity, Annette, and Victoria, who are always the first to share and support my posts on their own blogs and social media feeds. And to Glynis, Stuart, Alexander, Ari, Jaya, Audrey, Michael, Jeanne, Pete, Rhiannon, and Rebecca who have kept the comment section alive for a few years now. I love chatting with you all whenever a new post goes up, and always appreciate your feedback.

Here’s to another 5 years!

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

June 2022 Roundup

Welcome to the June 2022 roundup!

This month, I took some time off from writing. One reason was that my mum came to visit from Sydney for an extended weekend. The other was because I was in a bit of a funk.

After coming off a real writer’s high of finally finishing my Blackbirch 3 MS to a standard I was happy with, I used the momentum to jump right into Blackbirch 4. Even though I have the story planned, 70,000 words written, and I know exactly what I need to do to bring it in line with the rest of the series, the fact that the draft I have is nowhere near as polished as the project I had just completed really threw me for a loop.

I know it was silly of me to expect a draft written 5 years ago would be at the same standard as one I’d just spent a year perfecting, but the frustration in the difference really caused me to get stuck.

It felt like I didn’t know how to write and all the progress I’d made in the last few years didn’t matter. I was a newbie writer again, wading through the mud of a first draft (even though this is draft 7), and it made me not want to write.

Instead, I spent days doing anything but, and I questioned what kind of writer I was and if I was good enough to finish what I started. It’s funny how the high of a good, finished draft can lead to the low of an unfinished one that has so much work ahead. That’s writing though, right? There are so many highs and lows. One day you feel like the best writer in the world, capable of anything, and the next, you wonder how you’ve ever managed to string words together in a sentence that makes sense.

These low-moment thoughts lead me to question my own writing journey and how those highs and lows have made me feel over the years. I put it all in a blog post (Grieving A Writing Life), one that I didn’t intend to share because I was just writing it for myself. Then I saw a few tweets and Instagram posts from fellow writers about their own disappointments about being left off competition longlists and things of that nature and I decided to share the post.

My thoughts were exactly what others had thought too, and it became one of my most viewed/shared/commented on blog posts in a long time. So many of you let me know that you also grieved your own writing life expectations and it really has meant so much to me. You’ve inspired me to not only keep moving forward with my version of this writing life, but to appreciate it, write from the heart more often, and know that we have all felt the same way at some point.

It’s been a positive way to end what I felt was a very unproductive month, so thank you again. This is what else I’ve been up to this June…

What I’ve Been…Writing

Blackbirch 4 and a Blackbirch 3 blurb – As stated in my opening above, I did waste a good chunk of time barely making any progress on Blackbirch 4, but turned an inspired corner at the end, which I intend to continue. As for Blackbirch 3, while I was hoping to have the final edits done and ARCs out to the readers I have lined up, I’m still waiting for beta feedback, so until I get to make the final changes, the future release date is to be determined (but I’m really hoping it’s not too far off). One goal I did set and complete this month was writing the blurb for the back of the book, which means my cover designer can now start putting together the cover!

Watching And Reading…

Top Gun: Maverick – If you’ve seen the 80s classic, Top Gun, you’ve seen the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick. It’s essentially the same movie just with a modern update on the jets and an older-looking Tom Cruise. That doesn’t make it a bad thing. Top Gun is a classic for a reason and you can write off the retreads as a nostalgic homage while enjoying the action of a fast-paced movie that knows how to pull off real-world stunts. After disobeying orders when testing a jet, Maverick is tasked with training the best of the best in a mission that requires them to drop a bomb on an impossible target in a run that needs to be timed to the second. There are egos, training montages, and action sequences galore, plus a little romance to round things out.

Jurassic World: Dominion – Closing out the Jurassic World trilogy is Dominion, taking place in a world where humans are living alongside dinosaurs. It’s a combo that results in deaths and kidnapped dinos for monetary gain, as well as yet another corporation stashing the dinosaurs in a “park” so the heroes can of course visit said park and be stalked by the dinosaurs in a formula that’s worked for all 6 movies. This last one does have the advantage of teaming together main characters across both the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies, and if you’re a fan of any of them, you’ll be a fan of this final installment too.

A Wedding In Tuscany by Sandy Barker – This is the 5th and final book in Sandy Barker’s #HolidayRomance series and ties up the fictional lives of the traveling characters we’ve come to know in the previous 4 books. A Wedding In Tuscany focuses on Cat and her sister Sarah (whose story kicked off the series) and a visit to Tuscany that will combine Cat’s wedding to Jean-Luc and Sarah’s milestone 40th birthday. Two such big events also allow for the main and side characters of the other books to be in the same place at the same time and we get to learn about everyone’s futures by the closing pages. The pages in between deal with the fun of families at weddings, hard relationship lessons, and life lessons that can hit you out of nowhere. As usual, the author handles these topics with humor, drama, and descriptions of food and places so vivid you’ll want to eat all the cheese and visit all the countries. Highly recommended for readers of romance who love feel-good stories and endings.

Consistent Creative Content: A Guide to Authoring and Blogging in the Social Media Age by Lee Hall – A handy little guide both for beginners and more advanced authors. Lee Hall’s conversational writing style makes this an easy read that is full of real-life examples and common sense tips when it comes to the art of authoring in modern-day times. While an advanced writer might not learn anything new, it’s good to be reminded of social media and blogging tips they may not have engaged in for a while or to know that what they’re doing is something others have (eventually) had success with. If you’re deciding to blog or join social media for writing but haven’t taken the plunge, or aren’t seeing the engagement you want yet, the advice here is solid. A section dedicated to self-care and mental health is a big highlight of the book and will benefit all authors, from new to seasoned ones.

If you’ve got any good book recommendations, let me know in the comments, or be my friend on Goodreads and share your books/recommendations with me!

If you’d like to add the Blackbirch books to your “Want to Read” shelf and/or check out the reviews, click the following images!

Taking Photos Of

A visit with my mum and tea time kitties. We had the Queen’s Birthday long weekend this month and my mum flew from Sydney for a quick visit. We had a few meals out and saw some very scenic autumn views. Dash and Luna also decided that tea making in the mornings is the most fascinating thing ever and I’ve gained an audience every time I fill up my mug.

On The Blog…

In case you missed any of my posts, or want to read them again, here are the latest blogs.

May 2022 RoundupTips For Rewriting A Finished ManuscriptGrieving A Writing LifeWriting Tip Of The Month…

#WritingTipWednesday posts are added to my social media feeds every week and here is the most popular tip for this month. It’s taken from my blog post, Writing Tips For Action Scenes.

For more tips, visit my Writing Tips Pinterest Board.

Blackbirch Review Of The Month…

This review comes courtesy of Blackbirch: The Dark Half and was the most popular review posted this month on my social media feeds.

If you’d like to read the books released so far or find out more about each novel, here are the links:

Blackbirch: The Beginning (Book 1)Blackbirch: The Dark Half (Book 2)

If you’ve read either of my books—and haven’t done so already—please consider leaving a review or a star rating. It really helps indie authors get their books noticed, and also helps fellow readers find books they’ll like.

Quote Of The Month…

I’ve hoped you’ve enjoyed my June Roundup. Let me know what you’ve been up to in the comments!

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Grieving A Writing Life

When you start out in the writing community, you’re learning, and part of that process is seeing those before you rise.

Just as you’re entering the query trenches, there are others being lifted out of them with agent representation and publishing deals, and you wait patiently for the day that person will be you.

Before you know it, years have gone by. You’ve been part of the writing community for a long time, helping those who are now the newbie you once were.

Experienced in the query trenches, you’ve seen it all, gotten every rejection type there is: the no answer, the form letter, the good but not good enough. You might have even hit that 100 rejections goal you’d heard other writers talk about but never thought you’d reach because your MS was too good. At least you thought so.

You might have rewritten it since those lofty newbie days. You might have even shelved it for a better one. Or you might have entered it into every unpublished manuscript comp you could find and felt that repeated sting of disappointment when the long list announcement didn’t have your name amongst the winning authors, some of whom woke up one day and thought they’d give writing a book a try, and hit it big on their first try.

That’s their journey. You tell yourself. All the people on your Twitter feed announcing their 30 agent pitch “likes” from the first competition they’d entered, the first agent they queried and landed, the first MS they wrote and signed with a publisher.

It could have even been with a book that sounded like yours. Their journey is something you question: Why did it happen for them and not me?

There are experienced writers in the mix too, some who have been writing longer than you, submitting and receiving hundreds of rejections before getting that elusive yes. You’re happy for them, too. They’ve been fighting like you have, shouting into the void for so long.

If they’ve made it, there’s hope that someday you will as well. You see the posts that encourage you to keep going, about how you’re only one more submission/manuscript/idea/sacrifice to the creative gods away from everything being your turn. Everyone gets a yes eventually. You just have to find that editor who believes in your work as much as you do.

But can that really be true? Is there really a yes out there for every single writer?

Not in the traditionally published world. There isn’t a publishing contract for every book. There isn’t even an agent for every writer.

Your outlook shifts. Maybe that lifelong goal of being contracted to a publishng house isn’t something you believe in anymore. But you still want to write and put your books out in the world, into the hands of readers. You consider another scenario you once thought impossible: self-publishing.

It’s not a last-ditch effort, one only for those writers who couldn’t “make it.” The captain of the writing boat is you. You’ll steer it where you want. You don’t need a yes from others, only from yourself.

You’ll be the publisher that you never found on your writing journey. Writing isn’t about submissions for you anymore. It’s about creating books yourself, learning how to promote, learning how to edit, working with beta readers and turning out an MS worthy of a book.

With your debut launched into the world, those in the writing community rise for you. They retweet, share, support, buy, and review. This is now your writing life, one you thought you’d never have.

It’s rewarding, but it’s hard. There’s no one to guide you, no one to help with edits, decisions, or shouting back into that void that is now larger and more of an empty echo than it ever was.

But you’re finally a published author. One with books that are bought, read and reviewed by strangers who probably don’t realize how much it means to you. You made it. Not in the way you thought you would, but in a way that became your journey.

You’re a newbie again, in a different part of the writing community, watching other self-published books hit bestseller lists. You see others rejoicing their annual library payouts or regular royalty payments that you aren’t eligible for because your books weren’t borrowed enough or haven’t sold enough copies this month, last month, or the month before that. Yes, you’ve accomplished things, but there are others doing more, earning more, and hitting bigger milestones than you.

Before you know it, it’s back. That feeling of seeing everyone else get ahead while you’re still struggling. The writing journey is once again not what you envisioned. It’s their journey, their turn, but still not yours.

You’re wondering what you’re doing wrong. What they’ve done that you haven’t. Are they better? Luckier? Why them and not you?

You are once again grieving the journey you once thought would be yours, the one you manifested, invested in, did everything right, but still didn’t reach. Not like everyone around you has. And why not? You had the same dream, the same motivation, the same goal. Sometimes you even had the better work. But the right people didn’t see it. The break didn’t come for you, and now you’re adjusting again.

You’re looking for the next goal, trying not to get so caught up in what others have so you don’t feel the what if’s and the why not me’s. It’s already selfish enough of you to even think them. You’ve achieved more than you thought, more than some others ever will. But it wasn’t what you wanted it to be and you grieve that too, before, once again, adjusting and moving on.

It’s on to the next goal, the next manuscript, the next… next. Hoping, but now always knowing with your gained experience and hindsight, that it probably still isn’t your turn. That it may never be.

Is that giving up? To some, maybe. Or maybe it’s just acceptance of a different kind. It’s not the acceptance you thought you’d receive when you shakily clicked send on your very first query all those years ago. It’s the acceptance that goals change. You can’t always have the things you put on your vision board, no matter how many self-help books say that you can.

A writing life works out for some people. For most, it’s not what they thought it would be, and it’s fine to grieve that once tightly held dream. It’s fine to realize that it won’t be your journey and to feel sad about it. Just don’t let yourself get stuck there.

Find another writing dream and be okay with it. You’ll likely end up somewhere you never fathomed, but you might also end up being in the place you were meant to.

Not everyone can shine so brightly that they become the sun, and if you tried and gave it your all, and it still wasn’t enough, don’t feel bad about that. You did what you could with what you had. Sometimes, that’s more than enough, and definitely not something to grieve about.

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Tips For Rewriting A Finished Manuscript

If you’ve been reading my blog posts since last year, you’ll know I spent most of it rewriting my work in progress.

Helpful advice from beta readers pointed out that I hadn’t gotten it completely right and that I needed to make major changes to get everything to work. This took me six months, and it was for the better, although it didn’t feel like it at certain times.

As a writer, I’d gone through a huge learning curve and it gave me the confidence to tackle anything. That anything was my next WIP, the manuscript for the fourth and final book in my Blackbirch series, which I’d completed in 2017.

This MS didn’t need major changes to the story. It had already been through one round of alpha reading, so I knew it did work and that all it needed was a different ending, which I’d already plotted. I also knew it needed some tweaking to the events and characters to make sure it would fit with the already published first two books and the soon-to-be-released third.

Again, this was fine because I knew what changes it needed. I was confident in them, so I planned them out and came up with a new outline.

What I wasn’t prepared for as I sat down with that 5-year-old MS was how basic the writing was. Not only did it not have any of the deep POV or internal thoughts I’d learned in the last two years to add to my work, but it was missing setting descriptions and the other finer details we layer into our work to add depth to our fictional world and characters.

On one hand, it was nice to know I can now spot these missing elements in my own work. On the other hand, it meant that the 70,000 words of my completed MS needed a complete rewrite.

After quietly freaking out and putting everything off for a few days because I was so paralyzed by the workload ahead, I came up with these tips to get me through.

Tips For Rewriting A Finished ManuscriptRemember That You Have A Guide/Plan

You aren’t going into this blind, writing scenes you might never use, or wasting time on ideas that lead nowhere. You have the chapters and a plan for what needs to be added to improve what’s there.

Take those things, which are already a leg up from a first draft, and use them to your advantage. Having them means a good chunk of the work is already done, which frees you up for working on everything else.

Take It One Scene At A Time

Knowing what you have to rewrite is a double-edged sword. While you know what you’re doing and can get stuck straight into the work, it’s also so overwhelming. After all, it’s an entire book that needs to be rewritten. An. Entire. Book.

The tip that helped me get started was taking things one scene at a time. Sure, I currently have fifty-three scenes that need to be rewritten, but I only need to worry about and work on one right now.

Focus on getting just one scene done before moving to another. It’s the best you can do and all you can ask of yourself when dealing with such a mammoth task.

Don’t Be Discouraged

Rewriting can be discouraging and it’s hard to ignore the inner voice that questions if you’re actually making things better.

For the record, the answer to that question is yes. If you’ve been writing regularly, you’re already a better writer than you were last week, let alone years ago when you first penned what you’re working on now.

Everything you’ve written before your current work, and the writing you’ll do as you try to improve things, will help you become better. Keep that in mind when it feels like an uphill battle.

It’s Not Set In Stone

One thing I learned during the six months of rewriting my last manuscript was to remember that what I was typing wasn’t set in stone.

You can change both the words and the ideas. The perfectionist in me often gets upset when I type out a sentence and it’s not as good or powerful as I want to it be. I forget that it doesn’t need to be perfect on the first go or even the seventh.

You can change, delete, and improve, and you have more than one shot at putting any sentence into your manuscript. Keep that notion in mind until what you’ve written meets your expectations.

Jump Around

When writing, I usually go linearly because that’s how my writer-brain works. I can’t get to the end of a story until I’ve written my way there.

When you already have the start to finish done, you have the option to jump around.

If you’re finding that rewriting linearly just feels like wading through mud, skip to the scenes you are excited to rewrite instead. Or you could jump to the new chapters you need to add to see what creativity they spark.

Work on the most inspiring parts of your MS until you’re back in love with it and then you’ll be ready to slog through the scenes that need more work.

Set Deadlines And Word Counts

Finally, set yourself a deadline. It could be six weeks, six months, or a year, just set an end date for the rewrite.

You may finish early or overshoot it, but having a deadline gives you something to aim for and will keep you on track.

It’s also a good idea to set a small session word count. Even just adding 200-500 words every time you work on the WIP is progress that adds up. I find I don’t get so overwhelmed or feel guilty for not doing more if I hit a small word count most days, while also dealing with everything else in life.

And those are my tips for rewriting a finished manuscript! I’ll let you know how well they’ve worked for me in six to twelve months .

— K.M. Allan

Have you ever had to rewrite a completed manuscript before? If so, what tips helped you through the process? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.