L.R. Lam's Blog, page 5

Ebook Sales & Upcoming Events with P.M. Freestone & Samantha Shannon

Orders of business on this Sunday evening…

1. Pantomime is on sale for 99p! Pick up my debut. Not sure how long it’ll be on sale for. Queer magic circus starring an intersex lead.

In a land of lost wonders, the past is stirring once more . . .

Gene’s life resembles a debutante’s dream. Yet she hides a secret that would see her shunned by the nobility. Gene is both male and female. Then she displays unwanted magical abilities – last seen in mysterious beings from an almost-forgotten age. Matters escalate further when her parents plan a devastating betrayal, so she flees home, dressed as a boy.

The city beyond contains glowing glass relics from a lost civilization. They call to her, but she wants freedom not mysteries. So, reinvented as ‘Micah Grey’, Gene joins the circus. As an aerialist, she discovers the joy of flight – but the circus has a dark side. She’s also plagued by visions foretelling danger. A storm is howling in from the past, but will she heed its roar?

2. A Hidden Hope is on sale for 99 cents! Pick up  my debut as Laura Ambrose. F/F geeky romance.

Natalie and El used to be writing critique partners, sharing their work chapter by chapter. Falling in love off-page was like the next part of the story. But after a huge falling out, three years have passed in bitter silence.

When they both appear at a science fiction convention in London, Natalie, a struggling writer, wants nothing to do with El, the hot debut novelist who sold her book at auction under a male pseudonym. But over the weekend, ignoring each other–and their attraction–proves impossible, not least because they have several panels together. Can El hope to atone for the mistakes of their past, and is Natalie willing to let hope fly?

3. I’ll be out and about! Upcoming events . . .

February 8th: Me in conversation with P.M. Freestone for the launch of her debut, Shadowscent (chaired by Sarah Broadley!). I mentored her for the SBT New Writer Award and her book is the first one I’ve worked on to see publication, so that’s very exciting, and Peta’s now a dear friend. Waterstones Princes St at 6 pm.

February 28th: Me in conversation with Samantha Shannon for the Priory of the Orange Tree, her awesome epic fantasy with dragons loosely based on St. George and the Dragon. Waterstones Argyle St in Glasgow, 6 pm. Bonus: the book can double as a murder weapon at 800odd pages (I’m still making my way through it and loving it!).

A Perfect Balance (Romancing the Page #2) is out now!

Today is the release day of A Perfect Balance, the second of the Romancing the Page novellas. This one stars Emma, who was briefly introduced in the first novella, A Hidden Hope.

This is the steamiest of the three, and was also quite fun to write. Emma and Sage are both afraid of commitment and ‘real relationships’ which is rather outside of my experience–I’ve only dated one person and we’ve been together since I was 16. I also had to do some guesswork as to what it’s actually like to work in an SFF publishing house from my glimpses on the other side as an author, but I sent a version to my friend Charlie, who works in marketing, and she said I was accurate. Go me!

Thank you to Charlie for reading, as well as beta readers Erica, Julia Ember, Hisham, and my mom (yes, my mom reads these). Gratitude to Emmy Engberts for ebook formatting. Merci to Craig for the cover design.

Below is the cover, cover copy, and the Amazon links. This time I’m launching only through Amazon to take advantage of Kindle Unlimited. Your help spreading the word or leaving a review is greatly appreciated! While the good will of friends have helped me immensely, this is still largely me on my own, asking the internet to buy 35,000 words for the price of a latte. Thank you to everyone who picks it up. You’re all stars.

A Perfect Balance (Romancing the Page #2) – January 2019

Emma does not want, or need, a relationship and everything that comes with one. She has her career as a science fiction editor in London keeping her busy, and she needs to overcome her own writer’s block. Every few weeks, she meets the mysterious S and has no-strings-attached dalliances. It’s the best way to satisfy her needs and wants without all the extra bells and whistles.

Sage has never had a relationship. She’s always been the love-them-and-leave them type. At least until one of the editors walks into the board room on Sage’s first day at her new job—and it’s the anonymous girl she meets in hotel rooms.

They break off their arrangement. Emma used to take Sage’s orders, but now she’s giving them. That, Emma doesn’t mind, but she’s getting to know the woman behind the mask. Emma is in danger of developing real feelings for Sage, but the other girl has made it clear she’s not girlfriend material.

With the marketing campaign for the biggest debut of the year heating up, there are far too many late nights or trips away that could upset their perfect balance. Is it worth it?

Pre-order on Amazon US / Amazon UK, or any other territory. Available on Kindle Unlimited.

Add on Goodreads!

2018 Writing Roundup

November and December writing roundup:

In November I did a baby NaNoWriMo and aimed to write 25,000 words of Dragon Book, even if that was some pre-planning as well. I ended up with about 20k of prose and 5k of planning, which I was happy with.

Words: 25,100 + 7122 nonfic = 32,216 words

In December, I had to work on something else briefly, fiction-wise, and I had all the marking. Plus I took an actual break ON PURPOSE. This is a big step for me, and relaxing has been so nice.

Words: 9881 + 4350 nonfic = 14,231 words

In 2018 I wrote a total of 266,348 words, and 213,073 of them were fiction. Obviously it’s not a perfect roundup–I have to guesstimate a lot when I’m editing and such, and I count pre-planning under fiction as it saves me a lot of tangents and wrong turns.

That means I wrote 583 words of fictional prose per day, on average, and 768 words per day overall. This is my usual schedule–I’ve written around this much the previous two years, which is when I started counting. This is a pace I can keep up pretty comfortably, but in 2019 I may have to try and push this as I have a lot I want to get done.

In 2018 I worked on:

The final revision of Seven Devils before it went on sub, as well as the synopsis for the sequel.

Finishing editing a thriller, which is currently resting as it now needs another draft.

Re-writing A Hidden Hope and A Perfect Balance.

Writing An Unheard Song.

Pre-planning Dragon Book and writing the first act and a synopsis for the rest.

A short story called “A Certain Reverence” about Scotland in Space for the Edinburgh Futures Institute and the University of Edinburgh.

Another few wee projects here and there.

My plans for 2019 that are in my control are:

Release A Perfect Balance, An Unheard Song, and the Romancing the Page novella collection

Edit Seven Devils with Elizabeth May

Write Seven Devils: 2 Devils 2 Furious with Elizabeth May

Write another book (I have two options on deck but won’t know which to focus on until January)

If time, write another Laura Ambrose novella

If time, make headway with another project

2019 goals not entirely in my control:

Sell another book or two

Try to get a Bookbub for the Romancing the Page collection

Laura Ambrose as a name gains sales momentum

Outside of writing: 

I’m going to keep focusing on my health. I started weight lifting and getting back into yoga in 2018 and I love it, so I’ll continue with that. I’m also working on taking care of my brain in various ways.

I also want to bring back screen free Sundays, where I go out and do stuff rather than staring at a damn computer screen all the time, and also having an actual day off every week to refill the well.

In general, I also want to limit my social media to an hour a day or so in the evenings, so I’m not constantly interrupting myself. It’s bad for focusing deeply on tasks and it’s also not amazing for my anxiety. Like many, I’m addicted to mindlessly checking my smart phone and I want to be better at leaving it in the other room.

I want to read at least 75 books.

In general, I want to be happier and calmer. Spend more time with friends and family. Have a better work/life balance. Work smarter not harder.

What are your 2019 goals?

The I Heart Lesfic Holiday Mega Sale!

From the 26th to the 31st, to ring in 2019 a bunch of lesfic authors are having mega sales! It’s been organised by the I Heart Lesfic newsletter, which is also a great one to sign up for if you want updates of new releases.

Here’s the masterlist of all the stories on sale. And A Hidden Hope is of course one of them, so it’s free until the 31st. Whoo! As part of the self-publishing experiment it’s only on Amazon for the moment, but page reads add up.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. I’ll be posting a 2018 roundup and goals for 2019 soon. So much to do next year! I’m hoping for it to be better than 2018 on various levels.

Stay cool,

L x

False Hearts is $2.99 on ebook – today only!

What the title says–False Hearts is on sale in the US on ebook, which is a nice surprise! I’m very fond of this book and would love for more people to meet my formerly conjoined twins who were raised in a cult and are now embroiled in a murder mystery featuring the mob and weird dream drugs!

Raised in the closed cult of Mana’s Hearth and denied access to modern technology, conjoined sisters Taema and Tila dream of a life beyond the walls of the compound. When the heart they share begins to fail, the twins escape to San Francisco, where they are surgically separated and given new artificial hearts. From then on they pursue lives beyond anything they could have previously imagined.

Ten years later, Tila returns one night to the twins’ home in the city, terrified and covered in blood, just before the police arrive and arrest her for murder–the first homicide by a civilian in decades. Tila is suspected of involvement with the Ratel, a powerful crime syndicate that deals in the flow of Verve, a drug that allows violent minds to enact their darkest desires in a terrifying dreamscape. Taema is given a proposition: go undercover as her sister and perhaps save her twin’s life. But during her investigation Taema discovers disturbing links between the twins’ past and their present. Once unable to keep anything from each other, the sisters now discover the true cost of secrets.

Purchase links and excerpt found here.  Happy holidays!

Fun fact, I called the mob the Ratel after the latin word for the honey badger. Honey badger don’t care.

Books Read in October & August to October Writing Roundup

Books Read in October:

1. Certain Dark Things – Silvia Garcia-Moreno.

Welcome to Mexico City… An Oasis In A Sea Of Vampires…

Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is busy eking out a living when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life.

Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, must feast on the young to survive and Domingo looks especially tasty. Smart, beautiful, and dangerous, Atl needs to escape to South America, far from the rival narco-vampire clan pursuing her. Domingo is smitten.

Her plan doesn’t include developing any real attachment to Domingo. Hell, the only living creature she loves is her trusty Doberman. Little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his effervescent charm.

And then there’s Ana, a cop who suddenly finds herself following a trail of corpses and winds up smack in the middle of vampire gang rivalries.

Vampires, humans, cops, and gangsters collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive?

2. The Last Namsara – Kristen Ciccarelli (re-read)

In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be darkness—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death-bringer.

These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up learning in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl.

Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her.

3. A Natural History of Dragons – Marie Brennan

All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.

Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever.

4. A Hidden Hope – Laura Ambrose (I’ve read this like 10 times, going to count it once!)

Natalie and El used to be writing critique partners, sharing their work chapter by chapter. Falling in love off-page was like the next part of the story. But after a huge falling out, three years have passed in bitter silence.

When they both appear at a science fiction convention in London, Natalie, a struggling writer, wants nothing to do with El, the hot debut novelist who sold her book at auction under a male pseudonym. But over the weekend, ignoring each other–and their attraction–proves impossible, not least because they have several panels together. Can El hope to atone for the mistakes of their past, and is Natalie willing to let hope fly?

Not a lot of reading this month, due to travel, a hefty work load, and a bit of a reading slump.

Total this year: 55 books

Loose reading goals:

Read more romance: A Hidden Hope, elements of Certain Dark Things
Re-read some old favourites: The Last Namsara
Read more classics: None
Continue to read diverse books/books by marginalised authors: Certain Dark Things, A Hidden Hope
Read nonfiction: none, though I read/re-read a fair amount of theory for uni: Saussure, Lyotard, Bakhtin, etc.
Read women: all of ’em

Writing Update: August, September, October

August:

I didn’t write much this month as I was having a bad mental health spell. I managed to eke out 11,437 words of prose on Family Book and A Perfect Balance, the second Romancing the Page novella. On the nonfiction side, I finished my PgCert in Teaching and Learning, plus other Napier work. Nonfiction words: 11,750 words.

Total: 23,187 words

September:

Still not that many words, for the same reason. I realised that Family Book was too difficult to write just now, so it’s on hiatus until get I do a research trip when I’m back in California for Christmas. I wrote 10,099 words of fiction, mostly on An Unheard Song (Romancing the Page #3). I also started doing prewriting and worldbuilding work on Dragon Book, a fantasy novel. Nonfiction work was some Patreon posts and Napier. Nonfiction words: 5,033 words.

Total: 15,082 words

October:

I started feeling a bit better in the head, but I was also travelling to Malaysia and Singapore for a holiday/work trip as I was a guest at Cooler Lumpur. Fiction: 13,947 words. Mostly Dragon Book brainstorming and finishing An Unheard Song, and proofing A Hidden Hope and launching the first romance novella as Laura Ambrose. Nonfiction: Napier work, Patreon posts, romance marking and such. Nonfiction words: around 7,800 words.

Total: 20,447

So far in November, I’m much more productive (I have started Dragon Book!), but I also need to stop trying to measure myself in terms of productivity. I needed to slow down these months and focus on myself. That’s okay. I’ve still gotten plenty done this year:

Year to date (fiction + nonfiction): 233,901 words.

A Hidden Hope & Waterstones Prince St Event on Love Stories Tonight!

Ah, hello very last minute post.

Last Monday I released the first Romancing the Page novella, A Hidden Hope. I posted about it on social media but never got around to posting it on my actual blog! Silly me.

I have made a subpage for my Laura Ambrose self.

If you’d like a 7k prequel short story to A Hidden Hope, featuring Natalie & El three years earlier? If you sign up for the newsletter you’ll get “A Frozen Night” in your inbox instantly. The newsletter is infrequent, mostly new releases or links to pre-order plus some recommended F/F media and the like. No more than one email a month.

Here’s more info about the first novella:

A Hidden Hope: Romancing the Page #1

Natalie and El used to be writing critique partners, sharing their work chapter by chapter. Falling in love off-page was like the next part of the story. But after a huge falling out, three years have passed in bitter silence.

When they both appear at a science fiction convention in London, Natalie, a struggling writer, wants nothing to do with El, the hot debut novelist who sold her book at auction under a male pseudonym. But over the weekend, ignoring each other–and their attraction–proves impossible, not least because they have several panels together. Can El hope to atone for the mistakes of their past, and is Natalie willing to let hope fly?

Purchase: Amazon US / Amazon UK / Kobo / Apple / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Playster

 

So far, it’s done better than I expected, which is a nice surprise! Still relatively modest, of course, but I had a good burst the first few days and I’ve still had multiple sales every day since. Whoo! The second novella, A Perfect Balance, will be out on either the 4th or 11th of December.

 

My Patreon also helps a lot with the up-front costs of publishing these on my own. If you pledge you have access to craft posts, behind the scenes snippets, free copies of the novellas as a certain tier, and monthly breakdowns of my sales and what marketing I did for my self-published works and what results I noticed from each one. I’d love to have a few more patrons, so if you have a spare $1 to $10 a month, please consider joining me on that corner of the internet.

Lastly, I have an event tonight at Waterstones Prince St in Edinburgh with some lovely authors! Info pasted below:

Love Stories Panel: Sandra Ireland, Laura Lam, Tracy Gow and Noelle Harrison with Dawn Geddes

Tuesday 30th October 18:30 – 20:00 at Edinburgh – West End

Love is and has always been a preoccupation of humankind. It is the thread connecting us all and so writers will always write about it. From romance through to familial love and its associated entanglements, love is the knot we are always trying to unpick. So why is romance not given the same literary weight as other genres? Why is writing about sex considered more risqué than writing about murder?

Join our panel of authors Sandra Ireland, Laura Lam, Tracy Gow and Noelle Harrison with Dawn Geddes as chair as they discuss the enduring relevance of the love story.
Sandra Ireland‘s debut novel Beneath the Skin was shortlisted for a Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award in 2017. Her latest novel Bone Deep was published by Polygon this summer, with the tagline What happens when you fall in love with the wrong person?

Originally from sunny California, Laura Lam now lives in cloudy Scotland. Her forthcoming novels  are the feminist space opera, Seven Devils, co-written with Elizabeth May and the F/F romance series launching this October with A Frozen Night & A Hidden Hope.

Tracy Gow is a former television camerawoman and an award-winning professional photographer. She says that a life spent behind the lens has given her a wealth of material which she can use in her writing and as a former wedding photographer, she’s something of an expert when it comes to romance. Winning the Prima Magazine/Mills & Boon Love to Write Competition in 2017 was a wonderful surprise. Her Brooding Scottish Heir hits UK shelves on 27th January 2019.

Noelle Harrison is the author of six novels. She writes time-slip love stories focusing on family secrets and lies. Additionally Noelle has also written the literary erotic trilogy Valentina under the pen name Evie Blake.She is also the founder of Aurora Writers Retreats running courses in creative writing, tarot and yoga in Edinburgh, Norway and Ireland.  Noëlle’s new novel, The Gravity of Love was published by Black and White Publishing this summer.

Dawn Geddes (www.dawngeddes.co.uk) is a freelance journalist and writer. Specialising in literary journalism, she is The Scots Magazine’s Book Correspondent, interviewing authors and writing about Scotland’s top book festivals and events. When she’s not busy writing features, she spends her time crafting fiction for young adults and running writing retreats.

The Gravity of Love (Paperback)

Noelle Harrison

Bone Deep (Paperback)

Sandra Ireland

Shattered Minds (Paperback)

Laura Lam

Books Read in September

Ah, so delayed. But better late than never.

1. The Hunter – Andrew Reid (agent sibling–this was fun and clever. Thriller with a badass female MMA lead who kicks a lot of people in the face!)

In the ring, Cameron King is known as The Hunter. A celebrated champion. A warrior.

But when her brother, science genius Nate, deliberately crashes the car they’re in and vanishes without trace. Cameron is left with a career in ruins, a reconstructed body and one burning question: why?

18 months later, working to find bail-jumping fugitives, Cameron discovers a dead body – apparently killed with her gun. As a detective comes through the door, she receives a panicked call from her missing brother: ‘They’re coming, Cam. Get out.’

Sucked into a lethal and sinister conspiracy hidden in the darkest shadows of power, Cameron is forced to fight her toughest, bloodiest battle yet – not only to survive, but to uncover the terrifying truth.

2. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – Jenny Han (as cute as the film)

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

3. Fantasy and Mimesis: Responses to Reality in Western Literature – Kathryn Hume (definitely recommended if you have an academic interest in fantasy)

Since Plato and Aristotle’s declaration of the essence of literature as imitation, western narrative has been traditionally discussed in mimetic terms. Thus marginalized, fantasy – the deliberate departure from reality – has become the hidden face of fiction, identified by most critics as a minor genre. This book rejects generic definitions of fantasy, arguing that it is not a separate or even seperable strain in literary practice, but rather an impulse as significant as that of mimesis. Together, fantasy and mimesis are the twin impulses behind literary creation.

In an analysis which ranges from the Icelandic sagas to science fiction, from Malory to pulp romance, from the Odyssey to the nouveau roman, Kathryn Hume systematically examines the various ways in which fantasy and mimesis contribute to literary representations of reality: offering forms of escape in adventure stories, pastoral, face and pornography; complementing each other in expressive presentations of “new” realities; pressuring readers to accept a didactic author’s interpretation of reality; or battering the reader into agreeing that his or her interpretation is unprovable and that reality may indeed be unknowable.

4. Thirteen – Steve Cavanaugh (legal thrillers aren’t my usual thing, but I loved the concept and it was well-executed)

The serial killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury.

Hollywood actor Robert Soloman stands accused of the brutal stabbings of his wife and her lover, but he is desperately pleading that he had nothing to do with it. This is the trial of the century, and the defence want Eddie Flynn on their team.

The biggest case Eddie has ever tried before, he decides to take it on despite the overwhelming evidence that Robert is guilty. As the trial starts, Eddie becomes sure of Robert’s innocence, but there’s something else he is even more sure of – that there is something sinister going on in the jury box.

Because of this, he is forced to ask: what if the killer isn’t on the stand? What if he’s on the jury?

5. A Skinful of Shadows – Frances Hardinge (seeing her at the Book Festival reminded me I needed to read this!)

This is the story of a bear-hearted girl . . .

Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide.

Some people have space within them, perfect for hiding.

Twelve-year-old Makepeace has learned to defend herself from the ghosts which try to possess her in the night, desperate for refuge, but one day a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard.

And now there’s a spirit inside her.

The spirit is wild, brutish and strong, and it may be her only defence when she is sent to live with her father’s rich and powerful ancestors. There is talk of civil war, and they need people like her to protect their dark and terrible family secret.

But as she plans her escape and heads out into a country torn apart by war, Makepeace must decide which is worse: possession – or death.”

6. Transmission and the Individual Remix – Tom McCarthy (required reading for our students’ innovation module)

Sub-titled “How Literature Works” this essay by the renown novelist is a provocative and entertaining work of postmodern theory that re-evaluates literature and literary meaning from Aeschylus to Kraftwerk.

Tom McCarthy is one of the most vital young voices in contemporary literature, and in this essay he identifies the signals that have been repeating, pulsing, modulating in the airspace of the novel, poem, play—in their lines, between them and around them–since each of these forms began. Tom takes us back to the Greeks and the origins of literary meaning to show that information, rather than being a natural or abstract phenomenon, is always based in artificial media–in ones and zeros, dots and dashes, signals and noise. He takes us through Ovid, Rilke, Conrad, Joyce, Beckett, and others to re-imagine the very idea of what a writer does, and what the act of writing is. Rather than praising individual creative genius, Tom re-tunes our ears to the crackle of information as it has passed through the feedback loop of literary culture.

Also halfway through a few others!

Total this year: 51 books

Loose reading goals:

Read more romance: TATBILB – Jenny Han
Re-read some old favourites: Not exactly sure I’d call Remix a favourite, but I’ve read it before.
Read more classics: None
Continue to read diverse books/books by marginalised authors: TATBILB, the lead of The Hunter has a bunch of metal in her arm after her car accident.
Read nonfiction: Fantasy and Memesis, Remix
Read women: TATBILB, Fantasy and Mimesis, A Skinful of Shadows

Books Read in August

On top of these, I also read about 300k of student major projects!

1. Sometimes I Lie – Alice Feeney

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:

1. I’m in a coma.

2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.

3. Sometimes I lie.

Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it’s the truth?

2. The Muse – Jessie Burton

A picture hides a thousand words . . .

On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn’t know she had, she remains a mystery – no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery.

The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . .

3. The Goldblum Variations – Helen McClory

We like Jeff Goldblum. You like Jeff Goldblum. Helen McClory likes Jeff Goldblum. Treat yourself to The Goldblum Variations, a collection of flash fictions, stories and games on the one and only Jeff Goldblum as he, and alternate versions of himself, travels through the known (and unknown) Universe in a mighty celebration of weird and wonderful Goldbluminess. Maybe he’s cooking, maybe he’s wearing a nice jumper, maybe he’s reading this very pamphlet. The possibilities are endless.

4. The Silence – Tim Lebbon

In the darkness of a vast cave system, cut off from the world for millennia, blind creatures hunt by sound. Then there is light, there are voices, and they feed… Swarming from their prison, they multiply and thrive. To scream, even to whisper, is to summon death.

Deaf for many years, Ally knows how to live in silence. Now, it is her family’s only chance of survival. To leave their home, to shun others, to find a remote haven where they can sit out the plague. But will it ever end? And what kind of world will be left?

 

Total this year: 45 books

Loose reading goals:

Read more romance: None
Re-read some old favourites: None
Read more classics: None
Continue to read diverse books/books by marginalised authors: The Silence has a deaf viewpoint character, The Muse has a Trinidadian protagonist, and a character in Sometimes I Lie has OCD.
Read nonfiction: Nope
Read women: Sometimes I Lie, The Muse, The Goldblum Variations

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Writing Update: June & July

Here’s what I’ve been up to writing-wise this summer.

In June, I was away in Romania for part of it for my Vampire conference, where I presented a paper on vampires and fae archetypes in YA fiction. Afterwards, I spent some solo time in Constanta and treated it as a mini writing retreat. Once I returned, I was able to keep up momentum. I wrote 34,590 words of prose and 1600 nonfiction over the month. Fiction was a combination of family book (I was calling it Project Seal, but I nixed the selkie story-within-a-story so now I’m just calling it family book), some of Romance Novella 3, and then at the end I started rewriting Romance Novella 1 into F/F. The nonfic was assorted Napier work. Total: 36,190 words.

July I didn’t have any big trips, but I had lots of little day trips. I went to Aberdeen twice, once for my sister-in-law’s baby shower, and the other time for my mother-in-law’s birthday and to welcome our new tenant, who is renting the flat we have up there. I also did two trips to Glasgow, once to see friends and once for a Waterstones event, and I also went down to Newcastle for another event. Travel really interrupts my flow, but I still managed to keep up productivity. I wrote 33,062 words of fiction–mostly rewriting the 2 novellas (I usually count about 1/3 of my daily word count when I’m editing, unless it’s very hefty edits), but I also first drafted my Scotland in Space story (5k) and 10k of family book. That project progresses slower as it requires a lot of research. Nonfic was 4,900 words, mostly for my PgCert in Teaching and learning. Total: 37,962 words.

As of the end of July, I’ve written around 175,000 words in 2018. It’s good going, but as it’s splintered across so many projects, I feel like I don’t have that much to show for it yet. But, as ever, I just keep plugging away and it adds up. Looking forward to a last big push in August on romance and family book, as I expect Seven Devils edits will likely be September’s job. And on we go!

If you’re a writer, how have you been doing in terms of goals? Where are you hoping to be in the next few months?

Until next time,

Laura x

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