Review of 2017

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Review of 2017

So this post is a little late since I've been away over the winter holidays and haven't had much time to spare. It was a working holiday unfortunately, however, I did get in a little skiing, which is a first for me and is an activity I've absolutely fallen in love with! Anyway, on with the post, which is a review of my year. 2017 has been a crappy year for many people, for lots of different reasons. Clearly, there is a lot going on in the world and at the moment little of it is good, however, from a purely personal level, 2017 has been a fairly good one for me... I haven't been as productive as I would have liked this year. For example, I was supposed to finish the second book in my What Happens on Campus Series, Flirt, and would have liked to have finished Raw, the psychological thriller I've been working on, but unfortunately they are both still unfinished. I've also been unsuccessful in finding a home for the erotic short story I wrote early in the year, The Making of Lilith. However, there is a reason for this unproductively. In May I randomly applied for a job that I never thought I'd get, by September I had moved from the UK to Tokyo. Now, it isn't a dream job, it has nothing to do with writing, however, I get to live in Tokyo, which is exciting and fun and, although I desperately miss my family, it's not a move I regret making.Successes!

Despite not completing anything in 2017, besides short stories, I've had several publications. Several of my short stories were published by JEA Publishing in various anthologies and A Tangled Web and Red Days were both released to the world and have received great reviews. Red Days even won the Book Excellence Awards in the Current Events Category, which is a huge success since the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter, which this book is about, is something I feel strongly about and wish more people knew of...

A Tangled Web also did very well in the awards circuits. Although it didn't win any, it was nominated as a finalist in the Readers Favorite Book Awards, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, The IAN Book of the Year Awards and was an Official Selection in the New Apple Book Awards.I've also been more productive in marketing my books this year and have had many great reviews and done lots of interviews, my favourite of which was talking about my favourite reads with Ryan Lieske on his blog -- which you can read HERE!So, what are my plans for 2018?In 2018 I plan to continue the momentum with marketing and to finish Flirt and Raw early in the year, so that I can hopefully publish them by the summer, in time for the next round of awards.In 2017 I wrote a lot of short stories, however, I'm putting that on the back burner for 2018. I don't actually like writing (or reading) sort stories and basically wrote them for the exposure it would give me as an author to appear in so many anthologies, however, unlike my full length novels, my short stories usually have a dark twist and tend toward horror, which isn't actually the audience my books cater to, though I do have some ideas for horror novels in the future! Therefore, I feel it's in my best interest to just stick to my full-length projects this year. Now, the one you've all been waiting for... What did I read in 2017?Since this is primarily a book blog, that is a good question! If you've been following my blog you'll know that this year I started choosing a book of the month and a cover of the month, so here's a recap... *These aren't necessarily books published in 2017, they're just books I read in 2017*Book of the MonthCover of the Month

But out of these, which was my favourite, I hear you asking... Well, that is impossible for me to say. I chose my covers of the months for lots of different reasons, maybe it was the colour, the style, that it was simple, or complex... and that's also how I chose my favourite books of the month, they are books that spoke to me at that time and which I really enjoyed for various reasons, for example, you can't compare A Dog's Purpose, or Fangirl, to The Iliad and yet, they are all books I chose for my favourite books of the month... However, I'll try... My 2017 Book Awards! *Not all these books were Books of the Month**Also, no book has been allowed to appear twice*