Happy New Year
First and foremost I'd like to wish everyone a happy new year and extend my wishes for a productive and successful 2014. I spent the evening with my cousin and her husband at their home in Alva. We watched a movie and then the live feed from the BBC.
So what are your memories of 2013 and hopes for 2014?
For me it was a year I finally took the plunge and published The Deepening Dark, book one in my Outlaw Queen series. The book has been sitting on my hard drive for years and I would keep going back to it for yet another edit and knowing the story was getting tired or maybe I was just getting tired of rereading the same stuff over and over. It's a peculiarity of mine that I strive for perfection in my work and yet when I reach what I would call a publishable standard I find myself crawling over broken glass because it's not good enough.
I think one lesson to take out of 2013 is that there will never be an end to editing. You can go back over your old pieces and see where it could have been tightened up. Likewise I found myself reading books that could have been better if the author had fixed a few things or done a better job of editing. Your book for better or worse needs to be read and you've got to take the plunge and say to hell with it, I'm putting it out there. That doesn't mean you can skimp on editing or plotting character arcs but at the end of the day you've got to call it quits and say that's the best I can do for now.
My vampire novel that I wrote during Nanowrimo 2012 is still sitting there and in 2013 I was able to take a short story about one of the characters, Cat and turn it into a novel that will be finished in January. Cat's Story is the working title for this prequel to the vampire book. It's up on Wattpad now and I'm still getting my head around that particular site. But if you want to check out what I'm writing next then head on over to Wattpad and check out the next book.
Annals of the Grey Raven: Cat's Story
So it's been an interesting year for me. This year I'm looking forward to putting more books out there on Smashwords and it has become my preferred platform due to the ease of uploading and the fact I can publish in multiple formats. I've already started formatting a collection of short stories and am looking at a sci-fi thriller set some time in the future.
This is in keep with one valuable piece of advice that I picked up last year. Write often and publish often. The more books you get out there the better chance you've got of raising your profile. Not every book has to be FANTASTIC and MOVING, it just has to entertain the reader. You won't make the New York Times bestseller list with every book but at least you're getting your name out there. A potential reader might not buy your latest book but if they look at the other books you've written, which usually appear under the book details they might find something else that appeals to them. One of the advantages of becoming an indie author is the freedom to write what want when you want. You are the master of your own fate.
And that's enough for me. Have a pleasant day and I hope 2014 is all you wished for.
Cheers,
Alastair Rosie
So what are your memories of 2013 and hopes for 2014?
For me it was a year I finally took the plunge and published The Deepening Dark, book one in my Outlaw Queen series. The book has been sitting on my hard drive for years and I would keep going back to it for yet another edit and knowing the story was getting tired or maybe I was just getting tired of rereading the same stuff over and over. It's a peculiarity of mine that I strive for perfection in my work and yet when I reach what I would call a publishable standard I find myself crawling over broken glass because it's not good enough.
I think one lesson to take out of 2013 is that there will never be an end to editing. You can go back over your old pieces and see where it could have been tightened up. Likewise I found myself reading books that could have been better if the author had fixed a few things or done a better job of editing. Your book for better or worse needs to be read and you've got to take the plunge and say to hell with it, I'm putting it out there. That doesn't mean you can skimp on editing or plotting character arcs but at the end of the day you've got to call it quits and say that's the best I can do for now.
My vampire novel that I wrote during Nanowrimo 2012 is still sitting there and in 2013 I was able to take a short story about one of the characters, Cat and turn it into a novel that will be finished in January. Cat's Story is the working title for this prequel to the vampire book. It's up on Wattpad now and I'm still getting my head around that particular site. But if you want to check out what I'm writing next then head on over to Wattpad and check out the next book.
Annals of the Grey Raven: Cat's Story
So it's been an interesting year for me. This year I'm looking forward to putting more books out there on Smashwords and it has become my preferred platform due to the ease of uploading and the fact I can publish in multiple formats. I've already started formatting a collection of short stories and am looking at a sci-fi thriller set some time in the future.
This is in keep with one valuable piece of advice that I picked up last year. Write often and publish often. The more books you get out there the better chance you've got of raising your profile. Not every book has to be FANTASTIC and MOVING, it just has to entertain the reader. You won't make the New York Times bestseller list with every book but at least you're getting your name out there. A potential reader might not buy your latest book but if they look at the other books you've written, which usually appear under the book details they might find something else that appeals to them. One of the advantages of becoming an indie author is the freedom to write what want when you want. You are the master of your own fate.
And that's enough for me. Have a pleasant day and I hope 2014 is all you wished for.
Cheers,
Alastair Rosie
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