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12 Books in 12 Months

writing books and blogging about it

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June 2011

Half Way There

Hello Dear Readers.

This is the last day of book six, so naturally I’ve been frantically catching up using my breaks at work and all of this evening to boot.  Except of course I haven’t, because I am knackered.  I was reading Caitlin Moran’s new book in my break at work (very funny so far), and when I got home I ate some biscuits and watched Hollyoaks.  Hollyoaks!  Not even the news, or a re-run of Friends, or anything else remotely watchable!  I am clearly a feeble wreck of a woman, in need of about sixteen hours of sleep.

To that end, I am about to retire.  (To bed, obviously.  I can’t retire from work til I’m about 70, or haven’t you been keeping abreast of the strikes?  I don’t blame you, it’s something to do with Michael Gove wanting kids to learn history in chronological order.  Except that isn’t what it’s about at all.  But he does think that.).   However, before I go, I feel the urge to sate your insatiable thirst for knowledge about how it’s all going.  So, CLICK HERE to read the last of my guest posts for Mslexia Magazine, in which I evaluate the project thus far and cunningly explain it to new readers at the same time.

Thank you, and good night.

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A Pretty Picture

Further to my news that a short story I wrote is to be featured in Beyond the Horizon, a collection by Bamboccioni Books due out towards the end of July, I’ve been given permission to share the front cover with you. I think it’s rather lovely.  Makes me feel a little fraudulent though – my story is a bit silly and would probably be more in tune with a raggedy illustration by Quentin Blake.  Still, it makes me look good, so I’m not complaining!

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A Progress Report

Today being the 27th of the month, I am remarkably close to the half way point of the whole 12 books in 12 months fiasco (unless you count book 13, I suppose, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves).

Unfortunately this happens to be the point where progress has slowed down an embarrassing amount.  I ought to be basically done with book six by now, yet I’ve only written about 10,000 words.  Almost all of which is background and characterisation that I foresee myself editing down to maybe a few paragraphs in the final book.  It’s the type of stuff that it makes sense to know as an author, but probably feels a bit long winded and boring to the reader.  Pottermore, rather than the material a gripping plot is crafted from.

Continue reading “A Progress Report” →

6

Book Six Excerpt

This is an excerpt from what I’ve written for book six, but it’s really just background characterisation and I don’t think I’ll end up using much of it in the final draft.  Still, thought I should point out I’ve written something…

Nicola woke up with her face stuck to the cheap plastic keyboard of her work PC.  She rubbed her cheek to get rid of the indentations, but knew from experience it would take a while to return to normal.

The monitor in front of her stopped playing its screensaver, revealing a too-white document that was a mess of m’s and 8’s and ‘hn’s.

Still, at least she’d saved her story this time.

Continue reading “Book Six Excerpt” →

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Not Another Article on Self Publishing (it is, though)

There’s a lot of hype around self publishing at the moment, related at least in part to John Locke (an American author, not to be confused with the father of liberalism or the bald sociopath in Lost) becoming the first self-published author to sell a million e-books for the Kindle.  He’s put 9 titles out, the latest of which is How I Sold 1 million e-books in 5 months.  A cynical man, then…

If the internet is any judge, people have mixed feelings on self publishing.  This is because there’s a perception of it as a vanity project, as you’ve probably heard.  I’m not sure who specifically thinks that, but I’ve read several blog posts assuring me most people do, and explaining why they are wrong.  What a bold premise…

Continue reading “Not Another Article on Self Publishing (it is, though)” →

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That’s Not Writing, That’s Typing

Well, I’m impossibly busy writing book six (by which I mean avoiding writing it), so I simply don’t have the time to read everything on the internet.  Last night I watched Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men instead of typing stuff up.  It’s OK though, cause they were in Edinburgh, so it was, like, research, cause this book is Scottish.  Plus Irvine Welsh was a talking head, and he’s a Scottish writer.

Anyway, that all smacks of excuse making, so here are some links to look at whilst I catch up with the last 40000 odd words.

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