Can you be a writer if you don't write?

I'm a sorry excuse for a writer at the moment.  I haven't written anything for ages!  I'm not even sure I can call myself a writer any more.

It's been a week since I looked at my latest round of revisions.  It's not like I have an enormous amount to do, but somehow life keeps getting in the way of writing.  My job has become this huge, unmanageable beast that sucks all my time and energy, and I need to spend at least a little time with my family.  Which leaves about 0 hours for writing.

And I hate it.

I have stories burning to be told.  I have people waiting for revised MSs all over the place. I want to do the work.

Can someone find a way to squeeze an extra 2 or 3 hours out of a day?

Celebrate the Small Things 7-3-14

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?





The main thing? This article. It has really made me reassess my career in many ways, not to mention make me tear up at work!

I've been working on another revision, this time on STUMPED.  And after not having read it for over 6 months, I'm kind of amazed at how good some of it is. I didn't think I could write like that, but I know I wrote this stuff, so....

I'm going to see the Tiger Lillies on Sunday and I can't wait.  I've seen them four or five times before, and they are always brilliant.  Demented, but brilliant.

What are you celebrating this week?

So who is interested?

I've now been published for 2 months.  I haven't had a full royalty statement yet, so I have no idea how many books I've sold (not a whole lot, I suspect), but I have found various ways to figure out if people are even interested.

Firstly, there's Goodreads.  I pop in there every few days and every time more people have added An Unstill Life to their TBR piles or whatever they categorize them as.  Which is good.  Especially when they're not people I know in real life or through the online writing community.

I check the book's page on all the sales sites for reviews too, but there aren't a lot.  Whether that's because people don't like leaving reviews, or if it's because no one is buying it, I don't know....  If you buy a book from any retailer that allows you to leave reviews, even just a line or two makes a huge difference.  It's hard not knowing if anyone is reading it.

The the best thing I've found, is that by Googling my title and my name, I can see if anyone has mentioned my book anywhere.  I've found several blogs where readers have listed my book as being one they're looking forward to reading.  And that's really exciting!  Of course I have no way of knowing if they actually buy the book unless it's mentioned again later, but just knowing that the blurb/cover/gossip has made them want to look further is cool.

There are sales tracking sites like Novelrank too, but because they only track sales from certain Amazon retailers, I don't think it's a 100% accurate indication of sales.  But maybe that's just denial on my part because I don't want to believe the numbers I see there....

Do you have any other ways to gauge interest in your book?  Please share!

Celebrate the Small things 28-2-14

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?





I got my first 'fan mail' from a reader this morning, and it's made me ridiculously happy.  Even if hers is the only life my novel touches, it makes the whole agonizing writing process worthwhile..

I got to go and see my friend perform in an Arts Festival show last night.  She was brilliant (but she usually is) and the show was fantastic.  It was so funny to see one of my other friends, who usually is the front-man for a rock band, doing cabaret...  But didn't he look like he was loving it?

I sent my crappy first(ish) draft of my rewritten novel to a reader earlier this week, and am now waiting nervously for feedback.  I know parts of it work, but I'm not sure the whole thing hangs together as a whole now that I've removed the second POV.  But even if there is still a whole lot of work to do, I'm happy to be done and am celebrating with a few days off from writing.  Back to the salt mines on Monday....

What are you celebrating this week?

Problem...

I have a problem you guys...  A few years back, when I started getting serious about this writing gig, and I found myself making friends with writers all over the internet, I decided that I needed to support my fellow authors.  And I have.  I buy books by all my writer friends.

But it's now a few years down the track, and some of my writer friends pump out multiple books a year.  It's fantastically awesome that they're doing so well, but my credit card can't keep up...  There are books by friends, books by friends of friends, books by CPs and then the books that sound just too darn good not to buy.

I've already been banned from buying any more physical books.  We don't have any bookshelf space for them.  So now I buy only e-books which are, admittedly, usually cheaper, but still...

I guess there could be worse problems, right?

Celebrate The Small Things 21-2-14

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?




Things at work seem to be settling down a little (famous last words) and I've only had one person resign this week.  Well, two, but one of them was just because her work visa expires soon and I knew that was coming.  I still need to find a chef, but my FOH team is pulling together and I've done some good interviews which I hope will turn into some great staff.

I got some positive writing feedback from a pro and am excited about diving into a revision of one of my books based on her comments.  It always feels daunting, but in reality, I think adding maybe two or three chapters to my existing book will do it.  I have some ideas already, but have to get through my current revision before I can start.

The Arts Festival starts here tonight, and I'm looking forward to seeing some fantastic shows.  I'm especially excited about getting to see The Tiger Lillies again.  They're such a great band.  If you haven't heard of them, take a look at this....



I'm 7 chapters away from finishing my first round of revising on Taillights and I'm at the point where I can't really tell if I've improved the book or wrecked it entirely.  I hope to be done with it by the end of next week, so I can send it off to some people to read (anyone want to read a contemporary NA for me?) and critique.  I'm hoping I that I can get revisions done on my other book while I'm waiting for my readers to get back to me.  

Then maybe I can finish the new book I started in about May last year....

What are you celebrating this week?

Cover Reveal: Bloodlust

Just over a year ago, I took part in a group novel writing project, Writing a Novel With Cupid or WANWC. One of the other writers who took part was Nicole Zoltack. Now, I'd sort of 'known' Nicole for a while already, through her blog and on Twitter, but it wasn't until we were both part of this project that I really started calling her a friend. I'm thrilled to welcome her to my blog today, so she can share the gorgeous cover of her latest book, Bloodlust. Hi Nicole!

Hi, everyone! Nicole Zoltack here and I'm so happy to share with you the cover for my upcoming release.

Isn't it just beautiful? And it's perfect for the story.

Here's the blurb for BLOODLUST, a NA epic fantasy romance.

In a world torn by prejudice and hatred, six races struggled for supremacy.

Desperation…

Barbarian-Princess Ivy is unwilling to allow her father to provoke the other races into war and forms an unlikely alliance with Lukor the goliath to save her people from utter destruction.

Betrayal…

Unbeknownst to her, Lukor blames the barbarians for murdering his sister and plans on sabotaging her goal.

Bloodlust…

Almost despite each other, they grow to respect each other on their journey to decode secret messages from the trolls. But nothing Ivy can do will prevent the war as her father is blinded by Bloodlust and incites it himself. Not even killing him and becoming Barbaroness can stop the tide. And when Bloodlust claims Ivy, forcing her to kill everyone in her path, she must make a choice to destroy even Lukor, who she may have started to fall for and him in return.

The cover is so fitting, am I right?

The story will be released on February 24th. Ack! So excited. I'd love for you to share this and I'd even kiss you if you add it on Goodreads.

What do you think about the cover? The blurb? Does it sound like something you'd like to read?

Bio:

Nicole Zoltack loves to write in many genres, especially fantasy romance. When she's not writing about knights, superheroes, or zombies, she loves to spend time with her loving husband and three energetic boys. She enjoys riding horses (pretending they're unicorns!) and going to the PA Renaissance Faire, dress in garb. She'll also read anything she can get her hands on. To learn more about Nicole and her writing, visit her blog.