Category Archives: writing update

Writing update 19/7/2021

19 Monday Jul 2021

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I hope everyone is having a good summer and surviving whatever heatwave or flood is plaguing your corner of the world. It’s been about a month since I launched Stealing From Thieves, the second Tales From Undersea book. I’ve been pleased with the positive response it’s received so far, so a huge thank you to everyone who has read the book so far.

But what is next for the Undersea series? Well spoiler alert but book 2 ended on a bit of a cliff hanger. I’m currently editing book 3 and hope to send it to beta readers in early August and release it by the end of the year.

And after that? Well, I’m already planning a ‘sister series’ titled Tales From the Skies. This will be set in the same universe as Tales From Undersea but will take place in a sky city in the 1920’s and 30’s. While I’m going to write it with the intention that anyone who has read the Undersea series can go straight into this one, it will also serve as a jumping in point to anybody unfamiliar with the series. It also looks like it’s going to be aimed more at adults rather than the young adult market, so there may be a few slightly naughty bits.

While Tales From Undersea had a focus on adventure, Tales From the Skies will have a romance plot at the forefront. The story will focus on the ongoing relationship between Colin, a crossdresser working at his mafia family’s drag bar speakeasy and Rory, a police detective seeking revenge on the mafia for killing his father. Of course this is still all in the planning stages, so don’t be surprised if any of these details change by the time the books are published. I’m hoping to get the first one out by May 2022 and then space them out every few months after that. So far there are 4 books in this series, so there will be even more for you to enjoy.

If you want to stay informed on release dates for this series or any special offers, the best way is to join the Sea and Sky newsletter, where I post all new releases the day they come out. You get an exclusive free short for singing up, too!

Writing update 3/5/2021

03 Monday May 2021

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How is everybody’s spring going? Mine is as chilly as ever and making me regret putting away my winter clothes.

Now that I’m settled into my new flat, I’ve been able to write freely again. Book 2 in the Tales From Undersea is scheduled for release on Midsummer (June 21st) and is due for editing at the end of this month. The cover is also underway, and I’ll be posting a cover reveal here when it’s done.

Book 3 is currently three drafts in. When I’ve finished a draft, I leave it for a while and work on something else so I can come back to it with fresh eyes and spot mistakes easier. I’ve yet to see if three drafts will be enough and if the book will be ready for a first round of edits and being shown to beta readers. In any case, if all goes well then I hope to have this book out by the end of this year and then a box set of the whole trilogy next year.

After that, I’ve already started something new for the series, a prequel explaining the backstory for how the Undersea world was formed. It’s called Codex Leonardo and follows Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Lisa del Gioconde (the sitter for the Mona Lisa) travelling in the first submarine to beat Christopher Columbus to the ‘new world’. So far it’s looking like it’s going to be a bit shorter than the rest of the books, but it will have all the same steampunkish elements. And of course knowing me, I couldn’t get away without a little romance. I hope to have this book published in the middle of next year at the latest.

I’ll post more updates here or you can join the Undersea mailing list for new release announcements and special offers. You get a free short story for signing up, too!

Writing update – Janurary 2021

18 Monday Jan 2021

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I haven’t posted many actual updates since the first book in my series came out. Rest assured, I’m already in the swing of the next two books in the series.

Book 2 – Stealing From Thieves: I got feedback from beta readers which was mostly positive, but did point out some things to correct, which I have done. The book is almost ready to begin the editing phase. I did plan to have this book finished by the end of 2020, but the feedback took longer than I anticipated. Now I’m planning to have it published by Midsummer this year, and hopefully to have the paperback ready to publish at the same time as the e-book.

Book 3 – Outcast’s Alliance: I’m looking over the first draft which I wrote at the end of last year. I expected it to be full of plot holes and errors, which it is, but not nearly as many as I feared. Dare I say it, it’s actually pretty good. Or at least it will be once it’s edited. Once I’ve finished making notes, I’ll be starting the second draft. I plan to have this book finished and ready to publish by the end of 2021.

Other books: I just can’t help myself. Even with these other two books to write and one to promote, I’m still developing ideas for future books in the series, and other series. I just don’t know which one I will work on immedietly after I’ve finished this current trilogy. I’ll probably leave it up to whatever the readers want the most. I’m already planning two one-off sequels to the first Tales From Undersea trilogy focusing on some of the secondary characters who have already proved popular with readers (and with me!). I’m also planning a dieselpunk trilogy set in the same world but moved ahead to the 1920s and set in an underwater version of New York City. A non-related series I’m also developing ideas for is a series based upon the Jules Verne books (can you tell yet that I like Jules Verne?). But that is still in the very early stages of development, so I can’t say anything else about the plot or characters.

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Writing update – 16/9/2020

16 Wednesday Sep 2020

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I have a projected release date for my first self-published novel – November 3rd 2020. I picked this date because it’s my birthday.

I did send the novel off to some contests but wasn’t shortlisted for any of them. I had also planned to submit it to some publishing houses but decided against it because

  1. Due to the Corona virus outbreak, many small publishing houses which would have taken a niche book like mine have unfortunately closed down.
  2. The publishing houses which are still in business have been overwhelmed putting out their delayed books and dealing with a bigger slush pile (although I do think it’s a good thing that more people have been writing during quarantine).
  3. I just really hate writing synopsis.

I had been planning on self-publishing for a while, anyway, and this also means the book will be out sooner. I know that sales will be slow at first, but it’s still the first steps to becoming a career author, not a hobbyist or part timer.

Progress on the second book in the soon-to-be-published series is also going well. I’m on the developmental edit stage right now, which is taking a while, but once that’s done it will be ready to send to beta readers. My goal right now is to have this second book published by Midsummer next year and the third by New Year’s Eve 2021, so that I can gradually increase the number of books I publish each year and become accustomed to the publishing cycle. But at the rate I’m going, I might be beating those deadlines by several months.

Until then, you can read an excerpt of the novel here.