Five More Writing Tips

I've shared my writing tips here on the blog and I thought I'd put together a helpful compilation of a few of them

I can't write in silence. I have to have music on in the background. Sometimes this is just general music on the radio but other times I use music to set the mood.

You can see my full post sharing how I use music to aid my writing here

I've used Pinterest loads while writing, whether it's creating mood boards for characters or settings or plotting out the whole book in pins.

You can see my full post about keeping it Pinteresting here

Plotting a book can be daunting but one technique I've found useful is creating a five-point pitch as a starting point.

You can find my full post about creating a five-point pitch here

Once you have a five-point plot, you can turn that into a bullet point plot and then a three-act structure.

You can see my full post about creating bullet point plots and three-act structures here

Motivation always seems to slip somewhere along the way of writing a novel and I've found a couple of ways to help me keep going through the tough times when the words don't want to come out.

You can see my post about keeping a daily word count and total tally here

I hope you find my writing tips useful. If you have any tips of your own, feel free to share them in the comments below :)

Five Writing Tips

5 Ways I'm Getting Ready for Nanowrimo

Love is in the Air: Four Free Romantic Stories to Get You in the Mood for Valentine's Day

 

'Twas the night (day, whatever) before Valentine's Day and all through the house
Every creature was stirring (please don't let there be a mouse to deal with as well)

If you're feeling a bit frazzled (aren't we all) but you want to get in the mood for Valentine's Day, grab a brew and settle down with a quick rom com. I've got four to choose from - and you can read them here on the blog for free!

Click the covers below to read the story and enjoy!

If you've read all of my Valentine's Day stories and are in need of more quick fiction, you can find more free short stories here

And don't forget to sign up for my newsletter for more free short stories straight to your inbox!

If You're Editing a Book, it's Totally Okay To...

 

... freak out for a little bit when you get your editor's feedback. My book is shit! There's so much work to do! I'll never manage to pull it into a publishable state!

Deep breaths.

Your book isn't shit.

You've got this

... cheat on your book by daydreaming about the next book and its irresistible new characters and plots

... take yourself off to a coffee shop to write. There's no TV there. You don't have to connect to the wifi if you're really strict with yourself. It's all about lessening the distractions. It has nothing to do with the frappes and the baked goods.

Nothing. At. All

... have a little internal weep when cutting scenes or characters you love. But all is not lost. Cut and paste is your friend. Keep those scenes/characters to use in another book where they'll fit better

... reward yourself with snacks. Gotta get that motivation from somewhere, right?

... be a little bit sad to say goodbye to your characters when you send the book off to your editor for the last time. But also...

... celebrate saying goodbye to your characters when you send the book off to your editor for the last time because you'd quite happily never hear from these characters or read their story again. Enough is enough. Be gone (this feeling will pass. Probably)

If You're Plotting a Book it's Totally Okay To...

If You're Writing a Book, it's Totally Okay To...

If You're Taking Part in Nanowrimo, it's Totally Okay To...

Free Short Story Exclusive To Newsletter Subscribers

 

Natalie's friends have signed her up for a speed dating night with a sweet twist: five mini dates with a different delicious dessert to accompany each one. But who will join Natalie on her sixth date?

Six Dates is a quick read that's exclusively available to my newsletter subscribers and as well as a cute romantic comedy, you'll also get the recipes for the sweet treats Natalie enjoys.

As well as my usual book recommendations, giveaway and book news, I'll also be including the first part of a three-part short story in my next newsletter so make sure you sign up if you don't want to miss out!

A New Year Catch Up

We're over halfway through January (but it feels like this month has been going for at least six months) so I thought I would do a quick catch up of what I've been up to so far in 2023:

I'm currently editing my 14th book, which will be released in July. It doesn't have a title yet because although I can write an 80k+ novel, I can't think of a few more words to give my book a decent name.

The book is crammed full of summer, which is quite nice to dive into when it's so cold here at the moment. I've really enjoyed visiting Elodie in the sunshine while it's been snowing in reality! I'm time travelling again in this book, which is loads of fun and I can't wait to share Elodie's story a bit later on in the year.

I'm also thinking about the three-part short story I'm going to be writing and sending out with my newsletter. I already know it's going to have a magical time-hoppy element to it so I'm looking forward to starting it once this round of edits are done. If you'd like to read my not-yet-written story, you can sign up for my newsletter here.

I'm reading Josh Widdicombe's memoir, Watching Neighbours Twice a Day which is full of 90s nostalgia of popular culture. I was born in the same year as Josh Widdicombe so this book is the perfect trip down memory lane of TV and music (and yes, I do remember the 999 episode with the javelin through the neck. Vividly).

There's some great telly on at the moment: The Masked Singer, the return of Dancing on Ice, Call the Midwife and, for the mega-nerd in me, Only Connect. I've also been enjoying Marie Antoinette, which I wasn't sure I would, and I've finally started to watch Jane the Virgin on Netflix (which wasn't such a good move as it's being removed on 2nd February. I'm hoping to power through the first season at least).

I've also been re-watching the first two series of Happy Valley with my oldest teen so we can watch the third instalment. We've only got one episode of series 2 to go and I'm looking forward to jumping into a series I haven't watched yet.

I've started 2023 by Instagramming my usual combo of books, tea, Luna and sweet treats.

So that's my New Year catch up. I hope you've had a good start to 2023 :)

Are We Friends On Social Media?

You can usually find me knocking about on social media, posting bookish stuff (obviously) and pics of my pup, Luna (gorgeous). If this is something you'd be interested in, you can find me at the following places:

And don't forget, if you don't want to miss any of my book news or free short stories, you can sign up for my newsletter:

My newsletter go out 4-5 times a year and you'll receive a FREE ebook quick read straight away.

My Writing Goals For 2023

For the past couple of years I've set myself a few writing goals for the year and today I'm setting out what I hope to achieve in 2023

I'm currently working on the first round of edits for the book that will be published by HQ Digital in July. It doesn't have a title yet (because it seems I can write a whole book but not a teeny, weeny title) but hopefully I'll have one I can share with you soon!

I'm time-travelling again in this book and I can't wait to share Elodie's story with you.

I wrote a big chunk of Book 17 (which also has no title. I'm very, very rubbish at titles lately) as part of NaNoWriMo 2022 but I put it away over Christmas and now I'm working on my summer book edits. But I'm very much looking forward to getting back to Molly and Max's story.

I first had the murmurings of an idea for this story back in November 2019 but I had other books on the go and although I had the base for the story, I didn't have fully-formed characters or a proper plot until quite recently, so it's been a bit of a slow-burner!

I've got an idea for a short story that I want to write, but it's going to be on a not-so-short short story so I thought I'd write it in three parts and send it out in instalments as part of my 2023 newsletters.

If you'd like to read my not-so-short short story, make sure you've subscribed to my newsletter.

I've taken part in Nano for the past few years (and sometimes I've even 'won') and I love the community aspect of getting together (either in person or over Zoom). 2022's Nano was particularly helpful for me as it gave me my confidence back with writing, so I'm looking forward to taking part again this year.

So those are my writing goals for 2023. I'll keep you updated on my progress by the end of the year.

Have you set yourself any writing goals?