NaNoWriMo 2022 - How Are We Getting On?

 

We're four days into this year's Nanowrimo - how are we getting on?

Nano kicked off on Tuesday, with a massive 50k goal for the month of November. I doubt I'll reach the official goal but I do love the community spirit of Nanowrimo and I'll be happy with any amount of words I get down.

On Tuesday, I met up with some other Nanowrimo-ers at the library, where we shared what we're working on and got some words down. I'm not starting a new project for this year's Nano as I'm mid-project, so I'll be clocking up as many words as I can for my WIP.

I've had a good start to this year's Nano, and I've managed to add almost 8.5k words to my current book. I'm writing another rom com and I'm loving being immersed in the story. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to my characters next!

How are you getting on with this year's challenge?

The Christmas Cupid: Fun Facts

Have a sneaky look behind the scenes of The Christmas Cupid with a few fun facts about the book:

‘Laugh-out-loud funny… Everything you want in a Christmas book and more!’ Jaimie Admans

One Day in December meets Groundhog Day in this hilarious Christmas rom com!

Zoey Beake is having a bad December. She might be an elf in the local toy shop’s Christmas department, but it’s hard to stay festive when you’ve just been dumped, you’ve had an extremely unfortunate haircut, and your boss volunteers you to walk on stilts in the toy shop’s Christmas parade.

But then something incredible happens.

Zoey is sent back to the start of December, with the chance to live the whole month again. The catch? She has to match six true-love couples by Christmas Eve. Now it’s not just her own love life she needs to fix… Grab the mistletoe, the Christmas Cupid is ready to matchmake!

A funny and uplifting Christmas romantic comedy for fans of Holiday Romance, One Day in December and Santa, Please Bring Me a Boyfriend!

Amazon UK | Amazon US

Are We Ready For Nanowrimo?

Nanowrimo 2022 starts tomorrow, with writers spending November getting as many words down as they can.

For the past couple of years, my local Nano group have been meeting up over Zoom, but this year we're doing a mix of in-person and online meetings, and I can't wait to see everyone again and hopefully meet some new writers.

I'm pretty sure I won't clock up the 50,000 word goal again this year (I only managed about 20-25,000 words last year) but any words down on the page are better than none and I love the community spirit of Nano. If you are starting a new project and you're feeling a bit panicked that you're not prepped enough, I've got some quick ways to get to know your characters before you start your Nano project.

I'm cheating a bit this year as I'm mid-project, so I'll be continuing with this instead of starting something new for Nano 2022. I'll be posting quick progress updates on Instagram and, if I have time (!!!) more in-depth here on the blog.

If you're taking part - best of luck. It's completely crazy but so much fun!

My Five Favourite Time-Travel TV Shows

I love a bit of time-travel fiction, which is why I wrote my latest release, The Christmas Cupid. I've already shared my favourite time-travel rom com films and now I'm going to share my top five time-hopping TV shows:

When a child goes missing, the town's secrets are unraveled, spanning generations. Time-travel. 80s nostalgia. Clever twists and intertwining timelines. Per-fect time-travel fiction.

When police officer Sam Tyler is involved in a car accident, he wakes up in the 1970s, where is working at the same police station - but with very different policies when it comes to catching criminals.

A spin-off of Life On Mars, which follows police officer Alex Drake who is shot and wakes to find herself in the 1980s.

When Erica meets therapist Dr Tom, he gives her the chance to revisit events of the past which she regrets so she can make different choices.

TV repairman Gary Sparrow finds he can travel back in time to the 1940s, where he meets landlady, Phoebe and falls in love. Only Gary is already married to Yvonne in the present day.

(Yes, Gary is a shit, but it's such a good show I have to overlook it).

So those are my favourite time-travel TV shows, but I'd love to hear yours. Let us know in the comments below :)

‘Laugh-out-loud funny… Everything you want in a Christmas book and more!’ Jaimie Admans

One Day in December meets Groundhog Day in this hilarious Christmas rom com!

Zoey Beake is having a bad December. She might be an elf in the local toy shop’s Christmas department, but it’s hard to stay festive when you’ve just been dumped, you’ve had an extremely unfortunate haircut, and your boss volunteers you to walk on stilts in the toy shop’s Christmas parade.

But then something incredible happens.

Zoey is sent back to the start of December, with the chance to live the whole month again. The catch? She has to match six true-love couples by Christmas Eve. Now it’s not just her own love life she needs to fix… Grab the mistletoe, the Christmas Cupid is ready to matchmake!

A funny and uplifting Christmas romantic comedy for fans of Holiday Romance, One Day in December and Santa, Please Bring Me a Boyfriend!

Amazon UK | Amazon US

The Christmas Cupid: Writing A Book In Pics

The Christmas Cupid is out now and I thought I'd share my writing process through the pics I posted on Instagram

Getting ready to start the book:

Post-it note progress:

Fuelled by tea:

Mentioned Agatha Christie's festive book, Hercule Poirot's Christmas. Had to buy myself a copy:

More post-it note progress:

Fast-forward 2 years:

My two-book deal was announced, including The Christmas Cupid.

And then:

Cover Reveal!

Ebook and audio Publication Day arrived...

... with gorgeous flowers from my publisher

The paperback wasn't out until 8th December, but I had a surprise box delivered on ebook publication day!

After 13 books, I finally got an orange bestseller flag on Amazon:

The book was partly inspired by my local town's annual reindeer parade, so I had to take a copy along for a photo with the star of the parade:

And I also took along a few extra copies to leave around town.

I numbered the copies 1-6 in a heart (if you've read the book you'll get the reference) and left a message inside:

'This is one of 6 copies of The Christmas Cupid left out during the 2022 Oldham Reindeer Parade. I hope you enjoy Zoey's story :)'

I felt like a Christmas elf as I dropped the books off around town, hoping whoever found them would enjoy the story

And then it was paperback publication day so I ran a celebratory giveaway for my newsletter subscribers!

‘Laugh-out-loud funny… Everything you want in a Christmas book and more!’ Jaimie Admans

One Day in December meets Groundhog Day in this hilarious Christmas rom com!

Zoey Beake is having a bad December. She might be an elf in the local toy shop’s Christmas department, but it’s hard to stay festive when you’ve just been dumped, you’ve had an extremely unfortunate haircut, and your boss volunteers you to walk on stilts in the toy shop’s Christmas parade.

But then something incredible happens.

Zoey is sent back to the start of December, with the chance to live the whole month again. The catch? She has to match six true-love couples by Christmas Eve. Now it’s not just her own love life she needs to fix… Grab the mistletoe, the Christmas Cupid is ready to matchmake!

A funny and uplifting Christmas romantic comedy for fans of Holiday Romance, One Day in December and Santa, Please Bring Me a Boyfriend!

Amazon UK | Amazon US

The Christmas Cupid Playlist

I always create a playlist for my books and I loved putting together the festive songs for The Christmas Cupid.

All the songs in the playlist are mentioned in the book and I hope Zoey's story makes you feel just as cosy as listening to them makes me. So sit back - with a mug of hot chocolate preferably - and enjoy!

 

‘Laugh-out-loud funny… Everything you want in a Christmas book and more!’ Jaimie Admans

One Day in December meets Groundhog Day in this hilarious Christmas rom com!

Zoey Beake is having a bad December. She might be an elf in the local toy shop’s Christmas department, but it’s hard to stay festive when you’ve just been dumped, you’ve had an extremely unfortunate haircut, and your boss volunteers you to walk on stilts in the toy shop’s Christmas parade.

But then something incredible happens.

Zoey is sent back to the start of December, with the chance to live the whole month again. The catch? She has to match six true-love couples by Christmas Eve. Now it’s not just her own love life she needs to fix… Grab the mistletoe, the Christmas Cupid is ready to matchmake!

A funny and uplifting Christmas romantic comedy for fans of Holiday Romance, One Day in December and Santa, Please Bring Me a Boyfriend!

Amazon UK | Amazon US

Behind The Scenes of The Christmas Cupid: What Inspired The Book?

I love Christmas. More than love it. I have over 40 pairs of festive socks, a shelf full of Crimbo mugs and an obsession with nutcrackers. When December comes, I'm Mrs Christmas. Alright, alright. When November comes. At the latest.

Every year, the town where I live hosts a reindeer parade, which is full of festive characters and performers, and I wanted to capture the enchantment as families gather to watch it. The Christmas parade was the starting point of a new book idea. Something very festive. Something... magic. I'm a big fan of fiction with a quirky, magical element - Big, 13 Going On 30, Liar Liar - and Christmas is the perfect time to add a sprinkling of magic.

So I knew I wanted to write a festive story that involved a Christmas parade and a bit of magic. Maybe a bit of time-travel? But not the time-hopping kind like in The Twelve Christmases of You & Me. Maybe a do-over of the festive period, but how would that come about?

See more parade picture on my Pinterest board here

It was when I was watching a Christmas documentary (huge fan of those) about a festive parade in London that I saw a bus with a Santa Claus on it as part of the parade. What if someone was run over by that bus, and it was actually being driven by the Santa Claus? It would be horrific, obviously, but also a bit... funny? Not ha ha funny, but come on, imagine getting run over by Santa.

The seeds of Zoey's story was planted. A Christmas parade. An accident. And the chance to re-do December.

‘Laugh-out-loud funny… Everything you want in a Christmas book and more!’ Jaimie Admans

One Day in December meets Groundhog Day in this hilarious Christmas rom com!

Zoey Beake is having a bad December. She might be an elf in the local toy shop’s Christmas department, but it’s hard to stay festive when you’ve just been dumped, you’ve had an extremely unfortunate haircut, and your boss volunteers you to walk on stilts in the toy shop’s Christmas parade.

But then something incredible happens.

Zoey is sent back to the start of December, with the chance to live the whole month again. The catch? She has to match six true-love couples by Christmas Eve. Now it’s not just her own love life she needs to fix… Grab the mistletoe, the Christmas Cupid is ready to matchmake!

A funny and uplifting Christmas romantic comedy for fans of Holiday Romance, One Day in December and Santa, Please Bring Me a Boyfriend!

Amazon UK | Amazon US