End of July Roundup

Earlier this year, right before I was diagnosed with cancer, my husband and I bought laminate floor with the intent of paying someone to lay it. Healthcare is free at the point of use, in the UK, we still pay for it in our taxes, but even so, travel to the hospital, parking, buying things I needed for hospital, we ended up having to lay the floor ourselves.

Well this is the result.

Or a part of the result anyway. I’m so proud of my hubby for the job he’s done. We have a small two bedroom flat, and he’s never done anything like this before, but he laid it all the way through and it looks amazing. It was sorely needed. Our old carpets were very old and desperately needed replacing and it made the whole flat look so much better. I’m so happy with it. Just a little humble brag about my amazing husband.

It’s amazing how much better this one small change made me feel. After the infection all of my energy and motivation I’d regained after the operation disappeared, but since doing this it’s coming back. I’m going to the gym three times a week, my energy is rising and I feel so much more motivated to take jobs off my husband. He’s been basically running the whole apartment and our lives since everything started and I’ve seen him getting more and more tired. It’s been so great this past couple of weeks to take the reins, get the flat sorted out after the floor laying, and watch him be able to decompress. I couldn’t be more grateful for this man. I love him so much. He’s taught me so much about how selfless love can be.

The Ilia's Lovers

I have a little confession to make. Despite wanting to get on with finishing Book 1 of The Ilia's Lovers, I was having difficulties with getting started. I was really struggling the past few months with how to end it. There was something about the whole ending that just wasn’t clicking for me. I was trying to bring the bad guys to this place of power over Dahnus, Hadith and Elaine, but the method I’d chosen was all wrong. They had such strength and power it just wasn’t to work. Well, a few weeks ago I figured out what the issue was. I spent all of the week before last replotting the final chapters of the book and last week I wrote them. The Ilia’s Lovers: Palace of Light is officially finished. Finally, after more than two years of writing. Writing half the book in 2023, almost half in 2024 and then being stuck on these last six chapters, just six lousy chapters, for a year, was more frustrating than I can put into words. But it’s finally done.

Now, I still have to write book 2, but I'm just celebrating the achievement of finishing a Sci-Fi Romance for the first time since December 2022.

But I have already begun planning out the second book, the title of which I will reveal in due time. I printed off my original basic plot beats the other week, and started changing it to account for all of the ways book 1 changes it now it’s written and I’ve worked out the first concept of the chapters. So far, there are more chapters than book 1, but at this point it's impossible to tell if it will grow or shrink as I plot the book, and then as I write it. I’m expecting to be done posting it on Ream in early to mid January, then posting it on my blog early to mid February.

I still have a lot of work to do. I have to fully plot and then write book 2. Then edit them both. Book 1, because it was written over three consecutive years, will need quite a bit of editing in order to marry the tones, and fix the continuity errors I know are there and are niggling at the back of my brain like a little worm trying to gnaw its way free. So, I’ve set a tentative publishing date for the first week of March 2026. Still a while away, but more than enough time now that my energy is returning and more importantly, my inspiration is careening back with force!

Uneasy Accord

So, what’s happening with Uneasy Accord in all of this. I’ve been promising this book for around a year, if not more, at this point.

When I first wrote Uneasy Accord, my inspiration was creaking along. I have world built the historical setting to add fantasy and supernatural creatures to it. But there were issues from the start that I either didn’t recognise, or thought I’d figure out magically at some point.

Now that my energy and inspiration is back, I’m seeing the issues and seeing how to fix them.

That means I’m replotting the book from scratch. I’m not planning on rewriting it from scratch, most of it I’m really happy with but there are issues with one of the main characters which until a few days ago, I didn't know how to solve. There were threads I hinted at and dropped, and relationships I left undeveloped. There are chapters I have to add, and plot threads I have to pick up and flesh out. It also needs some editing. There is a lot about it that is really good, but it lacks an atmosphere that the book deserves to have and there are conflicts I just didn’t see the first time around, so I’m going back in. I’m spending the rest of this year replotting the book in detail. I'm already around half of the way through, but I’m taking it slow and concentrating on finishing The Ilia’s Lovers for the rest of the year. But this book is coming. It’s just going to take longer than I thought and honestly, I think it will be all the better for it.

Admin and Office Work

I know this is an odd thing to add to this blog post, but I think it's important to show where I am in the recovery process. Writing is the easiest thing in the world to do for me. You know I feel really bad when I can't write. Worldbuilding is a close second. Next comes plotting. It takes a lot of work, a lot of creativity but also some technical jiggery pokery. Because I have to work things out in my head in a way that is real, works for me but doesn't impinge on your imagination so much that you can visualise the books for yourself. So, setting scenes. I give details, but not too much. If I describe a room after you've already visualised it, it'll take you out of the story if the fireplace is on a different room than you imagined it. My imagination is important in writing the story, but yours is just as important in reading it. If I stomp all over that, you won't be able to connect with the scene.

At the bottom of all of these jobs is admin and office work. This is everything from figuring out my writing time, compared to my admin time; paperwork, to advertising. I'm not 100% on this yet, but I'm back advertising, planning out my days and doing weekly paperwork, so I'm getting there. I'm taking it slowly. I think that is the answer to everything right now, take it slowly.

Wide V KU

I felt quite low when I sent out a newsletter to my subscribers about bringing my books back into Kindle Unlimited but I got a lot of lovely emails back from you and I got a lot of support. That you all so much for that.

So, having been back in KU for a few weeks, how had it gone? Let me put it this way, today is the 5th of August and I've earned more money in Kindle Unlimited this month, than I did wide for the whole of last month. Going back is the right decision. I'm sad. I wanted to be wide, but it's just unsustainable for me.

If you want to buy the books that are still available wide, you can find them here on Apple, or here on here on Kobo where they're available on Kobo + until August 25th, when I'll withdraw all of my remaining books from wide to put them back into Kindle Unlimited.

And that's it for this month. I am recovering and I'm writing and those are a better outcome than I could have hoped for in February. It may be a while yet before I'm 100%, but I'm well on the way.

Bonus, here is a young lady stopping me from plotting out the last chapters of The Ilia's Lovers. I politely asked her for my hand back, but she informed me through claws in my skin, that she would give it back when she was well and done with it! And yes, those are both of her back paws resting on the back of my hand! 🤣