... I'm not a great blogger!
For me, blogging is like extracting teeth, though pretty certain I'd find that easier! The fact is, I struggle to think about what I could write. I love writing, worldbuilding, planning a series and these things are definitely useful skills to have and to develop if they're something you want to be able to do. But my day to day life is very quiet. I live in a two-bed flat (apartment for you Americans), with my husband Jonathan and our three cats. I get up early in the morning, for the most part, and sit down to work. Maybe I have breakfast, I usually get up for something to eat for lunch sometime between 12 to 3pm and dinner is usually around 7pm. Hopefully, I've been able to shut down the computer around 6pm for a bath, otherwise, I have to go back into the office to finish off my day, then I go to sleep
I've barely been out of the house since the beginning of the pandemic. I'm prone to chest infections, bronchitis usually, but occasionally pneumonia. When I was 20 odd years old my doctor joked 'At least now you know how you're going to die!'
Oddly, I didn't find that very funny.
I work very hard not to get chest infections, but the fact is I can't get a cold without getting a chest infection to some degree, so I've been very careful, this past year and a half, to avoid Covid 19 and that means sitting on my ass at home. I've had to miss special occasions with friends and family and if my university insists on holding our graduations, delayed from last year, this year, then I'll have to miss that too.
The last time I properly left the house was for the first vaccination. We're waiting to hear when we can get the second vaccine and I was super relieved to hear our government has bought a load of vaccines for next year because with people being out and about, more variants will happen. People are dying, even with the vaccine though in far, far fewer numbers than those who haven't gotten it.
I'm determined to stay safe and I hope you are to.
I started my career during this pandemic!
I went into isolation in April 2020, my novella, The Captain's Promise, came out the following June 15th, The Mercenary's Dawn, June 22nd. Every book has been released while I've been in isolation and it's been an amazing time, I'm loving every minute of it, even as I'm humbled by people's responses to my work.
But back to the subject at hand. Blogging, for me, is difficult. I need themes to blog around so that I can plan out blogs in advance. My husband, also a writer, tends to post a blog on a Sunday and while I know he puts a lot of work into it, it feels like he just plucks a subject out of his head, writes up 500 words and hits publish. I'm jealous as all hell at the ease with which he does it.
I do have plans to blog, but right now I'm trying to tame the ever-growing behemoth of my responsibilities. Being an indie author comes with a lot of admin and it can quickly feel like it's getting away from you. I'm currently making process tick sheets for every job I do, so I don't forget anything, because I've been forgetting things lately, and feeling overwhelmed with everything I have to do. I wish I could just write, edit, publish, but that's not realistic. Honestly, I have no idea how authors like Ava Ross who publishes monthly, and Ruby Dixon do it. It's insane how many books they publish!
This blog is going to grow. I am going to blog once I have my processes in place. Even now, with the sheets I have, I'm finding myself getting quicker because I'm not sat staring at my computer for hours wondering what's next? I can look at my sheet, know those things are done, those are left to do and just get on with it.
I'm a person who needs structure, because I'm so very chaotic.
So, blogging, the plan...
Worldbuilding is one of my favourite things to do, so that's the first series of articles I'm planning on doing. Not just, this is how I built this world, but this is how I build. After that I'm looking at either writing in depth about how I plot my novels, or Self-publishing. I also want to talk more about my writing and about the Tessan and Klevian universes, including posting the Universal Menagerie about the different species in the Tessan Universe onto the website so that people can access it while they read which was recently suggested to me.
I'm also thinking about writing a series of articles about Science-Fiction Romance and what Ruby Dixon's publishing contract might mean for the genre. I'm fascinated by indie v trad publishing. There is a continuing shift here, between the two methods, and how they're viewed by the outside world which promises interesting things for the future and not just in publishing. Indie v trad is something you can apply to movies, music and art of all kinds.
Not that I plan on writing about movies and music, though, occasionally, possibly Marvel movies and shows... we'll see.
At first, I'll be posting monthly while I create a batch blog. Once I feel confident about keeping up and I've made it a part of my routine, I'll start weekly blogging. Until then, I'll try to be a little more regular with posting.