Feels like I'm doing...nothin' at all!

This weekend I planned to sit down and prepare a lot of my upcoming blog posts (both for Synthetica and for the A - Z blogging challenge), as well as maybe get cracking on the sequel to Synthetica and THEN, if I had time, outline a brand new WIP that I've been thinking a lot about lately.

So how much of my ever-growing to-do list did I get done over the weekend?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

And. It. Was. Bliss.

I've been pretty wound up over the past week and I don't know why - whether it's subconsciously been to do with work, or home or my writing, or maybe even good old dose of PMT - I genuinely can't tell you. All I can say is that by the time Friday rolled around, I could've cried with gratitude. I've learnt a lot about myself while writing Synthetica, and I knew that if I continued to feel stressed, I wouldn't get anything done this weekend at all. I'd just sit there and panic about everything I simply had to do, while not actually doing a thing about it.

So I took a break. I read. Literally, that's all I did. I finished Maggie Steifvater's The Dream Thieves in two days. I sat outside and read in the sun (because England finally appears to be getting round to spring). I read inside with a cup of tea. I watched Netflix. I read some more.

It was fantastic. I actually woke up this morning in a good mood! Which, for me, is basically unheard of for a Monday morning (let's just ignore the fact that it only lasted until I got into my car for work, and then the whole subconscious stress/PMT battle started again).

Not only do I feel more energised and ready to tackle my to-do list, I have to say, I was also extremely impressed with The Dream Thieves. I loved The Raven Boys, and I'm so glad I finally got round to ordering the second book in the series, which was just as good. But it wasn't just the story that I haven't been able to get out of my head today - this book has been the first book in a long long time, which made me sit down and think seriously about my own writing. The author has this way of completely and utterly drawing you into the character's world - I could almost hear the cicadas and feel the heat of a Henrietta summer. I was actually a tiny bit surprised when I looked up and found myself in England instead of Virginia.

Reading this book has forced me to stop and assess my own writing. Not in a bad way, but it's just made me realise that I want to write to the very best of my ability. All of the time. For every single book I write, or attempt to write. Not that I haven't been doing that so far, but now, I'm going to try and consciously think, is this the very VERY best I can make it?

I want people to do what I did. I want them to lose a whole weekend reading my book, because they can't bear to put it down. I want my novel to leave an impression on my readers. I want people to think about my book while they're at work, and wonder whether the order they placed for the next book in the series yesterday, could have possibly arrived today (it hasn't. But one can still hope).

So that's all my news! This week, I'm going to focus on working my way through my to-do list, but making sure I take time out if I need to. Let's hope the sun stays out!

Have a great week, everyone!

Music to my ears...

Today on my blog, I'm going to be talking about the music I used to help me write Synthetica.

Years ago when I first starting writing, I had to listen to music all the time in order to write. I thought I needed it for inspiration to strike, but here's the funny thing I found out while I was writing Synthetica - I don't always need music to write.

Don't get me wrong - about 80% of this novel was written while I had my headphones plugged in, but there was a time last summer while I was writing the first draft, that I didn't listen to any music at all. Why? Because, in all honesty, it distracted me. Last summer I had a job to do; I had three weeks to write the whole book. That meant that some days I was writing upwards of 7,000 words a day. And in the beginning, instead of getting those words down, I found myself constantly on iTunes, updating my playlists, going on YouTube to find new music to listen to - anything, in fact, other than actually writing.

So I stopped listening to music. And then, miraculously, the words began to stack up on the page. I managed to complete the first draft within my deadline, and not only was I thrilled (I had just written my FIRST BOOK, people!), I had also learnt that sometimes, silence is indeed golden.

I found it a lot easier to listen to music while I was redrafting my novel. Because I already had the initial gist of where the plot was going, I liked to listen to music for inspiration for a particular scene, or even just a fun beat that kept my fingers tapping on the keyboard.

And that's the other major lesson I learnt - all through my teenage years I listened to Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Blink 182, Fall Out Boy...you get the gist. And that was the music I listened to while I wrote too. That's not the type of music I listened to while writing Synthetica (with a couple of exceptions). Why? Well, I still like that type of music, but here's the thing - I promised myself when I started to write Synthetica, that I would have fun writing it. I knew that if I didn't have fun, I would never get it finished. And then I thought, why not shake things up, music wise as well? So instead of pigeon-holing myself into listening to one type of music, I decided to play anything I liked the sound of. Nowadays, I don't tend to stick to one genre of music (just like I don't really stick to one genre of books while I'm reading) and it really paid off. I have never had as much fun writing as I have writing Synthetica.

So, without further ado, here's my (current) writing playlist*:

Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men
Wings by Little Mix
I Am Not A Robot by Marina and the Diamonds
Centuries by Fall Out Boy
Wake Me Up by Avicii
Hey Brother by Avicii
Let It Go by Idina Menzel (Don't judge me - this is an awesome song!)
Are You Satisfied? by Marina and the Diamonds
You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison by My Chemical Romance
If I Had A Heart by Fever Ray (thank you Vikings, for this one!)
The Hanging Tree from the Hunger Games soundtrack
Left Hand Free by alt-J
Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
Hollywood by Marina and the Diamonds
The Great and the Good by Max Raptor
Do You Hear The People Sing? from the Les Miserables soundtrack
Demons by Imagine Dragons
Solo Dancing by Indiana
Hideaway by Kiesza
Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson
Take Me To Church by Hozier
I Bet My Life by Imagine Dragons
Heaven Knows by The Pretty Reckless

Although I know that I'll probably change my writing playlist again for my new WIP, there are a couple of songs on there that I have no doubt will remain staples for the whole Synthetica series. There were a couple of songs that I listened to, and immediately thought of scenes for the second and third books in the trilogy, so I know I'll definitely be revisiting them while outlining those books!

So what do you think? Is this a pretty average playlist for a writer, or were there a few surprises? What do you like to listen to while writing?



*I've actually cut it down to the songs I listened to the most - my original playlist is over 2 hours long, and far far too many songs for me to list here...

IWSG March: One month to go...

Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group! You can check out the official IWSG website here!

For this month's post, I'm going to rehash a worry I voiced earlier this week in this blog post.

Synthetica is due to be published on the 1st April, and I have A LOT of insecurities around it's release, but my biggest fear right now is that no one will read it.

I'm just so worried that Synthetica will just get lost in amongst the hundreds of other e-books that are released every day, no matter how much promoting I do. What if all my promotion falls on deaf ears?? What if no one wants to read a book by a self published author?? What do I do then??

This fear really does make me feel sick. I've never done anything like this before, so I have nothing to compare it to, or to gauge how well my book promo is going. I don't know how to deal with it. I feel like I'm doing as much self-promo as I can, but what if it's not enough? Do I just keep writing anyway, and hope for the best?

I guess I'll find out soon enough whether or not my book is going to flop. I'll just have to deal with it when it happens.

Have a great month, everyone!

A little taster...

So with Synthetica being released in less than a month, and this being my first promo post, I thought I'd give you a little sneak peek of what you can expect from the book.

Synthetica, for those of you who are new to this blog, is my debut YA sci-fi novel. You can read the blurb here, but in a nutshell, it's about seventeen-year-old Anais Finch, who becomes tangled up in a murder plot by a sociopathic killer, who doesn't care who he hurts on his path of destruction. Anais is rapidly running into danger and out of time, but can she find the killer before it's too late?

Sound good? Excellent. Now that that's whet your appetite (I hope), read on for an exclusive excerpt from Synthetica!

To celebrate the release of Synthetica, I've decided to post the prologue below for you all to read. I would do it on a PDF, but I never did get the hang on posting a PDF onto the internet...so until I figure that out, enjoy the excerpt below:

"The green light flashed. Finally, the program was online.

He paused, staring at the computer screen, hardly daring to believe it. The computer was an antique from the 21st Century, but using such old technology had its advantages. For one, it meant that its software didn't register on modern computer models, making it laughably easy to hack into any new system. These people truly were arrogant if they believed themselves to be untouchable.

Well, he was just about to prove to them just how wrong they were.

He skimmed the text with an expert eye, registering certain details as they leapt out at him. ID number, name, age, job title, where they lived, even what they ate last week. His laugh was muffled by the black mask strapped across the lower half of his face. This was almost too easy. It was almost as if they wanted to die.

His fingers flew over the keyboard as he typed in commands, the computer whining as he pushed it to its maximum capacity. He pressed the 'Enter' key without pausing.

Whilst he waited for confirmation that his command had been sent, his grey eyes wandered over to the small box of picochips on the desk; their silver and bronze whorls twinkling in the half light. If this test worked...these tiny wonders he created were about to change the world.

Ten years. Ten years he'd been waiting for this moment. Waiting for them to mess up. Waiting for them to create something he could manipulate to his own ends. And finally, it was here. All of his waiting and planning would finally pay off.

The computer beeped, telling him that his command had been accepted by the host. Behind his mask he smiled a cold, cruel smile.

Time to see what Mr Smithson was capable of. He wondered, just for the briefest of seconds, if Mr Smithson had any objection to becoming a murderer. Not that it mattered if he did – he'd be dead in a few hours anyway."

So that's it for now! Hope you enjoyed the excerpt! If you did, don't forget to check back all throughout March for more teasers and more information on Synthetica!

ONE MONTH TO GO! WE CAN DO THIS!

One month to go...

It's nearly here!!

In exactly one month, Synthetica will be published on Amazon!

I still can't believe it. I feel a bit like I did when I announced rather suddenly to my family that I was going to teach English in China for six months. I didn't truly believe I was doing it until I was actually on the plane. I don't think they really believed it either...

It's been a long, long road to self publishing my book, but I've learnt so many things and I wouldn't change it for the world. I never thought this time a year ago, that I'd be gearing up to the release of my first book. It's always been some kind of shiny, far-off dream - something for me to daydream about, but not to actually do.

It's a scary feeling to think that, soon, people will be able to read words that I've actually written. If I'm completely honest, my self-doubt is going into overdrive right now - what if my novel is actually a big pile of crap? What if this is all a huge mistake? What if everyone hates my cover and won't buy my book because of it? What no one likes my book?? What if no one reads it?!

This last point is the one I'm most worried about. I'm so worried that Synthetica will just get lost in amongst the thousands of other ebooks out there, no matter how much promoting I do. It's doing my head in. Sometimes, I really wish my mind had a 'mute' button. I know I'm being neurotic, and that every writer (apparently - I wouldn't personally know, being a newbie at all this) goes through phases of self-doubt, but as I'm self-publishing, I'm already well aware I'm at a disadvantage. I simply don't have the money to throw at large marketing campaigns - I just have little old me, and this blog. And Twitter. And Goodreads.

Okay, so it's not like I'm completely empty-handed, but it's still a terrifying process.

But I'm not going to let it get me down. I've simply got to think of it as a 'challenge' ;).

But just in case, if there's anyone out there who'd be willing to review Synthetica - please just let me know! If you're interested, feel free to leave a comment, or drop me a line at rachelsramblingsblog[@]gmail.com - and I'd be happy to send you a copy to review.

And yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that's straight up begging, but hey ho, that's the way it goes ;).

Have a great Sunday, everyone!