C is for...Celebration!

Today's A-Z blog post is brought to you by the letter C!

When you're in the midst of writing your first, or tenth, or even fiftieth book, it can be so easy to get worn down by the whole process. You're slogging away day after day on one particular chapter or scene, nothing you write seems to be going right, your characters simply refuse to do what you're telling them to do...all you want to do is either crawl under the duvet and cry, or scrap the whole thing and take up falconry as a hobby instead.

It can be easy to get overwhelmed by the negatives when writing a novel, but it's so important to focus on the positives, or you'll never make it to the end.

So, I say, make sure you take the time to celebrate your successes, no matter how big or small.

First of all, you've started writing a novel. How many people have you heard say 'oh, I'd like to write a novel one day,' only for them to never get round to it? Well, congratulations! You've already overcome that particular hurdle!

When you finally manage to untangle that beast of a plot, or you have a brainwave about how to finally get that character out of that sticky situation, make sure you celebrate that achievement - because it is an achievement. Every day, you're working hard to make your novel better, and every day you're moving a little bit closer to that first draft becoming an actual, real-life novel.

When you reach the end of a chapter, or a scene, make sure you celebrate. When you realise that, for the first time, your novel actually makes sense time-wise, celebrate.

And, most importantly, when you finish a draft of your novel - any draft, from the first to the final version - celebrate.

I'm not talking about hiring a brass band and throwing a glitzy party every time (I'm pretty sure you're writing to try and make money, not burn it) - you can celebrate however you like. Take a relaxing bath, treat yourself to a new pair of shoes or a new book, organise a day out with your friends (because no doubt they're wondering whether or not you're still alive after you've been sucked into that black hole of writing your novel), catch up with family, go for a walk - however you want to treat yourself to, do it!

Me? I bake. Whenever I need to get away from my manuscript, or whenever I finish a draft, I set myself a baking challenge. This is the cake I made after I finished the first draft of Synthetica:

In hindsight, it was a very big cake. And it took me the best part of four hours to make. But, hey, that's just how I like to celebrate!

So how about you? Do you celebrate your successes while writing? If so, how?

B is for...Back to Basics

Welcome to day two of the A - Z Blogging Challenge!

Today's post is brought to you by the letter B ;)

I think it's easy to get caught up when writing your book in what I would call 'the big things', e.g. plot, character arcs, character motivations, timeline, formatting, fonts, book cover....I could go on.

But all that work won't mean anything if you don't get the very basics right.

And by basics I mean spelling, grammar and punctuation.

There still seems to be a horrible misconception surrounding indie publishing; most people seem to assume that any book that's self-published is generally going to be full of spelling mistakes and other errors. In the beginning, they may have been right, but over the past few years, indie authors have really upped their game. Indie publishing is no longer thought of as a new form of vanity press, or a quick way to make money. It can (and should) be a serious career for authors.

Which is why authors should treat their self-published books no differently to a book that's been traditionally published. Readers are still going to read your book. Reviewers are still going to review it. Self publishing is no excuse for sloppy writing.

I'm not saying that if you're spelling and grammar is perfect, you'll immediately sell thousands of copies, but it will help. People who read your book will be able to see how much care and attention you've put into it, and will be more likely to buy your other books (providing, y'know, they liked the premise of your first book).

I know how difficult it is to catch every single spelling and grammar mistake. No matter how many times you, or your beta readers, comb through your manuscript, there's bound to be one or two that you miss. And that's acceptable, so long as the rest of your work isn't littered with mistakes. It can really grate on the reader and pull them out of the story if they're constantly having to stop and think about what you're trying to say. I read a book recently that repeated sentences further down the page on at least two separate occasions, if not more. I can honestly say I probably won't read one of their books again - not just because of the repeated sentences, but because of silly spelling mistakes and other errors which constantly grated on me. And this was by a traditionally published author, who had decided to self-publish this particular book.

So, make sure you read through your work for any little mistakes. And then reread it. And then reread it again. And then get someone else to check it for you.

At the very least, there's no excuse nowadays not to use spellcheck!

How about you? Have you ever noticed any mistakes in books that simply shouldn't have happened?

Hvae a grate dai evry1 ;)!

Happy Synthetica Release Day!!

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! IT'S FINALLY HERE!!

I still can't believe it! Synthetica goes on sale on Amazon today!! Ahh!!

As you can tell from my IWSG post, I'm still freaking out about this - I've been in a constant state of nervousness since about 7pm last night and I don't think it's doing my heart or mind any good.

So today I've decided to get out of the house. If I stay in, I know I'm just going to drive myself crazy, refreshing my Amazon dashboard every 5 minutes, crying when everyone in the whole world doesn't immediately buy a copy*, and generally driving myself insane. I've made plans with one of my best friends to go out for afternoon tea to celebrate Synthetica's release and I can't wait - not just because I'm celebrating the release of my first book, but also because I haven't seen her since Christmas and I'm looking forward to having a proper girly catch-up.

So, I'm off now; I'm going to go and walk the dog, read, catch up on wedding stuff, get ready for my afternoon out, and generally try not to freak out anymore than I already am. I'll be back later to check out all the awesome A to Z Blog Challenge posts, but until then...have a great day, folks!

Oh, and if you DO fancy checking it out, you can find my book on Amazon, or on Goodreads :). Happy Wednesday!



*But at least I can console myself in the fact that my mum has promised to buy a copy, even if no one else does ;)

A is for...Algorithm

Welcome to the A - Z Blogging Challenge 2015!

The idea of this blogging challenge is that you post every day (except Sundays) throughout April, with each day's post being linked to the corresponding letter of the alphabet. So today's letter is A, tomorrow's will be B, Friday's will be C and so on.

Just a fair word of warning - my blog posts are primarily going to be on writing/self publishing/cake.

So let's get down to it!

A is for...Algorithm

Algorithm: a set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps, as for finding the greatest common divisor.

Since I'm a YA sci-fi writer, I thought I'd geek out a little with this post ;) - originally I was going to do a blog centred around my book's main character, Anais, but then I decided this would be more fun (after all, who doesn't like the word 'algorithm'...?). 

When I first started writing, I thought that there was a magic formula that would miraculously make me write my book in a day (or, even better, one that would write it for me). I thought that if I followed certain steps, or used certain themes in my writing, I'd been sure to bang out the bestsellers in no time at all.

Except, it turns out that there is no magic algorithm or potion that will help you write better, or write more books. At the end of the day, the only person who can do that is...well, you.

Writing a book takes time, hard work and dedication. I know, I know - not exactly the three most inspiring words ever, but it's true. My book, Synthetica, was only born out of my determination to actually finish a book I was writing, and having a burning desire to write Anais' story. 

I will admit, however, that there is one crucial different between me writing this book, and my countless other failed attempts - I bought a book on how to write. It's called 'How to Nail Your Novel' by Roz Morris, and I can honestly say that it turned my process of writing upside down. I probably wouldn't have even finished Synthetica, if I hadn't read that book.

BUT...even with all it's hints and tips, I still didn't end up following the book to the letter. I had to figure out which parts worked for me and which didn't. I adapted some of the processes, and completely threw out others. And some bits of advice I followed to the letter. I still had to figure out what worked best for me and my book.

There is no magical formula to help you write a book (though I find tea x cake x music = a Rachel who's more inclined to write). At the end of the day, it's up to YOU to figure out for your own algorithm to help you write. Whether it's a combination of tea and silence, or writing in a group, or writing at certain times of the day, or only using a certain notebook/pen - it's completely up to you! So go forth, and discover your own writing 'algorithms'!*

So what about you? Do you have any rituals or habits that make it easier for you to write, or keep writing?

Let me know :)!

*Okay okay, fine, I'll stop saying it now....ALGORITHMS!...okay, now I'm done.

IWSG April: Happy Book Birthday to Me!

Welcome to April's Insecure Writer's Support Group post! We're a group of writers that post once month about all the worries that have been plaguing us lately - special thanks go to Alex J. Cavanaugh for setting up this wonderful group! You can find out more about the IWSG on their official website.

As you're probably all aware by now, my debut book Synthetica releases today (as well as the Synthetica book blitz kicking off! Eek!). I genuinely have so many emotions right now, that I don't know how to feel - I'm worried, nervous, anxious, happy, excited, thrilled and everything in-between all at the same time! Phew!

There's not really any one insecurity I can blog about today - I could go on forever about how I'm feeling right now, but instead I'm just going to stop and breathe. Today of all days, I'm going to try and remember that even if no one buys my book today, or if I get bad reviews or no one likes it - it doesn't really matter. I can still keep going. I can still keep writing. If worst comes to worst, I can always take the book offline and no one will be any wiser. But I think that's probably a worst case scenario. Hopefully, fingers crossed, there'll be at least one person out there who will enjoy my book!

So that's it from me! All I'm going to leave you with is that if you would like to check it out, you can find Synthetica on Amazon here. And there's still time for you to sign up for the book blitz here, if you'd like to :).

Enjoy the rest of your IWSG/A to Z Challenge kick off day :)!

Oh, and before I forget - I'm still planning on visiting A to Z blogs daily, but as I'm currently at my parent's farm, it may be a little difficult for me to visit in the mornings, as I'll be out helping them. I'll do my very best to visit in the afternoons/night instead, so don't worry if I don't get back to you right away!