I've only gone and done it

So, SHOCK HORROR, I actually did everything I wanted to last week and read through ALL my books I have self-published ... I also somehow completed this while working, looking after myself more AND finding balance. I'm feeling pretty disconcerted about it all (I don't feel disconcerted about it in the slightest but I just LOVE saying/typing the word D-I-S-C-O-N-C-E-R-T-E-D). Reading through them again also made me immensely excited to start promoting them properly as I am actually quite proud of all of them and think they deserve at least a shot of doing well. In the past, when I was going through my books, I had read them so much that the words lost all meaning and I could nearly recite them verbatim (yay for editing!). It had been such a long gap since I'd had to read them that at last my objectivity returned and I could see them for what they are. Extraordinarily in WEIGHTING TO LIVE, there were three grammatical errors that I can't believe I didn't see before. I had gone through that damn book with such a fine tooth comb that you would never be able to get it through hair. Grammatical error exhibit A: 'What I can I do for him today?’

How did I miss that?!!?!?

Well enough of that, the plan for this week is work (VERY, VERY hard) on getting my covers for CHANGES: A SHORT STORY COLLECTION and SIXTEEN MONTHS to a standard I am happy with. I love the covers for my books WEIGHTING TO LIVE and CIRCLE, A SHORT STORY and want to feel the same about the other two too. I have absolutely no idea how long this will take as it's something I refuse to rush but I will update you on this (NEVER ENDING) saga when I can.

On a slightly related note, today feels like the real start of the New Year for me in pretty much every aspect of my life. I am ready now to put my heart and soul into getting my books out there and reaching all my goals. It's going to be hard, I know I'll question my sanity at least twenty times (a day) but I want to look back on this year and know I've done everything I could because I truly want to do this.

I am sorry these posts are all rather samey but I won't have any money spare until the year 2056 so cheeky book hauls (involving Judith McNaught) are out for the foreseeable future (SOB!). This blog is to document my journey as a writer and I am writing exactly how it is. Let's hope the books do well so I can change this STAT!

Until next time.

Taking time to save time

Alright I admit it, I haven't done a single thing I wanted to do with my books etc in the last couple of weeks *breaks down*. Now I have that off my chest, I feel much better. *EXCUSE WARNING COMING UP* Even though I thought work would calm down, I was wrong and instead I have been working long hours each day and have had so much to do that everything, including looking after myself, has taken a backseat. Because of that, I have basically been left completely and utterly exhausted but yesterday, I organised my life enough to work out a proper schedule AND NOW I AM FINALLY FREE TO WORK ON MY BOOKS! Even though I still have the same amount of work to do as before, I have sorted out my days better to fit in more but not at the expense of my health.

So the plan for this week is to read through all my previously self-published books to get quotes from them for promotional purposes - if I can. I have been trying to do a million things at once recently and I think that has left me, ironically, with absolutely no time and less achieved. Something happened last week that really changed things for me: basically if I had taken more time on a project, instead of rushing it to save time, I wouldn't have WASTED as much time as I did and not have a poor end result. That experience taught me to take more time and do things properly ... and I am going to do exactly that! Like I said in my last post, I want to find balance and I can't do that by rushing everything. I would like to have read all my books by the end of this week but if that is not possible, I want to know that everything I have done, is done to the best of my abilities.

Hopefully my next blog post will be me saying I'VE ACTUALLY DONE SOME WORK ON MY BOOKS. Oh and I forgot about Tweeting more ... lol.

Until next time.

Finding balance

Verbier, Switzerland

It's the start of the new year and officially the first day back to work for most people in the UK ... but it's pretty much the opposite for me. I was working non-stop all through December and now finally it is calming down so technically I should have the time to dedicate to writing and my career. Instead of going all guns blazing into 2016 and working til I drop though I have decided to chill out and find balance.

My plan is still to work on my books a lot but also take time to really look after myself. When I was in Switzerland on a work trip last week, I felt really run down and showed signs that if I didn't sort it out, I'd get unwell again and then in turn, not be able to achieve anything this year. On New Year's Eve I felt absolutely exhausted and I decided to change how I was going about things. So this week I am going to try to reread all my self published books to get quotes from them for promotional purposes but not panic if I don't get it done. I am also going to be chilling out by catching up on some books I have wanted to read and finishing off a romance novel about a man and a woman in a snowy Vermont cabin - the stress of wondering if they will get together is just too much...

I think I will do weekly updates for the foreseeable future to let you know how I am getting on. The cover saga, a.k.a. the bane of my existence, will commence when I am a little better.

I am SO excited about this year and have hilariously lofty goals but with the change in my attitude, they don't look so lofty any more.

Until next time.