Because I felt like writing a blog post

I wasn't planning on doing another blog post so soon, but I have so much to share that I feared I'd forget everything that has happened if I didn't. In my last post I shared a list of the things I'd like to achieve in the not too distant future. Well, I turned that list on its head for many reasons:

1. I realised I was doing everything wrong.
2. I realised I needed to start doing everything right.
3. I realised I needed to stop rushing and slow down because I like to panic. 

Oh hello.

Notice a theme?

After my last blog post it was as if I was in a one-woman race to get my next short story up on Amazon as soon as humanly possible, but after hurriedly making a cover for it, then looking at all my books up on Amazon, it finally hit me. I didn't like my covers - and I mean all of them. Bar one (for Curing my Incurable Eczema) they were simply not good enough. Seeing covers on their own whilst making them on somewhere like Canva, then seeing them as an actual product on Amazon, are two different things entirely, and if I'm being totally honest, judging by the covers alone, I wouldn't buy them, so why would I expect anyone else to? I am very proud of my books, but I need to present them better than I have been - give them value - and so I downed tools, took a deep breath and started again. The one thing that has remained the same from the original list I wrote was to rectify having all my books (fiction and non-fiction etc) under one author name. It was vital I sort that out ASAP because, in a nutshell, it was messing with my also boughts, meaning my books weren't reaching the right audiences because they were different genres etc. After a lot of frantic emails to Amazon Author Central, I am now Cara Ward for my non-fiction/medical titles, C.R. Ward for my short stories and Cara Rachel Ward for my Weighting to Live series.

New cover for Just Julia.

Even though the idea of anything to do with marketing still upsets me immensely, I need to (begrudgingly) look at myself as a business. After spitting up my books into three author names, I felt so relieved ... but then came the real work. On Tuesday 25th July, after booking some time off work, I wrote a plan of action - three actually - broken down by author name. First, I decided to begin work on Cara Ward (my non-fiction/medical books etc). I would then move onto C.R. Ward (short stories) then Cara Rachel Ward (Weighting to Live series). I decided on tackling Cara Ward first because it was already doing well and was the closest to being ready, and since then I have been working very hard on it and shall attempt to share everything I have achieved in the last week and a half.

• I changed my author photo (above, right).
• I changed my author bio. 
• I changed the cover for Just Julia (above, left).
• I worked on the blurbs for Just Julia and Curing my Incurable Eczema. 
• I redid my Amazon author page for Cara Ward and I am so happy with it. 
• I read through Just Julia twice to make sure it was all ok and also re-formatted the ebook with all the relevant changes.
• I read through Curing my Incurable Eczema again with Mum for the first time since publishing it in December 2017, adding commas and missing words here and there, and also reformatting both the paperback and ebook with all the changes like I did with Just Julia. 
• I also wrote an update chapter for Curing my Incurable Eczema which was added to the back of my book and to my other blog, TSW Cara.
• I sorted out my Pinterest page too, organising the boards then pinning my book covers and relevant pins to (hopefully...) bring more traffic to my account.
• I have also been blogging lots on TSW Cara which I've loved. It's something I am passionate about and very little to do with revenue.

For the next week or so I am going to be working on all things related to Cara Ward, including more blogging and Pinterest stuff whilst also working on a poem about anxiety which I wrote when mine was particularly bad earlier this year. I don't think I will do much to it, because sometimes things are better left a little rawer. I will then get stuck in to the mammoth job of launching C.R. Ward ... but more on than very soon.

I went back to my day job yesterday after possibly the best time off ever, in part because it was a little glimmer of what life could be like if writing was my full-time job as, apart from seeing a few friends and watching Hamilton (<<<worth the hype btw), I worked very hard on writing and book stuff, and loved every minute. The time off also solidified that this is exactly what I want to do. Now, I think I'm finally ready for it, I have grown enough as a writer and have enough material to really make a go of it. I need to work hard, but in a better way because I haven't in the past. Don't get me wrong, I've definitely worked hard, but through rushing or trying to get as much work done as possible in a small window of time, I've ended up wasting time. From now on, I'm going to do things properly - how I should have done them from the beginning. But I don't regret the mistakes and silly time-saving/time-wasting activities and will instead put it all down to experience.

Wow, I've just written a lot of words. You can't say I'm not consistent on this blog...

Until next time
Cara x