Saturday 6 June 2015

A Change of Mind and Other Stories Blog Tour - Day 11

Hope everyone's having a good Saturday! It's the final day of my tour and I'm spending it at Jean Davis' Discarded Darlings blog where I'm going back to the beginning with the opening of A Change of Mind.

I've had a blast the last couple of weeks and just want to extend a big thank you to all who have generously hosted me as well as left supportive messages, downloaded the book or added it to read. I've been blown away by the response!

Don't forget it's the last day to enter my giveaway to win a £10 Amazon card or copy of my book - you can do so over at Jean's.

I'll be packing up to move over the next three or four weeks, but I still intend to be around as much as I can.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Friday 5 June 2015

A Change of Mind and Other Stories Blog Tour - Day 10

Nearly the weekend! It's the penultimate day of the tour for my newly released spec fic collection and today I'm visiting Annalisa Crawford with an original short story - one which is very important for me personally. Hope to see you there!

Thursday 4 June 2015

A Change of Mind and Other Stories Blog Tour - Day 9

Onto Day 9 of the blog tour for my spec fic collection and I'm visiting my great friend and awesome CP Kyra Lennon for a girly chat. Yes, that's right - a girly chat. You'll need to click over to find out more!

Wednesday 3 June 2015

A Change of Mind and Other Stories Blog Tour Day 8 and IWSG

Happy Hump Day - it is Day 8 of my blog tour for my spec fic collection and today I'm over at The Girdle of Melian with Deniz Bevan, where I'm sharing a flash piece depicting an episode from my MC Reuben's childhood. There's also an excerpt from the novella at Cherie Reich's blog. Hope you can make it!


It is also the first Wednesday of the month and that means it's time for the Insecure Writers' Support Group. The group was founded by erstwhile Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh as a means for writers to reach out to others who are going through various tribulations of the writing life, as well as a safe place to talk about our own insecurities. Check out the other participants here. I'm not actually feeling too insecure, I've been having a great time and lots of encouraging messages on my blog tour, and I thank you one and all. 

I suppose the only thing that has been worrying me is I have not worked on any novels since NaNo last November. I have accomplished lots of smaller tasks (A-Z flash pieces, blog tour entries, submissions for Write 1 Sub 1). These are all well and good and every bit of writing keeps me ticking over. But I've fallen out of any sort of regular routine and can only seem to perform bite-sized writing jobs, done where I can fit them in. I've got the last part of my trilogy to write that I'd like to complete before the end of the year, but I just can't seem to knuckle down and do it.

Maybe it's the fact this book feels like more pressure than normal because it must wrap up a large story arc as well as present a great story in its own right. It's not the same as starting with a completely blank page, which perversely sounds more attractive right now. Don't get me wrong, I love the characters in my series to bits and want to see the best outcome for all the right people. But that's part of it as well. I don't want to let them down, so I'm holding off on addressing the issue.

Maybe it's my old stumbling block - which I have touched upon in one of my tour posts - that I'm more suited to writing short stories than novels. Still can't seem to get past this, and although I've already written two books for this series, I only feel like handling shorter pieces right now. On the other hand, I've just released a novella which has already had positive feedback. So that's kind of halfway there, right?

Just need to do it. I will motivate myself. We're also packing to move at the moment, which always throws me off, but that will be all done in a month. I also want to get back to submitting to Write 1 Sub 1 alongside my WIP, so I'll need to maintain a balance.

What about you? Do you feel you naturally gravitate towards a certain length of writing, and do you sometimes find it difficult operating outside that comfort zone?

Tuesday 2 June 2015

A Change of Mind Blog Tour - Day 7

Another day on my blog tour for my recently released spec fic collection, A Change of Mind and Other Stories. Today I'm visiting none other than the Lord of the Cosmic Laire, David Powers King, where there is a showdown between Guy Borderman, the boorish nemesis of my hero Reuben, and long-suffering office boss Spinton. It's tense!

Monday 1 June 2015

A Change of Mind and Other Stories Blog Tour - Day 6

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was good because I went to see one of my favourite bands doing a special show and I'll be bringing a review to you soon.

Onto Week 2 of the tour for my speculative fiction collection and I'm visiting Ellie Garratt with a discussion of the potential for the personality surgery described in my book becoming a reality. I'm also at L.G. Keltner's with a microfiction piece based on my lovely book cover.

Hope to see you there!