The Becalmer release day!

 It's finally here! The Becalmer, my first traditionally published book is out in the world.

Thanks to everyone who's helped to get it to this point - my amazing publisher, Jean Lowd at Creative James Media, my brilliant critique partners Annalisa Crawford and Rebecca Douglass, my rockstar editor Staci Petroski, Victoria Kaer at Dark Angel Graphics for the beautiful cover, and last but not least my incredible wife Heather for the invaluable suggestions on the female voice!

Genre: YA sci-fi

Blurb:

Harica is gifted with the ability to defuse conflicts using her mind. When she is recruited to assist in resolving a war via an arranged marriage, she discovers that the reluctant bride-to-be has similar powers. Princess Jasmila doesn't use her powers for good and when Harica arrives to help with the marriage arrangements, she fights back and sends Harica into a coma.

It is through this comatose state that Harica discovers a mysterious liminal space populated by others who share her gift. In this new realm, she learns to do things she never believed possible, but soon things spiral out of control.

In the face of a terrifying and seemingly unstoppable adversary, Harica wrestles with the decision to come to terms with the dark side of her gift. Will she take ownership of it or turn her back on it forever?

The Becalmer is available to purchase wherever books are sold. Some of those places can be found here. You can add it on Goodreads here.

I'll have a blog tour coming down the line in the next few weeks so I'm looking forward to that. In the meantime I'm going to try and relax, celebrate and enjoy the day!

IWSG July 2023

Time for our monthly meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Hosted as ever by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the aim of the group is to offer a safe space where writers can share doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. This month's co-hosts are PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, Gwen Gardner, Pat Garcia and Natalie Aguirre.

This month's optional question is: 99% of my story ideas come from dreams. Where do yours predominantly come from?

This is a really good question. I have to say I rarely get story ideas in dreams, although I have had a couple of good ones. It just doesn't happen very often. Most of the time, ideas will suggest themselves when I have some downtime to think (like when out on a walk) and things that have been swirling around my head crash together and suggest something new and different. I'm constantly soaking up information about the outside world (and let's be honest, quite often worrying and stewing about it) and regurgitating it through plotlines is my brain's way of dealing with it. Of course, at other times overhearing a fragment of conversation or catching something on TV is enough to spark an idea off. I don't always write these ideas down straight away, but if I'm still thinking about it a day later then there might be something to it and it'll receive a scribble in my notebook.

Just a couple of quick news items now. My debut traditionally published book, The Becalmer, will be out in just over a month (it's sneaking up fast!) and I've entered the beautiful cover in AllAuthor's cover of the month contest for July. If you could spare a minute to vote by going here, it would be greatly appreciated!

And, all my previous books are available for free for this month in the Smashwords Summer/Winter sale. So if you'd like to check out my YA dystopian series or collection of shorter speculative fiction, you can find them all here.

To visit other wonderful ISWG authors, check out the list here!

IWSG June 2023

Time for our monthly meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Hosted as ever by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the aim of the group is to offer a safe space where writers can share doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. This month's co-hosts are Patricia Josephine, Deidre Knight, Olga Godim, J. Lenni Dorner and Cathrina Constantine.

I'm going to skip the question this month because I really have nothing to answer it! Honestly, it made me a little bit anxious. Instead, I'm going to talk about a subject I'm sure many of you can relate to: the jitters leading up to a book release. Any form of release will come with nerves, I know that, but with my first traditionally published book this feels different from self-publishing because there's a lot of other people invested in my book and its success. I don't want to let them down, but at the same time there's so much that feels out of my control: reviews, sales, events... it all seems pretty overwhelming. And I'm lucky that my publisher offered on my follow-up too. With this being a writer's group, what I want to explore is the impact all this has on my writing. You'd think I'd be more comfortable and confident in that area knowing that people are backing me. Instead, it seems harder than ever before to string together a sentence that makes sense. Can I deliver again? I don't know. Can I find the fun and joy in writing again without a lingering sense of pressure? Really hope so. Switching from a publishing/marketing mindset to a purely creative one means wearing two completely different hats and just putting one down and putting the other one on is no easy thing. I know this isn't groundbreaking news or anything, but I'm feeling it more than ever right now.

I know many of you will have been here, or are here. Grateful for any and all advice. I'm in a privileged position, and this isn't meant to be a whine. But I guess what I'm learning is there's no point or nothing that can happen that would make writing "easier" or less of an effort. But it's never meant to be easy, or ultimately the reward wouldn't be as good.

To find more posts for the IWSG, check out the list here!

IWSG May 2023

Time for our monthly meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Hosted as ever by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the aim of the group is to offer a safe space where writers can share doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. This month's co-hosts are Joylene Nowell Butler, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Meka James, Victoria Marie Lees and M Louise Barbour.

Apologies for getting here slightly late. I spent a very nice long weekend on a mini cruise with my other half taking in Bruges in Belgium and the island of Guernsey. We got back late on Tuesday so I was tuckered out on Wednesday. I only remembered IWSG when my wife reminded me! What would I do without her? Being a day late, I'll take the opportunity to wish everyone a happy Star Wars Day, and may the force be with you always.

OK, let's check out the question for May's meeting. A good one I think...

When you are working on a story, what inspires you?

This is such a multilayered question and there will be an infinite variety of answers. Of course, there's the multitude of elements that might possibly go into choosing what story to write (overheard conversations, news stories, memes, social media posts, TV shows, books, podcasts, the list goes on), but when working on the story itself... I'd say I'm inspired by trying to capture something, an atmosphere, something that might be about a totally different world but also says something about our current one. There is no shortage of things to comment on. Things that raise red flags. The rise of AI, rights abuses, human voices not being heard. Not that I'm setting out to create something worthy or take some moral high ground. I'm just as confused as things about anyone, and I'm trying to grapple with them through the medium of my characters. I'd like to leave readers with things to think about while also feeling like they've been taken on a thrill ride of twists and revelations. Quite a lot to pull off but it keeps me trying!

While I'm here, I'll just offer a brief reminder that the preorder campaign for my debut traditionally published book The Becalmer, about a girl who can resolve conflicts using her mind, is well underway. I'm offering signed copies for the first one hundred paperbacks, as well as a swag pack for those who leave a review. All formats available here.

Don't forget to visit other IWSG blogs here, and see you next month! 

Pre-orders for The Becalmer are live!

Happy Monday! I hope you've had a wonderful weekend, whatever and however you celebrate. I'm keeping the party vibe going today because I'm delighted to announce that The Becalmer, my first traditionally published book, is now up for preorder!

Blurb:

Harica is gifted with the ability to defuse conflicts using her mind. When she is recruited to assist in resolving a war via an arranged marriage, she discovers that the reluctant bride-to-be has similar powers. Princess Jasmila doesn't use her powers for good and when Harica arrives to help with the marriage arrangements, she fights back and sends Harica into a coma.

It is through this comatose state that Harica discovers a mysterious liminal space populated by others who share her gift. In this new realm, she learns to do things she never believed possible, but soon things spiral out of control.

In the face of a terrifying and seemingly unstoppable adversary, Harica wrestles with the decision to come to terms with the dark side of her gift. Will she take ownership of it or turn her back on it forever?

Release date: August 8, 2023

Publisher: Creative James Media

Genre: YA, Sci-fi

Universal preorder link

Add on Goodreads

Since signing the contract over a year ago, I feel like it's been a long road getting here but I'm grateful for the opportunity for a steady build-up. It feels a lot more real now and I'm excited for Harica to make her way into the world in just a few months. Have a great week!

IWSG April 2023

Time for our monthly meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Hosted as ever by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the aim of the group is to offer a safe space where writers can share doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. This month's co-hosts are Jemima Pett, Nancy Gideon and Natalie Aguirre.

There's a great question this month. It's: Do you remember writing your first book? What were your thoughts about a career path on writing? Where are you now and how is it working out for you? If you're at the start of the journey, what are your goals?

I do remember writing my first book. It was around this time sixteen years ago that I started writing it. It was meant to be some sort of psychological thriller because I was reading a lot of that sort of thing at the time. Mistaken identity and amnesia were involved, but I don't remember much more of the finer detail. I do recall it took me two years to write it and then a year seeking an agent, during which time I did no further writing. That was my first mistake because I've since learned you should always keep moving forward in your work while waiting to hear from any gatekeepers. Thankfully, it was not long after that I started a blog and joined IWSG and started up soaking up wisdom from legions of wonderful authors. That means you - I'm amazed that I've known some of you reading for over a decade now and I'm so grateful for that connection. I suppose when I started writing my first book I had naive ideas of doing packed book tours to adoring crowds and topping best seller lists. Through IWSG, I learned that writing is more about grafting and getting the next sentence down. After my first couple of books, I put my agent hunt on the back burner and pivoted to self-publishing, which taught me a lot about marketing and probably about what not to do as well. It was a lot of fun organising blog tours, cover design, ARCs. I was still interested in the traditional path and becoming a hybrid author and I started seeking a small press for the book I started writing during the first COVID lockdown. I thought it was the strongest thing I'd done and I wanted to seek other avenues for it and see where they could go. I believe the reason I was able to write a stronger book that a fantastic publisher was willing to take a chance on was because I'd picked up so much great advice from all of you over the years, not just about the writing itself but about ways to keep motivation going, as well as reading so many superb books you wrote as well. That's the best way to learn!

Whew! That got more emotional than I expected. Thanks for this question because it's definitely good to look back and see how far you've come sometimes. It keeps you putting one foot in front of the other. 

In terms of where I am right now on my journey, I just had my cover reveal for The Becalmer and preorders start in a few days, on April 10. Trying not to get too freaked out...

To read others' answers - and I'm sure there'll be some awesome ones - check out the IWSG list here. 

The Becalmer Cover Reveal!

A big day today as I get to unveil the cover for my forthcoming debut traditionally published book, The Becalmer! Really excited and I hope you love it as much as I do.

Title: The Becalmer

Author: Nick Wilford

Publisher: Creative James Media

Cover design: Dark Angel Graphics

Release date: August 8th 2023

Preorder date: April 10th 2023

Add on Goodreads

Blurb:

Harica is gifted with the ability to defuse conflicts using her mind. When she is recruited to assist in resolving a war via an arranged marriage, she discovers that the reluctant bride-to-be has similar powers. Princess Jasmila doesn't use her powers for good and when Harica arrives to help with the marriage arrangements, she fights back and sends Harica into a coma.

It is through this comatose state that Harica discovers a mysterious liminal space populated by others who share her gift. In this new realm, she learns to do things she never believed possible, but soon things spiral out of control.

In the face of a terrifying and seemingly unstoppable adversary, Harica wrestles with the decision to come to terms with the dark side of her gift. Will she take ownership of it or turn her back on it forever?

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If you'd like to sign up to receive an ARC of The Becalmer or join its street team, you can do so here. I'll see you on Wednesday for IWSG!