Writing Round-up for 2013

It’s that time again, when many writers like to look back at what's been achieved through the year and I’m no exception. I’m not very good at setting specific goals but it’s useful to get an idea of the highs and lows – hopefully they’re all recorded!

Highs

Short story, Whirlwind Catch, published in Ireland’s Own

Short Story, The Shopping Bag, published in The Weekly News
 

Article, The Cliff Divers of Acapulco, published in Scottish Home & Country Magazine
 

Tween Book, The Jigsaw Puzzle, published by MuseItUp Publishing

Novella, The Aphrodite Touch, published by Tirgearr Publishing

Historical Novel, Midwinter Masquerade, published by Tirgearr Publishing

Children’s Story, 'Princess Poppy and Little Dragon,' published by Knowonder in Spread Your Wings Anthology

Short article on Saint Teresa published in She’s the One Collection by My World Publishing

Crime novel – 2^nd prize at the SAW Conference

Short story, Gloria, special commendation in Ifanca Helene James Competition

Article, Novella length Fiction, accepted by FMN Magazine

Novella, The Adonis Touch, accepted by Tirgearr Publishing (2^nd in series)

Short Story, Highland Hogmanay, published in Exquisite Quills Anthology

Letter about Young Montalbano in The Radio Times

Speaker at Inverness Writing Day

Speaker at Dumfriesshire Writing/Publishing Day

 

 

 

Lows

Children’s Picture Book still looking for publisher

Eight short stories returned unpublished

Two poems unsuccessful in competitions

I’m very happy to find the positives outweigh the negatives. Some of my short stories definitely need a rewrite, or rethink, and I’m still waiting to hear about a few submissions, so they may be included in next year’s overview.

It’s good to take stock now and then as it certainly spurs me on to finish or send out some of my other work. Now it’s a question of deciding the order of writing projects and rewrites!

See you in 2014

Rosemary

 

 

Books and Giveaway

Hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas as I did. It's so relaxing, once the main cooking and eating fest is over, to settle down and watch a good film or TV programme, or get lost in a great book. I've been doing all three! However, Midwinter Masquerade is being featured in a couple of places and I thought I'd better mention them here as a courtesy to the hosts. A few people might also be looking for more books to read!

A Facebook friend and author, Erika M Szabo, has been featuring book covers and she has kindly put them together in a short video trailer. You might find a few appealing titles on it.

Over on Long and Short Reviews later today, I have a post about the winter solstice, holly and ivy and I'm giving away a free e-copy of Midwinter Masquerade to one commenter.

Enjoy the rest of 2013!

Rosemary

Happy Christmas

 

Another favourite wooden decoration

 

Wishing all the lovely readers of this blog and fellow writing colleagues all the best for the festive season and

a very Happy Christmas.

 

I'm taking a few days off to catch up with everything but I'll be back soon after Christmas, no doubt.

 

Enjoy the food, the chocolates, the programmes, the meaning of Christmas, and most of all time with families or friends.

Rosemary x

Winter Solstice

 

Tomorrow, Saturday, is the shortest day of the year: the Winter Solstice. I find it a fascinating concept that the sun changes direction and the days gradually become longer until the longest day at the Summer Solstice in June.

Midwinter Masquerade is set in the Scottish countryside around the Winter Solstice of 1816 and it is a significant time for the heroine, Lenora, as she contemplates the direction of her future.

I’m talking about winter and Christmas over on PennyEhrenkranz’s blog today, where I’m giving away a free download of Midwinter Masquerade to one commenter. Hope to see you there.

The photo is of my newest Christmas tree decoration: wooden Victorian type ice skates. I fell in love with them when I spotted them at a recent Charity Fair. I’ll post another couple of my favourites before Christmas.

Rosemary

Thank you, Results, Predictions

A huge thank you to anyone and everyone who downloaded my novella Mischief at Mulberry Manor while it was free over the last three days. It's been a very interesting experiment and I guess I won't know the true results for a while yet. However, I do know it was downloaded well over 1000 times, mainly in the USA, followed by the UK and a few in several other countries around the world! It also stayed in the number #1 and #2 spot in the Amazon free charts for historical fiction (under Scottish and Victorian).

Hopefully, it will continue to remain higher up the charts in general, now that it's been brought to attention in this way. I was also delighted to see an increase in sales of my new novel, Midwinter Masquerade on Amazon UK, in particular. It's good to try different ways of getting an e-book in front of readers and it's all trial and error as with most ventures in life.

On the subject of books and readers, here's a link to an interesting article in the online Huffington Post about book marketing predictions for 2014 - some essential thoughts for anyone publishing a book next year. Although I'm with three different e-publishers, we still have to take huge responsibility for marketing and promotion, and if we go down the self-publishing route (as with Mischief at Mulberry Manor), it's even more important to start off equipped with some positive ideas for promotion. An author could have the best story in the world but, without readers, there are no sales! 

Now to think of my next writing projects, including finishing a couple already started. No doubt I'll mention them once I know what they all are. I'd love to write down some kind of writing/marketing plan for the new year, but I'm not sure I'm organised enough yet. Do share any writing plans you have for 2014, if you've made any.

Rosemary

Free and Bargain Books

As a little early Christmas gift over the next few days, I’m offering a FREE download on Amazon Kindle of my Victorian novella, Mischief at Mulberry Manor, which was first published last Christmas. You can get it free on Amazon UK and Amazon US from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th December.

It’s only around 30,000 words so might be a good little treat in between all the busyness. Set around Twelfth Night in 1859, it has romance, intrigue and a ghostly presence amongst the festive gathering at the old Mulberry Manor. Here’s a reminder of the story via the trailer to whet your appetite!

If you don’t have a kindle, remember you can download the free kindle App to any e-reader or computer.

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If your taste is more for something in the (non gory) horror line, Jenny Twist is offering her story, Mantequero, as a FREE download from Friday 13th to Tuesday 17th December on Amazon UK and Amazon US.

 

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The collection of Winter-themed holiday short stories by international writers (including one of mine) from Exquisite Quills is still FREE to download in all e-formats from Smashwords.

 

 

 

 

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As an experiment, I’ve changed the cover of my first collection of eight previously published/prize-winning short stories, Reshaping the Past, to give it a more modern look. It’s available on Amazon UKat the princely sum of £0.99 and Amazon US for $1.59.

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In time for all the cooking over the festive season, what could be better than this updated collection of puddings, Just Desserts, from authors and staff at Tirgearr Publishing! It's available on Amazon UK at only £0.70 and on Amazon US at $1.26 - all proceeds go to charity when not free to download.

 

 

Hope you enjoy!

Rosemary

Internet Problems and Cover Poll

Is anyone else getting a strange message when logging on to Blogger this morning? I suspect it's a problem with our Internet connection again - seems to go slow for a while on a Monday but I've never had a message about problems with the browser before. I've been trying to watch an interesting little video trailer from a well known writer and had to give up for now - even though it's only 7 minutes long! Hope this post gets through as it won't let me preview it.

I'll just mention that my lovely Midwinter Masquerade cover is in a current book cover poll on StoryFinds. If anyone has time to vote (and you think it deserves it), I'd be very grateful. Thanks in advance!

Trying to get my writing organised (again) and sorting out what I should I be doing now and in the next few months, but feeling strangely reluctant. Must be the Christmas spirit creeping up on me and insisting I concentrate on that instead. It's the Christmas 'mince pies and manuscripts' meeting at the writing group tomorrow before we finish until the New Year, and I'm looking forward to my Christmas lunch out with a friend on Thursday.

Do you find it difficult to concentrate on writing at the moment?

Rosemary

Writing, Publishing and Country Hotel

View from our window

 

What a lovely weekend I had speaking down at the Dumfries and Galloway region in the south of Scotland. The writing and publishing day was full of information, networking with other writers and an overview of the choices available to writers these days and the practical considerations of running a small business. My own talk and presentation was about e-publishing and self-publishing options and the comparison with traditional print publishing.

The sun shone the whole weekend and my husband and I stayed overnight nearer to the coast in a beautiful hotel that was once an eighteenth century mansion. Situated in its own massive grounds, with woods, lots of walks and golf course, we wished for more than one night! To cap it all, there was an unexpected (to us) dinner dance in the evening and we took to the floor for a couple of Scottish country dances and the odd waltz - very fitting for St Andrew's Night!

Our window seat

The location was stunning and the hotel full of spacious, elegant public rooms. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to enjoy the full length indoor swimming pool but did appreciate the cream tea on arrival! We shall definitely make a return visit at a different time of year so we can explore all the walking routes. Great for researching that period of building for future novels.

Graceful interior

Now, I need to absorb all the information I gleaned from other writers at the conference and get my next writing projects organised. At the same time, I'm judging the Romantic Novel Award at the Scottish Association of Writers Weekend Conference in March, which also involves me writing a fairly detailed constructive critique on each. And the bundle of entries will be arriving any day from the competition secretary! Guess what I'll be doing for the next couple of months, in between Christmas. Looking forward to reading them all and offering my humble advice.

Remember the half price kindle sale which includes Midwinter Masquerade and The Aphrodite Touch until 8th December - and the great list of other books from Tirgearr Publishing.

Rosemary