I Participated in Another Strong Women, Strange Worlds Live Reading

Hi all,

I attended another live reading done by Strong Women, Strange Worlds on August 2nd. I aboslutely loved the first one and really wanted to do another one, so when I was invited again I was ecstatic! I read an excerpt of Mute this time and offered to give away two copies to two lucky winners!

This time I was the last one to read, which gave me a lot of breathing room to prepare before it was my turn. I also loved hearing everyone else’s stories and the different genres that were read. If you want to check out the other authors, here are their websites:

Dianna Gunn

Liza Wemakor

Kelli Owen

J E Hannaford

M V Melcer

Once again, the stories were fantastic and were all read so well. We did another Q&A session at the end where we discussed our next projects and advice on how to stop short stories turning into longer novels.

If I get invited again I would love to attend as the organisers are so lovely. Both times I’ve been on I really enjoyed it once my initial nerves passed. I would highly recommend checking Strong Women, Strange Worlds out and giving them a listen when they hold another live reading.

That’s it for this week! If you attended Strong Women, Strange Worlds, thank you for doing so! See you next week.

PS; don’t forget to check out this book bundle if you’re heading on holiday soon:

Binge-Worthy Books to Read on Holiday!

My Favourite Film of All Time

Hi all,

I know I've discussed a few of my favourite films and also dedicated a few blog posts to my favourite TV series. But I haven't made one on my favourite film of all time! It does have a cat in it, very briefly, as I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear. No dragons though. 

Aliens

It's a classic and I absolutely love it. I can watch it over and over and never get bored of it. The xenomorph has a brilliant design and I absolutely love seeing it every time. The introduction of a queen alien is great too! It was cool seeing how they reproduce and how quickly they can take over a small colony.

I didn't actually watch it until I was twenty, as I wasn't too keen on horror until then. I got into reading Stephen King books and that was my gateway into horror. Soon enough I was watching horror films and series and absolutely loving them. I bought all the Alien films at the time, along with Predator, because I really fell in love with the sci-fi horror genre. I started by watching all the Predator films, and then moved onto Alien.

I absolutely loved the first film and when I heard the second one was even better, I knew I would love it. Now I've watched it so many times that I've lost count! Of course I really liked seeing Jonesy in the beginning and I hope that he was looked after during the events of the film. At least this time he didn't have to face the Alien himself.

The Xenomorphs look amazing and I love seeing them on screen. I've now seen all the Alien films, and the crossover ones with Predator too. Each film is great in its own way but it can't beat Aliens in my opinion. I can watch it again and again and not get bored.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

Fantastic Fantasy and Sci-Fi in Kindle Unlimited!

Kindle Unlimited Horror Bookfest!

Strong Women, Strange Worlds Live Reading

Hi all,

On March 1st I did a live reading for Strong Women, Strange Worlds. I've never done a live reading over Zoom before and it was actually really fun! I read a excerpt of Blood and Water and got to listen to the work of five fabulous authors!

I was first up, so I was incredibly nervous and wasn't really sure what to expect. Luckily Mishka didn't try to interrupt, instead she just slept next to me while the event went on. It would have been embarrassing to try to read while Mishka was practicing a musical number! There was a live chat which was really nice because I could get real time feedback when I get as reading. Next time I'll try not to look at the chat as I think that distracted me a bit when reading.

The other authors that read were: (click on their name to go to their websites)

Wen Wen Yang

Anne Karppinen

Phoebe Walker

Ilana DeBare

Carmen Baca

All of their stories were absolutely amazing and it was great watching them read in real time. I loved the different genres and tones that each reading set. Seeing the audience get excited about the readings as well was so lovely to see.

After all the readings were done we had a Q&A session where the audience could ask questions. We discussed researching books, what genres we write and if there's anything we would change about a book published years ago. It was a great session and I really liked getting to interact with the other authors and listen to their opinions on the different questions.

I gave away an ebook copy of Blood and Water to one lucky winner and I hope that they're enjoying it!

Now onto the big question: would I do this again?

The answer is a big fat yes!

I loved every aspect of it and my nerves disappeared quickly once I realised how nice the organisers and other authors are. Everyone was really friendly and supportive.

I would really recommend listening to Strong Women, Strange Worlds as they have a variety of authors on there with so many fantastic stories. If you want to check them out, click here.

That's it for this week! If you tuned in, I hope you enjoyed it. See you next week! 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before you go:

A Box Set of Young Adult Magic

Epic Fantasy Spring Giveaway

Fantastic Fantasy

I'm Finally Listening to Audiobooks

Hi all!

I'm sure you can guess what I'm going to be writing about based on the title alone. Yes, I've started listening to audiobooks. No, it's not in the way you expect.

I listen to audiobooks to go to sleep.

If the narrator is right, I find their voice really soothing and it helps me to drift off. So far I've listened to some mythology books, a history book, some Doctor Who and some comedy ones too. I'm still getting engrossed in the stories and I'm getting excited to go to sleep because I can listen to the next part. It's not a conventional way of reading books, but I find it's really helping me. If I'm feeling overstimulated or anxious, I find that having something on in the background that I can focus on just helps me gently drift off to sleep. It doesn't even effect Mishka, she'll happily settle next to me and sleep as normal.

So far, my favourite books have been The Stone Rose and Unruly. They both kept me so hooked and I was looking forward to hearing it before bed. I managed to stay up to listen to all of The Stone Rose! I'm listening to them in thirty minute pieces, so it gives me enough time to actually get some sleep instead of staying up all night.

It was my boyfriend's idea, he's listened to a lot when he sleeps to help him settle and now that we're living together I'm doing the same thing. It's nice that I've found a way to enjoy audiobooks as I've always wanted to get into them but find it hard to concentrate on them. I usually lose my place in the book or tune out and stop listening. But at night it gives me a chance to unwind and listen to a good story as I go to sleep.

That's it for this week! See you next Sunday. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before you go:

Finished Fantasy and Sci-Fi Series Prequels

A Box Set of Young Adult Magic

My 2024 Writing Goals

Hi all,

As promised, here are my goals for 2024!

Write three books.

I would like to write the first drafts of the following books in 2024:

Original Elementals #8: Turf

Empty Skies #2: Freezing Constellations

Original Elementals #9: Arcturus

Publish two books.

I’m planning on publising Celestial Plague #4: Hell in April and Curse of Anubis #1 in October.

Re-name the Curse of Anubis books.

While I do like the names they currently have, I think I can do better. I’ve been looking at shorter, snappier titles and also longer ones. I don’t want to publish them with the titles they currently have.

Get two covers deisgned.

The first two books in the Curse of Anubis series will have covers by the end of the year. They will be designed by Deranged Doctor Design, as always.

Self-edit two books in the Curse of Anubis series.

I think I’ve been too hard on myself with self-editing in the past so this time I’m going to cut myself some slack. Editing two books myself is acheivable and I won’t be pushing myself too hard to get it done either.

Finish the Curse of Anubis Short Story Collection and make it available to my subscribers.

I’m planning on getting this enovella finished this year and I want to make it available to my newsletter subscribers before October.

Read 100 books.

I love reading and seeing as I blew my goal out of the water last year I thought I would increase it!

Work on my book sales.

I’d love to be able to publish more books, but in order to do that I need to sell more. I’m going to be tweaking a lot of my books descriptions, blurbs and categories to hopefully get more eyes on them. I want to continue publishing in the future and would like to increase the amount of books I’m able to publish in a year.

Create a Patreon.

Even if it’s not ready by the end of the year, I at least want to get started on it. I put it off a lot last year because I was worried that no-one would want to sign up to it. This is still one of my big goals although I’ve tweaked the original vision a bit. It will now be a hub for all things Elemental Dragons, which means that Original Elementals will be published on there first.

Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo.

I love participating in these events and my writing wouldn’t be where it is without them. I want to participate in all three events again this year and hopefully get some books done in that time!

I’m being a bit kinder to myself this year which is why I’m not setting as many goals as I usually do. I want to try to focus on my mental health a bit more this year. I didn’t realise how hard I was pushing myself until I looked back at my goals from last year. I’m going to slow down a bit but still keep up with my writing.

What are your goals for this year? Let me know in the comments!

PS; don’t forget to check out these awesome book bundles!

Free to Dream (Sci-Fi & Fantasy)

KU Kickstart (All Genre - 1st in Series)

New Year, New Monsters 4: From the Caves

My First Ever Book

Hi all, 

When I was 10 or 11 years old I started writing my first book and managed to finish it in a few months. It was a complete rewrite of my favourite book at the time, Into The Wild. Of course it's a Warriors book! I wrote the book with the same plot and characters, only to include my own character into the mix as well. 

I remember being so proud of it at the time and excitedly showing it to my family. I hand wrote the entire thing and even redrew the cover! My grandfather was the only one to read it through and he shared my excitement even though looking back the book was awful. I was still proud of myself for doing it and it proved that I could write a book if I really wanted to. Of course, it would be almost a decade before I wrote my next book, an original one called Blood and Water. 

The Warriors rewrite wasn't great, as I just moulded the story around my own character. She was a cat who could shoot thunderbolts out of her paws. She was best friends with the main character and helped him with all aspects of the story. Technically it was my first FanFiction too! I think the main character was called Thunderheart but I can't quite remember. 

I did start writing the sequel too, which followed most of the same story as Fire and Ice. I don't think I got around to finishing that one though. I think a wrote a few chapters and made the cover. While most of my family thought it was just silly children's writing, my grandfather was always there to support me. He helped me weave maths into the story so I could learn while I wrote and made it fun. I know he loved the fact that I carried on writing into adulthood and I'm so glad that he got to see three of my books published before he passed. He was probably also glad that he didn't have to read about Warrior Cats anymore! I hope that he's proud of how far I've come with my writing now. 

That's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week! 

PS; check out this book bundle full of free post-apocalyptic books!

A Post-Apocalyptic Christmas Giveaway

My Favourite Book Formats, Ranked

Hi all, 

I thought it would be fun to rank some book formats and see which one comes out on top for me! I know everyone has their own preferences when reading and now you can see mine. 

5 - Audiobooks

I know a lot of people love having audiobooks as they can read on the go without having to physically look at a book. I've tried them a few times but I always find myself getting distracted or missing key parts of the book. Maybe I just need to find the right narrator and book length. But for now, these are at the bottom of the list for me. 

4 - Oversized books

These books are usually for coffee tables or sprucing up bookshelves. Depending on what kind of books they are, I can love them. Currently my favourite one is about mythology across the world. I like to pick it up occasionally and have a skim through while I'm chilling on the sofa. 

3 - Paperbacks 

I do love a physical book. But, paperbacks aren't my preferred choice. They're great to read without staring at a screen and I have plenty on my shelf. They just don't have it on number one. 

2 - Ebooks

When ebooks first came out I thought I'd never like them. I just didn't think they could be as good as a physical book. Well, I was wrong! A lot of the books I read nowadays are on my Kindle and I absolutely love it. I can take it anywhere and read as much as I want. It makes reading on the go so much easier. 

1 - Hardcovers 

In my eyes, nothing beats a hardcover. The weight is perfect, the smell and the colours always pop on the covers. Although I don't mind dust jackets, I do prefer ones without them. I was so excited when Amazon offered me the opportunity to have my books published in hardcover. I jumped on that option straight away and ordered one of each to decorate my bookshelf with! 

I know that not everyone will agree with my list as we all have different opinions and preferences. But I still think it's great that there are so many different options for reading out there, there is something for everyone. What would be your number one choice? Let me know in the comments. 

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week! 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

A Post-Apocalyptic Christmas Giveaway

A Giveaway for National Author’s Day

How to Read More Books in a Year

Hi all!

This week I’m going to talk about reading again, mostly tips about how I read so many books in a year. I’ve always been a huge reader ever since I was little and I always found time to read. I did have a period of not reading a few years ago as it felt like it was becoming too much of a chore. But I am now back into it and loving it!

Carry a book with you.

Whether you’re going to work, the shops or just out for a walk, be sure to grab a book before you leave. You might find that you’ll be able to sneak a few minutes of reading time in. Doing this several times a day really adds up.

Read smaller books.

I was struggling with reading most because I was trying to get through 400 page books as fast as I could. I decided to read some shorter books as well just to keep my mind focused and it helped me get through those longer ones too. My mind was more refreshed when it came to tackling the longer ones after reading a smaller one.

DNF books.

If I’m not enjoying a book, I don’t finish it. I don’t see the point in trying to slog my way through a book I’m not enjoying when i could move onto something else. It stops me from getting bored and not wanting to read.

Set a goal.

I join the reading challenger every year on Goodreads and I find that it really helps me. I want to stay on track for my target and it holds me accountable. If I start falling behind, then I know I have to read more to catch up again. This doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s worth a try.

Read during breaks.

When I’m not writing in my breaks at work, I bring a book in. I can get through a book in a few weeks this way and I usually pick one that is my ‘work’ book. Then when I get home I can pick up another book if I want to.

Read multiple books at once.

As I have ‘work’ books, I also have ‘home’ books. This way I can get through books faster and also keep my mind busy with different books. I don’t have separate piles or anything, I just pick up what I feel like reading next.

Kindle.

I’ve found that having a Kindle has greatly increased the amount of books I can get through a year. It’s easy to carry around and download new books on the go. My library is full of books that I need to read! If you don’t have a Kindle or can’t afford one, many phones and laptops have an app that you can download so you can read ebooks.

Read what you want to read.

No matter how many recommendations you get or how many books you buy, read the ones that you want to read first. There isn’t a specific order that you have to read things in. Reading what you want to read also makes it fun, you don’t want it to feel like a chore because then you’ll be less likely to do it.

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.

PS; check out these book bundles before they go!

Great Books Giveaway!

From Your Worst Nightmares…

Why I DNF Books

Hi all,

This week I’m going to talk about DNFing books and why I do it. A lot of readers do this with some books, some are never picked up again while others will be picked up in a few month’s time. It’s rare that once I DNF book, I pick it back up again

DNF means ‘did not finish’. A lot of readers will pick up books and end up not finishing them for a variety of reasons. My reasons for DNFing usually are:

Slow start - I like to be hooked in the couple of chapters, other wise I find myself getting bored too quickly.

Unlikable characters - If I don’t like the main character, then chances are I don’t finish reading the book. They don’t have to be perfect, but if they’re so unlikable that I can’t relate to them or feel sorry for them then I don’t continue reading.

Too much description - I’m not a fan of books that have pages and pages of description. If the first few chapters are just the characters getting their appearances explained in detail, then I put the book down and move on.

Uncomfortable events - I don’t like reading about sexual assault in books, so if the scenes get graphic the book immediately goes down and doesn’t get picked up again.

Spelling and grammar errors - I know that not all spelling errors can be caught through several rounds of editing, but some books are filled with them. It’s at this point that I’m taken out of the story and I’m not invested so I just put the book down.

Poorly written female characters - I’ve started so many books that fall into this category. The female characters are just there for the main characters to be gawked at and then saved by. They usually don’t have much of a personality and always get into danger.

I read a lot of books every year, so it’s inevitable that some get DNF’d. I know that some people have probably DNF’d my books as well, but it’s just a thing that happens. Not every book is for everyone and that’s okay. Even if I DNF book, I still rate it on Goodreads. Usually three stars, unless the book really irked me. I don’t think it’s fair to go lower because it isn’t the author’s fault that it wasn’t my cup of tea.

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

Great Books Giveaway!

From Your Worst Nightmares…

My Favourite Books in Different Genres

Hi all!

This week I’m going to post about my favourite books in the genres I love reading! I’ve limited myself to one favourite per genre and I’ve excluded all Warriors books because I’ve blogged about them before and long-time readers know I love them. I have a good mix of traditionally published and self-published books here as well.

Fantasy: Ratha’s Creature

I’ve always had a love for big cats so this book shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. I devoured this series when I was younger and daydreamed about writing prehistoric big cats because of this book. Ratha is a beautifully flawed character but I loved watching her grow across the series.

Horror: Cujo

This book made me fall in love with the horror genre. I never picked up a horror book before this one because I wasn’t sure if I was going to like them. Reading Cujo get sicker and sicker made it so that I couldn’t put the book down, I was so desperate to find out what happened next.

GameLit: The Carnelian Fox

This was the first GameLit book I ever read, I didn’t even know the genre existed until I came across this book. I’ve always loved Pokémon and this book takes a lot of those elements and puts it into a book: collecting elemental animals, building a team and battling. The series is still ongoing and I can’t wait for the next one.

Sci-Fi: Refuge

This book has an incredible premise and I love the characters in it. The descriptions of how the human race starts to fall are so vivid and I read the first book in one sitting. I still have the rest of the series that I need to read, but I keep putting it off because I don’t want it to end!

Crime: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

I never read an Agatha Christie novel before this one and I absolutely loved it! I’m not very good at figuring out who did it but it was a very fun read nonetheless. I’m hoping to read more of her books this year.

Post-Apocalyptic: The Dead Don’t Turn

Although I lost interest with the later books in the series, I really loved the first one. The characters are great and seeing them all trying to deal with a virus in their own way is interesting. Unfortunately the series starts off well but goes off in a direction I wasn’t a fan of.

That’s it for this week! Keep an eye out next week, as you might miss an announcement about a book out for pre-order… See you next week!

PS; don’t forget to check out these dystopian books!

After the End