Sensorially Challenged Volume Two

Hi all,

In March I wrote a blog post about Adverbially Challenged Volume Four, an anthology I had written a short story for. This week I'm going to talk about Sensorially Challenged Volume Two, another anthology I'm included in.

The anthology has been published by Christopher Fielden, who hosts writing challenges on his website. You submit your themed story to one of the challenges and it is guaranteed to make it into the book. Once a challenge has received one hundred stories, he publishes them in print and ebook. I'm so grateful to be included in two of his anthologies, it truly is a wonderful feeling to see your work published!

The cover and blurb for Sensorially Challenged Volume Two

To visit his website and check out his writing challenges, books and competitions, please click the link below:

https://www.christopherfielden.com

I highly recommend buying the anthology, it's a great read. If you wish to buy a copy, please click the link below:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sensorially-Challenged-2-Christopher-Fielden-ebook/dp/B07SB1FK92/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=christfielde-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=64ea5d30124998ce95f6342ac9fcc37f&creativeASIN=B07SB1FK92

One of the best parts about the anthology is that a portion of the proceeds from each book goes to charity, in this case: National Literacy Trust.

To visit their website and check out the wonderful work they do, click here:

https://literacytrust.org.uk

Unlike my last story which was about cats, this one was about a fox. Foxes are one of my favourite animals (I bet you can guess what my number one favourite animal is) and I've always wanted to write a story about one. This anthology is themed around senses, so I've tried to include as many as possible from the point of view of the fox.

Foxes are such sweet animals, and it was an easy choice to write a short piece about one. I thought about making the fox a Kitsune, but changed that idea at the last minute.

I hope you enjoyed this week's post. Next week I'm going to talk about why authors, traditionally published and self published, need to promote their books.

See you next week!

Blood and Water Cover Design

Hi all,

In case you missed my posts this week, the cover for Blood and Water is now ready and looks gorgeous!

It was designed by the lovely people at Deranged Doctor Design.

I thought I would share with you the reasoning behind the design:

- The red and blue colour scheme is for the theme of blood and water.

- Hazel, the protagonist, is on the cover.

- She is wearing modern clothes because the book is set in the modern day.

- The background of a field is a location in the book, where Hazel attends dragon training.

- As a water elemental, Hazel wields water on the cover.

- She's practicing a move that creates a shield of their element around the user.

- I prefer light colours for text as I think that makes the title pop more.

- The font is the first one I was shown and I loved it.

- I asked for my name to be at the top so it doesn't take away from the cover design.

- There aren't any dragons on the cover because I thought it would clog the background too much.

The other covers for the series will have similar elements of the above, though they will have different colour schemes and new locations. Each cover will feature Hazel as she is the main character in all of them. There won't be more than one character on the Elemental Dragons covers.

If you want to see what Deranged Doctor Design has to offer, you can visit their website here: derangeddoctordesign.com. I highly recommend them, they're very friendly and professional. I went for the Ebook Social package if anyone wants to know what package I went with.

Blood and Water will be out October 2019!

See you next week!

The Pros and Cons of Writing Your Own Blurb

Hi all!

As promised, this week I'm going to talk about the pros and cons of writing your own blurb. At the end I've also included the blurb for Blood and Water which I will add to my books page, along with promotional artwork I commissioned for the book.

Pros:

No-one knows your story better than you do.

No matter what, no-one can explain your story better than you. You have all the inside details and spoilers, you know what's going to happen. That's an advantage when writing blurbs.

It costs nothing.

Writing your own blurb is free because you have written it yourself. Perfect for authors on a budget.

You can choose what keywords to include.

This is a good thing as if you publish on Amazon you need certain keywords to appear in certain categories. This, in turn, will lead to more sales.

You can choose what to include.

You can leave out certain unimportant characters and plot points that are unnecessary in a blurb.

Cons:

You will forever be editing it.

As writers, we want to make sure our work is perfect. The blurb is the first thing a reader sees after the cover, and you want to make it count.

Compressing your book into a few paragraphs is daunting.

Crafting a synopsis is bad enough. A blurb is even shorter, you might struggle to fit everything in there.

You may not know how to draw readers in.

Using the correct keywords and terms to get readers in the first place is hard. Hiring someone who already knows how to navigate this will make it easier.

It's stressful.

Publishing a book on your own is hard. If you can make your life a little easier by getting someone else to do it for you, then do so. There's no shame in it whatsoever. You've already written a book which is an achievement in itself!

I have added the blurb for Blood and Water below. I hired someone to do it for me as I didn't think I could craft one that's good enough. I'm glad I didn't do it myself as I'm very happy with the final result:

Being an elemental is hard.

Just ask Hazel Adams who at fifteen finds herself being sent off for the next step in her training where she will receive her dragon egg. But, the camp harbours many dangers in disguise, she will soon find out that not all dragons are born equal.

Soon Hazel, along with her new family and friends, will have to learn to navigate the shifting political alliances and social castes that come along with being an elemental. But, among the political turmoil an even greater danger lurks. One that hasn’t been seen in centuries.

Will Hazel be able to raise her dragon and prove that it’s more than meets the eye or will she be defeated by the dark forces working against her?

Find out in Blood and Water, the first book in a new YA fantasy series that is sure to keep you glued to every page.

Check out my books page to see the promotional artwork for Blood and Water! The cover will follow over the next few months.

I am also excited to announce that I am planning on publishing Blood and Water in October 2019 (as long as everything goes to plan). See you next week!

Adverbially Challenged Volume Four

Hi all!

If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed me tweeting and retweeting about an anthology I contributed to: Adverbially Challenged Volume Four.

The anthology contains one hundred flash fiction stories from one hundred authors. This has been put together by Christopher Fielden, who runs many writing challenges on his website that offer authors the chance to see their work in publication. Once he has received one hundred stories in a challenge, he puts them together in an anthology. Each anthology supports a charity, in the case of this one, First Story.

If you would like to find out more about Christopher Fielden and his writing challenges, I have linked his website: 

https://www.christopherfielden.com

If you want something new to read and also want to support charity at the same time, I have linked the book below (it's available in ebook and paperback):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adverbially-Challenged-4-Christopher-Fielden/dp/1796910031/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=christfielde-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=6dd0e4f7975de853588c16156403b0d5&creativeASIN=1796910031

To find out more about First Story and the work they do, I have linked their website:

https://www.firststory.org.uk/about-us/

The cover and blurb of Adverbially Challenged Volume Four

The story that I wrote for the anthology is called Mother Cat, and it is based off of Mishka's Mum, Mallie. I always thought she looked exhausted with four rambunctious kittens so whenever my boyfriend and I visited Mishka we would try to distract the kittens for a bit so poor Mallie could get some rest.

It also didn't help that the kitten's aunt, Millie, would also bug Mallie for hours on end. Once all the kittens were adopted her owner got Mallie spayed so she wouldn't have any more litters. I just hope now she's enjoying the rest of her kitten-free days in peace.

Mallie with her kittens: Mishka, Poppy, Mabel and Chip

That's it for this week! I hope you will check out the writing challenges, anthology and First Story. It's a brilliant way to support charity and also add to your writing portfolio.