My 2023 Writing Goals

Hi all!

Seeing as I posted my year in review last week, I’m now going to post my writing goals for 2023! There are a lot of big ones this year and I’d like to push myself to get them done.

Write five books.

Of course my first goal is how many books I want to write. This year I’m planning on hitting five. One of those will be Street Rats, which I want to finish by the end of the year. The others will be:

Original Elementals #6: Sunrise

Missing Constellations

Original Elementals #7: Stormburst

Original Elementals #8: Turf

Publish two books.

Celestial Plague #2: Heaven and Celestial Plague #3: Purgatory will both be published this year! Heaven in April and Purgatory in October. I would love to publish more often once my books start earning more profit.

This book will be published in April this year!

Edit three books.

Like last year, I’m going to stick with three books to edit. One will be Celestial Plague #4: Hell while the others will be in the Curse of Anubis series.

Get covers designed for the final books in Celestial Plague.

The cover designs have been booked for both Purgatory and Hell, which will both have covers by the end of the year! I’ll also be booking in covers for the first two books in the Curse of Anubis series. As always, I’ll be going to Deranged Doctor Design to have these covers made.

Write the Curse of Anubis Short Story Collection.

I’ve decided that I want this reader magnet to be like the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection, a bunch of short stories written from that universe. So far I have stories planned for: the fight between Bastet and Sekhmet, how Sekhmet got her mane, why Mafdet ran away, how Set created the sha and Ra fleeing before the events of Curse of Anubis. I want to get all the stories done by the end of the year, even though Curse of Anubis won’t be published until late 2024.

Write more short stories.

I had so much fun with this last year and I love expanding my publishing portfolio. I want to add more anthologies to my publishing shelf so I will be writing more short stories to submit next year. Now that I have an easy way of finding ones to submit to, it shouldn’t take too long for me to submit them.

Design more merchandise.

So far I have had a lot of stickers designed for Elemental Dragons and also a bookmark (to be shown at a later date!). I want to get merch designed for my other books as well as finding a way to get it out there for you. I’m looking into setting up an online shop so you all can order what you like from me. I would love to add signed books into the mix as well, as I think that’s what you would be interested in as well. So for this year, I’ll focus on getting more merch designed with the possibility of a shop popping up as well.

I’d love to get stickers designed for Mute and Years - they will probably be cats!

Set up a Patreon.

I have been wanting to do this for ages. I’ve asked my newsletter subscribers what they would like to see most from me and also what rewards they would be interested in. I have a simple plan for content at the moment, which would be:

Mishie Mondays - weekly updates written in Mishka’s perspective, complete with pictures.

100 Word Drabbles - once a week publication of a 100 word story from one of my books. Although my main focus is to start with will be Elemental Dragons, I want to write drabbles from my other books as well.

Chapter of Missing Constellations - once a week I will post a chapter from the Patreon exclusive, Missing Constellations. It will be a YA Fantasy book focusing on Laelaps and the Teumessian Fox. Every few hundreds years they are allowed to return to Earth for a day in their human forms, but are then sent back to the sky. However, one day they aren’t sent back, and are instead turned back into their canine forms when night falls. They need to find out what’s stopping the gods from sending them back to their constellation, and why other creatures like them are also suffering the same fate.

Weekly polls - once a week a poll will be posted so my supporters can vote on what I write next, character design, 100 word drabbles and even what merch they want designed next.

Build up my mailing list.

My aim is to do more newsletter swaps and participate in more book bundles in 2023. I would love to spread the word of my books and my newsletter seems like the best way to do that!

Continue learning Spanish.

This is a more personal goal than a writing one, though I suppose it will help me if I decide to add a different language to my books. I want to continue learning the language anyway, even if it’s just five minutes a day!

Read 50 books.

I’m cutting my goal in half this year so I can focus on all of my goals above. The first book that I read will of course be a Warriors one! I have many books on my to be read pile that I need to get through so I can make room for more.

Participate in both Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo.

As with past years, I will be participating in all the events. I love filling up the word counter on their website and I’ve found that I work so much better with a deadline. Plus, I made a lot more buddies this year and it’s so fun to see everyone’s progress!

That’s it for this week! If you have any goals for 2023, I wish you the best of luck! Next week I will be posting an excerpt of the first chapter of Celestial Plague #2: Heaven, so make sure you keep an eye out for it, see you next week.

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

Mid-Christmas Horror Giveaway

New Year, New Monsters 3: From the Darkness

Nirvana is now Available on Amazon

Hi all,

The first book in the Celestial Plague series, Nirvana, is now available on Amazon in ebook, paperback and hardcover! This is the first book where I’ve used chapter headers, which I think makes each chapter look really pretty! Check it out below:

The world as we know it is over and all it takes to survive is your humanity.

The SARJ virus is an epidemic that is quickly overtaking an already broken world. Dividing it between the Bitten and Unbitten and forever changing the course of human history. When Shannon becomes infected with the virus her entire life changes forever.

For Shannon to make it to Nirvana she’ll have to spread the virus. But can she live with the consequences of those actions?

The urge to spread the virus is almost overpowering but infecting others comes at high cost; not just to her humanity but the innate powers she was born with. With every bite she loses a little of her power and a little bit of herself as well.

To stem the tide of Bitten rampaging through their cities the Unbitten release robots on them. Cold, calculating killing machines that don’t understand the term mercy are now exterminating people like Shannon.

Will she be able to survive the onslaught, protect her friends, and hold onto her humanity all at the same time?

That’s it for this week, if you read Nirvana, I hope you enjoy it! See you next week.

PS; check out these book bundles!

Flights of Fantasy

Dragon Books

Hawthorn and Ash Book 3: Alder & Ebony

Hi all,

One of my writing/publishing goals last year was to write more short stories and submit them to anthologies. One of the anthologies that accepted one of my stories has been published! You can check out Alder & Ebony below:

Alder and Ebony is a compilation of fantasy drabbles and flash fiction from authors worldwide.
Within its pages you will find enchanting stories of myth, legends and fairytales woven throughout.
Dive into the magic and wonder of these 50+ tales in Volume Three.

My story for this anthology is called Reclaim. It features the cat goddess Bastet, in her cat form, taking something back that was stolen from her. The piece was originally written for a contest that it unfortunately didn’t place in, but now you can read it in this anthology! The story doesn’t contain spoilers for the Curse of Anubis series and only features Bastet. You can get an idea of her character and her behaviour from this story, however.

The publisher is Iron Faerie Publishing and they have plenty of other submission calls on their website for various anthologies. My favourites are the fantasy and horror ones! You can check out their website and published anthologies here: Iron Faerie Publishing. I’ve submitted to one of their other anthologies and would also like to contribute to more of their anthologies in the future. They have great prompts and themes which are different to ones that you usually see for submission calls. Their Nephilim anthology is the one I originally submitted to as the theme was something I’d never come across before.

That’s it for this week, I hope you check out Alder & Ebony and Iron Faerie Publishing! Next week keep an eye out for the cover reveal of Celestial Plague #1: Nirvana… See you next week!

PS; looking for some new books to download? Check out the ones in these bundles:

Young Adult Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Science Fiction Giveaway

Years Now Available on Amazon

Hi all,

On Tuesday, Years was published on Amazon in ebook, paperback and hardcover! This is the first book launch that I’ve done where all three came out on the same date and I think it went well. If you want to check Years out, you can do so below:

What would you sacrifice to save the world?

In the future one thing keeps the entire planet going, the Gaia Machine. The only problem is that it feeds on the life force of people to run. This has led to certain people being born with the Gaia Gene, the ability to go into the machine for a full fifty-year cycle without fear of aging.

Cheyenne Meekai has the Gaia Gene and whether she wants to or not she’s going to have to save the world, but it might cost her everything in the process. The years served in the machine fly by for the person inside but outside life moves on, meaning when she gets out everyone she knows will either be elderly or dead.

Fifty years is a long time especially when you’re only sixteen, can she save the world and still have some sort of life, or will the demands of the Gaia Machine be more than she can handle?

Find out in this exciting Young Adult Science Fiction novel that will be sure to keep you reading every page until the very end.

That's it for this week, if you read (or have already read) Years then I hope you enjoy it! See you next week.

PS; looking for some new books to read this Easter? Check out the ones in these bundles:

Science Fiction Is For Free

Young Adult Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Taking to the Sky This Easter

2021 Year in Review

Hi all,

As with last year, I’m going to give you the run down of 2021! Some goals I hit, while others I didn’t get anywhere near. My mental health has suffered a lot this past year and I’m hoping that 2022 will be better for me.

Write three books.

If I manage to finish Street Rats by the end of the year, I would have written five! The ones that I have written are:

Curse of Anubis #2: Limbo.

Curse of Anubis #3: Middle.

Curse of Anubis #4: Dual.

Street Rats.

Original Elementals #1: Frostbite.

Plan nine more Elemental Dragons books.

I’ve managed to plot out all of the books in the series, and I’ve written the first book! In a few weeks time I will start writing Elemental Dragons #2: Marine and I’m hoping to get it finished before April 2022 Camp NaNoWriMo.

Publish two books.

As promised, Elemental Dragons #4: Cinder and Fire was published in April and Mute was published in October.

Create and publish the Elemental Dragons boxset.

This was published in July, and I didn’t realise how tricky it was going to be! Combining four books into one took a lot of work and formatting to make sure everything was in the right place.

Get two covers designed.

Both Mute and Years got their covers designed. The cover for Years will be revealed in a few weeks. I also got a cover designed for Mute’s prequel, Famished.

Edit three books.

I only edited one book, Years. As I said before my mental health has been pretty low, especially towards the end of the year. And getting Years back from my editor took several blows out of my self-esteem, to the point where I still haven’t gone back through all of the edits now. It will be ready by April, but for a few weeks I wondered if continuing to publish books was the right thing.

Hire a sensitivity reader.

As I have only just started editing Celestial Plague #1: Nirvana myself, I haven’t had the chance to look through sensitivity readers. I’m hoping to get this done next year.

Write more short stories.

I have written a lot more short stories this year, one of which has been accepted into an anthology! This should be released next year, and I’ll keep you posted.

Write Curse of Anubis short story/novella.

I tried writing a few ideas I had but none of them seemed right so I’ve scrapped them. For now I’m focusing on the reader magnet for Years.

Read 30 books.

I’m not entirely sure how I did it, but I read 200 books! Due to the way I was feeling I dove into books to escape a lot more than I have in previous years. Hopefully I can continue to read more next year!

Participate in both Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo.

I joined both the April and July Camp NaNoWriMos and NaNoWriMo. I managed to get the first drafts finished for:

Curse of Anubis #3: Middle.

Curse of Anubis #4: Dual.

Original Elementals #1: Frostbite.

That’s it for this week! Next week I’ll talk about my goals for 2022! See you then.

PS; looking for some new books to read in the new year? Check out the ones in these bundles:

New Year, New Monsters 2: From the Ashes

New Year, New Worlds SF/F Giveaway

81 Words Flash Fiction Anthology

Hi all!

This week I wanted to inform you all of a new anthology that I have been published in: the 81 Words Flash Fiction Anthology. This anthology includes 1000 stories by 1000 authors, all 81 words long each. This anthology has been years in the making, but was published yesterday!

81 Words Flash Fiction Anthology
1,000 Stories by 1,000 Authors – A World Record Breaking Book

Profits from sales of this book go to the Arkbound Foundation…

…a charity that aims to widen access to literature and improve diversity within publishing by running projects that empower people from disadvantaged backgrounds and deprived communities to get their voices heard.

The 81 Words Flash Fiction Anthology contains 1,000 stories written by 1,000 authors who submitted their work to the 81 Words Writing Challenge run on Chris Fielden’s website. Each story is exactly 81 words in length.

The 81 Words Writing Challenge was created to raise awareness of the importance of careful editing, support authors, celebrate diversity and raise money for charity. Every story submitted to the challenge has been published so that writers can gain the experience of having their work edited and then see their stories distributed in print and eBook formats all over the planet.

The publication of this book has also set an unofficial world record for the most contributing authors published in an anthology. You can learn why it’s an ‘unofficial’ world record by reading the book’s introduction.  Profits generated by sales of this book are donated to the Arkbound Foundation.

This book was brought together thanks to Christopher Fielden, who has put together and published many anthologies. All of them raise money for various charities, and you can take a look here: Writing Challenges.

That’s it for this week, I hope you check out this anthology and support Chris! See you next week!

A New Gift for my Newsletter Subscribers

Hi all,

If you’re subscribed to my mailing list you may already know about this. But if you aren’t, Famished, the prequel novella to Mute, is now available to download!

You can only get this as a part of my mailing list, and it is completely free. This will not be sold anywhere else.

Violetta wants a chance to prove herself.

Yang wants to save his father.

Lunaris wants to stop the monster before it kills more people.

The three of them all have a goal that involves a wendigo, but each want different outcomes. Will Violetta get the chance to take her own life into her hands? Will Yang stop his father’s suffering? Will Lunaris stop the wendigo before it creates more?

When you sign up to my mailing list, you get a monthly newsletter filled with:

• Monthly News.

• Character Polls.

• Writing Excerpts.

• Cover Reveals.

• Free/Discounted Books and Book Bundles.

• Merch Giveaways.

Alongside Famished, you also get the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection, which is also completely free!

That’s it for this week, if you sign up, let me know how you enjoyed the stories! see you next week.

PS; looking for some new books to read? Check out the ones in this bundle!

High Summer: August Fantasy & Science Fiction Giveaway

Elemental Dragons in a Physical Bookshop

Hi all,

This week I've got an announcement to make: a bookshop is now stocking paperback copies of all of the Elemental Dragons books!

This is a huge milestone for a self published author, as most bookshops won't even look at our books. I pitched quite a few bookshops last year, but got disheartened by the amount of negative responses. Due to publishing through Amazon, which is the biggest rival to bookshops, they weren't interested. After about a hundred pitches, some of which got extremely rude responses, I gave up. It was only when someone in my writing group mentioned that a new bookshop had opened that I decided to try again. I wasn't expecting anything to come of it, but they agreed to stock my books!

My books listed on the shop’s website

I'm glad that I've managed to hit another milestone in my author career. It's also quite surreal to see my book in a physical shop!

For the time being I'm not going to pitch to any more bookshops. The negative responses I got the first time round effected my anxiety, to the point where I didn't want to check my emails. I know that bookshops don't have to stock books they don't want to, but I think the rude responses were unnecessary.

I considered going through IngramSpark, as they have a high distribution rate with bookshops. The only issue I found is that it can be quite pricey just to set up one book on Ingram, let alone the four that I have. I've put that idea on hold until I decide whether the benefits will outweigh the costs.

If you want to check out the bookshop, you can do so here: Bookshop

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

PS; looking for some new fantasy books? The ones in this bundle are FREE to download!

Dragon’s Lair

My Bookplate Design

Hi all!

This week I'm going to show you my new bookplates! If you're unsure of what a bookplate is, it's a sticker that you can put in a book to signify ownership or hold a signature from the author. In this case, I will be using them to sign and send to people who want signed copies of books. It will be my first official author merchandise, apart from my books, that is!

Without further ado, here it is:

I struggled for a while with the design, as I wanted something that represented me and my books. I considered a dragon, but I'm not planning on limiting myself to fantasy books. I also thought of a snow leopard, like the one used in my logo, but decided against that too. Eventually I picked a cat, as I think that represents me and my books best. Every book I wrote contains a cat and I knew it would be the perfect fit.

Who is the cat on the bookplate?

The cat is Russetheart, my Warrior Cats original character. I wanted to use a cat, but not just any cat. Warrior Cats is what really got me into writing, and I wrote so may stories about Russetheart. Her design has changed a lot over the years, but this is the one that I'm sticking with for now. She used to be a solid ginger, but now she's a dark ginger with white paws. She's long-haired, though started off as short-haired, with deep blue eyes. Although she'd been through a lot and was an outcast to most of her Clan, she's strong, ambitious and loyal. I knew she would be the perfect cat for my bookplate.

The signature will be above her, which is what she will be looking at.

You can find the artist here: Fiverr

What the bookplates look like when printed - each sticker is three inches big

I will be doing a giveaway of a few of these at some point, once I've figured out how best to package and ship them to avoid damage. I might do more bookplates in the future with different designs, maybe one for each genre I write in. For now, I'm more than pleased with using Russetheart to represent my work.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

I hope you enjoyed reading and are looking forward to the bookplate giveaway, see you next week!

Looking for some new fantasy books to read? Check out the ones in this bundle:

NEW YEARS HIGHS AND MYTHOLOGY

Want to Help me Design Characters?

Hi all!

This week I want to highlight my monthly newsletter once again - with a new interactive feature!

Every month I will post a character that my subscribers help me design.

This month, I ran a poll to decide what Maelstrom would look like, Marine’s dragon counterpart. My subscribers decided that she would be: a rare emerald green and white dragon with green eyes.

If you want to help me design more characters, you can sign up to my mailing list! You also get a free eNovella when you sign up!

The cover for the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection, which can be downloaded free when signing up to my newsletter

For February’s newsletter, my subscribers will help me with the design of Frostbite, the dragon counterpart to Frost. Designing dragons will continue for another seven months after this, after that I will then be asking for help with designing other characters for different books.

If you would like to help me design characters, you can sign up for my mailing list here: Monthly Newsletter.

My newsletter doesn’t just contain dragon designs either! It also includes:

Monthly news.

Round-up of monthly blog posts.

Book swaps with other authors.

Book bundle promotions.

Writing excerpt.

Cover reveals.

If you are interested in signing up, again the link is here: Monthly Newsletter.

That’s it for this week, I hope to see you each month with my newsletter. See you next week!

PS: looking for some new books to add to your virtual bookshelf? Check out the ones in these book bundles:

Reading Treasures

New Year, New Monsters!