The Future of Street Rats

Hi all,

This week I’m going to talk about Street Rats! The book has been on hiatus since October 2021 and I thought I’d make a blog post explaining why.

If you aren’t aware, last August I asked my followers to vote on what standalone book they wanted me to write next. The winner was Street Rats. You can see a basic plot summary and genre here:

I started writing that book soon after. At first writing went well and I was really enjoying the story. I also enjoyed the fact that this book is set in a parallel world with different ideas of technology to ours. Instead of police they instead capture animals and experiment on them. These animals are often given robotic parts and have chips in their brains from which they receive orders. Of course, there’s a cat in in it who helps the main character, Hailey.

However, my mental health started to decline and I started losing passion for the project. I wanted to get it done in time for NaNoWriMo November 2021, where I was planning to start writing the first draft of Original Elementals #1: Frostbite. More and more days were passing by where I would get short bursts of writing done but then write nothing for days. The book was slowly coming together but I found I wasn’t happy with it at all.

November comes around and I’m just over 72K into the first draft. I decided to put it on hold to write Frostbite like I’d originally planned. I managed to finish the first draft of that book in early December.

However, Street Rats is still on hold.

I’m not happy with how the story turned out, but I still want to write the ending. I know it’s going to need some heavy editing which I’m not looking forward to. However, I still love the premise and I am willing to go back and finish it. My mental health has also improved a lot and I am more willing to finish the story than I was before. I think the fact that I was feeling low rubbed off on the story and I started getting frustrated with it.

Will Street Rats be finished?

The first draft - yes. After that I’m going to leave it for a while before attempting to go back to it to edit.

When will it be finished?

I’m not sure, whenever I feel ready. It could be after I’ve finished Camp NaNoWriMo this month, or it could be later on in the year.

Will it be published?

I want it to be. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to change the story enough to where I’m happy with it. I still want to see the story out there.

That’s it for this week! Next week keep an eye out for Years, which will be available on Amazon on Tuesday! See you next week.

PS; looking for some more Kindle Unlimited books to read? Check out the books in these bundles:

The Fantastic Kindle Universe

Taking to the Sky This Easter

Why I'm Writing a Standalone After Every Three Original Elementals Books

Hi all,

If you’re subscribed to my newsletter you might already know the answer to this. But to those who are not, I wanted to let you know what’s going on and why I’m not writing all ten books in the Original Elementals series at once.

First, I’m worried about burnout. Ten books is a lot and it takes a lot of planning just to make sure that all of the books gel together and that there are no inconsistencies between books. The biggest one I’m struggling with right now is what the dragons look like, I find that I keep changing it every few chapters!

I also don’t want to be stuck in the same universe for a long period of time. While I love the Elemental Dragons universe, I have so many other book ideas that I want to get done as well.

So, to try and combat all of the above, I will write three books in the Original Elementals series and then a standalone that I’ve had planned for a while. The only exception to this will be Celestial Plague #4: Hell. I had originally planned for this to be a trilogy, but a final book would tie up some loose ends with one of the characters and would also offer more insight into what happens after the events of Celestial Plague #3: Purgatory. I won’t go into too much detail due to spoilers but I think you’ll enjoy this book as it shows more abut how society rebuilds after the virus.

So, my plan is:

Write Frostbite, Maelstrom and Shadowhunter. Then Hell, from Celestial Plague.

Write Devouring, Tempest and Sunrise. Then The Core, which was the second highest voted from my poll in August about what standalone I should write.

Write Stormburst, Turf, Arcturus and ???. Then an unnamed YA Paranormal Horror.

This will enable to me to get all the books written with a break in between to work on something else. I won’t be writing all of these books in 2022, however, I’m hoping to get the first drafts done for all of the Original Elementals books in 2024.

That’s it for this week! I hope this clears up some confusion as to why I might be hopping from project to project. Next week I’m going to talk about the future of Street Rats, which has been on hiatus since October 2021. See you next week!

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

The Fantastic Kindle Universe

Taking to the Sky This Easter

How to Find Anthologies to Submit to

Hi all!

This week's blog post will hopefully help other writers to find homes for some of their stories! I specifically chose anthologies as they are the ones I submit to most; and I think it can be harder to find ones willing to publish new authors.

Facebook.

There are loads of Facebook groups out there dedicated to submitting to anthologies. They are filled with authors looking for, and posting about, anthologies that are looking for submissions. This is also a great way of seeing which anthologies are worth submitting to, and which ones don't hold up their end of the bargain. Other authors won't recommend anthologies that are looking to scam them. One group that I'm a part of is Anthologies Seeking Submissions. They're great because they don't allow posts from 'pay-to-play' anthologies, where authors have to pay a fee to submit their stories without guarantee that they'll be published.

Christopher Fielden.

Although there are plenty of websites out there dedicated to showcasing places for authors to submit their stories, Christopher Fielden's website is the best. Not only does he regularly update his website with writing opportunities but he also hosts writing challenges. Once he has enough stories, they're all gathered together and made into an anthology! I've been published in several of his anthologies and attended one of the book launches. Proceeds from each book sale is donated to various charities, so you add the book to your publishing portfolio and help charity at the same time. He also hosts his own writing competition, which you should also check out!

The Submission Grinder.

This one I discovered thanks to a post by Christopher Fielden. It's an easy to navigate website where you can filter by genre, word count and type of submission. I have used this website and managed to get three stories accepted because of it! If I had never heard about this website I never would have found those anthologies, and the others that I also plan to submit to. In my opinion this is the best way to find new anthologies with various themes and word counts. By searching through their filters you may even find homes for stories that you wrote a while ago but never got published. That was the case for me with a few of the stories I have submitted.

Word of Mouth.

See what other authors are published in. Are there more anthologies from the same publisher accepting submissions? Will they publish more in the future? It's also a lot better knowing that other authors have submitted to these anthologies and are happy with the results. If you don't want to ask the author directly, check out their websites or Amazon author page. Usually all of the books, and anthologies, that they've been published in will be listed there.

That's it for this week! I hope this has helped someone who is looking to add more publications to their portfolio. See you next week!

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

Young Adult Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Big Cat Species in my Writing

Hi all,

Last week I talked about cat breeds in my writing. This week I thought I'd talk about the big cats in my books, even in future ones!

Years.

Mother Earth takes the form of a lioness made of solar flares in this book. I went with a lion as they spend most of their time in the sun. As for why she's made of solar flares, you'll be able to find out in April when the book comes out!

Celestial Plague.

Raya, one of the main characters, is a panther shapeshifter. There will be a blog post on her at some point, so make sure you keep an eye out! I chose a panther over other big cats as I thought it was time that the species got some love.

Curse of Anubis.

The two main big cats in this book are Sekhmet and Mafdet. Sekhmet is a goddess that is commonly depicted with a lion head, so she appears in this book as a maned lioness. Mafdet is often described in mythology as wearing cheetah skin, so she appears in this book as a cheetah. This book was a lot of fun to write as I had two big cats to contend with. Trying to make them both stand out in their feline forms was tough! I also incorporated some mannerisms from real lions and cheetahs to make them more accurate to their big cat forms.

Street Rats.

A mechanical panther does appear in this book, but it's only a brief appearance to attack the main character and her group.

Now onto my future projects and what big cats will be in them!

Unnamed GameLit Fantasy.

The main character will be partnered with a snow leopard. This is my favourite animal and I always wanted to incorporate one into my books somehow. So, Bagira the snow leopard will be a part of the main character's team! There is also a mysterious tiger that patrols one of the jungles in the area, protecting the animals inside. I've never written about a tiger before, so this one should be really fun to write!

Unnamed Paranormal Fantasy.

There is a character in this book who can speak to animals. She befriends a lynx and it helps her aid her sister, the main character. I went with a lynx for this book as I thought they would be cool to write about and I've never given them much thought before.

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

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

New Year, New Worlds SF/F Giveaway

Unlimited Reading

Cat Breeds in my Writing

Hi all!

I ran a poll on Twitter to see what you wanted me to blog about next. The winner of the poll was something cat related! So I thought I'd discuss the different breeds of cat I use in my writing.

Elemental Dragons.

Only one cat appears in this series, Normie. He is introduced as a siamese kitten. I went with Siamese as although the real Normie wasn't completely Siamese, he had the fur colour and everything. So I decided to make him pure Siamese for the books.

Mute.

Solaris and Lunaris are the two cats to appear in these books and they are both moggies. Neither of them are any particular breed. Solaris is a ginger tabby and Lunaris is a grey tabby. Neither have any specific breed in mind when I wrote them.

Street Rats.

A part-mechanical cat, Faraday, is the main cat that appears in this book. He has a little bit of Havana in him which shows thanks to his fur colour. But the rest of him is all moggie. He's not supposed to be a specific breed either, like Solaris and Lunaris.

Curse of Anubis.

Bastet, the cat goddess, is one of the main characters in this book. She is almost always in her cat forms, ranging from a silver to black Egyptian Mau. I went with an Egyptian cat breed that I thought looked cute and had a wide range of fur colours that I could use. She could theoretically change into any type of cat she wanted, but I thought I would stick to one breed for the books.

Original Elementals.

Aspen appears in this book and she is a white and grey fluff monster! Again, I didn't write her with a specific breed in mind so she is just a moggie as well. All of the cats that I've owned are moggies so that might be swaying my opinion a little bit!

Below are some of the cats that I plan on writing in future novels, though they aren't set in stone yet:

Unnamed game-lit fantasy.

Mishka is finally turned into a book character for this one! She will portray herself in her moggie glory! The only thing we know about her is that she is a quarter Bengal, but the rest of her is unknown.

Unnamed supernatural horror.

The cat in this story is unnamed, but belongs to the main character's sister and is able to communicate with her due to her power. This cat will be a Turkish Angora, though I haven't decided what the fur colour or gender will be.

Parasitic Aliens.

This will be a trilogy. I've only planned one cat so far although there will be one for each book. One will be a Devon Rex. Again, no fur colour or gender as of yet, nor which book it will appear in,

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. Which cat is your favourite? Let me know in the comments. See you next week!

Years Cover Design

Hi all!

This cover reveal is a bit later than I normally announce it, but I hope the cover is worth the wait! Below is the cover for Years! I’ve already updated my website and banners to reflect the colour scheme of the book.

This cover, like all my other ones, has been designed by the lovely people at Deranged Doctor Design! As I have done with the previous covers, I’ll explain the design choices:

• The girl on the cover is Cheyenne, the main character of Years.

• The colour scheme for this book is red and orange.

• The background is an area of dead land. There is no vegetation as this cannot be supported until someone goes into the Gaia Machine to sacrifice their years to the Earth.

• There is a gap in the clouds to show that a solar flare is coming through.

• Although the solar flare is wrapped around Cheyenne’s body, she can’t control them.

• Anyone who touches a solar flare in the book dies instantly. The flare around Cheyenne is a cool design choice from DDD.

• The font is bold and also fits the genre of Sci-Fi perfectly.

• My name is back on top cover of the book, like with the Elemental Dragons series.

• In the book, Cheyenne has a small tattoo on her wrist, this isn’t shown anywhere on the cover has neither of her wrists are visible.

Once again I’m very happy with this cover! DDD always deliver perfect covers and I will continue to go to them for more covers in the future.

Years will be out in April 2022. Pre-order available next month.

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

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

New Year, New Monsters 2: From the Ashes

New Year, New Worlds SF/F Giveaway

My 2022 Writing Goals

Hi all,

As promised - here are my writing goals for 2022!

Write four books.

By the end of the year I want to have written the first drafts for the following books:

Original Elementals #2: Maelstrom

Original Elementals #3: Shadowhunter

One of the standalone books that I have planned

Original Elementals #4: Devouring

Publish two books.

I want to publish Years in April and Celestial Plague #1: Nirvana in October.

Get three covers designed.

Celestial Plague #1: Nirvana and Celestial Plague #2: Heaven will have covers by the end of the year. These have been booked through my usual cover designer, Deranged Doctor Design. I also want to get a cover done for the Years reader magnet to match the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection and Famished.

Self-edit all of the Celestial Plague series.

I want all of the books in the trilogy to be self-edited by the end of the year. They will then go to my editor before coming back to me for the final edit. I'm planning on getting the first two edited by my editor this year and the third one in early 2023.

Write the Years reader magnet.

I've attempted to do this so many times before but found that none of my ideas were working well. I've scrapped this reader magnet so many times and I would like to get it done by about February.

Make two reader magnets available to my newsletter subscribers.

The Years reader magnet will be available first and then Celestial Plague: Seashine. Both of these will be free to download for my newsletter subscribers, as well as my other two reader magnets.

Submit more short stories.

Although I wrote a lot more short stories this year, I only submitted three of them. I would like to submit more to anthologies to expand my publishing portfolio.

The image that will be used for the Years book poster - illustration by chlmerrahh on Fiverr: https://www.fiverr.com/chimerahh?source=order_page_user_message_inner_link

Read 100 books.

I read 200 last year so I think 100 will be doable. I've got loads of books currently sitting around waiting to be read, so I don't think I'll struggle for reading material!

Grow my mailing list.

I would like to have at least 500 subscribers by the end of 2022. I'm already doing plenty of newsletter swaps and group promotions on StoryOrigin, and would like to grow this further.

Focus on Amazon ads more.

I've really struggled with this in the past as my automatic ads never seem to spit out many targets for me. I'd like to give this another try in 2022, especially since I have more books in my backlist now.

Get my books into more libraries.

My books are currently in a few libraries and I would like to get them into more. I would like to send out emails to libraries that are willing to stock indie books and see if they will take any copies of mine.

Make all of my books available in hardcover.

Now that Amazon are giving authors the choice to publish a hardcover book, I'm making sure that all of my future books will be in hardcover! It's my favourite kind of book, and they look gorgeous on my shelves.

Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo.

I like participating in these events as I like seeing my word count go up each day. I'll be participating in all three of these events this year!

I think that's everything that I have planned for 2022! Mentally I'm doing much better than I was last year, so I hope some of these goals will be more achievable! What are your plans for 2022? Let me know in the comments. See you next week!

PS; looking for some new books to start off 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

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

My Favourite Author Resources

Hi all!

This week I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite resources for writing, marketing and publishing books. I've used all of the below and they've all worked out really well for me! Some are free, while others have subscription plans or a fee for lifetime access. You can click on each of the names to be taken to their website, so be sure to check them out!

Reedsy BookEditor.

I use this tool to format all of my books. I find their tool clean, easy to use and it formats the book beautifully. They have templates for the front and back matter for copyright, dedications and about pages. It's completely free to use and I was so ecstatic to find it after hearing about how hard formatting can be. All my books and reader magnets have been formatted through Reedsy, so if you want to have a look at the end result just take a look at my books!

Book Brush.

I use Book Brush to design Facebook ads and graphics for Twitter. My favourite use for them however is making advent calendar facts! Once I found a template I liked it was super easy for me to just use that template and change the text and graphics. They have loads of images to choose from and plenty of book templates. I especially like their cover reveal templates, which I really want to use in the future. Another thing I want to try out is their Amazon A+ templates, as I would like to add them to my book pages!

StoryOrigin.

The thought of swapping newsletters with other authors terrified me before I signed up with StoryOrigin. I signed up while it was still free and had no hesitation in paying for it. I find it invaluable to swap with other authors and join promotions. My mailing list has grown a lot and I've found new fans of my work. I also really like creating promotions, and creating the headers using Book Brush. It's easy to use and you don't have to contact other authors directly if you don't want to. You can also see how many clicks authors get from each campaign they do, so you can reject anyone if they are joining campaigns and swaps without holding up their end of the bargain.

A header I made in Book Brush for a future promotion on Story Origin

Infostack.

I purchased Write Publish Profit 3.0 in June and absolutely love it. Everything they use in their deals has a massive discount. From courses, to books, to writing tools and marketing opportunities. I've only used half of the stuff that was in the deal, and I've found it all great! I found out about it through a Facebook group and quickly snapped it up. Their deals are only available for a limited time, so if you want it you need to get it quick!

AppSumo.

This is another website where you can pick up courses, ebooks or apps for a reduced price. I've bought quite a few of their deals and I'm really impressed with them. The first one I bought was the Depositphotos deal, 100 credits to download 100 photos that will not run out. So I bought another one when that deal popped up again! I'd recommend them if there are any apps or plug-ins you want added to your website or just to keep track of various things.

Depositphotos.

I've currently got 168 images left to download from my AppSumo deals and I love it! They have a wide variety of photos, vectors and illustrations for various subjects. If I'm ever struggling to find photos for a book cover, this will be the first place that I'll look.

Author Shout.

Not only did I enter Blood and Water in their Reader Ready Awards in 2020, but I participate in Cover Wars will all of my books if I can. Entering Cover Wars is completely free and it's free advertising. None of my books have won unfortunately, though I'm hoping one will one day!

That's it for this week! I hope you found this blog post helpful and will check out some of the great resources above. See you next week!

PS; looking for something new to read this week? Check out the books in this bundle:

Magical Winter - Fantasy in Kindle Unlimited

My Longest Series Yet

Hi all!

On the 1st November I'll be writing the first book in the Original Elementals series: Frostbite. I've already announced it as my NaNoWriMo project for this year, and I'm hoping to hit 60K at least. My writing has been a bit hit and miss since I started writing Street Rats, due to stress and fluctuations in my mental health. I love writing, and I hate it when my anxiety gets in the way of me doing it properly. Hopefully Frostbite will change that.

If you didn't know, the Original Elementals series will be ten books total. They will each have a different main character, and a different adventure in each. You will discover how the originals got their elemental powers and dragons. How elemental powers became widespread, and how this started effecting natural dragon species. Draca will also be in these books, his original self, not his clone. You'll also see how the books about the originals were written, and if all the details inside them really were correct...

This will be my longest series yet, and my most ambitious. I'm hoping they'll all be around the same length as the books in the Elemental Dragons series - around 300 pages. I'm aiming to have all books written in two and a half years, with other standalone books written in between. This will not effect my publishing schedule, which is currently two books a year. In fact, once Years has come out, I have the following publishing plan:

Celestial Plague Trilogy - October 2022, April 2023, October 2023

Curse of Anubis Quadrilogy - April 2024, October 2024, April 2025, October 2025

Of course, this could all change! Especially as one day I would like to increase publishing to three books a year. That all depends on how much people like my books, however!

Original Elementals will be a long adventure, and I'm hoping a fun one. It might be the only prequel series that I write as I currently have no plans for sequels or prequels for any of my other books. I just love the Elemental Dragons universe so much and I just think that I have so much more to give it, hence Original Elementals. I thought I would answer a few burning questions you might have below...

Will there be a sequel series?

Maybe. I have ideas, but I'm trying to piece it all together. It could happen, it could not.

Will the main characters in Original Elementals act exactly like their Elementa Dragons clone?

In some instances, they will. But, the originals and the clones have had different upbringings and experiences. They won't be exactly alike, but you'll definitely be able to see all the similarities.

Will their dragons act differently as they aren't bonded?

Yes, although they love each other they will be more prone to acting out and disobeying orders. They're also more likely to take off at any moment, as there's no physical connection between them. This will cause bumps in the road, but the originals will have to figure out how to overcome this in their journey.

Will the Wyrms make an appearance?

Yes, but not in their evolved form. The scientists helped them evolve a hundred years after the events of Original Elementals, so they will be tiny parasites in these books. They will mostly be seen with Draca, as they used its body as a host in the past.

Will there be a cat in this series?

Of course! My Twitter followers voted on a grey and white cat, the name is currently tied between Aspen and Flurry. I like both names, so I might do another poll to decide!

There's only nine originals - why are there ten books?

That's a secret you'll learn once I get to that book!

Will we discover why dragons were separated into class systems?

Yes! Before the events of Original Elementals, there was no such thing as common, uncommon, rare and premier. The books will explain how this came to be, and the repercussions of this. It will also explain why common dragons are seen as the most dangerous, and why fifteen is the age that people get their dragon egg.

That's it for this week! I hope you enjoyed reading more about Original Elementals and are looking forward to reading the series. See you next week!

PS; looking for some new horror books before Halloween? Check out the ones in these bundles below:

October Tricks and Treats

Halloween Frights