All of my Free Enovellas

Hi all,

This week I’m going to list all of the enovellas that I’ve written that are available to download for free. They are exclusive to my newsletter subscribers, so you’ll never find them anywhere else!

Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection

Read about four dragons who face difficult decisions and tough times ahead, but refuse to lie down and accept their fate.

Russet dreams of being free, but will she ever get there?

Hercules has escaped the lab it has been imprisoned in for so long, but now what?

Ophelia’s art has gotten her into a lot of trouble, but can she find inspiration in the streets of Arimouth?

Moon has been alone for many months now, can four younglings change that?

Famished

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?

Solar Child

Nova and her friends didn't expect a fiery lioness to ask them for help in the woods. They just wanted to bring their supplies back to the orphanage.

However, if they help her, the lioness offers them a gift. A gift that has dire consequences once it is given.

Will they help the lioness? What will she offer them in return to help them survive? And most importantly, how will humanity react to the gift?

Seashine

Oceana thinks she’s doing the right thing by working with Dr West. But, his experiments are getting too much and she’s not sure she wants to be part of it anymore. She just wants to return to her old role of working on the Halo-O Bots.

The SARJ virus is partly her doing and she wants to make things right. But first she has to get through her old boss, the military who fund their experiments and the creatures that they’ve created.

Can she fix everything before the virus, and the creatures, get out?

In the future there will be even more free enovellas, the next one will be the Curse of Anubis Short Story Collection when I start publishing that series.

That’s it for this week, see you next week.

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

2022 Year in Review

Hi all,

Next week I’ll be writing about my goals for 2023. As always, I want to look back at my goals for 2022 and see how well I did. My mental health has been far better this year, allowing me to do more than last year. Still, I thought it would be fun to look back!

Write four books.

I’ve managed to complete the first drafts of five books this year, they are:

Original Elementals #2: Maelstrom.

Original Elementals #3: Shadowhunter.

Celestial Plague #4: Hell.

Original Elementals #4: Devouring.

Original Elementals #5: Tempest.

Publish two books.

Years was published in April and Celestial Plague #1: Nirvana was published in October.

Get three covers designed.

The first two books in the Celestial Plague series both have covers now. The reader magnet, Celestial Plague #0: Seashine, also has a pretty cover.

Self-edit all of the Celestial Plague series.

Unfortunately, I haven’t quite managed to reach this one. Seeing as I decided to write a fourth book in April, it messed up my editing plans a bit. The first three books have been self-edited, the first two have been with my editor. But the fourth one will be edited by myself next year.

Write the Years reader magnet.

Solar Child has been written and sent out to my newsletter subscribers! Although I struggled writing it before, I came up with an idea that clicked. I’m glad that I managed to write it and send it out before Years was published.

Make two reader magnets available to my newsletter subscribers.

Solar Child and Seashine have both been sent out to my newsletter subscribers. That brings the total up to four free enovellas that are available to those who sign up to my mailing list.

Submit more short stories.

I’ve written a lot more short stories this year, which is great! Quite a few have been submitted to anthologies that I’m just waiting to hear back from. One has been accepted into an anthology that should hopefully be out in January.

Read 100 books.

The year had a rocky start because I didn’t start reading again until early February. Still, I found a lot of good books that I devoured pretty quickly which helped me catch up. I managed to hit my goal of 100 with only a few days to spare!

Grow my mailing list.

Unfortunately I didn’t manage to hit my goal of 500 newsletter subscribers. I’ve had to trim my list a few times this year which has brought the total down. Still, I’m incredibly happy for the subscribers that I have and I’m glad that they’re enjoying my content!

Focus on Amazon ads more.

I set up a few automatic ads and left them. Around June, one started getting loads of clicks. This really surprised me, especially as that momentum continued into July and August. Although I definitely still have a lot to learn, I’m glad that I’ve managed to improve my ads slightly and gain more knowledge about advertising.

Get my books into more libraries.

This is the one goal that I haven’t attempted all year. I’m looking into ways that I can get my books into libraries, but I haven’t contacted any yet. This goal will probably roll over into 2023.

Make all of my books available in hardcover.

Every single one of my published books is now available in hardcover! This is my favourite kind of book and I knew I wanted to have hardcovers, even if I don’t sell many. They are currently all on my ‘publishing’ shelf in my living room!

Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo.

Original Elementals #3: Shadowhunter and Celestial Plague #4: Hell were both completed during the months of Camp NaNoWriMo. Original Elementals #5: Tempest was completed during NaNoWriMo in November.

That’s all the goals that I had for 2022! Next week I’ll discuss my goals for 2023, some exciting ones are on there. See you next week!

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

Mid-Christmas Horror Giveaway

Magical Winter Fantasy

Why I'm Going to Change the Book Titles in Curse of Anubis

Hi all!

I haven’t talked about Curse of Anubis for a while. For those who don’t know, this is a YA Horror series that will be published after Celestial Plague. There are four books total, all of which have been written but just need to be edited, formatted and get a cover designed. The story follows Tahira, a girl caught in the zombie apocalypse who is guided by Bastet, the Egyptian goddess. It’s up to them to figure out why there are now zombies everywhere and what it has to do with Ra’s disappearance. They meet plenty of other gods along the way and traverse both the human world and the god’s plane together.

The titles that I originally came up with are below:

Halfway

Limbo

Middle

Dual

But I’m not sure if I like those titles so much now. They seem more like placeholders until I come up with better ones. I’ve tried to think of other titles that might fit better, such as: Reincarnation, Resolution, Ra’s Eye, Horus’ Eye, Set’s Revenge etc.

So far nothing has stuck.

Bastet, as she first appears in Curse of Anubis

I’m still brainstorming some ideas about what the names should be, though I’m probably going to go with something along the lines of either the protagonists or the antagonists. Tahira, Bastet, Sekhmet and Mafdet are the protagonists, while Horus, Wadjet, Set and Anubis are the antagonists. I would like to incorporate their names in the titles somewhere, but I’m not sure how that will work yet. I just wanted to make a post about it so it isn’t a shock when it does happen. The series title will be staying the same, just the individual book titles will be changed.

The first book won’t be published until late 2024, so I have time to figure out the names. I may even ask my newsletter subscribers for their thoughts as well. Nothing about the books themselves will change, just the titles.

That’s it for this week, wish me luck in finding the perfect book titles! Next week will be my 2022 year in review, so keep an eye out for that.

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

Mid-Christmas Horror Giveaway

Magical Winter Fantasy

Wyrm Evolutions in Elemental Dragons

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about the Wyrms. It's been a while since I've written a blog post on Elemental Dragons and thought I'd change that. In the series we learn that the Wyrms want to evolve to become the ultimate dragon species. To do that, the scientists have genetically engineered Elemental serum that they can consume. The only catch is that they need to wait several years for the serum to mature inside of Hazel and their friends. Some of them do get to consume some of the characters for their powers, but I want to write about how each element would make them evolve.

Water.

A water Elemental will make them evolve gills. This enables them to breathe underwater and on land, giving them the opportunity to take out all kinds of species of dragon.

Fire.

This would give them the ability to breathe fire. Fire is the only element that acts the same in Wyrms as it does in Western Dragons. They'll be able to create and manipulate fire and will develop heat resistance.

Earth.

They would evolve rock-like spikes around their necks which they could use as defense. The necks are their most vulnerable spot, so evolving these would make it harder for their enemies to kill them.

Wind.

A pair of bony wings will sprout from their backs if they consume a wind Elemental. The wings won't have any membranes so they can't fly properly, however.

Ice.

Their scales will grow thicker and they will no longer be effected by the cold. This would be good for them as they can then pursue dragon species that live high in the mountains or in harsher environments.

Electricity.

With this element, their tail will evolve. It will become thinner and more sleek and also act as a lightning rod. When struck, the Wyrms will become more frenzied in their attacks.

Light.

Their eyes will grow larger and will glow. They will be able to see perfectly in the absence of all light. Because of the glow however, they will be easier to spot in darker places. They will also struggle in the day time as the light around them will be brighter.

Dark.

If they eat a dark Elemental, their scales will become darker. Depending on the amount of light around them, their scales will change to blend in with their environment. In the daytime they will be almost see-through, while at night they will be practically invisible.

Metal.

Just for fun, I thought I'd include this element too! If they consume a metal Elemental, their jaws and teeth will turn into steel. This will never rust and will make them more of a challenge in battle.

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

PS; if you’re looking for a new series to read, check out the boxsets in this bundle!

Fantasy & Sci-Fi Box Set Kindle Unlimited Promo

How I Find Anthologies to Submit to

Hi all!

This week I wanted to talk about anthologies and competitions. I know I've mentioned this website in a previous blog post, but I want to expand a bit on it here. I found this website thanks to Christopher Fielden! His website also contains lists of competitions and magazines you can submit to, which you can check out here: Christopher Fielden

The Submission Grinder.

It's a website they filters various submissions for you. For example, you can search for competitions looking for 500 words of fantasy writing. They have various categories that you can choose from and it will bring up all available that are accepting submissions. Upon clicking on a certain listing, you'll be taken to a landing page with more details. You can see their website, what they accept and the length of the piece. You can also see how many submissions they've had through the website and what stage they're at.

I've used this website to find a few anthologies. I like expanding my writing portfolio this way and adding new publications to my website! I've submitted stories to quite a few places and some have been lucky enough to find homes. I've even found a publisher whose books and prompts I've fallen in love with, so I'll continue to submit to them!

All of the anthologies I've submitted to have had no submission fee, which is what I prefer. So, if you're on a budget, this site is perfect. There are also a few publishers who will pay you for your story, which is really exciting!

Before submitting anywhere I would recommend doing a bit of research. Just so you can get an idea about what kind of publishing company they are. You don't want to submit to a predatory publisher, or one who strips you of your story's rights permanently. I always do a quick Google search to see if anything negative immediately pops up for the publisher.

Overall, I love this website and will continue to use it in the future! I love submitting to anthologies and seeing my story amongst those of other authors. It also means that my bookshelf gets filled with more awesome books.

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

PS; don’t forget to check out this boxset bundle!

Fantasy & Sci-Fi Box Set Kindle Unlimited Promo

Series Based off of Mythology

Hi all,

If you've read some of my old blog posts then you'll know that a lot of my writing is based off of various mythology and mythological creatures. I was always interested in mythology when I was little and that has carried over into my adult life and my writing. I've already written one series based off of Egyptian mythology but I thought I'd talk a bit more about other mythologies that I would like to write about as well.

Egyptian.

Curse of Anubis includes Egyptian gods. The ones that show up the most are: Bastet, Sekhmet, Set, Anubis and Mafdet. I've always wanted to write about Egyptian mythology as I've always loved reading the stories growing up. I would love to go to Egypt one day to see the pyramids and I'm always on the lookout for Egyptian exhibits in museums.

Greek.

Greek mythology was my favourite when I was younger. I had numerous books about the stories of the gods and demi-gods. I've got a series planned, Damaged Goods, which will centre around the Greeks. Pyrrah, the daughter of Hades, struggles to find her way in the world when her father turns his back on her. Desperate for power, she vows revenge on the gods and recruits their descendants to help her. There's also the book that I want to write for Patreon about Laelaps and the Teumessian Fox which is based off the story of the uncatchable fox and the dog that never loses its prey.

Norse.

The part that interests me the most about Norse mythology are the Valkyries. I want to write a series about a school where girls are trained to be Valkyries and paired with their flying horse partners. It would be like Elemental Dragons, but instead of dragons there would be flying horses instead!

Celtic.

I've only recently started looking into more and more Celtic mythology and I find it really interesting. I would like to write about it in some way but I'm currently brain storming ideas. I'm sure I'll come up with something good at some point!

Persian.

This one is the one I know the least about as I've only just started researching it. But so far I've seen a few mythological creatures that have caught my eye that I think would be interesting to write about. Once I've done some more research I'll have a think about what stands out to me most.

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:

Science Fiction September

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Young Adult Sci-Fi & Fantasy

How Lockdowns Influenced Celestial Plague

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about how the lockdowns influenced my YA Post-Apocalyptic series, Celestial Plague. The series starts because a virus starts spreading around the world, infecting people and encouraging them to infect others so they can pass onto Nirvana or Heaven. While I started writing the series before the pandemic, I have gone back and edited some parts to be more realistic to the lockdowns that happened around the world.

Isolation.

The SARJ virus happens very early in the books so we only see the characters at school once. Shannon watches a short news reel on the virus which states that it's spreading, but no procedures have been put in place yet. The characters all still go to school as normal before the virus hits their small town. They hide in Shannon's house, only letting in one person who infects Shannon before leaving. The rest of the girls then keep Shannon in her bedroom until they can determine that she won't infect them. They mainly stay in Shannon's house for the first book until they are forced to leave. The SARJ virus is not a respiratory one, instead it is spread through bites. The virus also shows it's symptoms almost immediately, which means that the infected can be isolated if others are quick enough.

Groceries.

When the girls sneak out to get food, they notice that toilet paper and perishable food has all been taken first. Originally I wrote that canned food would be the first to run out of stock but when lockdown happened that wasn't the case. It was mostly bread, milk, toilet paper and hand sanitiser that ran out first. So I incorporated that into the books.

Misinformation.

The main source of misinformation in Celestial Plague comes from Warren, the leader of a cult. At first he tells people that the virus only takes the sinners and kicks out the infected. But he then has a change of heart down the line and starts accepting the infected as well. He preaches ways people can keep themselves safe from the virus and that it's a punishment from God. He is also able to control some of the 'demons' that appear when people start going to Nirvana and Heaven.

Travel.

Due to most people getting infected and passing on to Nirvana or Heaven, the girls don't come across many people in vehicles. When they do it's usually from people who have looted them from those who have gone. When lockdowns first happened there were very few people on the roads, so I tried to incorporate that into Celestial Plague.

Fear.

The SARJ virus can only be passed on through a bite from a human. So this makes the survivors fear the infected more so than usual. One of the main characters, Jenna, is especially hostile towards the infected and hates them with a passion. There are many groups that will only allow those who are uninfected to stay with them. When the lockdowns happened, people were scared for their lives and tried to stay away from others as much as possible. This is also true in Celestial Plague.

That's it for this week, see you next week!

PS; check out this bundle for some free books!

August Fantasy Giveaway

Underwater Stories

Hi all,

Before I start writing Original Elementals #4: Devouring next month I want to get some short stories written. I've found some anthologies with themes that I find really interesting and they all involve underwater beings. I thought I'd write a post explaining what creatures I'm planning on writing about in these stories.

Nessie.

One of the anthologies has a strange theme of Loch Ness Monster vs Ghosts of Atlantis. I think this theme is unique and a good one to stretch my imagination. As the title of the anthology suggests, Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, will be involved. But I'm also going to include Morag, the monster of Loch Morar. I think these two go well together as they inhabit separate Lochs and I think it will be interesting to tie them in together. As for the ghosts of Atlantis, I've got a few ideas bouncing around in my head but nothing solid for now.

Mermaids.

A different anthology has the theme of mermaids. I'm thinking this story will be a horror one, featuring a mermaid preying on fishermen who have taken something from her. I don't know whether the thing that they have taken will be a mythological creature or a tiger shark, I haven't decided yet. But this mermaid won't be nice to people she comes across, she will use anything at her disposal to make them suffer.

Kelpies.

I like the idea of kelpies in their horse form. I would like to include them in a short story, but I'm not sure if this will tie in with Nessie or the mermaid. The kelpies will probably appear in a herd and I like to imagine them being aggressive. They will not hesitate to attack whatever is threatening them.

Leviathan.

A monster hiding in the deep that suddenly comes to the surface is one of my favourite tropes. The monster that I'm thinking about will erupt from the deep and will control the weather. Freak storms, maelstroms, tsunamis - all controlled by this monster.

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

PS; check out these free ebooks:

August Fantasy Giveaway

My Writing Playlist Part Two

Hi all!

Two years ago I wrote a blog post about songs I listen to that have inspired my writing. As it’s been a while I thought I’d do a part two to that list. You can read the first part here.

Figure 8 - Ellie Goulding

Guns and Horses - Ellie Goulding

Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood

Stone Cold Classic 3000 - George Barnett

Est-Ce Que Tu M'aimes? - Maître Gims

Je Te Pardonne - Maître Gims ft Sia

Breaking My Bones - Friday Pilots Club

Heat Waves - Glass Animals

Young Gods - Halsey

Burn The Stars - Massive Vibes

Hiding In The Blue - TheFatRat & RIELL

Darkside - NEONI

Don’t Look Back - The Dear Hunter

G.O.M.D. - Sickick

Glass Animals is on the list again as I absolutely adore their music and it’s great for writing to. There’s also quite a few by the same artists here as well. Once I find a singer that resonates with my writing I tend to explore a lot of their songs!

Some of these are great for writing action scenes to, such as Breaking My Bones and Stone Cold Classic 3000. Whereas Je Te Pardonne and Don’t Look Back are better for sadder, more emotional scenes. I listen to these songs a lot, as well a lot of the ones from part one of this post. Maybe in two years I can expand on this list again! I’m always on the lookout for new music to keep me going while I’m doing short writing sprints or to inspire certain scenes.

Hiding In The Blue has actually inspired what I hope to be a book series about Norse mythology! (Once I’ve done a bit more planning…). I’ve also had a few ideas bounce around my head since the first time I listened to G.O.M.D. which will hopefully turn into at least one book.

That’s it for this week, I hope you check out some of the music I’ve talked about, the songs are great to listen to whether you’re writing or not. See you next week!

PS; check out these Sci-Fi and Fantasy books!

Young Adult Sci-Fi & Fantasy