November's Writing Challenge.

November is looking to be a hectic month for me. I'll be working on my paranormal novella, as yet untitled, which will be part of #TheForsakenSeries. As well, I'm going to be working on the Booktube channel Patricia and I have, and the podcast channel Ciara and I share. Patricia (my alter ego) is working on a historical romance she's been dying to write, so our time will be well spent.

So this month is busy as we prepare for the writing challenge, continuing our blogging, and look to release another title.

To ensure I am able to meet the goals I'm setting myself, I've taken advantage of having this month to prepare for each project and work on getting some blogs written and scheduled, as well as doing a number of recordings for podcasts and videos. This way when November 1 rolls around, I'm ready to start the month by focusing on the projects I'm planning.

Let the Nanowrimo Fun Begin

Hello readers and writers alike. It is October...the month preceding the biggest challenge for a writer which until recently only happened once a year...now there are events three times a year. What am I speaking of?

Oh the horror...the stomach twisting nerves, the gut clenching insanity...okay you get my point.

If you aren't aware of what I'm speaking about, let me fill you in. I am speaking of Nanowrimo...otherwise known as writing a novel in a month. Yes, a whole novel. 50,000 words of creativity and mind numbing word craft.

Have I scared you off yet? No, well then come on in, pull up a chair and let me bend your ear. Coffee? Tea? Pumpkin Spice Latte? 

Nanowrimo is an event I've taken part in for the last four years, and I've won it by reaching my 50,000 word goal. But there is more to it than simply writing 50k, there's maintaining your mental and physical health, learning how to function with deadlines and goals. For myself, learning to forgive myself for not reaching my goal of 50,000+ words was tough. Real life kind of kicked me in the behind and I just wasn't able to do what I wanted.

I know this year is going to be hectic - heck, it's going to be insane. I'm doing two projects one as Elise Whyles and one as Patricia Bates. (I've got blog posts detailing Patricia's story) For Elise Whyles, I'm going back to Forsaken Heart, book one in #TheForsakenSeries and telling the story of two of the characters from the novel.

To ensure success, I'm building worlds, creating lives, and cultures, and really expanding on some of the cultural details revealed in Forsaken Heart while I'm also bringing the two characters forward into the current hostilities in Dreken. As I pondered this, I realized, I needed to be prepared. I need to have notes jotted down for quick reference, to ensure I can maintain my writing goals. As loathed as I am to plot anything, for November I realize if I am to have any semblance of success I'm going to have to plan for things before November 1st, and utilize some of my note taking resources.

I'm a huge fan of spreadsheets you can manipulate them in any number of ways to help you keep on track. Currently I have two open on my computer, one for the Forsaken Novella and the other for the Celtic Romance (See Monday's Post) ;). The one for the Forsaken Novella is a mix of information from now, as well as information from the Treatment for Forsaken Heart detailing the physical characteristics of the characters, the setting, and space for me to add in more details.

There are several sheets opened in each file, allowing for me to document character wants and needs, conflicts, goals, motivators, and more. Having everything in one place this way allows for me to color code details, move them around, and really get everything laser focused. I can hear some say, well isn't that what plotting is. And the simple answer is yes. The big difference I find is using the spreadsheets I can track things like correct spellings of names, if there's a recipe or dish being made I want to try making myself - of course making a demon or vampire dish is a little tricky but still...

I will be making a workbook of what I'm doing for the novella and offering it starting the 19th of this month when you sign up to become a patron. Becoming one helps me, my family, and supports the Distinct Author's channel. Fore more information you can find out about Distinct Author's here. 

Nanowrimo? Is it for me?

It is officially Pre-Nanowrimo month!

What does this mean? For a number of people - me included - this is the month where we get ourselves prepared for the challenge of November. For myself, its figuring out what I'm going to write during the month long writing challenge of Nanowrimo. I'm still considering what it will be as I'm going to be tackling more than one project.

My first project will be one for me, Elise Whyles, which means it'll probably be a contemporary or fantasy/paranormal novel. I do have an idea hanging around, circling me like a shark, just waiting for the right time to snap its massive jaws into my tush.

The second project will be one a little different. I've (as Patricia Bates) have spoken to one of my publishers and we're going to be doing some revamping of some of my historical romances. To follow this up, I'm going to be writing a historical romance. I have an idea for the novel, which means research is going to be my main goal in the next few weeks.

There are a lot of authors I know who take part in the yearly challenge and there have been some great works come out of it. But is it for everyone? Personally, I would say its for everyone who wants to write, but there are things to consider to ensure success.

What do I mean? Do I lose if I don't finish the novel? The measure of success is within your mind, if you start off with the idea to get a book plotted out and research started and only get five thousand words done, who am I to say you aren't successful.

I measure it in the number of goals you manage to complete.

For me, I have two main goals for November:

1. Finish the first draft of the manuscripts I'm working on for the month.

2. Forgive myself if I don't get as much done as I want.

If I can do both of those things by December 1, 2019 I figure I'm ahead of myself.

So are you going to take part in November's challenge? Let me know, I'd love to hear about your progress and if you took part!

Insanity...or Determination

Insanity by its own definition is utilizing the same action time and again while expecting different results.

How often have we, as authors, tried some new-fangled promotional tool and not seen the results we want, but we continue to use it in the hope it'll suddenly net us the sales. Well, if you're anything like me, or some of my author friends, probably more times than you'd like to admit. Perhaps, its the sense of entitlement we have come to believe in, or maybe its complacency, or simply a desperate hope we cling to like a shipwrecked victim clinging to the dingy. Or perhaps, its none of those things but rather a simple lack of awareness of what we're trying to do.


Are we trying to get recognized?
Looking to boost our ranking on Amazon?
Perhaps, we are trying to attract sales?
Are we trying to compete with other authors?

Whatever the answer, it drives us forward, beating our fists against a brick wall without truly understanding what the end result is meant to be.

I've talked with a lot of people, including professional coaches about using the tools at our disposal in the pursuit of success and sales. During those conversations, the very idea of having an expectation of instant return on investment was talked over.

I had one conversation where the person I was speaking to asked me at one point a question. Instantly it had me rearing back with a gasp. How dare she ask me such a question. How dare anyone assume I wasn't looking at the big picture. 

What is this question which caused such a monumental moment of shock and horror? It was a simple question, and instantly had my defences going up.

When was I going to stop blaming everyone and everything else for my lack of sales?

After sitting for a few moments doing an Emmy award worthy impression of a goldfish, I blinked, and sat back in the chair and stared at her.  Her question was a difficult one, but one I needed to answer for a couple of reasons.  One, I didn't necessarily want to accept I wasn't carrying my share of the burden of promotion. I wasn't, by the way. And two, to see the results I want to see, I needed to have the blinders taken off.

I could sit around and complain about how my sales suck, or I'm not getting anywhere, I want to make more money.

In truth, I discovered the reality of there is an endless supply of "I'm spending money on ads on social media, I hired a PA to do my scheduling for promotion etc.

Excuses are plentiful, I found, like juicy apples on a tree.

Full disclosure: I've offered my fair share of excuses, of paying the blame forward. Its not my fault the books are selling it must be someone elses. In truth, I've spoken of them numerous times, until I got the wakeup call.

Sitting at my desk, bemoaning the lack of sales, and search engine placement, I drafted an email. I could almost feel the ulcers forming as I hit send on my message and wondered if it was the right thing to do.

That email was the first smart action I took. The answer I got was a wake-up call, and one I'd tried very hard to pretend wasn't what I needed.  My correspondence was met with a hard truth, one which lifted the wool from my eyes. If I wanted to succeed I had to take a cold, hard look at what I was doing...and cut away the dead weight of repetitive action I was hampering myself with. I had to acknowledge being accountable for my own mistakes meant I needed to push aside the excuses, the laziness, the sheer lethargy I had managed to convince myself was working.

I failed to see how my actions of epeatedly, trying to gain ground by doing the same thing over and over again was in its own way insanity. Believe me, I tried the basics until it was nearly muscle memory. But, I wasn't gaining, by all accounts I was holding steady with a decline in sales as my books were superseded by new releases by other authors.

I had to do some thinking, what did I want to do? Get a head or spend my time spinning my wheels in quicksand. With every post, every missed chance, I was making the choice to walk along the path of denial.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering, what does this have to do with the title of this blog?

Well, its a prime example of my experience with the insanity of inaction. I was determined to unmine myself, to make my own projects second, while I wallowed in the woe is me of lack of sales.

Taking the advice and critism from others was hard. It was shocking and bold, and what was needed. For me to succeed - for any of us to succeed, I believe we need to take a solid look at what have and what we don't have. What we know and what we don't want to know.

If I want to be sure I'm making sales, I have to accept my part in the process and step up to the plate. I need to step off the revolving door of complacency and jump into the deep end of promoting and marketing my brand, my books, and engage with my readers.

Is this going to be easy? Probably not, but then the things we want aren't always easy to obtain. When we have to work for what we desire, we appreciate it much more than if its handed to us. So, it begs the question, my fellow authors, where do you fit in the cogs of this wonderfully crazy world of publishing?

Redemption: Book Thirteen Coming September 23, 2019

Forged in anger, freed by faith.

Vampire warrioress, Demetria has no interest in the war going on around her. She concerns herself with the lives of the children who have been displaced or tossed aside. A woman of secrets, she relies on her own wits to provide for her charges.

Naga prince, Talas is drawn into the war of immortals by an unseen force. When he comes upon a fiery woman protecting a small group of children, he acts to protect. He finds himself facing a woman unlike any he’s ever known, one who holds the secrets to his future.

Can a vampire and a naga find peace amid the carnage and chaos of war? And will they lose their hearts to each other in the process?

Content Warning: contains graphic sex, strong language, and some violence

Genre(s): Erotic Paranormal Romance

The Forsaken Series - Our Journey Began with a bang

The Forsaken Series has long been a baby of mine - and of co-author Ciara Lake. In 2010, when we first started talking about this project we had a vision of what we wanted it to look like. Unfortunately, for us, we had no idea where this project would lead us.

Ciara and I sat down and began to work on developing the series in its entirety. As we talked and plotted, and planned, we worked out a rough idea of what we were going to do. In our enthusiasm and eagerness, our vision was simple: Fill the rapidly developing, and smoking hot paranormal romance genre with a series of books. Sounds easy, doesn't it?




We discovered it wasn't quite that simple...or easy.

 Boy, did we have a lot to learn.



The journey itself has been filled with pot holes, self-doubt, frustration, anxiety, joy and euphoria. It hasn't always been an easy one, there have been learning curves, differences, and self-doubts. This project proved to be a challenge unlike anything we'd ever known, or anticipated. There were layers and layers of things we needed to do, tasks we had to master, and even when we thought we knew what we were doing. We have learned how to work as a team - even though we work independently - and overcome our own negative mentalities and egos.

I think we found the stories to be easier to write than we had anticipated, especially since both of us were familiar with writing. Ciara and I had already been published, and were familiar with the process in the sense we were comfortable with the story-telling. The characters were open and willing to allow us to tell their stories, and the worlds were fairly straight forward. It was only as we got further into the actual meat of the project where we stumbled.

However, that's for another post. As we near the release of book thirteen and the release of the second volume of our Boxed Sets, we are still learning, still developing our voices with each new book, each new character and really beginning to not only appreciate the journey for the journey's sake, but understanding the road we are on, is guiding us to yet another crossroad. As we near it, and stand upon the rocky ground, we can only trust ourselves to guide us on the next part of our journey...and we hope you'll come along with us.