Category Archives: #amwriting

Monthly round up – reading and writing #amreading #amwriting

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I am not great at sharing reviews, which is a shame as I know how important they are to authors, so I’ve decided to try a monthly wrap up post to share what I’ve been reading through the month. I also plan to share any progress on my writing projects as well as trying to stick to a quarterly plan.

January Update

Reading

I’ve made a good start to the year and my Goodreads goal of 26. Reading 4 books this month has set me up well.

The Fifth Sun Series by Talis Jones has kept me entertained and I’m looking forward to the final installment.

Writing Romance Novels and Love Stories has given me plenty to think about and work through with The Mermaid Hotel Series.

Rules for dating a Romantic Hero was a quick read and enjoyable. A good choice to get someone into reading who is daunted by bigger books.

Christmas Kisses by Alison May was a great read. I loved how the three novellas were interlinked and how it all came together at the end. Very enjoyable.

Writing

My new audiobook came out in January – Love, Loss and Life In Between. I have free audio codes available for reviewers, so please get in touch.

Romance series

Book 1 has a new title (formerly known as Evie’s Song) – Secrets and Love Songs at The Mermaid Hotel. It really fits the story and the genre. Feedback so far has been brilliant. What do you think?

I’ve also decided that I’ve been mentally putting the book in the wrong category – thinking of it as Contemporary Women’s fiction when it’s closer to the Cosy Seaside Romance genre.

I’m still editing the above and have quite a bit of work to do on the descriptions and layout of the novel.

Other Writing

Starlight Prophecy – No progress

Other writing – Nothing to report.

Other relevant writing news

I have joined the Romantic Novelist Association’s New Writers Scheme, which turned out to be easier than anticipated. It means I can send ‘Secrets and Love Songs at The Mermaid Hotel’ to a reader in March and get new professional eyes on the story.

I have subscribed to Mslexia, the women’s writing magazine and taken out their special Salon membership which has various perks throughout the year.

I have signed up to the RNA’s course ‘Writing a series with a coastal or countryside setting’ taught by Jessica Redland (I’m reading one of her books for the first time and loving it!). I think this course will be really helpful as I plan the rest of The Mermaid Hotel Series.

Plans for February

Books I hope to read this month

Writing projects for February

Complete the latest draft of Secrets and Love Songs at the Mermaid Hotel in preparation for the New Writer’s Scheme.

Write something new for my writing group meeting mid-February.

I think that about sums up my plans for February. Short and sweet!

***

Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy, heart-warming romance and short stories

You can follow me on

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My first author appearance of 2023 #indieauthor #interview #author

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At the weekend I was lucky enough to feature on Becca’s blog – Avoiding reality of books. My interview discusses my writing journey, where I get inspiration and questions about genre amongst other things. See the full interview here.

This is a short post this morning, so don’t forget to check out Becca’s blog where she has her series 7 questions with an author, book reviews and more.

***

Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy, heart-warming romance and short stories

You can follow me on

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You can also join my Newsletter for writing updates and news of promotions.

Writing plans for 2023 #amwriting #indieauthor

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As this year draws to a close, I’m planning my writing aspirations for 2023.

This year has been very much focused on short fiction, but I’m determined to make 2023 the year I work on my longer fiction projects = the fantasy trilogy and my contemporary women’s fiction series set in Cornwall.

I have a few housekeeping issues that need addressing too, so I’ll list them first in the hopes of getting those tasks out of the way asap.

To Do List 2023

Publish all three short story collections as Large Print Editions – this is an experiment to hopefully make the books more appealing to libraries.

Consider whether it is worth producing all books in hardback format. They look beautiful but it costs more. Will libraries be more willing to stock hardback versions?

Approach libraries to stock my books.

Get the audiobook of Fantasy Short Stories produced.

Update all books with details of my new releases in 2022. This will involve updating the format of the books with the new style table of contents Amazon now requires.

Ensure all ARC copies I have to offer reviewers are updated versions as per above.

Contact more reviewers for both ebooks and audiobooks.

Attempt to join the RNA when the New Writers Scheme opens in January.

Writing Plans 2023

The Mermaid Hotel Series

Book 1 is pretty much complete and a much stronger book than it was this time last year. I’ve decided to approach agents and publishers direct to see what the feedback is like before deciding on the self publishing route. Once I make my decision it will be full steam ahead!

I need to develop the drafts of books 2 and 3 and hope to publish them in 2023 if that is the path I choose.

Work on the series bible, complete a series timeline, work out the arc of the series and draft the other novels asap.

Starlight Prophecy Trilogy

If I could just get over the block in my planning I could finish the first two books in 2023 and start planning book 3. I would also love to start publishing this series in 2023.

To achieve my goal, I need to strip the idea back to its basic premise and work out the series arc as well as for each individual novel. I also need to brainstorm the books with my husband as that usually helps me figure out plot issues.

Other writing

Short fantasy series – I have a couple of characters that arrived on the paper some years ago and I really want to get their story written. It feels like a strong contender for a short series, perhaps around 50k per book.

Silent Sea Chronicles – I’d love to revisit this world in 2023. Whether that is with short stories or longer works, I won’t know until I write them. I do know that I want to finish the prequel and I have ideas for future stories that need exploring.

Later in the year I may decide to write some more short stories for publication too. Another Christmas themed one, or paranormal stories maybe. I have a few romance ideas that need developing as well, though what length they’ll turn out to be I’m not sure yet.

For the start of the year I want to focus on just the two series, but everything else can still simmer at the back of my mind until I’m ready to get on with them.

Other Plans

Get a part time job. The cost of living crisis is taking its toll so at some point it looks like I’ll have to take the plunge into the workplace again. It’s a big decision for me as it will take away from my writing time. Somehow, I’ll have to be more organised. That, or we need to win the lottery!

That about sums up my plans for 2023, though no doubt something else will come along and distract me.

Whatever the new year brings, let’s start positive and have fun!

See you again soon for some of my favourite reads of 2022.

***

Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy, heart-warming romance and short stories

You can follow me on

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You can also join my Newsletter for writing updates and news of promotions.

2022 Writing year in review #amwriting #indieauthor

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I love to look back over the year’s achievements before planning the next year’s goals. 2022 has not had all the publishing success I was hoping for but I have achieved a lot and can’t grumble too loudly!

Publishing three short story collections is pretty good going and I’m particularly proud of the latest one – A Christmas Wish. It was such fun to write 8 stories in just over a month and I proved to myself that if I set my mind to a task anything is possible.

Although I didn’t get my romance series out into the world, I have got book one in a much stronger place and I’m still really excited about the series working as a whole. I have yet to decide how best to approach the publication of it. I love self publishing, but would an agent and traditional publisher have a better chance reaching more readers?

I’ve also just found out the RNA (Romantic Novelist Association) are opening the New Writers scheme in January so that is another opportunity I need to explore. I’ve heard how brilliant it can be, so it’s worth giving it a shot. It’s all about who gets online the quickest, so I think it will be as hard to join as getting tickets to a Coldplay concert in the Albert Hall – something I tried and failed to do this year!

Publishing achievements in 2022

Fantasy Short Stories

Love, Loss and Life In Between

A Christmas Wish

As the above are all small books I’ve experimented with publishing hardback copies and I have to say they look fantastic on the shelf and are lovely to read. The biggest drawback is the cost.

I’ve also recently managed to get ‘A Christmas Wish’ and ‘Love, Loss and Life In Between’ produced into audiobooks. Watch this space for the release date of the later. I am on the look out for audio reviewers, so please leave a comment below, or use the Contact form if you are interested.

Fantasy Short Stories is more difficult to produce in audiobook as it focuses on characters from previous books that have already been narrated wonderfully by different narrators. I’m thinking that is an issue to resolve in 2023.

Other events / achievements in 2022

I attended a fantastic writing retreat in the summer run by Janet Gover and Alison May, met agents at Winchester, attended the local Christmas fair with my new books (see the post here), and have stuck to meeting with my library writing group almost monthly, only missing once when I had Covid back in March.

I’ve enjoyed several blog tours run by Rachel’s Random Resources which are a great way to celebrate a new publication and share it with reviewers.

I’ve also enjoyed taking part in the Advent Train Story through December where 24 flash fiction stories were shared by different authors. Here’s the link to my story. There are some great stories amongst them so you can check out the list on Ari’s website (Ari was the mastermind behind it all).

The year has flown by with many plans left unfulfilled, but that just means I need to get my head screwed on and focus more next year.

My plans for 2023 will follow shortly. It’s a post I enjoy writing even more than this one!

Thanks for reading and enjoy what’s left of 2022.

***

Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy, heart-warming romance and short stories

You can follow me on

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You can also join my Newsletter for writing updates and news of promotions.

Quarterly Writing Plans – What’s next? #amwriting #amediting

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Things haven’t been going to plan at the moment, at least not the plans I set myself a few months ago. I still like to look back, take stock and make new plans in the hope I can get back on track. With this in mind, I’m going to take a moment to celebrate what I have done so far this year.

Achievements in 2022

I’ve published not one, but two short story anthologies!

Fantasy Short Stories

Love, Loss and Life In Between

After a barren couple of years of not publishing anything, it’s been brilliant to break back into self publishing. These are passion projects that I hope fans of my writing will enjoy, but they will also hopefully help me reach new readers too. I had a blog blitz for Fantasy Short Stories in June and have another planned in October for Love, Loss and Life In Between. Rachel’s Random Resources is still taking sign ups for anyone interested.

The Mermaid Hotel Romance series

I’ve edited and rewritten parts of Evie’s Song, including adding a new VP character (the match making hotel owner Mrs Shallon) and adding more scenes which include a prologue and an epilogue. I’m trying to find time to read through all the changes and decide if it’s finally ready or not.

I’ve spoken with a few agents via the Winchester Festival in June and have taken steps to make changes to Evie’s Song as per their suggestions.

Probably the most fun thing I’ve done this year is go to a weekend writing retreat run by Alison May and Janet Gover. It was so helpful and wonderful to spend a whole weekend just focused on writing, in particular Evie’s Song. The 1-2-1 feedback was invaluable! I would love to do it again, but funds are tight so it maybe a while before that is possible. They run these retreats 3 times a year and I highly recommend them.

Not gone to plan

Starlight Prophecy

The trilogy has stalled while I worked on the two short story publications and focused on Evie’s Song. I haven’t looked at it for months, but hopefully my subconscious has been working on those plot issues while I’ve been busy. I love fantasy and really would love to get this going again. I’d hate to abandon the 139k I’ve written between books 1 and 2, and Delaphine is an awesome anti-heroine I can’t wait to share her with the world!

MH Romance Series

I had hoped to have up to 3 books in the series published in 2022. Evie’s Song is coming along nicely and I have the drafts of books 2 and 3, but I just haven’t gotten around to continuing with them. With funds tight, the idea of self publishing may have to go on hold, and I’m still toying with the idea of approaching agents and publishers direct. We’ll just have to see where things stand in a few months.

Plans for the rest of 2022

The Mermaid Hotel Series

Finish Evie’s Song and make a decision on publication method. If self publishing I would love to have this ready by December. But I’m not sure yet. And is December / Christmas the best time to release a summer romance anyway?

Work on the drafts of book 2 and 3 so they are in more publishable shape.

Plan and develop series arc.

Starlight Prophecy

I want to work on this, even if it is just to plan the series and characters arcs so I can finish the first draft.

Future Projects – no date in mind

Reworking the old

Whilst watching the first episode of the House of the Dragons (the difficult birth scene) I was reminded of the second fantasy book I ever wrote. It was written 20+years ago, and will no doubt have many amateur mistakes. But as I started explaining the scene to my husband and all the events leading up to it, I got really excited for the idea again. I also realised I had a pretty twisted imagination back then, I’m definitely a lot kinder to my characters now!

I would love to revisit my old novels and see how much effort it would take to re-write them because I still want to tell those characters stories. I’ve even transferred them to my kindle so I can read them without being tempted to start editing straight away. It’s been in the to do list a long time!

Series and other ideas

I would love to write a fantasy series with shorter instalments than my trilogy. I’m think around the 100 to 150 pages mark. I have a project in mind, but nothing planned beyond the first few chapters.

I have ideas for a timeslip romance, and spin off stories around the Mermaid Hotel series.

Silent Sea Chronicles

I would still love to write the prequel to book 1. I recently reviewed the prologue I’ve written for it and really like it, but I’m still not sure if a prequel would spoil the rest of the trilogy. That’s what’s been holding me back for so long.

I would also love to continue the story of the various characters and see what the future holds for them. I just need to decide what format those stories will manifest in. A book of short stories, novellas, or a whole new novel / series?

***

I think that will do for this update. I will review my achievements and goals at the end of the year. I can’t believe that’s only a few months away.

Have you any goals to share? Ones you are happy with achieving, or ones you’ve set yourself to complete by the end of 2022?

I will share my reading goals in another post very soon. Until then, happy reading and writing!

Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy and heart-warming romance

You can follow me on

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You can also join my Newsletter for writing updates and news of promotions.

I AM Writing Festival – Sign up for agent 1-2-1’s, talks and workshops #writers #writingcommunity @IAmInPrint

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The I AM Writing Festival takes place 4th – 12th June in Winchester UK with lots of online and in person workshops, talks and opportunities to meet with agents. I attended in 2019 and really enjoyed the day. You don’t get many chances to sit with an agent and discuss your work, these connections can be invaluable.

This is the first year I AM in print are running the event and they need people to sign up to make sure it happens. So don’t delay, take a look and see what’s on offer. Whatever stage of writing you are at, there are bound to be events for you.

I’ve signed up for the virtual talks and to see two agents in person on Sunday 12th June to discuss Evie’s Song. I’m so excited to see what they think.

Check out the festival link here.

Quarterly writing update #amwriting #fantasy #romance

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I had high hopes at the start of 2022 that I would get stuck into self publishing and have 7 books published by the end of the year.

The good news is I have my first short story collection out on 8th April, which features characters from my fantasy worlds. Further details below.

As to the 7 book goal… it seems unlikely. But maybe I’ll suddenly gain superhero typing skills and bash out the next books in my romance and fantasy series. For now, I need to be more grounded and think about what I can achieve over the next 3 / 4 months.

The Mermaid Hotel Romance Series

  • Evie’s Song is with beta readers. I plan to work on their suggestions as they come in. I also need to decide if I want to approach agents and publishers direct, or launch the series myself.
  • Make a plan for the whole series and series arc. Come up with titles.
  • Write the remaining scenes for book 2 and get in shape for beta readers.
  • Type up and expand upon book 3.
  • Later in the year – I already have lots of ideas for book 4, coming up with an outline might make the writing process quicker.

Starlight Prophecy Fantasy Series

  • I’m just starting to work on book 1 which needs development and scenes added.
  • Write the end of book 2 and make changes to reflect the changes from book 1’s storyline.
  • Later in the year – Plan out book 3.

Second Short Story Collection

  • Write a few more stories and sort through what will go into this edition.
  • Later in the year – Send to my editor and prepare to publish.

Other Writing tasks / events

  • CBC evening webinar in April ‘What’s next for your novel’
  • Winchester attend online talks and visit in person to discuss romance book with an agent / editor.
  • Weekend writing a novel workshop in Stratford – June.

What are your writing / reading plans for the next few months?

***

‘Fantasy Short Stories’ publishing on 8th April 2022.

Each story features characters from my fantasy worlds.

The Guardian – Meet Kalesh from Visions of Zarua as he tries to save his students from an unknown assassin.

Garrick the Protector – See how readers’ favourite, Garrick, became a Protector and joined the exiles. From Silent Sea Chronicles.

War Wounds – Meet Calder as he tries to deal with the fall out from raiders attacks and the hidden powers suddenly unleashed inside him. New fantasy series Starlight Prophecy.

Pre-order for only 99p.

Add to your Goodreads to-read shelf.

Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy and heart-warming romance

You can follow me on

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Welcome 2022! My writing plans and goals #amwriting

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I love this part of the year when 12 whole months stretch ahead of me and I can think about the future with time and optimism on my side.

I have a lot I want to achieve in 2022 as I feel the last 2 years have been a let down on the publishing front. I will set myself some big goals and do my best to meet as many as I can.

First I want to share the big goals to work towards over the whole year and then break that down into monthly tasks. I’ll try to give monthly updates which will hold me to account and hopefully give me the impetus to power through these goals.

Mermaid Hotel Romance Series

I’m considering approaching agents and publishers with this series idea, but I’m torn as I do love self publishing and I have already bought 3 beautiful book covers with the intention of doing everything myself.

If I do self publish I want to get 3 books out this year; Evie’s Song, A.J’s Legacy and Love in Degrees.

Starlight Prophecy Series

This fantasy series has been in my head for a long time and I really want to get book 1 and 2 finished and published in 2022. Again, I have purchased the covers but I’m stuck on the titles. So far I have Starlight Prophecy – Awaken. Starlight Prophecy – Arise and book 3 would be Ascend.

Other Writing Goals

Stick to a weekly word count. Before Christmas I was managing between 3 – 4k. That is a pretty good figure to aim for, whether that be new story ideas, new scenes for my WIP’s or with the new book I’ve pre-ordered as a late Christmas present to myself which is all about daily inspiration. More on that when the book arrives later in the month.

Write a new piece of flash fiction or short story each month for my writing group to critique.

Publish fantasy short stories set in the world of my books.

Publish a short story anthology.

Summary

As you can see I have set a huge challenge – publishing up to 7 books! I’m not sure if it is possible but I like to aim big!

For now I will focus on a month to month strategy. With that in mind my goals for January are simple. Finish editing Evie’s Song and publish my book of Fantasy Short Stories.

I’ll be back at the end of the month to review my plan and see how it’s getting along.

***

Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy and heart-warming romance

You can follow me on

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You can also join my Newsletter for writing updates and news of promotions.

Writing achievements in 2021 #amwriting #amediting #indieauthor

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2021 was a huge disappointment in many ways, not least because it just seemed to disappear without anything happening.

There were some good things that happened and my big event was being a finalist in the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award 2021.

The Lost Sentinel came 12th, just short of receiving a prize, but it is still a great achievement and I’m proud to be able to display this badge on my blog.

As for the rest of my writing, I did manage to meet some of the deadlines I set myself last year but I didn’t manage to publish anything. However, let’s not focus on the bad but the good. Here goes…

Romance

I drafted the first three books in my Mermaid Hotel Romance Series – Evie’s Song, A.J’s Legacy and Love in Degrees (working titles). There are still plenty of notes to work through at the editing stage, but I’m hoping to finish them in 2022. Plus plans for the next 3 books in the series are whirring away at the back of my mind.

Fantasy

I’ve reworked my Starlight Prophecy Series and will have two full books rather than a novella prequel and a dual timeline story. This format should be a lot less complicated for the reader and for me to write!

Short Stories

I have finished three short stories based in the worlds of my fantasy novels and have printed them in booklet form to sell at events. Early in 2022 I plan to publish them on Kindle and giveaway to my newsletter subscribers.

I have also produced a booklet of short stories but I want to write some more before I publish these on kindle.

Courses

I completed two online courses, the Curtis Brown Creative Romance course led by Jenny Colegan and Romantic Novel Association’s Fantasy Worldbuilding course led by Ruth Long. Both of these courses were great fun and I feel as though I’ve learnt a lot from them.

***

I think that is about it for now. All there is left to say is Happy New Year. Let’s hope 2022 is a wonderful year for everyone.

I’ll follow up with my plans for the new year very soon.

Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy and heart-warming romance

You can follow me on

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Instagram You can also join my Newsletter for writing updates and news of promotions.

Writing update – 4 month plan #amwriting #fantasy #romance

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***IMPORTANT UPDATE*** THE LOST SENTINEL IS A FINALIST IN BBNYA 2021. I’m excited to reach the final round though the next few months will be agony waiting for the results! See my earlier post about it here.

I haven’t done a writing update for a while so I thought it would be a good time to share my plans for the rest of the year. But first…

What have I been up to?

It doesn’t feel like much. I’ve written 3 fantasy short stories as lead in’s to my books. The Guardian is a prequel to Visions of Zarua, Garrick the Protector from the Silent Sea Chronicles trilogy and War Wounds from my new series Starlight Prophecy, which I hope to publish in 2022.

I’ve also been working on my romance series Mermaid Hotel though did put that on hold to re-work the whole structure of book 1 and 2 in the Starlight Prophecy series. It’s been so good to escape back into fantasy, but now I’m at a stage where I need to put that on hold to get back to the romance series.

The next 4 months

In September I’m doing a 6 week Curtis Brown Writing Romance course led by Jenny Colgan. I plan to work through book 1 – Evie’s Song and hopefully get it into a publishable state very soon.

In October I’ve signed up for a World Building course run by the Romantic Novelist Association. It’s an area that my readers have said works really well in my books, but I don’t want to be complacent. I’m always eager to hone my craft so I’m hoping to learn a few things that will enhance the Starlight Prophecy series.

Publishing plans…

At some point I plan to publish the short stories I’ve written in a short fantasy teaser book which will be free to my newsletter subscribers. I’m toying with the idea of writing more stories to go into it but I haven’t decided for certain yet. I’ve also wondered whether to publish a book of modern day short stories and that idea is still in the back of my mind.

I’m hoping to finish books 1 and 2 in the Starlight Prophecy and the first few books in The Mermaid Hotel ready to publish in 2022. I would love to get something out sooner but time is running against me.

The most important thing is to keep working and hopefully 2022 will be the year I get lots of books out into the world.

I hope you will be there cheering me on.

Til next time…

***

Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy and heart-warming romance

You can follow me on

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