October wrap up and plans for November #amwriting #indieauthor

Posted on November 3, 2025 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

Ok, so I realise my October wrap up is slightly later than planned, but I’m quite proud of what I achieved, so I wanted to share it.

First, the big news:

I’ve just agreed the audiobook for A Little Christmas Magic, and it’s now with ACX for their quality checks before they release it for sale. Colette Davies-Kerwin has done an amazing job bringing the stories to life, and I can’t wait to share the audiobook with everyone. To help with this, I’ve set up two audiobook blog tours in December, so will share more info on those when I can.

I made changes and sent Book 2 in the Mermaid Hotel Series out for its second round of critique feedback. Cristal is a very thorough reader and really challenges me to make the story better, so I’m looking forward to working through her suggestions as they come in. I’ve also entered the first chapter into a competition and have everything crossed that it gets to the shortlist stage.

I finished the latest draft of Book 3 in my Mermaid Hotel Series and sent it to two of my beta readers – we meet next week to discuss their thoughts on the last chapters. I hope they like it!

The story for the Advent Calendar story train is complete, and the post will publish on 8th December. It’s called ‘A Squirrel’s Tale’ and is a little different from my usual stories, so I’m looking forward to sharing that.

Plans for the rest of the year…

November is all about Book 4 and trying to finish the first draft by the end of the year. I’ve been reading through the story so far and trying to make a brief plan of what comes next. I’m aiming for around 1k words a day. If I manage this over November and December, I should reach an end word count of 75k. It would be great to start working on the finished novel over the Christmas break, as it will need a lot of editing!

I also need to start marketing my Mermaid Hotel Series and decide on things like my newsletter – do I try going with a different provider and use a new name? I don’t like Mail Chimp, so it seems like the perfect time to start afresh. If you have any newsletter recommendations, please let me know.

I still need to share my reviews of NetGalley books. I should get onto that ASAP as these were summer books, and now I have several Christmas ones to read and review as well.

I’ve also purchased the new Authorpreneur Academy course from Dave Chesson. I need to work through the modules and get familiar with self publishing again. If I want to make a big splash next year, all the preparation work I do now will hopefully help The Mermaid Hotel Series take off.

That’s enough from me. I’ll be back soon with those book reviews and details on the audiobook tours for A Little Christmas Magic.

2024 Year in Review – writing successes

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

It has become a ritual to look back at the year and check in on my achievements.

It doesn’t feel as if much happened in 2024 as I didn’t meet many of the goals for the year that I set rather optimistically in 2023. However, plenty of other things did happen, so it’s important to focus on the positive.

Writing

I published a new short story collection called A Little Christmas Magic on 28th November 2024.

I also made the decision to make a series of Christmas stories – Winter Warmers. This now includes my previous Christmas collection – A Christmas Wish.

Both books had a book tour on Instagram in December which I enjoyed immensely. There’s nothing better than seeing what reviewers think of the heart-warming stories I’ve created. And it was great to be able to share so many review snippets and posts on Instagram throughout the month. Both were run by Love Books Tours and went very smoothly. Highly recommended service if you are wanting a book tour next year.

Aside from writing, I attended several writing events in 2024. There was a weekend event just outside of Stratford Upon Avon hosted by Alison May and Janet Gover. A whole weekend of food, writing workshops and talking writing with fellow writers. Plus some excellent 1-2-1’s that helped me move my ideas forward. I would recommend both Janet and Alison for the services they offer to writers, and they also run the Debut Author Club together.

The Romantic Novelist Association conference was held 10 minutes for my home at The Royal Holloway College, so I couldn’t resist attending the whole weekend event. At times I found it a struggle socially as I didn’t know anyone, but it was a wonderful opportunity to mix with both aspiring and published writers. The workshops were great as well.

I kept up with my monthly writing sessions at my local library, and attended several author events in libraries and Waterstones.

The not so successful side of 2024….

Fantasy genre

I made the decision to park my new fantasy series Starlight Prophecy for a while. I need to go back to the planning stage and really get to know the world and the history before I commit to working on the half completed trilogy.

I also toyed with the idea of writing a collection of short stories in the world of my Silent Sea Chronicles, but I think it’s a hard one to pull off. I want to provide extra content for readers who’ve enjoyed the series and also entice new readers without giving too much of the various storylines away. Maybe I will revisit this idea in 2025.

Romance genre

I’ve made great headway with The Mermaid Hotel Series (news I will share in a New Year’s post). However, 2024 has seen a lot of work editing and re-editing the story, reshaping major points of the character arcs etc. I’m almost happy with the way it is now, so I’ll share more about that very soon.

Reading

I met my Goodreads goal of 24 books. That seems like a sensible amount, though of course I’d love the time to read more. I did not however get around to reviewing many books, which I am not pleased about. I enjoying reviewing books on my blog and see it as a way to score some good karma points! Hopefully people will review my books more in 2025. Fingers crossed!

I would love to put a post together celebrating my favourite reads of 2024, but will have to see if time allows.

Other

I love the little graphic I made to show off my books. It will need to be changed soon because it is very festive, but I will enjoy it for now.

And that is about it for 2024. It’s had its ups and downs, but I’m confident 2025 will be a bigger and better year!

Happy New Year everyone.

Stay safe and have fun!

Year in review 2023 #indieauthor #amwriting #amreading

Posted on December 29, 2023 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

Another year has flown by. I don’t feel it’s been the most productive, but I do have some achievements worth remembering.

Looking back at the post of my goals for 2023 I could probably copy and paste it and try for the same goals in 2024. Not a good sign!

But I’m feeling positive for 2024, so while we wait for the New Year celebrations to begin, here are some of my successes worth celebrating;

I got a part time job in April 2023 and I don’t hate it! It has taken time away from writing, but it feels good to have funds to support my writing endeavours.

The opening of book 1 in the Mermaid Hotel series won second place in the Flash 500 novel opening competition. See my post here.

I wrote 50K of book 3 in the Mermaid Hotel Series during Nanowrimo 2023 and finished the draft in December.

I’ve written plans for books 4, 5 and 6, plus a prequel in the Mermaid Hotel series.

I’ve planned some short stories for a new Christmas collection that I want to release in 2024.

I managed to get my first ever international Book Bub deal for The Lost Sentinel and hit some best seller lists on Australia! It really helped with sales and proves that you can easily make the huge cost back. I would have done that and more if I hadn’t booked in other ads at the same time. A lesson learned.

I’ve taken part in several month long online writing workshops with Jessica Redland run by the Romantic Novelist Association. One was all about setting, and the other about writing a series. They were informative, fun, and I learnt a lot, and I’ve made some new friends with other writers. I would definitely recommend online courses.

Reading achievements.

In 2023 I set my Goodreads challenge to read 26 books. To date I’ve only read 22. I don’t think I will manage to add anymore to that in the next few days, but I’ve read some excellent books and all have been 4 to 5 star reads. Here’s the link to my Goodreads challenge.

I usually share my fav books of the year, but it will be a struggle to pick the best – they have all been so good. I may do another post with the books I’ve read, perhaps sharing those authors that have inspired me whilst I write my romance series.

***

That’s about it for my year in review. How did you do in 2023?

Did you reach your goals, whether that’s writing, reading or life related? Or do you hate setting any goals and prefer to take life as it comes?

I love setting goals and making plans and I’ll back soon to share what I hope to achieve in 2024.

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

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NaNoWinner2023 I made it!

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

I reached the deadline a day early!

Here is my very cute certificate. I shall have to print it out and admire it on the noticeboard above my desk.

I’ve taken the day off today to watch a few live masterclasses with the publisher Canelo via Iaminprint. It was an informative morning, but now I must get back to work.

My next task is to submit book 1 in The Mermaid Hotel Series to publishers. I have my short list and will hopefully work through it this afternoon.

Then, on my long weekend away I will be picking up where I left on on book 3 and will hopefully get close to completing the first draft. It’s exciting to get it down on the computer where the real editing and shaping can begin.

Roll on 2024 – The year of The Mermaid Hotel Series!

How did you get on with the challenge?

It’s not all about hitting the big numbers, but about giving yourself permission to write. I wish we could do that every month.

Until next time…

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

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NaNoWriMo 2023 starts today #amwriting #indieauthor

Posted on November 1, 2023 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

Today is the start of NaNoWriMo, where thousands of writers pledge to dedicate themselves to writing a novel, or 50k of a writing project, during November.

I’ve tried the challenge on and off since 2011 with varying levels of success.

In 2023 I’ve pledged to type up my handwritten draft of book 3 in the Mermaid’s Hotel series and expand it to 50k (or more if I can!).

I also want to increase the word count of book 2 in the series which currently stands at 24,096. I would like to add 20k to this, but that would be an added extra as my main focus is book 3.

I have written a novel plan of each book in the 6 book series on excel to help me. This is a break down of each chapter showing what happens and whose VP it is.

I have some cool printed word count sheets to keep me going. And I’ve signed up to Nanowrimo where you can post your daily word count and watch it grow. You can also see how your buddies are getting along.

I’m hoping to post weekly updates on my progress, so look out for that. These sheets should have a bit of colour on them by then!

Now I really must get on. It’s been a slow start for me so far with only 500 words achieved today. Hopefully I can put in a big stint before bed.

See you next week for that update.

P.S. Are you taking part. Let’s cheer each other on.

***

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

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Writing update and signing up to NaNoWriMo 2023

Posted on October 21, 2023 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

It hasn’t been that long since my last update back in July (see the post here), but I thought October was a good point in the year for another brief writing update.

I’ve been making some decisions over the last few days and feel positive about the future of my Mermaid Hotel series. Book 1 is currently with beta readers and I am embarking on a re-read myself. Once I’ve had some feedback, and made any changes, I hope to send off the whole book to a few publishers on the short list I’m currently compiling.

I do have some sad news for my fantasy readers. Starlight Prophecy is still on hold. I feel the whole series needs more time dedicated to it but my head and heart are too much into the romance books at the moment. I hope to look at it again towards Christmas time, it depends how my other plans go. Which leads me to…

I’m signing up to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year with not one, but two books!

I originally signed up to force myself to type of the draft I have of book 3. Because it is already partly written it felt like cheating, so I decided I would also try to increase the word count of book 2 – from 24k to 44k. Obviously it will still need a lot of work to reach the 90k mark I’m looking for, but I can’t set my sights too high for one month! Or can I?

Considering I’m working part time now, it may be a bit much of an ask to write 70k in a month, but I seem to work better to a deadline. After all, I did write and prepare to publish ‘A Christmas Wish’ in just 6 weeks last year. I guess I like a challenge.

On the reading side, I still have three books from netgalley / publishers to read and review by December so look out for some more reviews coming your way soon.

I’ve also played around with the colours and background on my website. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Now, I best get back to work planning for Nano and reading book 1. I’ll be back with another update before the end of the year.

***

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

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Mid-year (sort of) Writing Update #amwriting

Posted on July 23, 2023 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

I’ve been meaning to review my writing goals for 2023 for a while. It was good to look back at last year’s post Writing Plans for 2023 to see what I’ve achieved, what I still need to do and also judge if these goals are still important to me. I have to admit that even though we’re over half way through July, it doesn’t look good for my long list of tasks.

You can also see straight away why this blog has been so quiet – it’s all down to goal 1.

Goal 1 achieved – Get a part time job to bring in some money and support my writing. I’ve been employed for just over 3 months now. It’s been good getting back into the workplace and I’m enjoying my role, but fitting writing into my new schedule has been harder than expected.

As well as working in my new job and trying to keep everyone sane at home through the stresses of exams, I’ve been busy editing Secrets and Love Songs at The Mermaid Hotel (formerly known as Evie’s Song). This leads me to…

Goal 2 achieved – Join the Romantic Novelist Association’s New Writer Scheme. I managed to secure my membership the day it opened in January. Since then I’ve been able to send a full MS off to a professional reader for feedback. I hope to get that report back by the end of the month and then I can decide my next steps. While I wait, I’ve been reading the draft of book two to see where the story needs development. I’m also planning to add in the VP of the hotel owner, especially as part of the storyline for book 2 links back to her past. How I’m going to deal with that is still a mystery to me so there is still lots of work to do. I need to write approx 60K to this draft to bring it close to the word count of book 1. No problem!

An extra achievement – Whilst looking for work at the beginning of the year, I received some 1-2-1 help from A2 Housing Association’s employment service. It played a big part in helping me gain the confidence to apply for jobs and I’ve recently appeared on their website. You can read the news article here.

Delayed goals

My fantasy series The Starlight Prophecy is still stalling and I’m struggling to find my way back into the story. I tried for a month of frustrated false starts that left me feeling deflated. Maybe I need to accept that I’m still not ready to write this series even though it really hurts me to give up on it. I love Delphine, my troubled anti-heroine, and I want to tell her story and share it with the world. Maybe her time will come soon…

A new short story collection – I haven’t written much short fiction, at least not much that is worthy of putting in a new book. This is disappointing as I really enjoyed writing last year’s books, especially A Christmas Wish. Those stories still make me feel good when I think about them and I desperately want to replicate that. I also still want to revisit the world of the Silent Sea Chronicles but again not much has happened there apart from a vague storyline that won’t leave me alone.

Goals that are still in progress… or at least I still plan to do at some point.

Approach libraries to stock my books and see what formats they accept. This will lead on to whether I should publish large print editions of my short story collections and if hardback editions of all books are worthwhile.

Update all books with publication details of the short story collections published in 2022, which also means I need to reformat all books to conform with the new table of contents Amazon prefer.

Contact reviewers

Set up book Ads

The dreaded tax return – this really should be a priority!

Short term plans

Work on the romance series – Decide if book 1 is ready for the next stage. Edit and develop book 2.

I’m enjoying reading a fellow author’s book – ‘Your book won’t well itself: An introduction to writing and publishing’ by GJ Stevens. I’ll share a review here as soon as I’ve finished reading it, but spoiler alert I think it’s a great starting point for those considering becoming an Indie author.

I’ve signed up for an RNA course that runs through September. Led by Jessica Redland, it’s called ‘A series bestseller’s guide to writing a series’. I attended her last course in series settings in March and enjoyed it, so I’m really looking forward to this one. It could be just what I need to get me writing again. Plus I hope to see some familiar faces amongst the other writers taking part as I know a few of the writers on the March course were signing up to this as well.

Now it’s time to leave this update and get on with some writing!

I will try to review my goals again during the last quarter of 2023 and I hope to have some positive news on both the romance and fantasy series I’m writing. Wish me luck.

How are your goals for 2023 shaping up? What have you achieved so far this year?

***

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

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Monthly round up – reading and writing #amreading #amwriting

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

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

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2022 Writing year in review #amwriting #indieauthor

Posted on December 28, 2022 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

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

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Quarterly writing update #amwriting #fantasy #romance

Posted on April 6, 2022 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

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.