Tag Archives: writing

Writing update and last push to the end of the year! #amwriting

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So November passed in the blink of an eye and we’re almost halfway through December as well!

Book 4

My plans to finish book 4 in the Mermaid Hotel series have fallen behind – it’s currently sitting at 53K. It’s going well and I could still finish it by the end of the year, but it will be a tough challenge! I’m trying to make it a well developed first draft, which takes longer than just churning out the scenes, though as Christmas approaches I may have to rethink how I do this.

Will I hit the 75k word count that the other books are averaging? From experience, the first draft is usually shorter and increases as I edit. 75k will be my end goal for next year when I have a polished, edited version.

Other writing

I’ve started working on the first prequel in The Mermaid Hotel series which starts during the run up to Christmas and ends the following Christmas. I’d love to get this ready to publish later in 2026.

Winter Warmers Series – I haven’t found the time to really get planning on book 3 in the series but I’m challenging myself to write one story a month starting in January. I would aim to get it finished by August, which would be 8 stories just like the other books.

Throughout December I’ve been enjoying taking part in the Advent Calendar Story Train, both sharing ‘A Squirrel’s Tale’ on 8th December and reading everyone else’s stories. Ari is keeping a list on her blog of each story as it goes live. Here is her link if you’ve missed it – 2025 Advent Calendar Story Train.

I can’t resist sharing Sammy AKA Scruffy’s picture one last time because he’s so sweet…

Audiobook news

The start of two book tours starts tomorrow with a ‘One Day Blitz’ hosted by Rachel’s Random Resourses. I can’t wait to get sharing the reviews on various social platforms and I’ll share a few updates here as well.

The from 17th December I have a week long tour with Love Book Tours. Again, it will be wonderful to share these reviews and see how the reviewers found Colette’s narrating style. I feel she has a very calming and relaxed voice, perfect to help you unwind after a hard day’s Christmas shopping.

Publishing decisions and marketing

I haven’t made any progress on my newsletter dilemma and really need to start marketing rather than just talking about it here! I also need to make some decisions on the covers for the series and set a publication date.

I feel like January will be a big month for making decisions, that’s why I really wanted to have book 4 in decent shape by 31/12/2025.

Reading

I’m close to reaching my Goodreads goal which is only a lowly 19 books this year. I’m on book 17, so again it’s going to be close. At least I caught up with my Netgalley reviews and have banned myself from looking on there for the rest of the year.

Everything else

Work and family each have their challenges but with only a week left before breaking up from college / work, I think I can make it!

I’m hoping to start the holidays fit and healthy as last year was ruined with a bad, lingering cold that meant I could barely taste the Christmas dinner I slaved over, or the many chocolates I scoffed.

That’s about it in my world, I’ll be back with some review highlights of the audiobook blitz for A Little Christmas Magic over the weekend.

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October wrap up and plans for November #amwriting #indieauthor

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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.

I’m back! And why I’ve been MIA #indieauthor #romanceauthor

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It has been almost 10 months since I last posted on my blog, I don’t know how that happened. I also can’t believe we’re almost into October.

Last time I posted about the successes of 2024. I would usually have shared plans for 2025, but somehow didn’t get around to it. I will do a post in the coming days about my plans for the last 100 days of the year – inspired by a online event I will be attending run by London Writers’ Salon on 23rd September.

First on my list will be to blog more!

So, the reason I’ve been MIA is beacuse I’ve been deep in a romance hole, writing the books in my Mermaid Hotel series. I can’t wait to share more details of this over the next few months, but for now I will just say that I plan to start releasing them in 2026.

As I’ve been working on my romance ideas, I’ve been questioning whether I should start a new blog and have a new domain name rather than “Suzanne Rogerson Fantasy Author”.

Fantasy will always be something I come back to, and I class it as my first love, but over the last few years I’ve really loved writing romance and Christmas feel-good stories. I’ve also enjoyed building this blog up and connecting with so many writers and readers over the years, and I wouldn’t want to lose touch by starting out again.

What would you do? Would you carry on with a blog that you’ve established over the past ten years, or start again with a new genre and new direction?

This is just a short post to ease myself in and say hi. I hope to be sharing lots of news and insights into my new series and life as an indie author very soon.

How has the year been treating you? Do you have the rest of 2025 mapped out?

Until next time…

2024 Year in Review – writing successes

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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

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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

You can follow me on

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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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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.

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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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.

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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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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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