No NaNoWriMo, Keep Calm and Write On

This month, though there was no NaNoWriMo, I still wrote part of my spin-off for the Immortal Legacy Series, spending 90 minutes twice a week writing the 10,000 words for the chapter. It was my own person challenge since the fifth and final book of the Immortal Legacy Series is almost complete. The cover has been designed and ready for next year’s release.

I am trying to work out how to sell the books I have, I have 3 of Immortal and the Hex to sell, maybe give those on a discount for those who wish to buy 2 books for a special prize. But I am not sure.

I have been doing YouTube videos for almost 3 months and I am really enjoying (despite some being frustrating) the clues that I have been solving. I don’t know where things will go in 2026. I will be finishing my fifth book’s prep work. I will be getting ready for a vacation and then after that, we’ll see. If you are interested in seeing my YouTube reels. The link to my playlist is below.

I have also experimented with making another website. If you wish to check it out before I make a choice about keeping it or letting it go. You can find it here.

October is going to be Special

It is the first week of October and things are looking up. Though my goal for YouTube with viewers has been slow, I have still been doing the Minute Cryptic Puzzles. I am now up to Day 53.

Over the next two weeks, I am going to take a few big steps in my self-published career. Starting with an author talk at a local library on the Thursday. I am going to speak with a few other self-published authors about our books and our stories. This will be a big step in being out there to the public. It’s a nerve-racking but exciting opportunity.

My first author talk with other self-published authors.

The following Thursday, authors and students will be all together for a literacy lunch - another opportunity to sell my books.

While this is all happening, something special is underway. I have made arrangements, made first payments and communicating with someone on the other side of the world.

Voice myself on YouTube

From the 11th of August, I have attempted to solve Minute Cryptic puzzles on a website, after 50 days of watching someone else solve them. I decided on the 13th of August to record myself and make a YouTube video, I would submit the video 24 hours or so after I did it. It is something new to try to get myself out there.
I do these videos in the morning, before the house comes alive and I do my own thumbnails and editing. I am learning and I plan on improving over time. I haven’t got a studio or a soundproof room.
I have done eight videos so far.

Above are the thumbnails for the YouTube videos, I have so far created. I do hope that over time I get more viewers and comments, I do take feedback.

Anniversary and Adventure

As it marks the three year anniversary of having my book launch on the 31st of July, I have been taking a breather on the writing for the Immortal Legacy series, while the fifth book gets fine-tuned and prepared for a cover. I have been working on a side project to pass the time. This one is a challenge for I am trying to thick of a bigger picture - literally - and hoping even though the story is short, the content will be going places. This means I am branching out to different avenues of writing and experimenting with my writing style.

Life cannot be rewritten

After I completed the novel in terms of editing it through my eyes and software I started the process of having it proofread from others. During that time I decided to start on a side project, a continuation of something I did as a challenge a couple years back. This project will be my next 10 week challenge. After that I will work on a spin off.
During the break of my Immortal Legacy Series, someone in my life had passed away after going down hill health wise. This will take a toll on me and my family and I will continue to write and get my books published. However, Life cannot be rewritten, what happens, happened and though I am going to think of What Ifs and Maybes, there is no changing the past.

Therefore this post is a statement, live life to the fullness, enjoy the moments, spend time with loved ones and do what you love. I love writing, I love sharing my story. I hope that you will love it too.

Me at the Toastmasters Conference in May

End of a Saga

14:00 on the 14th of May, I finished editing 356 pages for my fifth and final book of the Immortal Legacy Series, then at 15:00, I finished editing the additional 6 pages - Epilogue and Afterword. I am glad that 64 of those pages were a repeated chapter that could be removed. I am glad that some pages were only a few lines and some pages were easier to edit than others. In January I estimated it would take me 20 weeks to edit the book, I started with on the 21st of January and 16 weeks later, it has been completed. Yes I will fix up the font size and the spacing, but the gist of the editing is done. Next step is to get someone else to look over it.

The last 5 pages of editing her done at Thirroul Library away from my usual Wednesday Writing session at the local Tradies. It was different to edit in a quieter environment but after a stall Microsoft Word and two restarts, I managed to complete the task. Saving up for the cover will be my next biggest challenge.

Total pages of book after the margin has been adjusted. Page size still A4

Three Years: Keep moving forward

Today marks my three year anniversary of publishing my first book on Amazon, (May 1st AUS - 30th April USA) and the time has really flown. Though it seems slow with sales and followers etc, the months of writing and editing have really moved fast. I am almost finishing editing the final book of the story before I hand it over to someone else to take a look. I am still trying to save up for the final cover design for the series and then work out publishing date.

I am updating my Amazon blurbs, to make them more enticing and hopefully this will provide more interest and sales. The link is below, share it with someone that would be interested.

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09Z972LGB

My anniversary is also around the same time I am going to a conference and hoping to sell books there. It will be my second time doing this and there will be plenty of new people to share my book with.

Drifting; Full Confession

For the past month, I have been editing my fifth book twice a week, 10-15 pages a day, trying to get it ready for publication; however after some negative feedback from other authors or illustrators, I have been drifting between optimistic and realist. Sales have been again constant zero, views on my website have been below 5 and I have had no new followers for months. Here comes the confession, I love writing, I really do, but I am worried that I am not reaching the right audience to get my book spreading like wildfire - I know that is a bad pun but I do want to set hearts a fire with imagination.

I have tried contests, specials and other means for getting my book out there; market days and sales. I haven’t got the luxury of work to help fund this, so money is becoming an issue too. I will keep going as long as ideas come to me, I just hope one day the right person finds the book.

As you may notice, my website has had a make over, I have changed the colour scheme hoping to attract more people as well as make it easy to read. I also have made it easier for those who are wishing to click their way to the books, by setting up links on the home page. Next month will be the three year anniversary of having my first book out there, so I am just hoping this works.

Marching on, Almost halfway

Editing is a long and slow process, finding faults, removing redundant and repetitive words, fixing flaws - yes, I am trying to be poetic. It becomes painful when you find areas to correct that are just blank “fill-in-the-space” lines or comments of “add here.” It is also upsetting when you are correcting something you already fixed up on a previous document or discover typos that repeat for words. But I am Marching on, over 150 pages edited and despite knowing I have to divide 100 words into 4 chapters later, I am still fixing up the book.

Page 180

With unknown length of time to finish editing, I am moving my guessing competition forward. . I am having a guessing competition for those interested in getting their name in the next book I write. The person who guesses the closet, will have a character named after them – penname, nickname or birth name – the character will be set in the future and designed to represent them (if they wish). The word document is originally 410 pages – in A4 format, average font 11, 1.5 spacing for most of it. The guess is the total of words, not including Table of Contents and Titles. They have two weeks..

Writing Wednesday at my usual haunt.

First month of 2025; edit that!

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my writing days and that hasn’t changed this year; starting the second week; I began editing the fifth book. This meant starting from page 1 and going through, correcting stupid grammar mistakes, removing redundant words and changing sentences or adding.

With more than 400 pages to edit, I hope to do on average 10 pages a day; as of the 29th of January, last Wednesday of the month, I have done 61 pages. Biggest problem with document it is a mixture of different fonts, different spacing and the average font is 11. This is going to take at least 40 days with on average 2 days per week, that is 20 weeks.

A typical writing session on a Wednesday

Until I finish editing, I am having a guessing competition for those interested in getting their name in the next book I write. There is about 410 pages – in A4 – in the word document. Whoever guess the closest number to total words in the document when I finished writing (Titles and Table of Contents not included), I will have their name – or variant if they wish to use a pen name or nickname.