Category: 3. Wednesday

WIP Wednesday 1st May 2024
3. Wednesday · Characters · Editing · WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday 1st May 2024

paulaactonLeave a comment

It’s Wednesday so today is a round up of what I am working on right now. I have taken on a few short stories for anthologies as I have been struggling working on longer pieces but I am hoping to get back to it this month. I have noticed that the length of the short stories is increasing from 5k as the norm to between 10 and 20k in length. This trend going forward does mean I will have to cut back how many I do in the future, which is a shame because I enjoy being pushed out of my comfort zone. The plus side is when the rights are returned I have a chunky piece of writing to expand and make full novella out of which is something I am working at right now.

This week I have two things I am working on. Firstly, I am working on finishing the story for the Books On The Beach Anthology which was inspired by the people I met at the riding school. I have to say writing young adult has been an interesting challenge, one I wasn’t convinced I would be up to but the test will be at the end of the month when I let me tester audience try it.

The second project is turning In Search Of Ghosts into a novella. I realised when I got it back that it stands at 15k words and that I could actually expand it quite easily to extend it. This was originally published as part of the Indie Love Myths & Legends anthology. The story is set in Wales and I went for the Lady Of The Lake legend for the basis of my story but it was also looking at the way people handle grief. I was in a position when I wrote it where I was worrying about losing my dad, and at the same time dealing with the fact if he lived he would forget who I was more and more.

Working on short stories is a really good way to get back into the mindset of writing every day, even if it is only 500 words. That is my plan going forward to get me back writing and to also get some work published. It will also allow me to focus on getting some of the half written projects I have on my computer finished and out into the world.

WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday 21st February 2024

paulaactonLeave a comment

It has been a few weeks since I last wrote however, one project is finished and I have two books to add to promoting right now. I have moved on to another short story which will follow on and blend with the last one I finished.

The two stories put together will form the basis for the first book in a new series that you can expect to see next year, At this time I am undecided whether it will be a novella or if I rework and expand them into a full book, between them they will already be 25k so it’s not that big a stretch either way. I am determined to keep both this series and the paranormal creatures series to shorter books than normal fantasy, so probably aiming for 70-80k books rather than 100k plus which can be normal in that genre.

The part of the story I am writing right now, is part setting up background story, part folklore, and part if not mainly a love story. In so many stories, even if it not the main plot, there is a love story to be found. Think back to those old Westerns, at first you might say there is not love there, but the bond between the cowboy and his horse is a type of love, just like any other. Love or lack of it is often a motive for both the plot and the way the characters react in different situations.

In the story I am writing we have the classic tale of a mortal falling in love with an immortal, and she loves him in return but has her reasons for not sharing eternity with him immediately. In turn he questions her affections when she hesitates, if she truly loves him how can she risk his life as she play her role in changing the lands in which they live.

Nothing is every black and white, in fact it is in the nuanced shades of grey where most character live. And that is why they are so interesting! If you know the bad guy is pure evil, he will kill indiscriminately. That means everyone he comes across he potentially kills but what if then there is one he can’t kill, one that means more, that becomes more exciting.

Anyway I need to get back to writing and I will catch up with you next week.

WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday Week 9

paulaacton2 Comments

This week is one of those crazy weeks where I am working on three projects. First, I have a short story to write for an anthology, this is a 15k love story and is set in New York and Cardiff. I can’t really say too much more about that other than it is part of an anthology for Indie love and it will be out in May, the cover release will be next month so I will tell you more about this project then.

The second is the edits on a previous short story I want to get those finished and submitted this week even though I do have a little longer. It is for the Books On The Beach 2022 anthology, I don’t have a set release date yet for this one, however, I expect it will be towards the end of July, I really loved this story, it came to me out of the blue and the one friend I have had read it says it deserves to be a full novel.

The final project underway this week is still Rosie, I struggled to get back into this one after setting it aside for so long so I don’t want to push it aside again. Instead I am doing half an hour each day keeping momentum going.

I am behind on where I wanted to be this year but I have also taken on a few extra anthology pieces which have inspired me and got my writing mojo back. I am hoping over the next few weeks I will get back on track.

The plus side is that I have a launch this week…

The book is released tomorrow so you can still pre-order here

I really liked my characters in this book and can’t wait to read the other stories in the book.

I will see you back here next week to share more of my writing journey.

WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday – Week 1 2022

paulaactonLeave a comment

This week I am writing mafia, sex, and violence! One of those things is new to me, yes the mafia part lol. I am in the process of finishing up a piece for an anthology. The problem with short stories is that as you create them, you find they take on a life of their own demanding they become a full fledged novel at the very least. So while the short story will be complete in it’s arc these characters will most likely be back at some point in the future.

To research this story I have to say google has been my friend and my enemy, do you know how many hours you can lose doing a google search for gang tattoos…

A few of the google search results that inspired my characters body art

I can’t show you all the images I saved for inspiration, you will learn about some of them at a later date, if the story makes it to a full book or more.

I also have harassed my friend Jakab for knowledge of his homeland, and I won’t lie his voice inspired my main character Cezar, I swear he sounds just like an 80’s Bond villain. When deciding to write a mafia story I was determined I didn’t want to do Italian Mafia or Russian Bratva, so instead I decided to go with Romanian.

Straight away I hit a snag as most Romanian gangs tended to be more street gangs without a larger infrastructure, however, I got around this by Cezar having being trained and having links to the Bratva. His life, upbringing and parentage are all things that will come into play if the story makes it to a full book or series.

The anthology is available to pre-order on Amazon and I will be back with more details about that next Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday – Week Five 2019
WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday – Week Five 2019

paulaactonLeave a comment

The project numbers will change from week to week depending on where I am with that project however there is now a projects tab at the top listing each one and letting you see where in the process that project is and updated as there is something new to add.

Project Two

This is almost done and I hope to have it finished by the end of the week, it has been quite hard to write as the subject matter has meant that I have to get into the right frame of mind to write it and then get back out of that mindset after. The cause is worth the difficulties of writing it though and I look forward to seeing what the other authors involved have come up with.

Project Three

I am behind one this short story for my Patreon, it has been pushed to the back burner as I have no subscribers still, but it has been started and outlined. It is a ghost story with a witchy theme.

Project Four

I have not really touched my novel which has disappointed me as I had hoped to have it out for Leeds but now the Telford signing is more of realistic aim, I really love the idea behind this book and can’t wait to get back to work on it.

Project Five

This is a top secret charity project, I have now submitted the poem and I will reveal that I titled it Cleansed but there is nothing more I can add at this time we just have to wait now.

Project Six

This will be the February Patreon story, it may seem strange adding it in now but if I was on track I would be onto this project by now so for my own interest I want to be able to look back and see where I am in terms of my own personal goals as well as meeting other deadlines.

Project Seven

I am posting this here for the same reason as the one above. At the start of the year planned my year to get out a certain number of books within the next twelve months,  at this point I had intended to be back working on the second part of the Queen of Ages Trilogy Reawakening but as I want this to be an honest representation to myself as well as you as to how my year and various projects work out then it is only right I keep track of where I am letting myself down. So fingers crossed over the next couple of weeks I start pulling closer to getting back on track.

WIP Wednesday – Week Four 2019
WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday – Week Four 2019

paulaactonLeave a comment

Sorry you have missed a couple of weeks but to be honest nothing much happened writing wise. In my personal life my beautiful granddaughter was born but I shall post about that tomorrow. So, this week we are back at it with deadlines looming…

Project 0ne

This was the short story for a charity anthology I am going to rveal that it was titled Love Through A Lens but it is now pending acceptance so not much more I can tell you about that one for now, just keep fingers crossed.

Project Two

IThis is the second charity anthology project, I have my story outlined and am about half way through writing it, if you are on FB and head to the Shenanigans FB page then you can see the cover reveal and the other authors involved. I will share more on this project next week.

Project Three

I am behind one this short story for my Patreon, it has been puched to the back burner slightly as I have no subscribers on there at the minute anyway however I am hoping to be back up to date on this by the end of the month.

Project Four

Not, much done on The Role Of The Dice this month so far other than a little more outlining in my notebooks. I really want this out before the Leeds signing , it is going to be a push but fingers crossed I will manage it.

Project Five

This is a top secret charity project that I cannot really say much about other than it is writng a poem rather than a story and it has to be inspired by a picture provided. I have the inspiration and an idea of how I want the poem to go, I just need to sit down and get the ideas from my head onto the screen.

Editing · Plots · WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday – Week One 2019

paulaactonLeave a comment

Hello and welcome to the revamped WIP Wednesday, I used to do this when I first started but somewhere along the way I got rather lost. So I am taking this back to basics and each week I will fill you in on the projects I am working on though of course the amount of detail you get will depend on how far along I am.

Project 0ne

This is a short story for a charity anthology, this is in the final stages of editing and is a holiday romance. I have to say I found it quite difficult, as you will all know love and romance are not my normal main plots in a story so it was challenging resisting the urge to slaughter everyone.

Project Two

Another short story for a charity anthology, this again is for a charity anthology and is quite taxing, it has a dark, twisted undercurrant and deals woth disturbing subjects but is more realism than my usual fantasy which is making me push myself in different ways. The base plot for the story was one I wrote for a different anthology which was never published and fits very well with the required subject for this anthology.

Project Three

Is yet another short story, this is the first story for my Patreon, normally I will only have two projects running at once, however, because the first two have run over from last year I am having to work hard these first few weeks. I will confess that at this minute I am still undecided if all the stories will be a the same genre or just in a similar vein. I was initially thinking of making this double up as eventually eing the second volume of ghost stories but it may be that I make is more of a general horror genre, I would like to tie in some of the stories with the month they appear in so we shall see.

Project Four

This is the novel I am working on currently The Role Of The Dice, I am really loving this story and will elaborate on it more next week once I have at least one less project to tell you about but for this week I will share a graphic for it…

Looking towards the future!
Marketing · WIP Wednesday

Looking towards the future!

paulaactonLeave a comment

Over the last couple of months while I have been suffering from lethargy in terms of posting I have been working away behind the scenes and I thought today I would take the chance to fill you in on some of what is going on in the background.

The first thing is I have signed up for a course on Exploring Copyright: History, Culture, Industry it is a free 4 week course, just 3 hours a week. you might wonder why I would take on doing extra study when I am already snowed under and I am not gaining a qualification from it but I am looking at it as a chance to gain knowledge which may be useful going forward. We all know in this Internet age that cyber-piracy is something many authors are coming up against, work plagiarised or republished on pirate sites where they are given away for free, and while some will argue that gaining readers this way is a counterbalance to the loss of earning on that book, for others it is a loss they cannot afford. We all write the copyright notice at the front of our books but how much of it do we understand, what actual rights we have and protections are offered by it. If you are interested you can find more details here.

The other thing I have been looking into is publishing options, it was brought up on FB a couple of weeks ago that there were other options for print on demand other than KDP and Createspace, so I took a little time to look into it. The most popular way is the use Createspace however I have found a suggestion that long term it may be best to use a combination of Createspace and Ingram Sparks, you can read the article I found helpful here. The trilogy I am working on at the minute will remain on Createspace as setting up the other requires money to invest in buying ISBN numbers but I have begun the process of getting ready for this for future series. When you buy the block of numbers you register them to an imprint name and I have decided to go with Raven’s Rest Press, I have set up an email, FB and Twitter to grab the name there, I will be adding the logo to my other books and I would not be averse to perhaps collaborating with other indie authors who want to publish under the name and help promote each others work. I am not going to  go too much into things here as obviously I am still setting it all up but I will keep you up to date with my experiences. Right off to the day job now after all until the books start selling I have to fund the present as well as investing in my future.

WIP Wednesday – This week…
3. Wednesday · Editing · Marketing · WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday – This week…

paulaactonLeave a comment

I told you lots have been going on behind the scenes so first up re-edited and change of font colour…

Free On Amazon 14-18th June(1)

Secondly finally getting organised…

Now Available For Pre-Order on Amazon

The Hard Work Starts When The Writing Is Done
Editing · Marketing · WIP Wednesday

The Hard Work Starts When The Writing Is Done

paulaacton1 Comment

When you get an idea for a story, when you feel inspired by the voices in your head to sit and write, your biggest challenge is getting your fingers to keep up with the words. You sit and hammer on the keyboard as fast as you can, hundreds if not thousands of words flowing from you at each sitting. Eventually you reach the end and then the real work starts.

I think it is fair to say right now I hate editing, I am more or less in the process of editing voices from one document to another because despite hitting a clear formatting button something is wrong with the file and it keeps resetting things I don’t want. To be fair this is working in my favour in the long run though as with each pass I am doing I am picking up on more silly errors. You know the type, the silly typos spell-check misses because nothing is spelt wrong you just intended to type on and ended up with no. But even this is not the hardest bit, because you know this is the necessary evil you have to go through to get that book out there.

The hardest part for most of us is the next stage.

You have your book, it looks all pretty, you have editing, double checked, banged your head against the wall, edited again, bought proof copies, spotted a couple of error you still missed and fixed them, then you hit the publish button and any confidence you had disappears.

You now have to sell your book, it sounds so simple, Twitter is full of people selling books but be honest how often have you every clicked on a link? You share to your Facebook page but unless you have already got a few books out there selling well most of the people seeing the posts are friends who either believe you should give them a copy for free or they want to support you but they are not really interested in buying or reading your books. Even when you do a give-away and people read it so few leave reviews that it makes it impossible to bump your books up the Amazon logistics chain to get it to a point where they get recommended.

Amazon are also now taking away the cheque option for payment, no I admit the idea of waiting until you have earned enough to receive a cheque was frustrating but more frustrating is trying to find a bank account here in the UK where you will not end up paying the bank more than you are receiving from Amazon.  The cheapest one I have now found is going to cost me £2 for each overseas payment received which means I need to earn at least that each months from book sales before I cover the costs and that goes for each market.  I don’t know if the decision to change this policy was due to people taking too long to earn enough to receive the cheque and it was messing up Amazon’s books or whether it is a way to reduce the number of people who decide to self publish but it does mean that instead of moving on to the next project the amount of time taken up doing marketing will have to increase.

Of course it is not all doom and gloom if you can just stick at it and increase the number of titles you have out there up for sale, and that is may aim for the next six months, life is going to get hectic and I might miss out on some of the summer sun by being sat at my desk but I want this enough to make those sacrifices.

Does the change to the way Amazon pays effect you? Any tips for marketing?