Draft 8 of my novel is done!

Debut novel coming soon!

Draft 8 of my novel is done!

Hello friends!

After some time away I’m back at it. It’s time for another book update!

I’ve just completed draft 8 of the book and it’s getting sharper with every round. I’ve also managed to lock in what I feel could be the final title AND book design concept. To be completely candid design is not my strongest skill, but I really wanted to push myself into a creative challenge and attempt to do it myself. Between writing a novel and composing its soundtrack I really just needed more pressure and creative challenge LOL. I’m a lil cuckoo, but I’m taking these creative opportunities while I get them. Why not?!

I’m about to share draft 8 with a few trusted souls for feedback and vibes. While that happens I’ll continue to work on the soundtrack and give my brain a breather from reading. These breaks are so necessary to see the story with fresh eyes, this makes edits easier.

I’m more into superstitions than I realised

I didn’t think I was a superstitious person. But there is it. I’m more superstitious than I thought.

Being made redundant taught me more than any career success

What experience taught me the most? Redundancy.

I would ban the word ‘perfect’ if I could

If I could ban any word in common use it would be the word ‘perfect’.

Why? Because perfect doesn’t exist.

I’ve also been switching the format of my reviews, sometimes working off a printout of the book, sometimes on my desktop, even on my phone sometimes (busy parents will understand this last one!). It’s amazing the different things you find depending on the format you edit in.

In other news I’m enjoying a few books at once – Saplings Orbit by Spencer Rose and The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson are top of the pile atm. Been loving both reads!

I’ve also had the privilege to release some interesting conversations on the podcast recently, two chats featuring indie authors Loren Tuxford and Wesley Croft, and one chat with writer and editor, Liam Selby. Check out these chats below:

Author deep dive chat: Loren Tuxford (indie fantasy author) S2 E7

Author deep dive chat: Wesley Croft (indie sci-fi & adventure author) S2 E8

Editor deep dive chat: Liam Selby (preparing to work with an editor) S2 E9

I have an interview with sci-fi author Spencer Rose coming out on the podcast soon too so stay tuned! We had a fun chat talking about novellas, marketing, selling from your own website and much more.

And like every sci-fi fan out there I finally got to see Project Hail Mary starring Ryan Gosling and everyone’s favourite alien, Rocky. I LOVED IT. I admit I was skeptical about Gosling being cast, but I was really impressed by his performance. I read the book by Andy Weir earlier in the year and had very high hopes. I was certainly not disappointed!

I hope you are creating, enjoying others’ creations and finding snippets of peace in these chaotic times.

Have a good week!