Way back in January, I made plans for this year, breaking it down into quarters and working out what needed to be done. It was always optimistic but I was feeling pretty productive back then. I reckon a fair few of you did the same and, like me, saw those plans fall apart as the world shifted on its axis.
Endless weeks of uncertainty and two months (and counting) of lockdown haven’t been great for my writing. I’ve been distracted and procrastinating which has prevented me actually sitting down at my desk. I’ve struggled to push away my worries enough to let my mind free itself enough to fall into new writing. I think – I know – that many people have felt the same, whether their intentions were to write or learn to make sourdough bread or go running every day.
Instead, I’ve concentrated on less creative but still important tasks. A publisher loves my writing but needs me to create something more targeted to their market so I’ve polished up a pitch for them. The more I worked on it the more I fell in love with the setting and my heroine and whether they like it or not, it’s definitely an idea I’ll be going back to.
I’ve taken the novella – Vanishing Point – that I wrote and added to this site as a freebie for readers signing up to my mailing list and I’ve made it available to purchase in order to bring it to a wider readership. It’s still free here (link up top) and I really don’t mind whether people take the free option or pay 99p for it. Vanishing Point is short – about 20k words – and introduces the character of art crime investigator Kate Carpenter. Readers seem to be enjoying it and one reviewer even said “I think I found my new favorite thriller series” which was fantastic to hear.
The first full-length Kate Carpenter thriller, Don’t Blink, is also now on sale and I’m looking forward to seeing readers’ response to that. It’s been a very quiet launch because of some health issues in the family and my blog tour had to be pushed back, so I’ve not made a huge fuss. I’ll have to ramp up the marketing when the tour starts on 1st June!
I’m also doing the copy edits for the second in the series and once that’s gone off to my beta readers (last stage before final tweaks and proofreader) I’ll be making that available for pre-order.
Having written all that, it reminds me that I have actually been quite productive. As a friend said, I should stop beating myself up about all the things I feel I should have done and look back and appreciate what I have achieved. I’m not fluent in Finnish, my sourdough starter (named Kerouac) is clearly not thriving, and my early lockdown resolution to use my rowing machine daily fell by the wayside when I realised that it gave me excruciating lower back pain. Nor have I been disciplined about communicating with readers so apologies for that – if you ever want to drop me a line about anything do feel free.
But, most importantly, I’ve kept in touch with family and friends, gained a new appreciation for the kindness of my neighbours, been reminded again just how amazing our NHS is, and realised with pleasure that I can spend all this time at home with my husband and student son and that we’re all still getting on okay.
I hope that you’re getting through this okay too. Stay safe, stay well and know that you are valued. A new normal is coming and we’re still going to need to help each other along as we get used to it.
Take care x
