SOTA – The State of The Author

After regular and frequent enquiries from sooooo many readers about how the next book is ‘coming along’ … translation = “Want it! Want it NOW! When can I have it?“
“Oooh, that long?” (Yes, even the day after a release!)
:sad faces: 😭😢
“OK, then … When will there at least be a pre-order?”

I’m bringing you access to the author’s brain and calendar. I’m tentatively calling it SOTA or the State of the Author page. I plan to try to remember to check/update this page around the beginning and the middle of the month.
NOTE: Astonishingly, I’ve remembered to do this for nine, ten, eleven months, almost TWO years now. Excuse me while I do a happy dance 💃

Strong Disclaimer: These are my current dates and plans. Be aware … Life may Happen to them.

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November 2024

Book 6 – Market Forces in Gretna Green is OUT. People seem to like it – Big YAY!
You can get it here

What’s next?

I’m off to take a well-earned rest.

• Seriously, six long-ass books, two novellas and the various bonuses all published in less than two and a half years are enough for now.
• Yes, yes, I know some authors produce a book a month. But I’m not them and my books are long. I’ve written over a million words. Which isn’t bad for a beginner. 😂
• Assuming I get Orange out next year – which I’m 95% confident I will, it will be seven books, three novellas (yes, there is another freebie planned) and various other bonuses in three years. Go and talk to George RR Martin or any traditionally published author about their deadlines. It’s usually a book a year—except in George’s case, obviously, he likes a book a decade!
• I’m old. I respect my physical and mental health. I’m not a crazy thirty-something with boundless energy any more :sighs:.
• I promised myself I would get the first half of the series arc out and then take some breathing room. By now, I know I really need a break. So I’m taking one.
• I need to fix typos in the earlier books, especially Ties 😒 But that’s not writing or the endless editing, so I’m fine with it 😀
• I need to update my website
• I need to breathe
• I need to settle into my new home and create my new office properly, so that it supports my creativity. Right now, it impedes it!
• Where is Dola when you need her?
• I need to deal with builders—aaaargh! And kitchen fitters and … you get the idea?
• I need to visit friends I haven’t seen since before lockdown.
• I want to play with my pup while she’s still with us. She’s had a series of health issues recently and needs some mum-time.
• I need afternoon teas.
• I really want the head space to read books I didn’t write. Book Goblin is unhappy 😈
• And perhaps most importantly, I need to refill my humour bucket so that the next four books are as good (as you all seem to think) the first six were.
• So the ‘writing part’ of the author is on holiday until February.
• Whining at me/begging/posting about waiting impatiently/really needing the next book won’t help.
• I don’t write under pressure – because there isn’t any for me. This is a retirement project. And I won’t turn into sad Niki and not take sensible breaks 🤣
• Updates will appear here on this page first and then in the Facebook group and in the newsletter. Oh, and on my author page.
• I will keep you updated—that’s a promise.

October 2024

Book 6 – Market Forces in Gretna Green

Pre-order status - is live for 1st November publication. Get it here

Market Forces in Gretna Green will be published almost six weeks early on November 1st, 2024.

As always, the price will go up after publication. This book turned out to be around 770 pages. So the current £4.99/$5.99 price is only valid until publication. I like to give my committed readers the best price possible, but bigger books are just more expensive to produce. Editors charge by the word!
So if you want a bargain, pre-order here before 31st October.

September 2024

Book 6 – Market Forces in Gretna Green

Pre-order status - is live for Autumn publication. Get it here

Market Forces in Gretna Green is currently with my editor. It’s perfect timing because I’m moving house this month.
Teal will be back with me and out to my proofreaders in late Sept/early October, at the latest.

I’m finally happy with it. 😀
Like Ties that Bond in Gretna Green it’s a Gateway and Gateway Cottage based book.
It’s fun, it’s light and there are some bits that amazed the beta readers.

If any of you missed my overall plan for this series, you should read this page here. I’ve always had a ten book series clear in my mind (and my plotting).
Books 3, 6 and 9 are the joining books.
(That’s my numbering—not the mess Amazon has made of it thanks to House Party 😡 )

I’m about 85% certain that I’ll be able to bring the publication date forward, but I’ll know for certain in early October. Check back then for more info.

August 2024

Book 6 – Market Forces in Gretna Green

I’ve had the feedback from my FABs on Market Forces in Gretna Green and we’re all agreed this book is gripping, hilarious and occasionally jaw-dropping, but it still needs some work.
Guess what I’m doing with my August 😂

Pre-order status - is live for Autumn publication. Get it here

The unexpected novella Gretna Green goes to Manchester was well-received. Get it via your newsletter subscription. More info below.

Bonus — Code Yellow in Gretna Green

July 2024

I am deep into the edits on Market Forces in Gretna Green so I can get it out to my FABs (beta readers).
They’ve already had an unexpected novella which is currently titled Gretna Green goes to Manchester. I’ll be sending that out via the newsletter once it’s been proofread.

June 2024

Mid-May 2024

Market Forces in Gretna Green goes to my editor for the first pass edit at the end of this month. I’m cautiously pleased with it. It’s fun and obviously still needs a lot of work yet – but I like it – and that is always step one 😀
I’m catching up on everything else, so if you’ve been waiting for an email from me, the chances are excellent it will arrive shortly.
Also, there is only one newsletter issue which covers both May and June. This is normal because I’m always away in either May or June. It will be out at the end of May.

May 2024

See April (Below)
STILL writing. Almost done, but not there yet.
Market Forces in Gretna Green is due with my editor for the first pass edit very soon.
More later …

Mid April 2024

Nothing to see here.
Seriously, nothing to report.
I’m writing.
Which is exactly what you want—Right?
OK … It’s going well. Now, go away and let the words come out 😂

Early April 2024

Book 5 — Code Yellow in Gretna Green

Code Yellow in Gretna Green for Kindle is live on Amazon now.
Paperback from April 6th

Book 6 – Market Forces in Gretna Green

Is still being written – I’m about 50K words into it (not quite half way)

Pre-order status - is live for Autumn publication. Get it here

Otherwise, in April, I’m mostly doing all the things I didn’t have time to do between nursing my pup through and post surgery and launching Yellow.

Work-wise that’s updating the website and the Amazon listings. Running some competitions in the Voracious Readers group on Facebook and batch cooking to refill my freezer. After, as we always do, we emptied it during the final mad dash to get Yellow out 😀

March 2024

So, as you can see, March moved everything along dramatically. It’s astonishing what you can get done once you’ve stopped panicking about your pup and got some sleep 😀

Book 5 — Code Yellow in Gretna Green

Will be published on March 28th. The paperback is out on April 6th. There were issues with the length of the paperback which caused a delay at Amazon’s end.

Full story in the newsletter. Or in the Voracious Readers group on Facebook.
Get your copy of Yellow here

Book 6 – Market Forces in Gretna Green

This has shaped up into a lovely fun book. I’m still at the first draft stage, but it will be out later this year sometime in the Autumn – the date on Amazon has some wiggle room in case Life Happens. It will probably be early.

I have the almost final version of the cover! More about that soon.

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Early March 2024

Book 5 — Code Yellow in Gretna Green

Is still ahead of schedule!

You might remember I was aiming for late spring for publication of this one.
But thanks to heroic efforts by my editor and my proofreaders. It will be out sooner. Probably early spring!!

There’s a slight glitch with the paperback because the book is longer than Amazon can print. So I’m investigating other options. But the bottom line is the paperback will hit my original deadline of late May/early June, but the ebook will be out several months early. 😀

Pre-order status - Will be up in a few days

Book 6 – Market Forces in Gretna Green

I’m actually moving along well with the first draft of this one. It’s such a fun book.

Pre-order status - Will be up in a few weeks for late Autumn publication

Lucy update

Lucy is recovering well and we’re into the rehab, physio part of the process. The bit where we have to stop her jumping up and down, but she’s walking well – thank heavens.

February 2024

Book 5 — Code Yellow in Gretna Green

Is ahead of schedule thanks to a heroic effort by my wonderful editor. It will go out to my proofreaders in the second week of February.

The pre-order will be up as soon as I have a final cover for the paperback, probably early next month. I have the final ebook cover but the paperback needs … well, a back and a spine and cover blurbs and things 😀

Pre-order status - Might be up soon

Book 6 – Market Forces in Gretna Green

Is on hold until I get Code Yellow out to you all and Lucy back to normal. But in good news …it’s writing itself in my head while I do physio with Lucy.
Interestingly, Ties that Bond did exactly this while I was extremely busy and putting too long days at work and by the time I put fingers to keyboard I wrote that book in about three and a half weeks!
I’ll keep you all posted.
It does have a gorgeous cover though 😂

January 2024

Happy New Year.
My December and January got completely messed up when my little Bichon snapped her cranial cruciate ligament and needed surgery.
She’s now recovering, but it’s a three-month road through crate rest, physio, rehab and a pretty miserable time for my little one. More info here

Book 5 — Code Yellow in Gretna Green

This won’t affect Code Yellow because I managed by the skin of my teeth and thanks to my partner doing a lot of Lucy’s care while she was taking the drugs to prepare for the surgery to hit my deadline with my editor.
So Code Yellow should still be out in late spring 2024 (poss early June) as always planned.

There will be a pre-order as usual when I get it back from my editor and it’s ready to go to my proofreaders.

But in bad news, it will inevitably delay my plans for Market Forces (book 6). It’s impossible for me to feel funny or creative when watching my fur baby in pain.

I’ll keep you all posted.

December 2023

Book 5 — Code Yellow in Gretna Green

The FABs liked Code Yellow a lot and had some excellent suggestions to make it better.
The one thing they all agreed on is I can only get away with very minor cuts. So a 1000 page monster will head to Amazon next year.

My December will completely taken up with final revisions. (Well, and Christmas obvs) Yellow is booked in with my editor for January 8th. But she needs it for 8 weeks!! (Normal is 2-3 weeks) But it’s a long book so everything is taking more time.

Pre-order status - It should be on Amazon for pre-order next year. Publication *probably* in June.

There’s a more comprehensive update on my blog.
You can check that out here on my blog

November 2023

Book 5 — Code Yellow in Gretna Green

The first feedback is coming back from my FABs (beta readers) on Code Yellow and the news is good!
I’ve written a more comprehensive update than my usual short notes here … Just because it felt like it had been a while since I did that.
You can check that out here on my blog

October 2023

Book 5 — Code Yellow in Gretna Green

24th October

Well, I made it. Code Yellow is with my FABs (beta readers) and now I’m going to have a nice lie-down. And walk my dog and catch up on all my TV shows and …re-stock my freezer. See you in November.

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Book 5 is currently taking ALL of my time.

Yep. That’s it. That’s all I’m doing this entire month. I want to get it out to my beta readers in early November if I possibly can. Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ll make it 😒

I have the second draft of the cover – but we’re not quite there yet. The internal artwork for the print book isn’t finished yet.

And if you’ll all excuse me, I need to get back to editing this monster book.

Pre-order status - Not yet known - Possibly winter 23/24 if I've wrangled it enough by then.

September 2023

September 28th Seeing Red is live on Amazon

Book Four – Seeing Red in Gretna Green
The final version has been submitted to Amazon and everything is ready for 28th.
The paperback version will be available on the 27th so that people can get it at launch if they wish.
You can read the book’s own page if you like.

House Party is free 23-27 September. Links to get it and the story behind why it was written is here

Seeing Red’s publication date has been moved up. It will be released on Thursday 28th September. As soon as my team of MVPs (Magnificent Volunteer Proofreaders) has finished proof reading it, and I’ve finished formatting the book, I’ll be back to tell you all about it.

August 2023

Book Four – Seeing Red in Gretna Green

19th August — Red is now with my MVPs. My Magnificent Volunteer Proofers.

1st August — Red is with my editor for its copy edit. It may launch slightly early. Astonishment abounds.

Book Five – Code Yellow

The news is less good.

The clues are in the length of time it took my editor to do the first pass on this one. Over a month! This would normally be ten days to two weeks. But because of the sheer length of the darn book it’s going to be a woolly mammoth-sized task for everyone involved.

I’m not thrilled to announce this, but it will delay the publication of Code Yellow by some weeks. If the first pass took a month, how long the copy edit might take is a horrid thought. However, as she correctly pointed out, it’s approximately the same length as any three ‘normal’ paranormal books … so …

I was planning for winter 2024. But we might be looking at Spring 2024 … if we’re very lucky. Right now about the only thing I know for sure, is it will be sometime in the first half of 2024!

Pre-order status - Not yet known

💖Short Story thank you 💖 for my newsletter subscribers who were kind enough to leave reviews for the books. Delivering on your promised bribe is next on my list. Expect news shortly.

There are many other things waiting patiently-ish in the ever-lengthening queue in my brain. I have to get through most of that list before I can dive back into Yellow. I’ll keep you posted.

Book 6 – Market Forces

I still have the first draft of the cover and a few thousand words of outline. And I don’t see anything changing on that until I get Yellow out to my FABs (beta readers).
I’m preventing myself being excited about how much fun this one will be to create because I cannot write it yet, Too. Much. Stuff. To. Do. First.

July 2023

Book Four – Seeing Red in Gretna Green

Red — Final author revision in progress and it’s taking all my time this month until it’s ready to go to my editor for its copy edit. Everything else is waiting patiently-ish in the ever-lengthening queue in my brain.

Seeing Red — Pre-order status — LIVE! Get it here: 

Book Five – Code Yellow

29th May – 30th June With my editor for its first pass – I’m not thrilled it’s going to take so long and it may delay the publication of Code Yellow by some weeks. I was planning for winter 2024. We will have to see because it’s a VERY long book …

Pre-order status - Not yet known

Seeing Red is on track for autumn publication.

Code Yellow’s cover is with the cover artist and I expect the final version in August/September.

Book 6 – Market Forces

I have the first draft of the cover and a few thousand words of outline.

MAY 2023

Book Five – Code Yellow

29th May – Code Yellow in Gretna Green went to my editor for its first pass edit.

23rd May – Code yellow – First draft completed at 160,000 words – yeah, I cut this one pretty fine. But it’s done and I’m happy with it – really happy actually 🙂

Pre-order status - Not yet known

Book Four – Seeing Red in Gretna Green

26th May – I have the beta readers’ comments back . They seem to like it – YAY! My final revision begins on 31st May

1st-26th May—Beta Readers have Red

Pre-order status - Might be up soon

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APRIL 2023

Book Four – Seeing Red in Gretna Green

15th April – Red sent out to beta readers

6th April Editing Red (Second Draft) before formatting it for the Beta Readers.

RED—Pre-order status - Dola is undertaking reader research - Check the April newsletter!

Book Five – Code Yellow in Gretna Green

First draft is still in progress at 105,000 words. This is going to be a big book.

6th April – Cover designer booked for first draft of the cover for book 6.

Working title Market Forces in Gretna Green (may or may not be the final title)

MARCH 2023

Book Five – Code Yellow in Gretna Green

29th – Code Yellow first draft still in progress 56k words

15th – Code Yellow first draft in progress = 22k words

12th – First draft of the cover is very close to what I wanted – super pleased

Pre-order status - Not yet known

Book Four – Seeing Red in Gretna Green

29th – Cover almost complete just needs a few tweaks and the back cover copy/Amazon listing page blurb – which won’t be finalised until my beta readers have had their say.

15th – First pass edit returned to me – it needs a ton of work which will have to wait until I’m finished with the first draft of book five. (Otherwise that will miss its first slot with the editor.)

5th – First version of the book cover undergoing changes.

Pre-order status - Not yet known

FEBRUARY 2023

Book Four – Red

First draft complete at 95k words

Book Three – Ties

Feb 9th: Live on Amazon

Feb 6th: Bonus epilogue finalised, copy edited, formatted and uploaded

Feb 5th: Ties that Bond in Gretna Green – Published to Amazon

Feb 4th: Format complete

Feb 2nd: Proofreading complete

JANUARY 2023

Book Three – Ties

Final Cover completed

Definitely titled Ties that Bond in Gretna Green

January 25th: Final version of book sent to proofers

January 18th: Completed copy edit returned to me

January 11th Bonus epilogue completed

January 2nd Final draft (3rd in this case) completed.

Pre-order status - Available since November 5th.

Book Four – Red

First Draft = 20k words