In theory, this suspiciously immaculate desk is where the books get written.
In reality — not so much!
I like to keep it tidy.
Which means my reality is writing takes place on my bed, sofa, or any random windowsills with a convenient height that I can call ‘a standing desk.’
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 bring 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 ten, eleven, MORE than twelve months 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.
July 2024
Coming soon … a bonus short novella. (Seven chapters/14,000 words)
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
Right: Alnwick Beach, Northumberland.
I love the poppies!
Lucy loves any dead fish she can find to roll on. 😠
Below: Same beach Lucy making the most of the shade provided by her parents.
Market Forces in Gretna Green is with my editor for the first pass edit and I’m on holiday.
I’ll be back in July to do the edits and get it out to my beta readers.
I hope you’re all having a lovely summer too.
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 next month.
Pre-order status - is live for Autumn publication. Get it here
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
The state of the pup
She’s doing well. She’s less bored now she’s finished with her crate rest.
Now she’s more work, because of all the things she can’t do yet. Run, stand on her back legs, jump onto ‘her’ chair. etc.
24/7 supervision is the name of the game.
The vet is delighted with her progress and believes she will get full movement back.
She lost a lot of weight and as she wasn’t overweight to begin with there has been an excess of chicken and even peanut butter for a good girl 💖
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.
—
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
Coming soon.
There will be a newsletter with the usual download link once I get it back from my editor and I’ve formatted it.
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.
June 2023
Book Four – Seeing Red in Gretna Green
Pre-order is up. All the information is on this blog post here.
Final Cover artwork received.
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
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