Category Archives: My Journey- Published Author

Bloggers, Reviewers & Book Clubs Wanted!

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Ok, so my 1st  book is complete (as you know if you’ve been reading along on my blog), I’m now at the edit and submit stage. This is ticking along  nicely and each day I get more excited; I just wish I didn’t  have a day job so I  could spend all day working on this baby.

What I’m after now is to seek out any potential book bloggers, reviewers and book clubs who may be interested in reading  the first 3 chapters of my book, and giving their initial honest thoughts. If you like what you read, then I’ll  chuck in a free whole copy for you when it’s released. Is that you? If so keep reading.

My 1st book is a romance/ suspense story set in London, France (Paris and southern France) and the UK English coastal area, modern, exiting and I’d like to think engaging. Women all over the world of any age and race should be able to relate to my Heroine and Hero’s drama I’ve plot out for them, and no it’s not your average love triangle drama. (So she says). If you’re interested  post a comment below, or send me an email via the contact me page above. I’d love to hear from you.

While you’re here if you have not already why not sign up to follow my blog or Twitter account, so you can keep up to date on the future release (September 2016), gossip and interact with me I’d love to hear from you, yes you behind the PC.

@kimknight_author (Twitter account)

 

 

 

 

Day #65: The Editing Challenge

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65 days until my publisher’s submission date  my 1st book is complete, well as complete as I think it can be on my first draft. So now I’m at the stage where I’m doing the challenging job of a self edit before I submit. I want my first piece of work to be the best it can be and be as happy with it as possible.

I’m only 3 chapters into editing, good news is I have managed to slightly reduce my word count and I’m happy with how the first 3 chapters flow; as it’s these all important first 3 chapters that scored me a publishing contract and what will (hopefully) entice and grab readers to stick with reading my book and hopefully enjoy it.

What I’ve learned so far is that I don’t envy professional editors at all, this job is a challenge! So many things to be on the look out for it’s not just grammar and use of English. Point of views, enhancement and flow are just a few. My brain is whirling right now.

It’s enjoyable to read your work back and see areas to be improved or even removed to end up with a  better version but it is by no means an easy job.

That said, I’ve set myself a challenge  to edit 2 chapters a day, everyday and I should be done with my first edit by mid June. I read a really interesting blog post on Writer’s Digest indicating that you should read your novel over 5 times checking for 5 different things before you submit;  whoah! I’ve got 92,000 words down on paper y’all.But I guess it be worth it right?

Any self editors out there? How many times do you/ have you done an edit of your work before you actually submitted to your publisher or self published?

What made you sure that this is it, my work is ready to be submitted or self published, no more editing I’m done.

Did you do a challenge like me or take a more relaxed approach?

Day #71 I’ve Completed My book!

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Oh wow, I’ve done it I have really done it.  I’ve been writing every chance I got solidly and with 71 days to go until my deadline to submit to my publisher, just now I wrote the last chapter, the last paragraph and the last word of my first book. I’ve got 93,000 words down on paper and I am over the moon.

It’s hard to explain how else I feel apart from relief that I will  meet my deadline, joy at my achievement, nervousness over the whole editing process I’m about to do before I finally submit and excitement over the  release of my first book in September.

Was it hard work? Yes! But I never lost my mojo or experienced writer’s block funny enough I really got into the story, was it a challenge? Hell yes! But a very enjoyable one. Would I do it again? Of course in a heart beat I still have 2 more book ideas.

Over the next 71 days I’ll start the editing process to chop down some words, check over my research and also make sure that the final manuscript is the best it can be. If you missed my earlier post on editing I’ve decided to take some advice from this article I read which you can view here in this post. If you missed the earlier post on what it is that I’m actually writing oh sorry make that what I’ve WROTE then you can read all about that here

Stay tuned, I’ll keep blogging on how the editing process is going and any random interesting thoughts also.

 

Day #79 (What a Badass!)

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I hit a mile stone of 80,000 words this eve, it’s Friday night and still the night is young only 10.00pm , I’m fully awake and ready to go for hours. I took a break and checked in on Twitter, I read a really uplifting tweet by a fellow writer who liked one of my tweets so naturally I went to her  Twitter page and found she had posted this  article from Writers’ Digest ” 7 Reasons why Writing a Book Makes You a Badass”, I like the sound of that! I read it and smiled all the way through.

The article filled me with pride, motivation, joy, hope  and  renewed my can do attitude to complete my book and publish that badboy! 

I never started this book with the mission to become the next Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jackie Collins, EL James, Martina Cole or JK Rowling  some badass female writers who have made millions from their work in well respected genres, no I started for me, my enjoyment and to get down 1 of 3 story ideas I have on paper. It’s not about money or fame it’s about accomplishment to do this hard but seriously addictive and enjoyable job of writing a book now that I have scored a publishing contact for it. While being a mother, working full time and getting on with life I feel a great sense of motivation kicking in  this evening to finish up the last few chapters and start my editing process, so thank you to the writer who tweeted this.

I better get back to writing, just wanted to share this article with everyone out there who has thought of writing a book or is currently writing, read the link below and get back to your lap top and write you badass 🙂

Click me you badass

 

Day #92

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Pinch punch it’s the 1st of the month which means I have just 92 days until my final submission date for my completed book, to my publisher. Scary! Less than 100 days to go. But I’ve been on a roll in between the day job, nappy changes, nap time and any other time I can steal to sit in this very spot behind my lap top;  I am more than confident that I’ll make it. Also booked a holiday just 2 days after my submission date to have some quality time with my family, and make up for all the hours spent right here behind this lap top solidly writing. I can’t wait for both dates, submission and holiday.

I feel the next 92 days will probably be the most important 92 days of my life! And so I will share here and there my progress, thoughts and experiences in the run up to submission day.

A few weeks ago, something so surreal happened to me, I walked into Waterstones (the UK’s number 1 book store you could say) on a busy Saturday morning, as usual my eyes lit up as I took in the shelves and tables piled high with books, new releases and special offers etc. I head to the lift and stopped dead as I entered (literally); my eyes bulged open wide as I  thought wow in a few months MY book will be available in Barnes and Noble in the USA, maybe just maybe someone will take time out from their busy Saturday schedule, to  head to the book store on a mission to find and buy MY book, also MY book will be available on the shelf of  a well respected book store for others to brows, pick up and indulge in a little romance and suspense .

I stepped into the lift with some very normal people, who I’m sure were a bit unsure just how normal I was as I had the biggest smile on my face and I actually let out a little laugh with excitement, inside I high fived myself. I’m sure they thought I was laughing at ”the voices” in my head or I was some kinda crazy as there really was no reason to let out a laugh, in a packed lift, on it’s way to the 5th floor…. Hey what do I care! I was high as a kite on excitement and adrenaline. 

Today, I realised just how much I’m really eating,sleeping and breathing my characters. While preparing my son’s breakfast in mid stir of his porridge this morning, it came to me that last night I had mistyped my Heroine’s date of birth; the year I typed would have made her 30 during the time frame /scene I was writing, not 32 as originally planned/mentioned so far in the story. I wrote this scene at about midnight last night, and at 8.00am this  morning I remembered an error I had made?? It just popped into my head like a mental note that I need to buy some milk LOL.

Of course, mid stir of my son’s porridge I did what all women and mamas out there do, I multi tasked…. one hand reached for the lap top, the other stirred  the porridge I located the paragraph and edited the DOB for my Heroine phewwwwwww!  One less thing to edit.

 If you’re a writer reading this has anything random like this ever happened to you while writing your manuscript? Do you go into complete eat, sleep, breath characters mode in the final throws of completion?

Speaking of editing, I read a really interesting article about ” how to” edit your manuscript before you turn it in to your agent or publisher as a completed piece of work. This article  described a good editing process as the ”5 Re-read Program”. You may even know you it yourself, but as this is my first ever submission experience it’s new to me!

The program suggests writers read their completed work 5 times and look for 5 different things each time 1. content 2. enhancement 3. sentence level 4. the little things 5.audible read.I’ve decided I actually will try this process myself as it seems pretty detailed, have you heard of this? Or even tried it yourself? How do you go about your final edit process before you submit if you’re a writer reading this?

So on to progress then, well the count down begins and at day #92 I have hit 60,000 words! I think I underestimated myself as I had in my head that my total word count on completion would be about 50-55,000, obviously when it comes to the editing process the count will probably reduce but I’m about just over mid point in the story and already hit 60,000 I have surprised myself! I’ve also learned that when you plot out your synopsis  for a story, it really is hard to say how it will transfer into a word count.

Right now, I’m at the point where the scenes/plots  have built up ready for me to bring all the drama I have mapped out for my characters towards the middle and end, and really develop  the emotional aspect of the story; I’m at a more challenging point of writing (I feel personally). Now I’m writing different points of views and really need to become these characters in order to  write their scene/POV the best I can and more importantly as realistically as I can.  I’m also bringing the drama to the story and this in my head and on paper is perfect, but getting it right in words is a challenge- that I’m really enjoying; may be I’m just being too hard on myself about how I’m writing ? I’ve found  that I’m  reading and re-reading, chopping, adding and all sorts but I guess it’s all part of the craft.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on some of the things I’ve mentioned if you’re a writer or published author what was / is your experience? And if you’re not a writer but have a POV let me know!

So as I enter day 92 of the count down, the focus is POVs and building some  (more) drama in this romance/suspense story I am just loving writing.

Catch you soon

 

 

 

 

 

A Tiny Taste of What’s to Come

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Well, I thought I’d give you all a bit of a taste of what  I’m writing currently, that’s due for release in September 2016.  I’m keeping my cards very  close to my chest! But here is a taster of what inspired the story.

 It’s a modern day romance/suspense story with, glitz and glam, old sckool falling in love, and of course emotional at times. Within the story for the Heroine she has  ”conflicts” that the average women could relate to,  her conflicts are in no way old fashioned or a plot that has been done and dusted a million times (as far as I know) and it is not a typical ” love triangle”. There are some themes that may have in the past and currently do impact on everyday women regardless of age or race  in our day to day society.

The story  is set in  my home town the city of London UK,the south of France and the English coast, UK. Why 3 different settings you say? Well this is a roller coaster and whirlwind romance story (with added suspense), the twists in the plot need different locations to keep the plot alive, and relate to the Hero and Heroine and their current life situations and conflicts I have plot out for them. In addition to this, I just love diversity so why keep the story in one central place? It works so I’m rollin’ with it y’all.

 Romance generally speaking as a genre for me is all about love, emotion, escaping and the sexy times  too but it’s important to me personally, that romance is believable and realistic as well. Yes there can be some glitz and  glam and extravagance  but the underlining issues should be realistic, believable and even shocking if need be. Me I’ve  tried to go for all 3 realistic, believable and in some places a little surprising.

What inspired this story was life, my love for the country France, its language and culture. I also really like how society is made up in this day and age,  and wanted to reflect this. In London you will find so many different cultures  and so my  characters  represent the normal people I see in society  day to day, this is not an all white or all black character line up it’s just like London diverse. I also feel that sometimes when I’m reading books are just not diverse enough in character and the writer writes what they know, the culture they know, the race they know etc too one sided.

Now you may think, this is boring what’s the suspense? Where’s the romance? Where’s the glitz and glam ? Where’s the conflict for the characters? And where the hell are the sexy times?… Well, dear reader this is all the juicy stuff; and if I told you I would ruin the surprise and my publisher would probably kill me! But what I will say is I’m loving every moment of writing and I am writing from the heart , and I hope you enjoy, in fact I am glued to the lap top every chance I can get. And still can’t believe I am about to be a published author. What a head f*ck LOL.

Stay tuned ! Via blog or Twitter. Get to know me, I don’t bite (most of the time), and you’ll get regular updates too on the release of my 1st book.

 

 

Alluring Book Covers

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I’ve given my publisher a brief on what I’d like my book cover to look like, again it’s what I like.  But when it comes to alluring book covers what catches your eye? What makes you stop, take a step closer, pick up a book off the shelf and read the blurb? Title, pictures or something else?

Same when browsing on -line for a potential book to read, or even if you just happen to see a book cover that takes your fancy on- line; what is it that will make you click ” read more” about this book?

By now you should know my up and coming book is a romance suspense ;so I’m particularly referring to romance genre books. And do you think that a cover can be too sexy?

Give me honest opinions… tweet me or comment below!

 

Character Development… Humm

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As I’m now knee deep in writing the plot for my story, character development has been playing on my mind a lot. This is something I really want to get right in my first book. To me, what has made some of the best books I’ve ever read would be the characters; or even if it was not the best storyline or book in the world well rounded characters kept me turning pages.

So, in my personal view, I know what I like when it comes to main characters in plots, but now I am no longer writing for myself! I’d like to know what the masses think about character development. What makes a character memorable? likeable? Stand out and not just appear flat.

I thought of some of the books I have read with characters I really enjoyed, even if I did not like the actual character. Gillian Flynn’s ” Gone Girl” came to mind, the main female character I hated her but the point is I could tell she was a crack pot with a super twisted personality right the word go as I read that book. (Which I love), also ”Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn, some super dark and twisted characters in that one too they really stood out.  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ” Americanah” the main female character just popped in her writing,  strong, bold, a no shit kinda women, but she also has a soft side -I loved her and the book too.

See where I’m going with this? For you what makes a character ”well developed” and memorable even if you did not like them? Is it important to like them? Or identify with them in some way?  Especially in a romance novel if you’re a big romance reader.

I could not identify with Gillian Flynn’s main female character in ” Gone Girl” but I sure do remember that chick! She’s crazy as hell.

Comment below or tweet me I’d love to hear your thoughts.

 

 

 

OMG! …. I done it

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If someone told me that at the age of 33, while juggling motherhood and a full time job that I’d also become a published author- I would have looked at them and laughed! Seriously, I would have. My love for reading and writing goes way  back to my school days, in fact I wanted to be an English teacher in school. I’m not far off, I am a qualified teacher  and that’s my day job but English is not my subject sadly. As an adult, my love for English, books and words continued as I have run a book club here in London for women only for  4 years come May, and I love it. 

But, it’s happened, I did it I answered a publisher’s call for new writers by following their submission process of a few chapters, and I got a contract. Literally, when I saw the email back from the publisher my first thought before I even opened it was ” hummm did not take them long to reject my work”. After all it was my first ever submission, when I saw the positive praise of my work, and then opened the contract  and document to write a brief for my book cover my head was gone! I lost it, grabbed my son threw him in the air and we celebrated with the ” chicken dance”, his favourite dance around the living room. Have you ever done the ” chicken dance” with a 2 year old? It really is quite fun!

So I guess you’d like to know exactly what it is I’m writing… a romance suspense story, 1 of 3 story ideas that I have plot out. What is it about? Ah can’t tell ya that much yet, just stay tuned to the blog and Twitter and all will be revealed. What I can say is, between my publisher and I we’re hoping for release date later this year  tentatively September 2016, so I better get writing and ensure I meet my submission deadline for that to happen!

I’m mid way  through writing my novel but as I’m writing,  I will be updating the blog, and also interacting on Twitter about life, writing and day to day things… maybe even make- up & and fashion, I can’t stop talking about either subjects… forgive me, no don’t that’s just me :), sorry I love these subjects.

Thanks for reading and give me a follow on the blog and Twitter !

Kim