A year ago today I promised myself that I would stop dreaming of being a writer and get on and become one. At this point, I had twenty years worth of manuscripts sitting on my computer desktop, desperately in need of readers. I also had such an impressive history of getting accepted and then the company folding or deciding to pull out of the UK that I was starting to think that I ought to be paid by publishing companies to go away…
And now here I am, with amazing readers and my books earning enough to cover my costs and make a nice bit on top, so thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I’m now moving into a new phase of writing, so there’ll be fewer books and more new writing, which I love doing. There’ll be anthologies for my lovely readers who don’t live in the States and the UK and don’t have Kindle Unlimited because it’s not fair that they can’t get discounts.
There are more Amy Hammond’s in progress, a new series to follow on from Lavender House and a couple of books that may or may not go anywhere depending on how much you like them. So please, I need your feedback badly to help me plan. Amy is by far and away people’s favourite, but I don’t know if that means that you’ve been busy reading her stories so haven’t tried the others. Time will tell.
A couple of people have asked me how I write so fast. Part of it is that I don’t, because I had such a backlog and the rest is because my characters grow in my mind until they have to be written. Then I write a fast first draft when my family can’t see any point in talking to me, let it sit for a while, research what I now know I need to, and then give it four or five edits. This means that I have a fair few books on the go at different stages. On top of that, I’m always on the lookout for strange stories in our local papers and people watch shamelessly whenever I can. So if you’re ever in Dorset and you see me wandering around with an abstracted look on my face, then I’m probably plotting and scheming… but please say hello, because I can’t say this often enough. I wrote for years, but I’m only a writer because I have readers, and you’re all amazing!
And today’s picture is of the view from the Brownsea Island ferry on a sunny spring day when all the world seems to be coming back to life after its winter's sleep. May we all have many more of them and a good summer.
