My 2018 in Writing

I wanted to do a bit of a 2018 round up to bring together all the writing activities I’ve done in what’s proved to be another busy year.

Events

• Attended 2 budget writing retreats (in caravans) organising one of them and just going to the other one. These were a great way to focus on writing, spend time with people who understand what it’s like to be an author, and all for a very affordable price.
• Went to the RNA Conference in Leeds. I love this as it’s the main way to reconnect with author friends from all over the country. It’s all so chock full of great content of workshops, panels and of course, who can forget the gala dinner and the kitchen parties.
• Delivered 5 writing workshops with my partner in sarcasm and writing crimes, Virginia Heath.
• Until July, I was on the UK Meet organising committee when I decided to hand over the reins to others.
  

Books

• Written and self edited 4 books: The Rewilding of William, Nick and Tony, Bjorn and Fabian, Kieran and Friends.
• This was the year when I finally got round to self publishing. I’d been meaning to do this for a while, with about 8 backlist books with rights reversions languishing and needing to be re-released. I’m really pleased I finally grasped the KDP bull by the self publishing horns. Now I know about widows and orphans in paperbacks, justified text and how Kindle create works.
• Self published 3 of my back list as paperback and e-books: The Guardian Angel, Wrong Room Right Guy, And Then That Happened. All these paperbacks are still at sale price as I’ve not yet put them back up to normal price, if you fancy grabbing a bargain.
• Self published 1 non-fiction book as e-book and paperback: Marketing The Romance
• Self published as paperback: A New Life For Christmas (which was already available as an e-book)
• I’ve had 4 books published with publishers: The Journalist and the Dancer, Kev books 1 and 2, I Should Be So Lucky. Each of these involved numerous rounds of editing.
• Self edited 2 books I’d written a few years ago, rescuing them from languishing on my hard drive.

Submissions

I’ve done 21 submissions. This is to editors, agents, and direct to publishers.

Manuscript Appraisals

5 Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers Scheme appraisals. I’ve been a reader for this scheme since 2014 and it’s a great scheme if you can get on it. If you can’t, then I am happy to do manuscript appraisals privately.

What about 2019?

I’ve already got a list of the 4 books I’m planning to write in 2019. Plus I have a more blacklist books to self publish so I can share them with readers who may have missed them the first time around, this time with shiny new covers.

I hope you've enjoyed reading some of my stories, interacting with me on social media, or seeing me in person. Here's to a great 2019,

Love and light,

Liam xx