I’ve just read my 2022 Writing Year in Review post, (you can read it here) and can assure you, I didn’t manage to stick to my carefully thought out first half of the year. Indeed, the only aspect I seem to have stuck is taking it a bit easier in December. I’ve not left myself with a huge looming deadline, although I haven’t accomplished all I might like to have done. But then, I often have unrealistic expectations of myself.
So, what have I been writing/editing in 2023? It’s time to turn to my trusty diary to find out.
In January, I submitted The Royal Women Who Made England: The Tenth Century in Saxon England a few days late – I didn’t correctly calculate how long the editing process would take. I was also working on book 2 of the Brunanburh series – this was a massive rewrite, adding 50% more content to the original version, and I was reediting A Conspiracy of Kings, ready for its book birthday in February. On a side note – it also seems that I undertook some much needed TLC on my iMac, which I’ve written down as ‘taking all afternoon.’ I think it might have slightly annoyed me, but the beast has been working much better ever since. But yes, I didn’t understand what I was doing in replacing the SSD hard drive but I’m glad I did. I also took a trip to Gloucester and I know I spent the entire train journey there, and back, editing Kings of War! (The things you remember). I have decided that if I ever struggle with a deadline, I’m just going to hop on a long train journey. It’s the ultimate means of isolating yourself.
In February, I was writing Protector of Mercia – which wasn’t my working title, and so has confused me as I put this together, and also editing Eagle of Mercia, not once but twice (copyedit and proofread), while King of Kings was released on 10th February.
For March, I set myself four pretty huge tasks – I’ve written them down on 1st March. But how did I get on? I finished the proofread for Eagle of Mercia. I worked on the structural edit for Kings of War, AND I was reediting Warrior King ready to have it made into an audio book, narrated by the trusty and fabulous Matt Coles.
While working on Clash of Kings, I discovered, much to my annoyance that Limerick in Ireland was not at all where I ‘thought’ it was, and so had to do a large rewrite. My geography is woeful. I should have taken the time to check before I started writing the scene. I was also editing Protector of Mercia, which I sent to my editor on 31st March. I also went to work for a week in the school AND we moved house. Jeez. What a month. It seems that my fourth project didn’t even get a look in (I’m not surprised). Let’s see what happened in April.
April began with a scramble for my internet connection, having moved house. I was due to present for The History Quill on 4th April. Luckily, the internet worked after a few stupid mistakes on my part. I finally made it back to my missed project 4 in March, which was The King’s Brother, which I edited and continued to write. I also wrote a short story. And, I was working on some form of edits for Protector of Mercia and Kings of War. All the frantic activity of the last few months paved the way for my Summer holiday in Orkney – the temperature peaked on the last day in the middle of May at 13 degrees, and I came home with a burned bright red face. The light is just different in Orkney. It was a glorious two weeks away, very much in isolation on one of the more northerly islands. We fell foul of the ferry running aground, but we managed to book an alternative route home.
May 3rd saw the release of Eagle of Mercia, and I came back to two weeks of very long hours during the summer exam period at my local school. I spent my weekends working on structural edits for Protector of Mercia, and even managed to sneak in a trip to London for the Boldwood Books summer party. I spent the last week in May frantically editing The King’s Brother, which I should have done months before. I didn’t get much writing done in these two months, and I knew I wouldn’t, that’s why March had been such a mad month.
June was another busy month, but not in terms of writing. I participated in Æthelfest at Tamworth and by the end of the month I had (and I’ve not written this down) worked on some edits for Clash of Kings. It also saw the release of The King’s Brother. It had been very hard to return to the world of the Earls of Mercia, but with the help of Lady Godgifu, a character I developed substantially for the book, I felt it worked really well.
July 12th saw the release of Kings of War and I was once more embroiled in editing, both Protector of Mercia and my non-fiction title, as well as the structural edit from hell for Clash of Kings because of a problem when I’d converted it in Vellum, managing to muddle all the chapters. August saw me beginning work on Icel book 6, now Enemies of Mercia, and I really tried to concentrate on the title as I felt I’d done little ‘new’ writing for quite some time.
September saw the release of Protector of Mercia, and I held my first Zoom with readers to celebrate the release. It went really well. I was copyediting Clash of Kings, and also working on the first proof for The Royal Women of the Tenth Century, and producing the index for it. When that was done, I got back to Enemies of Mercia which was nearly finished, but not quite. The index stretched to 13 pages. It was a huge task. Next time I write a non-fiction title, I might miss out everyone’s names.
October saw Enemies of Mercia sent to my editor, and some more work which took me away from my desk. But, never fear readers, November was just around the corner, and that meant it was time for National Novel Writing Month, and a very, very welcome return to the world of Coelwulf from The Last King, but not before the final proofread for Clash of Kings.
In November I wrote, wrote, wrote. Not as much as in the past, but I was determined to get back to a good daily habit, and so I didn’t push myself until I had time to write 5k a day, which wasn’t until later in the month, as I had a structural edit for Enemies of Mercia to work on. And the second proof for The Royal Women also arrived in my inbox.
For December, remember above I said I had to be kinder to myself, I’ve given myself the time to finish writing The Last Viking, the new Coelwulf book, as well as writing a short story on my way home from London, and I’ve also got a final proof for The Royal Women Who Made England to look at. On the whole, a much quieter December to that of 2022, and far more enjoyable. It’s hoped this will recharge my batteries for what I hope will be a busy 2024, with another Coelwulf, Icel, Earls of Mercia and something new in the pipeline.
In terms of words written this year, a very rough tally sets it at about 340k, which is one of my lowest since 2017 – see my little chart below. (I can’t correctly determine all of the words written – I sometimes wish Word tracked how many words I deleted as well as how many I added). This might also be because some of my record keeping has been poor. My most prolific day was March 28th when I wrote 7000 words.
For 2024, I’m determined to work on my planning – not always easy with structural, copyedits and proofreads coming at me from all angles, but I am going to try and ensure I have more periods of time when I can write in a sustained way. I only managed this for three months in 2023. My style of writing means that I have to write quickly, or, quite frankly, I lose the thread of the story. I am, after all, a pantser, not a planner, and my characters very much lead the story. Sometimes, I need to give them a bit of time to decide what it is they intend to do.
Forthcoming releases with be Clash of Kings, The Royal Women Who Made England, The Last Viking and Enemies of Mercia. There will also be the fourth part of The Brunanburh Series later in the year. I had thought 2024 would be a quieter year, but clearly not.
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I will be sharing my reading year in review soon – there’s a lot of historical mystery in there:)