Tag: 2022

Check out my 2022 and 2023 posts.

So, what have I been writing/editing in 2024? As ever, it’s time to turn to my trusty diary to find out, but I’ve also been keeping a spreadsheet this year so it’s much easier to work out exactly what I’ve been writing, and when I was writing it. So here goes:

In January, I instigated my ‘new approach’ to writing, following a disappointing writing year in 2023. Was I harsh on myself with my assessment of 2023 ? I don’t think so, and certainly my new approach has ensured I wrote a lot more in 2024 than in 2023. So, my new approach is simple, I write at least 2000 words a day, every day. Did I manage every day? I certainly did not, but when I wasn’t working at my very seasonal job in the local school (or I must admit, on holiday), I managed to write at least 2000 words a day almost every day. This might sound a little crazy, but writing for me is a bit of a necessity. If I don’t exercise my creative mind, I am plagued (yes, plagued) by rather weird dreams. If I wasn’t writing, I would be really stuck.

In January, I began my new writing routine by finishing off the first draft for The Last Viking, and then swiftly moved onto the next Icel story. Somewhat bizarelly, it’s this book, Betrayal of Mercia, which is being released on 5th January 2025. I was very ahead of the game. I also spent a bit of time working on edits for Enemies of Mercia and Conflict of Kings. It was my sixth most productive month. Not a bad start. It was also the month that Clash of Kings was released, the third book in the Brunanburh series, as well as my first non fiction title, The Royal Women Who Made England.

At this point, I’m also going to wax a little lyrical about another lifestyle change I made which was to start exercising every morning. This, I’ve found, wakes me up much better than caffeine and sets me up really well for the rest of the day. It can be anything from 10 minutes up to about half an hour, and I use an online app to decide what I’m going to do each day. I don’t complicate matters by trying to get to the gym, and my equipment is steadily growing at him. It’s made me much stronger, and now, like writing, I struggle if I don’t take the time to do a little bit each day.

In February, my fifth most productive writing month, I was working on six different projects – which is kind of crazy. I finished my first draft of Betrayal of Mercia, scooted back to the next Coelwulf book, The Last Alliance, and also started work on my Dark Ages series, the first book of which, Men of Iron, will be releasing in April 2025. Aside from that, I also had some work to do on The Last Viking, Protector of Mercia and Kings of Conflict. So, by now I was in the swing of things. I write in the morning and then in the afternoon I work on edits, either structural, copy or proofreads. It means my creative side gets all excited in the morning, and then I can buckle down in the afternoons and get on with the other very important processes for a self-confessed pantser (I plan very little about my writing).

March was my third most productive writing month. I wrote the vast majority of the first draft of what would become The Last Alliance, and also did some editing for Betrayal of Mercia and Kings of Conflict. March also saw the welcome release of The Last Viking, the first Coelwulf book for a few years. It was so much fun to be back with Coelwulf and his friends. He is my most favourite character to write because it’s just like releasing all the tension and stress through his language and general attitude to life. I wish I could be ‘more’ Coelwulf all the time.

April was my seventh most productive writing month, with much of it taken up with work on Men of Iron, although I did start the month with the first 10,000 words of what became The Last Deceit. I didn’t realise I’d been playing with that book for quite so long. At this point, I was largely adhering to my 2000 words a day endeavour, although with a holiday and my time in school on the horizon, it was all about to come to a bit of a halt. It also saw the release of Enemies of Mercia, book 6 in the stories of young Icel.

May was my eighth most productive month of 2024, coming in at 29,000 words for the month, so very much below my intended target of 2,000 words a day. But, I was on holiday and busy with exams at the local school, and I was ahead of my schedule that I’d written at the start of the year, so I didn’t mind too much. I was finishing the first draft of Men of Iron, and I also started work on the sequel to Men of Iron, which should be called Warriors of Iron when it’s released in August 2025.

June was a write-off (literally). I managed a massive 1000 words all month. Not only was I just back from holiday and busy in school, but I ended up with my first official bout of ‘Covid’ which was a most odd experience. However, I was able to release The Last Alliance at the end of June, which I was very pleased about.

July was a muddled month with a holiday to Norfolk (yes, I made it to Suffolk and Sutton Hoo), but it was my tenth most productive month, so not very productive at all, as I reworked some of Men of Iron.

For August, I was back to it. It was my most productive month, coming in at just under 85,000 words written on a variety of projects, I had to make up for lost time. I was writing Warriors of Iron and The Last Deceit, and editing Betrayal of Mercia as well as Men of Iron. I don’t want you feeling sorry for me because September, I knew, was going to be a difficult writing month with my long-awaited trip to Devon and slow journey there and back to take in A LOT of historical sites I needed to visit for Men of Iron and other projects. 6th August saw the release of Kings of Conflict, the final book in the Brunanburh series.

September was my eleventh most productive month, or second from last:) I worked on structural edits for Men of Iron, endeavouring to weave into the narrative some of the places I’d visited on my travels to and from Devon.

October was my fourth most productive month. My main tasks for the month were working on initial drafts for Warriors of Iron and The Last Deceit. I also worked on copyedits for Men of Iron and Betrayal of Mercia. This was the first time I managed to keep track of how many words I removed from the edited copy during the proofread. It was not that many words, but I faithfully recorded all of them, which gave me a net minus 3.

November is the month every year when I allow myself to write absolutely anything I want. This year saw me returning to a project from 2018 and starting to ‘fix’ many of the problems with it – the biggest one being there was simply too much story to fit into one book. I now intend to make it a trilogy, and using about 20,000 words from the first draft, I added a further 59,000 to it as well as working on some editing and structural edits of other projects. It was a busy month, but November is always really important to me. Deadlines and editing can really drain me of my creativity. November allows me to be excited about something entirely new and without deadlines (although, not so new this time as it was an older project). Watch this space to find out what I’m going to do with it.

For December, I was once more busy in the local school, and travelling to meet fellow Viking authors, and other authors more local to me. All the same, I’ve been busy writing, finally getting back to Icel, who I’ve neglected of late. That said, I’ve known where this new story would go ever since I finished working on the first draft Betrayal back in January. At the moment, my working title is Icel of Mercia, but I’m sure that won’t be the published title. December has been my ninth most productive writing month, but even as I write this, I know I have a few more writing days to go, so it will increase. December will also see the release of The Last Deceit. I’ve just managed to get the 3 Coelwulf books in, as promised.

All in all, I’ve enjoyed my writing in 2024. There are always moments when it’s an effort, and moments when it feels easy, but my new writing routine, or what I now call ‘minimising the stress around first drafts’ has really helped me. Ensuring I’m working on something while editing another project ensures I have time for my stories to settle before I edit them, and also allows me to plant all those lovely Easter Eggs I love to scatter through the many different series. I pity the person who tries to work out which book I was writing when in the future.

I have two newish projects under way, my November project, and also the beginnings of another nonfiction title. I also have two of my three Boldwood titles complete bar some of the editing, and Icel 8 is shaping up nicely as well. For next year, I want to continue my current practice of writing at least 2000 words each morning, and editing in the afternoon. It works really well with my writing style. Everyone has different styles. It’s important to determine what works, and when it stops working, to find something else. 2024 was the year I revamped what had been working for me for many years. It’s also allowed me to methodically plan, even if I didn’t always keep to the plan.

In terms of words written this year, it comes in at about 570k. It’s not my best year, which was 2019, but it’s so much better than in 2023, I’m really pleased.

Forthcoming releases for 2025 will be Betrayal of Mercia, Men of Iron, Warriors of Iron in August, Icel 8 in October and hopefully, a new Erdington Mystery (I have a title, which is a good sign for that series) and my November 2024 project which I need to finish but which will probably be released under a different author name. I also hope to return to Coelwulf, but I’m not promising 3 titles in the series as I did in 2024. That was almost too much for me. In terms of writing, I need to finish the Dark Age Chronicles (I’ve stated it will be a trilogy – I have too many characters as it is,) and continue with the lovely Icel.

A huge thank you to all my wonderful readers who allow me to spend my time with my characters. It is a privilege.

If you want to follow my writing journey, join my newsletter. I update readers each month.

I will be sharing my reading year in review soon.

To fellow writers, remember, to be a writer you first must write, but you also have to write the way that works for you. Good luck.

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.

If you want to follow my writing journey, join my newsletter. I update readers each month, and you can also join my Facebook group.

I will be sharing my reading year in review soon – there’s a lot of historical mystery in there:)

2022 has been a busy writing year. Routine has been important, as has setting firm deadlines and also having some well-deserved time off. I’ve also distracted myself from my constant need to write by taking a few weeks away from the keyboard to work my very part-time job. People think I’m nuts, but the only way to dampen down my mind is to fill it with something else! It helps that I can trust myself to get things done and knuckle down when I need to. I’m adopting the same approach to 2023. I’ve already got the first six months mapped out writing-wise.

So, what have I been writing/editing in 2022?

In January, I re-edited Pagan Warrior and finished writing Wolf of Mercia.

In February, I edited Cragside and started work simultaneously on Warrior of Mercia and The Last Seven while also editing Pagan King. I worked myself hard because I knew what was coming later in the year.

I continued to work on Warrior of Mercia and The Last Seven throughout March, and finished my first draft of Warrior of Mercia in April. This allowed me to start work on my first non-fiction book, due out sometime in 2024 with Pen and Sword books.

During May and June, I had a bit of a hiatus as I was on a wonderful holiday in Orkney and also working my part-time job. But I did complete an edit on Warrior of Mercia during the late May half-term, so I did a bit of writing:)

When I finally got back to my writing in July, I was back to working on The Last Seven, having completed my copyedits for Warrior of Mercia.

Throughout August, I worked on what is now King of Kings, and also devoted the month to my non-fiction project.

During September, I wrote a lot more for King of Kings, having decided to play around with the original book, and began work on Icel 4, which I finished the first draft of in October. I also worked on a short story that precedes the events in King of Kings.

And then, I spent November working on the next book in the Earls of Mercia series, The King’s Brother, while during December, I returned to my non-fiction project, did some editing on Icel 4, now entitled Eagle of Mercia, and worked on my non-fiction book. I also completed an edit on The Lady of Mercia’s Daughter to go with the fabulous new cover.

For all my careful planning, December was a very full-on month, and I worked right up until 6pm on 23rd December because I needed to get some editing done. Next year, I need to be a bit more wary of just how short December can feel.

In terms of words written this year, I don’t keep a strict record, but I would place it at about 500,000. I don’t think it’s my biggest tally to date, but it’s still been very busy. For anyone curious about my writing routine, I’ll be presenting on it for The History Quill masterclass in April 2023. You can find the details on the link. I think a good daily routine is so important for writers, and so I’m going to be talking about how I do what I do:)

I also took the time to attend several conventions, virtually (The History Quill Convention, The HNSNA one-day convention, and the IMC in Leeds – which feeds my non-fiction needs) as well as in-person (The HNS Conference in Durham, and one on the Bamburgh Bones). I tried my hand at Saxon-era embroidery and of course, spent more time making mugs at the local pottery. I might have shared photos of my slightly wonky attempts.

I can’t see that I did a post on my writing throughout 2021, but I have found my 2020 post about my writing during Lockdown.

If you want to see what I was reading during 2022, then check it out here.