Questions From Readers - Part Four

A few weeks ago, Joey asked on her Facebook page for anyone with questions to email her about her books, being a writer, being disabled and anything else. This is the first batch of answers, feel free to send your own questions to Joey via email to bugbooks@virginmedia.com and she'll include them in the next post she does.

Why doesn't Tara lay down when she knows she's getting a vision?
That's a good question and it was actually this one that sparked my decision to ask for more questions. I was recently asked by one of my beta readers why, when Tara knows she's going to get a vision, doesn't she lie down? I explained that although she's smart enough to know that she's going to have something like a seizure and could end up with a lot of bruises, it's never been something that I've thought of before. I can say that the area in which she has her visions in Mike's office has been cleared so the only things there are her chair and the floor. I realise that I may not have made it clear in the books and will make a note to mention it in later books. I guess I could also say that sometimes she's caught up in the moment. One such example is in THIRD WISH, when she was at work and no one else knew that she would have seizures. Lying down wasn't something she could do without drawing attention to the fact that she'd know that she was going to have one. I do admit to the mistake though in regards to the ones she brings on herself either in private, or when working a case with Mike.

Is there any particular order to your books?
This is another question I got before opening the floor up for other questions. The standalone books, such as BLACKOUT and LYNNE & HOPE don't have any particular order. Although there is a little Easter egg in LYNNE & HOPE that would only be spotted by those who have read BLACKOUT, they are written completely separate and can be read in any order. However, the DYING THOUGHTS series books go in a particular order, and are numbered, although I do hope that they could be read out of order and not confuse the reader too much.

When is the next book going to come out? What's it about?
The next book is scheduled to be released in June or July of 2014. It's a different kind of book, as it doesn't fit into the crime and mystery genre. It is young adult, but is more of a romance book and it's about two teenagers who come from completely different lives. One is well off and in a loving home, the other lives in a tiny village and faces both bullying at school and some emotional and mental abuse at home. They meet online and under the guise of rescuing the other, they meet up.

Where's your favourite writing spot?
I don't really have a favourite spot. I feel that I can write anywhere if the mood takes. The bulk of my work is done on my home PC in my office, but I can also be found writing at the local Starbucks, Costa and soft play areas. I have made myself pretty much mobile because of the time I find I spend in hospital and I don't like that to stop the flow of creativity.

What's favourite part of being a writer?
My favourite part is that I get to tell stories for a living. I can create people from nothing and make them do what I want. I can plot and carry out murders, and I can also make sure those who commit them usually pay for their crimes. As I wrote in a recent guest blog, I've done many things as a writer and I love the creative side of it most of all.

Why do you write your books so far in advance?
As most of you will have read, I am disabled and chronically ill. Some weeks I'll write a chapter a day and other times, I'll only manage half of one in a fortnight. My life is so up and down because of the conditions I suffer from that I find it easier to write when I can and part of that means writing when the inspiration strikes and not restricting myself too much.

How long does it take from finished book to editing to publication?
Ah, well that will depend on the book. Generally speaking, once I finish a book, I save it and leave it until a year before it's due to be published. At which point I will go through it and make sure it's telling the story the way I want it to. After that it goes off to my editor, Kim, who reads through it and sends back corrections and we have many a discussion over Skype about any issues such as plot holes or grammar stuff. Once that's done and all the corrections have been made, I'll offer it out to advance readers, who not only get a free copy of the book, but also get to tell me if there is anything in it that has been missed by either me or my editor. Kim does an excellent job - you should see the state the books start in! Once it's gone through all of those stages, we decide on a publication date - usually within a month - and go from there with promotion and all of that.

How much time do you spend writing every day?
As I said above because of my chronic conditions, it really does depend on how good I'm feeling. However, an average good day involves at least some writing. It's not all book writing though, some of it is blog pieces or guest blog posts. Interviews come under that heading too as well as making posts on Facebook to connect with readers. If I'm having a bad day, then it's very rare that any writing gets done. I try to do four chapters a fortnight and generally speaking, I usually manage it. Sometimes I do more and declare those as "bonus" chapters, other times it's a struggle to get the first four done.

Do you have any tips for developing an idea into an actual book?
This is a hard question to answer. I know how I go about developing ideas, but I do believe that you have to find what works for you. Ideas for me start as just a general outline, if they are going to be turned into books then I need to know that they are big enough to be moulded into chapters and a storyline. Some ideas stay as just that, whereas others start out with a load of notes and planning and then never get past the first few chapters because the story is not fleshed out enough. I usually do come back and use the characters or try again to do something with it. It's mostly trial and error and you have to keep pushing yourself and trying new ways to flesh the ideas out before you give up completely, or find something that works for you.

What do you prefer, indie or traditional publishing?
I think both have a number of positives and negatives surrounding them. It really is a personal choice, I prefer being an indie author because it gives me a lot of control over release dates, prices, formats and the people I work with. That said, traditional publishing takes a lot of the pressure off the author because you have a publishing house behind you who are able to do the promotion, the cover design, the editing and so on. I think that as a lot of people are discovering that indie publishing works just as well, it is coming into its own, but that doesn't mean that I think every writer should go indie just because I personally find it works for me. It is a matter of weighing up your options and making a decision based on your own circumstances.

What's your favourite animal?
I am torn between monkeys and primates. While I love monkeys and think they are all adorable, I also find primates to be very cute. I am planning on visiting the monkey sanctuary in Cornwall in November if possible because I know they cater for both. Friends have adopted monkeys from zoos in the past for birthday and Christmas presents. I have also sponsored primates through the WWF. On my bucket list I plan to own one hundred stuffed monkeys and I'm halfway there already, but of course I included primates in that ;-)

What kind of books do you prefer to read?
I love to read crime/mystery books, but I also like "Chick-Lit" and romance novels. I'm not really into vampires and other supernatural or fantasy books, but if the cover catches my eye, I'll usually give the back a read at least.

What kind of shows do you watch?
I watch mostly crime procedural shows as well as some medical shows like Grey's Anatomy. I am a big fan of shows like NCIS, NCIS: LA and Castle, but I do like some sci-fi shows like Doctor Who, Torchwood, Fringe and Warehouse 13. I like some reality shows, but ones like Nothing To Declare or Sun, Sea and A&E - the ones where people are doing a job, not the ones like X-Factor or Britain's Got Talent. 

What kind of tablet do you have and what writing software do you use?
I have a Versus Touchtab 10.1 and I love it! It's lightweight and easy for me to slip into my writing bag and take out and about. I have used a few writing programs, one of which was Kingsoft Office, which is free from the Google Play Store. My only reason for switching was that it didn't import all the punctuation from the Word documents. Now I use Office Suite Professional 7, which was about £10, but I have found it works well for me and keeps the formatting that I want.

Those are all the questions for today. If you want to send any for Joey to answer, feel free to submit them to bugbooks@virginmedia.com. Follow Joey on her Facebook page or here on her blog to be kept up to date with all the latest news regarding Joey and her books.

Working Nine to Five - The Creative Process

Working 9 to 5

Before I became a writer, I worked a number of different jobs. I worked in a call centre, in a supermarket, as a factory line packer, even in the local Magistrates court. I did a lot of working shifts, as well as lot of just working nine to five (more like eight to four, but you get what I mean). When my life changed (piece here) and I could no longer work a "normal" job, I had to relearn how to work in a sense. My body did not respond the way I wanted it to when I tried to set up a routine and so, along side learning to be retired and unable to work the normal hours, as well as learning to accept being chronically ill, I had to learn how to get the most out of the hours that I could work.

Something I have learnt through one of my university courses was that there are three kinds of people in regards to sleep and productivity. There are the morning Larks, the night Owls and the ones in between. It's actually a science thing, but it's relevant to this piece. When I first got sick with M.E, I had gone from being a morning Lark - always up at 7am, working through to the mid-afternoon before I got into a little bit of a funk - to being the something in-between and sometimes, a night owl. I think you'll find that a lot of people with chronic conditions have this issues where they never know which one of those three they are going to be on any given day.

If you're a morning Lark, you'll find that you are able to wake early, go about your day and rise with the sun. It will probably mean that you work efficiently before the rest of the household has gotten up and about. You'll also probably find that you feel a bit of a drag once midday and the afternoon hits. There are many ways to work through this, but the best one I can think of is that you take advantage of the hours when you are awake and able to work. The beauty of having a job like writing, is generally speaking, you can work when and where you want.

This also applies if you're not awake before nine or even ten in the morning, if you're a night Owl and find that you do your best work as the rest of the world is going to sleep, manage your schedule around it. The fact of the matter is, writing should not be a nine to five job, unless that works for you. If it does, then great, but with more and more writers finding it hard to support themselves solely on the money they make in royalties, the likelihood is that you're going to have to find time in your working life to actually do any writing.

As someone who has been all three types, and continues to be surprised every day by which type I wake up to be, I can honestly say that sometimes it is only an hour here, thirty minutes there and that's okay for me. As you'll have seen from my most recent piece, I have a majority of chronic illnesses that dictate how I write and when. I guess what I am trying to say, is that just because your job dictates when and where you can write, it doesn't mean that you are any less of a writer. Whether you decide to fit in all your writing at the weekend and spend the rest of the week only writing things in your hear. Or if you're someone who makes time early in the morning or late at night to get some work done once the kids and partner are already in bed. Whether you're a single mum on benefits writing in a cafe, or a disabled person writing from bed. None of these things prevent you from saying "I'm a writer".

Enjoy your hours that you can spend creating and down worry about the small stuff like how much time you have to write. Pieces of art take months, sometimes years to create, and a book is just as worthy of that title as any painting or statue. Enjoy what you do, it will show in your work and you never know, that lottery win might be around the corner so that you'll be able to quit the day job and write to your heart's content!

Follow Joey on her Facebook or here on her blog to be kept up to date with all the news about Joey and her books.

Being a Writer & Being Chronically Ill - The Creative Process

Being a writer & being chronically ill

When I started writing, it wasn't by design. As you'll all know from my guest blog post that I did about my writing path (link here) I had a lot of things that went wrong for me to find that writing was what I was meant to do. Of those things, a lot of them were health related. This piece is about what it's like being a writer while being chronically ill.

Before I can really start talking about what it's like to be both a writer and disabled with chronic conditions, I really need to explain what those conditions are, so please bear with me and read the links if you want to know more. The first and most serious condition is Type One Brittle Asthma. I was born with asthma and it turned brittle when I was seven. After over twenty years of living with this condition, I'd say that I'm as used to it as I'm ever going to be. I also have Myalgic Encephalopathy aka M.E or CFS. I was diagnosed at nineteen and am now thirty-one. M.E came into my life and turned it upside down, making what had seemed "normal" something that would never exist again. Alongside that I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (FMS) shortly after. Although I was only diagnosed at twenty, I have probably had the condition for most of my life. I am unable to remember a time when it didn't hurt and while that may seem sad and horrible, it's something I am used to and am able to continue my life despite that. Those are the three "big" conditions that affect my life, but I also have Vocal Cord Dysfunction (VCD), Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), Vestibular Dysfunction and depression. I use a walker inside the house most of the time, and a wheelchair the rest of the time. I live in a specially adapted house and have a full time carer, who just happens to also be my best friend of nearly twenty years.

Now that that is all out of the way, I can get on with the purpose of this piece, what is it like to be a writer, whilst being chronically ill. I know a lot of people who are writers and I know a lot of people who are also chronically ill. Some of those people overlap and I also know of disabled writers. It's a profession that attracts different people from all walks of life. The stories don't care that you need oxygen to breathe. They don't care that you can't walk. They also don't care if you're in so much pain you can't sleep. They don't care about what time you arrive to work and they don't care if you don't come in for days at a time. All they care about is being told.

When I was medically retired from the workforce at nineteen and I was faced with the option of never working again, I turned to writing and have since made it my career. Being chronically ill and being a writer is something that to me makes a lot of sense. I get to work, I get to take those stories that bug me just as I am closing my eyes, and I get to bring them into the world and show people what they whisper into my ears. I write because it's something I love to do. It's something that I can't imagine not doing. While I may never be able to work a conventional job, writing, despite its demands, does not reject me the way an employer would. Who wants to hire someone who spends five days out of seven sleeping one week and doing half days the next?

Writing enables me to set my own schedule, it allows me to be productive whilst still getting the rest I need. It's a job that makes me smile, makes me think of how lucky I am to be able to do this. It doesn't always pay the bills, but it does mean that when people say "so what do you do?" I don't have to reply "not much!" Some weeks I will write and write and feel like I have to learn to grow two more hands so I can type faster. Other weeks, my health will stop me from being able to do that and it sucks, but it's part of life when you have a chronic illness.

Part of life with a chronic illness means that you have to be careful where you spend your energy. A good way to explain this is by using the Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino. Some days I have an abundance of spoons that allow me to pretty much live in what I call the "normal" but what you would probably refer to as "pretty damn sick". That means that I can write, or read or do uni work. Other days my spoons will be moderate and I'll be what people call "even damn sicker" and then I'll have to be careful about which tasks I choose to do, on those days writing and uni work still get done, but sometimes it's from the comfort of bed. The only other times are when my spoons are low and am what people call "almost dead practically" and I don't really do anything other than sleep, sleep and sleep some more. Those days the only writing that gets done is the writing I do in my dreams, which is a shame because I'm pretty good at having whacked out dreams!

That is another reason why I chose to go indie and set up the Bug Books label, it allowed me to work at my own pace, and not have to sweat too much about deadlines. It does have it's downsides in that I have a LOT of promo stuff to do and find that I struggle with it. However, I have some money in the budget to hire an assistant for when things get too much. That's another part of being chronically ill, you have to be willing to delegate. My best friend, B became my carer when I got sick because she's a pretty awesome person. She's also my graphic artist and designs all my front covers. I have another friend who is employed as the editor for Bug Books and another few volunteers who work as proof readers and general stuff like that. Promotion may fall into my lap, but I also know that I could (and eventually will have to) reach out to the support system and ask for help. Whether you are a writer, or work a conventional job, when you're chronically ill, you have to know when to ask for help. I am blessed with the support system I have. They enable me to keep mobile, whilst at the same time, support me with all the crap that comes from having multiple conditions. I know that if I need someone to come with me to the latest hospital appointment or visit me, I can ask one of them, whether they come in person or over the phone or on Skype. It's something that all people with health issues need and I am very lucky to have.

The other good thing is the technology these days, when I first started writing, it was on a PC. I eventually got a laptop and could use that away from home, in hospital stays and on holiday for example. It was hard though because it was heavy and sometimes it just took too much out of me. I still use a PC when I'm at home, but I also have a 10.1 inch tablet that I was able to get earlier this year. It meant that I was able to write pretty much anywhere so long as I had my work bag with me. I wrote in Starbucks, in soft play areas and even in bed when the spoons were too low. It has allowed me to write both on holiday and in the hospital. Considering that the Fibromyalgia stops me from being able to hold a pen and write more than a couple of words at a time, being able to type on a small, light, portable tablet is excellent.

So, as someone who has been chronically ill more than she has been healthy, being able to do a job where you're able to work around the hurdles that ill health put up is better than you can imagine. I love writing, I have so many stories to tell and plan to continue telling them until I run out of space on my computer - even then I'll probably continue! Using a wheelchair or a walker, using a computer or a tablet, it doesn't matter to me because this is what I was supposed to do. Working around the low spoon days and still accomplishing what you set out to do, means more to me than having a job that works a nine to five shift. Although it was because of being diagnosed with M.E and Fibromyalgia, that doesn't change the fact that my conditions don't define who I am. I am a writer, and I love it.

Follow Joey on her Facebook page or here to be kept up to date with all the latest news about her books.

Deadlines, Schedules & Routines - The Creative Process

Deadlines, Schedules & Routines

Everyone who has ever had an education knows about deadlines. They also know about schedules and most of them will also know about routines. I wanted to cover all three of these in this piece and will try to separate them, but sometimes they all mean the same thing, or at least led to the same goal.

A deadline is something that can be used to motivate a writer. It can be that time in the distance when you'll have to turn in your first draft. It can work for them, or if you're like me, it can cripple them. I do not do well with deadlines. It's not that I never use them, I mean that if I tell myself, or an agent or publisher tells me, you have to finish this job by X date, then I find it extremely hard to work. I have always been a writer that works to her own pace. I do set myself deadlines, you'll have seen the "chapters of the fortnight" on my Facebook page. I try to write two chapters of each book every two weeks. That's  a deadline technically, and it does help me. Sometimes I'll manage all four within a week and will move on to "bonus" chapters.

So, I hear you ask, why have I stated that deadlines cripple me? Simple. If it's a deadline that I can work towards with minimal pressure - the chapters of the fortnight will not make or break me, for example - then I find that I do not feel pressured and stressed when I can't work towards it. I get obsessed with daily word counts and ultimately fall behind. That's when I start to come apart at the seams. What if I don't make it? What if because I don't make it then I fail? These are all things that go through my head and eventually, I just flop down on the floor and give up. Or I work myself too hard, and my body gives up. Either way I'm on the floor, and no writing is happening.

Some writers find deadlines a great motivator. They move closer and manage to create their work with ease. I am fully aware that I am not one of them. Still, which ever type of writer you are, you're going to have to find a way to work to some sort of deadline. If you're an indie writer then you have a bit of leeway as you're able to set your own deadlines, and usually you only have yourself to answer to should you not meet them. It's a win-win situation, and it's one of the reasons I meet the deadlines I set myself.

Alongside deadlines, you'll have a schedule. A way to keep on track because it's a Monday and you do writing for an hour here and half an hour there. You slip into a routine of what you need to do, and a way to keep doing it. If you've got an upcoming deadline, you can alter your plan and slip out of routine for a week or so to get what you need done. The trick is, once again, the balancing act of how strict you are with your plan and how deep your routines go.

Some writers will find that they can stick to a loose schedule. They plan to write for three hours a day, but they will do it when the mood strikes. There is no set time or place to write and others will pretty much have every waking hour organised into a time table. I'm a mix of the two. I have a goal of what needs to be done each day, and I fit my writing in. I aim to do two hours of writing a day, but alongside my university work and other commitments, while there is some semblance of routine, it's not always the same time day in and day out.

I also use a "to-do" list which I set at the beginning of the fortnight of everything that I have to get done. I record uni work, book work, hobbies and other things like doctors appointments and seeing friends. I then cross off each thing piece by piece. That way I can look at it on days when I feel as if I have done nothing, and see that actually, I may have had a lazy day, I'm on track. You could say that it's a kind of flexible schedule with its own deadlines built in.

Of course, deadlines such as release dates can not always be avoided. If you plan to release your book, then you need to be able to do the relevant promotion. To do that, you need to have some idea of when it will be ready to be published. Which means you need to know when the editing will be done and when you'll have finished doing everything needed. Those kinds of deadlines I do work well with.

So, when you're writing, be kind to yourself. Don't pile on deadlines when they can be avoided, unless you need that kind of motivation to get writing, in which case, go for it. It's fine to set up a schedule and get into a routine, but you need to be aware that these things need to be somewhat flexible. As always, your mileage may vary and have fun creating your new worlds.

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Choosing Your Writing Spot - The Creative Process

Choosing Your Writing Spot

They say that when you want to be productive, you need to have a good place to make the production happen. That's what I'm going to write about today. How do you know where the best place to write is? Do you want to set up an office or writing corner? Or do you want to be flexible with where you work? Just want a place you go to when you want to escape and write? I'm going to try and cover all of that, but I may miss some, just give me a poke, I'll probably have fallen asleep or something!

So, you've got an idea. You've planned down to the last detail. You have everything ready, and now you just need to decide where that perfect place to work is. Yet, you don't know if you need to have a unique spot or just a table at the local Starbucks or equivalent. I have always been a desk person, and up until 2010, I only had a small desk that would only fit my desktop. I usually did my writing on my there or on my laptop. Things have changed, but going back to getting set up.

When I first started writing, I just used a corner of a table, I set up a mini office space and used that every day, and it was fine. When I moved in 2003 and had my own place, I did all my writing by hand, and typed it up onto the computer while editing it later. I wrote in front of the TV, in the kitchen, I wrote in bed and anywhere I saw fit. It wasn't until later that I started typing rather than writing and to begin with I just wrote at my desk in a corner of my living room.

Enter a baby and things all changed. I got a laptop for university and took it, and myself, to a friend's house where I was given all the tea I could drink, and for one day a week I could write in peace. That was my writing day and the rest of the week I just did dribs and drabs when I could tune out the noise. When I finally moved into a house rather than a flat, and the baby had her own room, and me my own office, things started to get a little more controlled and planned.

I had this wondrous invention, it was a wooden door that I could close and make people knock before they entered. I wrote mostly in there on my massive corner desk that has space for a laptop, a desktop and numerous other things I deem "essential" to my work. Occasionally I would take my laptop and go and sit in the sun while having tea at Starbucks, and that would make a nice break every once in a while. My writing spot has always been somewhat mobile. I saw no point in sticking to one place and one routine because life has a funny way of getting in the way when you plan things like that. It wasn't really until child went to school full time that I started to have "working" hours and even that was dependant on university and my health.

In the last few weeks, now that I have a tablet to write with, I have experimented with a number of places to write. It is a wondrous thing to be able to carry my work in a light bag, press one button and instantly I can start where I left off. The wonders of technology. Of course, having tried to write on a boat, at soft play areas and other such places, I can tell you that no one can tell you where the best place for YOU to write is. I personally find it hard to concentrate at times. If I'm writing on my computer, I'll get distracted with shiny internet things (as seen here). If I force myself to go out to a cafe or something to write, I feel that I'm spending money, and the pressure starts to mount, and that does not lead to productivity.

It may be that for some people, writing a schedule detailing when, where and for how long, works for them. I have somewhat of a schedule, it's more  fluid because there are times when you have small ones and health conditions. Something you'll learn is even though you say that you will work nine to three every week day, it is not always an obtainable goal. The main point I'm trying to make here is that writing should be something you enjoy. At least, it shouldn't be something you dread every time you sit down at the computer/writing desk/tablet etc. I know that writers have  days when they fall short of their goal. There are also times when it feels like you're pulling teeth and all you've managed to write is a couple of lines. However, the aim of the game is to enjoy. You need to be able to breathe and not panic because the little one was sick and you had to go and collect them from school or something.

It is easy to fall into the trap where you set yourself a number of words a day. Where you decide that you absolutely, without fail, MUST write 2,500 words a day. It's great in theory, but when you apply too much pressure to even the most productive of people, eventually they will snap. That's not to say that it isn't a good idea to apply some pressure. The amount though will depend on the person. I am not too good with deadlines, I get anxious and critical and just wind myself too tightly, but I do set myself goals with the knowledge that not meeting them is not a failure, it just means life got in the way.

So, when choosing your writing spot, it's good to know what you hope to achieve whilst in that spot. It's good to try a few different ones, it's good to have some semblance of a routine (unless that doesn't work for you, in which case, don't!) and it's good to set deadlines and goals. You just have to make sure that they are reachable, and not too much pressure for your own comfort. As always, your mileage may vary, but feel free to share where your favourite writing spot is in the comments below :D

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Cameos & Easter Egss - The Creative Process

Cameos and Easter Eggs

When you start writing your first piece, whether it's a novella, short story, full length novel, or series of novels, there's the temptation (at least for me) to add in little surprises for those who have read all your work. There is also the temptation to do cameos of people you know and turn them into characters. Since these are both broad subjects, I'm going to break them down into two. First, I'll discuss cameos and then Easter eggs.

Cameos are primarily when you either name a character after someone you know in real life, or when you give a character in your work the appearance and personality of someone you may or may not know. It can work for you depending on how you go about doing it, and it can sometimes be a way to give a thank you nod to someone who has inspired or helped you along your writing journey.
 
I will admit that I have, a few times, used cameos to do just this. I have either given a character the name of a friend, or I have used their personality or appearance as a way to thank them for their support. One thing I will stress is that you need to do this only with their permission. A friend of mine let me use their name and then I turned them into a killer with a drug habit. They loved it! I know that at the beginning of most books,  there is a disclaimer that any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental, and it's mostly true. Yet, there are times when you already know someone who would be perfect in the role of the character you are writing.

When I first started writing BLACKOUT, I hadn't yet got into writing seriously and didn't think of a baby name book as a useful tool. The internet was around, but it was 2001 and I wrote by hand. I chose names for people from things that were lying around - hence why there is a character named "Dr. Miffy"! However, though later books have been written in similar ways, I soon learned that using too many of the same names would just get both boring, and confusing. So, I would use names that belonged to the wide support network of people who had helped cheer me on, beta read or even edited my books. I wasn't making huge amounts of money (not that I am now!), and it was one of the ways I could pay them back, but immortalizing them in print.

In fact, quite a few of my "bit" characters - those who only have a few lines and are then relegated to the hidden depths of my memory - have been modelled on people I have known, and who have been of great help to me. Some of them have their names, others just have identifying features that only they and I am aware of. In some ways,  these are Easter Eggs of their own, for people who know where to look. That brings me to the second part of this piece, Easter Eggs.

I'm sure you've all had a favourite author, whom you follow and read as many as you can. Sometimes you'll find that they "hide" parts of previous (or future) stories in their books as a something for those loyal followers to find. I have done the same with a few of my books that I'm sure people had found already. Yet, there are other pieces of information that would not make sense to anyone but me, and would seem as nothing important. When I first starting writing, I wrote every day with my best friend, B, who was writing her own series of books.

We both made a deal, and that was to leave Easter Eggs to the others books in our own. BLACKOUT has a reference to her first book in it, but since her books were never published, it's seemingly meaningless. Still, it makes me smile to read back through it and remember those days. I'm sure that if she ever does manage to re-write and get her books out there, that people may connect the dots. I'm also sure that people may wonder what the reference is, but I'll leave that to your imagination. Answers on a postcard!

The thing about Easter Eggs is that they need to not stand out too much. I'm sure you've all made the connection between BLACKOUT and another book, in that you get to revisit BLACKOUT towards the end of LYNNE & HOPE. I don't know how many other references there are to my books in other ones because I can't remember how many of them made it past the red pen of death of my editor. The ones that stay though are fun to look back on.

Both cameos and Easter Eggs are a fun part of writing. If done well, then no one but you and the editor possibly, will even be aware that they exist. You don't need to talk about them, and I'm sure that I am not the only writer who does them. If you look closely at other writer's work, I'm sure you'll be able to see their own versions of Easter eggs. Cameos are harder to spot because usually, the link is only known to the writer and the person the character is based on. I wish you luck in finding some though!

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200 Likes Give-away - WINNER

The winning number of the 200 likes give-away was Mary Lowery! Thanks everyone for taking part and I'll message Mary with the details of how to claim her prize :D

Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: The Ending - The Creative Process

Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: The Ending

If you've ever had writer's block or gotten frustrated with your work, be it a short story or a long novel, you've probably had the feeling of wanting to hurry up and get to the ending. My friends will tell you that when I get frustrated I say "Rocks fall, everyone dies, the end!" I've never actually ended a book with that, but the temptation to do so can be very strong. Usually when faced with this kind of block (piece here), I have to use all the tricks of my trade to resist the urge and not actually kill everyone and end the book there.

That does raise a good point though... when does it end? When does the end happen? What happens at the end? And when do you know you've given it a good enough ending? I can't speak for every writer, but as a detailed planner (piece here) who has organised notes down to which colour note cards I use for which information, I usually have some idea *how* I want the book to end and when. I have, however, had some issues with when it's time to stop typing and say that it's the best you can do and that's that. I can only think of two times when I've been really sure that the ending I've given is the best one I could have done. One was with BLACKOUT and the other was with my ninth book, which has yet to be released. Both of those times, I wrote in a fury and then finally, it came to a natural close. I read back through them and thought, "hey, this is good... this is really good... this is the right ending!" The other books I've written? Well, the ending for those didn't always come as easily as I would have liked.

I always have a plan, I always generally stick to the plan, and sometimes I even have some idea of what I want the last line to say. But, life doesn't always work that way and even though these characters are of my own creation, it's not always as simple as writing the ending the way I planned to. As most writers will tell you, characters sometimes take the story a different way than was first planned. Inspiration strikes at opportune moments (piece here) and you may find yourself suddenly knee deep in something that you never planned for. So, putting that aside, let's get back to the questions.

When does it end? When does the end happen? Well, usually for me, there is a point where I can start wrapping things up and bring the story to a close. If it's a stand alone book, like BLACKOUT or LYNNE & HOPE, I know when to start switching off the lights, and closing the curtains because once the main plot has been solved (usually crime for me) I can bring everything together and leave it there. I do like to have some semblance of life after the "big" event, whatever that event may be. However, when you're writing a series like the DYING THOUGHTS series, then you have to decide if you want it to lead into the next story, or if you want to finish it completely. I usually go for a mixture of both. FIRST TOUCH leaves it open for SECOND SIGHT, the fourth book leads into the fifth and so on. So, for me, the rule of thumb is usually that when things have been solved, the criminal caught and everyone is safe and happy to carry on with their lives, *that's* when it ends.

What happens at the end? This is really something that only the writer can answer. For me, like I said, I want to pull all those strings together, tie them in a neat enough bow (a little messy is okay) and go from there. In BLACKOUT, I had a chapter that showed where the characters were a few weeks after the big reveal. In LYNNE & HOPE, I had a chapters that did something similar and in some of the DYING THOUGHTS books, I usually just have Tara move onto the next case, whether I'm setting it up for the next book or not. The difference between a stand alone and a series (or even a book with just one sequel) is that you need to make sure the reader is going to be satisfied with the way you have left it. You want them to be happy when they say goodbye to the characters and not wonder if they were ever going to be okay again. With a series, you want them to be interested enough to want to carry on reading. The ending is your way of getting the reader to close the book. It doesn't have to be happily ever after, some of the best books don't have a "happy" ending, but it does need to be somewhat final. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

So, onto the final question, when do you know you've given it a good enough ending? Now, I don't know about other writer's, we are a weird and wonderful bunch and we all have our own ways of doing things. When I finish a book, I close the document and then I go away and work on something else or something new. I don't go back to it until it's time to start the after process. At which time, I am finally able to see if I have given it the ending it deserves. Some writers don't wait, straight away they start the after process and the long, and difficult journey of editing. I find that if I do that, I'm still too caught up in the universe to be objective. If I can't be objective, then I can't edit and take out what does not belong whilst adding what does. So, I don't find out whether the end is good enough until I've been away from that plot for a while. Even now, whilst working on the sixth DYING THOUGHTS book, I know that I have to rewrite some of the ending for the fourth because of the way things have turned out in the books since. That kind of objectivity wouldn't have happened if I had dived right in. Again, your mileage may vary and I can only say that for me, it doesn't work like that. I am sure there are other writers who find that jumping back in is the best way for them to work. We are all wonderfully different and unique in the way we work.

Now, you've come to the end and it's time to close the book, type the last sentence and say goodbye to the characters that have been in your daily life for how ever long it's been. It's hard to do that, but the ending is, in my opinion, one of the best parts of writing. You've come along the arduous path of starting, writing, living and now you're at the part where you can give your characters what they need to carry on their lives outside of the pages of this particular story. Well done, and remember, that unless they are living in a mountain cave, rocks never fall and kill everyone.

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Ayla Page - Guest Blogger - The Editing Process

GUEST BLOGGER - AYLA PAGE

Yesterday, I had a guest blogger talk about what inspires their writing and today we hear from Ayla Page, who is a writer and an editor. You can find her Amazon profile here. She has released two books in the fantasy short story genre and is an indie author. She's just starting out as a professional editor for other indie authors and her Facebook page is here. As always, here's a short bio about Ayla.

"Pictures paint a thousand words, and a thousand words should be used to paint one picture."

Ayla Page was born in West Yorkshire, England on the only snowy day of the year. She moved to Bournemouth on the south coast of England, in 2007 at the age of eighteen to 'seek her fortune'. There she married and had a daughter before moving back up to Yorkshire in 2010.

Now a divorced single mother, Ayla is reading Psychology at university with her eye on a distinguished writing career and the esteemed prizes that accompany such."

The Editing Process

Ayla Page

What's the first thing you do when starting to edit?
Make a cup of tea to have sat beside me! No. I read the first paragraph. I don't touch the page until I've read at least a portion. It means I can get something of a feel for the author's style, before I go ahead and work on it.

So, you've started to edit, where do you do your work?
I used to have a desk. My ex-husband made it for me out of the topside of a vivarium but it was too high and I'd lose the circulation to my feet by having to sit on them to make myself tall enough to reach it! I now sit on the couch with my laptop on my knee. It's quiet in the lounge most of the day, especially at the moment because my daughter is with her father, so I think I'll be staying put.

Now you're all comfy at your desk, how do you edit? Red pen of death? Typing? Do you read through first or edit as you go?
I did have a red pen of death. I've just made that comment to one of my clients. 'I'm off to take my red pen to your work!' It's more the comment now. I prefer to type. Maybe that's because all my red pens ran out? I edit as I go usually. I don't like to read a story twice; I run the risk of skimming the second time and missing things. Therefore I am slow, methodical and very diligent. It makes for quick work, believe it or not.

So you've red penned it to death and you're halfway through, how do you return it to your client? Piece by piece or all at once?
Currently I'm doing a series of shorts for someone. It's the first time I've sent something back in sections. Story by story I've sent her it back. With love, kisses and the hope that she likes what I've done for her!

How does your work week go? Do you do editing at a certain time, like a 9-5 job? Or do you have set times to edit and set times to write your own stuff?
My week is very samey. I get up, sort out my daughter for school, take her, come home and get straight on. I don't 'put down the pen' until the work is done or it's time to collect her from school. When she's home it's rare I can get much done so I don't work while she's up. As soon as she goes to bed, however, I'm straight back at it and I don't stop until the very early hours.

It's different when she's away, though. I don't have the break in the afternoons when she's home from school, so I work straight through from waking up and falling down the stairs for a cuppa until I simply can't keep my eyes open any longer, and plod off to bed.

How did you know you had what it takes to be an editor?
I've written since I can remember, and I've always been frighteningly fussy about spelling, grammar, the works. I was asked to beta-read a friend's book and agreed, despite not having a clue what was expected of me. I went through it 'with the red pen' and fair tore it to pieces. If she reads this, she'll be nodding. She told me I'd be a good editor, and I laughed it off, thinking she was just complimenting me 'cos she's a nice person. Until I was told similar things by other people. In which case I started to take them seriously.

What's your favourite part of editing?
Probably the praise I get at the end! I'm always very concerned I won't do a satisfactory job, so when they tell me they're happy, I'm delighted!

What's your favourite genre to edit?
It's funny you should ask me that. My favourite genre to edit is actually my least favourite genre to read. I always think I do a better job if I'm not interested in the story. I think zombie stories are the easiest for me to edit. So that's probably going to be my favourite.

On the writing side of things, do you edit your own work?
After a fashion. I can't stand to end a sentence unless it's perfect and I'd be happy, as a reader, to read it. I go through several times to check for typos and the like, but I do think it's actually impossible to properly edit your own work. I think you're too familiar with it and will skim over parts because of this. This creates the potential of missing things out.

How long have you been an editor?
On and off for the past six years, but only recently as a main means of income

Which do you prefer? Writing or Editing?
Writing. Hands down. It came first in the grand scheme of things. However, I think that'll be getting put on the back burner now; the editing will do more for me and it means I can earn more at the same time as helping out other authors.

Do you prefer editing long novels or short stories?
Short stories! The feeling of 'done and dusted' comes sooner!
Although it really does depend on the writer's style. I edit novels sometimes where it takes me less time than to edit short stories simply because of the writing style.

Check out Ayla Page on Facebook if you're looking for an editor, she's having a special on prices at the moment!

If you're interested in being a guest blogger then check out this post or email Joey at bugbooks@virginmedia.com with your idea.

Dating Stories - The Creative Process

Dating Stories

One of the problems of writing a novel is that it's not something that you just do and then release. Even if you're an indie author and self published, there is still a pretty extensive after process to go through before you can put the work out there in the world. So, no matter what you write in fiction, there is always going to be some dating of the stories. I guess what I should say is when you write, because if it's set in the past, time moving forward will have little effect. However, if you're like me and write in the present (or not too distant future) you'll always find that by the time you get the book on the shelves, there's going to be some out dated parts and dealing with that is what this piece is about.

When I wrote BLACKOUT, it was 2001, I was nineteen and I was finished in ten days. Of course, even though I wrote quickly and felt that the story was finished, it still took four years for it to be published. I didn't stop writing though, even though I had what I needed to approach publishers, I wanted to keep writing and that's what I did. I started the first DYING THOUGHTS book shortly after and of course, despite time moving forward and the book one not being out until 2011, things had certainly changed in the world.

Tara and Kaolin didn't have mobile phones in the first book. There were some people who did, other teens and such, but they weren't as big a thing in 2001 as they are now. Now, pretty much everyone older than nine has a mobile phone and constantly texts each other. Especially those who are at school. Facebook wasn't a thing either, nor twitter and the other social networks that came afterwards. So, looking at that first DYING THOUGHTS book, you would probably think that I messed up pretty bad (or that Tara's Dad was unusually strict) when it became obvious that social networking was not the way Tara and Kaolin kept in touch online. I know that now, in 2013, pretty much everyone has a Facebook and Twitter and so on. Also, with Tara's Dad being a former pop star, you'd also think that it was strange that he didn't have a page dedicated to updates about him. That's the problem with time and writing, you can capture a moment on paper, but by the time you've managed to get it to the point of showing other people - namely your readers - time has moved forward. It stands still for no one.

So, what do you do? There are a few ways to get around obviously dating your work. One is to be vague about the time period it occurs during. When I was published, Facebook and all the other wonders still were only just taking off (if they existed at all) and so in the beginning, it wasn't a problem because the people reading it wouldn't realise it was that out of date. However, as time has moved forward, it has become more and more obvious that Tara, Kaolin, Tally and the others are in a different time period than the readers of today are. With some of my books it doesn't matter, they are standalone and they rarely mention the year in which they are set. I know that a couple do, and some of the information in them, despite there being no date, points to a certain time, it is an unavoidable draw back. Novels don't write themselves and life gets in the way for a lot of writers, meaning that they are unable to bang them out, edit and publish before anyone is any the wiser as to the year in which their story is set. A good example of this is Sue Grafton's ALPHABET SERIES, she writes one book a year and since "W is for Wasted" is out sometime in 2013, it should be obvious to anyone capable of Maths, that she started writing in the early 1980's. Her books are dated, and will stay dated, because when you write a series, you can't move them forward in time unless you want to have huge gaps between one book and the next.

Don't get me wrong, it can be done. I know that Agatha Christie wrote a series of books that aged with the rest of the world. Her characters would grow old as time passed, rather than being trapped within the pages, to grow only when the spotlight was on them. However, there were, as I said, huge gaps between stories, all dependent on how long it took for a book to be finished and released. It works well for her work, but for some writers, like myself and Sue Grafton, we want the time to be a short few weeks or months between stories. This leads to our work being outdated in a short space of time. Especially when you consider just how fast technology changes these days.

As with a lot of things, some works will age better than others. Agatha Christie is well known throughout the world and although she wrote about a different time, people still enjoy to dip in and out of the worlds she created. I feel the same can be said for Sue Grafton's work. Kinsey Milhone is known across the world and popular to boot. You could probably say that, with those two writers in mind, that dating a story is not a bad thing and it isn't. However, sometimes taking out a dated reference (like a movie which may have been all the talk when you wrote the book, but is now long since released) can ease the process of when the story is set. If it weren't for the fact that a girl like Tara would be on Facebook, then the DYING THOUGHTS series may not seem that dated.

It's little tricks like that, or you can go the other way and purposefully set it in a time period and plan for it to be out dated. Choosing when to set your story is a completely different process (found here) and it's all about what works for you. You have to be ready to take out references that date the story if it's not something you wish to be obvious. Yet, you need to remember that once written down and published, everything eventually goes out of date. It's the natural process. So, try not to worry too much about your work becoming out dated, it happens to us all and it shouldn't take anything away from the story you are trying to tell. As always though, your mileage may vary.

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