Announcement

Where in the world are you as you read this? I am writing from locked-down France. Life seems to have come to a standstill. The shops and schools are shut. And we are not allowed to go out, except for a very, very few reasons. Many countries are in the same situation or will be. It is all part of the fight against Covid-19.

Anyway... I'm writing this post because I've decided to follow the example of many writers who have decided to make their books available for free so people have something to do while they're in isolation. I think it's a wonderful idea (and wish I'd had it on my own!). As a result, the Kindle version of As Winter Came and Went will be available for free for a few days. It's a loooonnng novel, so it should keep you occupied for some time. 

You can find it there: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K618J3M?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420

Stay safe! 

A new project

September, the start of the school year, of the university year. The ideal time to make new projects for the coming months. 

During the summer holidays, I made much progress on the first draft of the sequel of As Winter Came and Went. I have actually started to write what will be the last chapter. Once this is finished, it will be time for the first round of edits, the most important one: some scenes will have to be cut, others lengthened. Because the manuscript was written over a period of months (years? I’ll have to calculate), some aspects of the stories evolved and parts of the first chapter will have to be changed accordingly. 

My goal is to finish this first draft by December 2019, and edit, proofread and make ready for publication over 2020. However, it is not my only project. There’s Cinnamon, as you already know, but I haven’t made any progress on it during the summer. For now it’s at a standby. I’ll finish it, eventually, but for now I’m concentrating on other projects. 

One is completely new. Well, it stems from an idea I had some time ago. One of the characters from As Winter Came and Went is Summer, a Barb horse imported from Morocco. I love this character. I love writing about him. And readers seem to love him too. So I decided he deserved to be the hero of his own story, a story spanning from his birth, around 1815, to his first appearance in As Winter Came and Went. A prequel of sorts. 

It will not be very long, only a novella. I’ve made an outline, and it will have six, probably relatively short, chapters. It will be possible to read it independently from As Winter Came and Went, but it will give readers of my novel the opportunity to learn more about Summer. I also intend to lavishly illustrate this novella (which will be self-published as well). 

I’m really excited about this project and am, at the moment I’m writing this, a bit over 1000 words into the first chapter. It’s not a lot, but it’s a beginning. Who knows, maybe it will be published sooner than I expect!

"I should have a compensation"

"A novelist and her main character"

"Listen to your characters"

Have you read As Winter Came and Went? No? That's a pity... You'd be able to understand more precisely what I mean with this cartoon!

"I need a holiday"

What happens now?

And that's it. As Winter Came and Went is published. Which means I can now relax...or not! It's good to be a published author. It's even better to be a published author who actually sells some books.

 

So I know need to develop (or rather acquire) some marketing skills and try to spread the word about my book and hopefully sell a few copies (to people who are not family or friends). What will I do then? I'll go on being present on social media (Facebook and Instagram, because I still haven't figured out how to use Twitter...). I'll also go on publishing fascinating articles and this wonderful blog. And I'll enter my novel in some competitions.

 

There's one I have in mind and I'll try to find others. I'll post more about that later on (or if I don't, you'll understand that it's been a failure and that I'm to ashamed to speak of it...). I'm not so much hoping for a win as to be shortlisted: that would already be great.

 

I will also go on working on the sequel to As Winter Came and Went. I'm two thirds into the first draft and hopefully, same time next year I'll already be editing it, which could mean that the publication could take place in 2020. I'm also still working on Cinnamon. Maybe it will be finished (and published) before the sequel, for it is more of a novella than a novel.

 

I'm also working on a new project related to As Winter Came and Went. But I'll make a proper announcement soon.

 

So publishing my novel was just the beginning... And a whole new adventure has started!

The people who made it happen...

And As Winter Came and Went will be published tomorrow!!!

Though I decided to self-publish, it does not mean that I did everything alone. Far from it: I would never have been able to go this far without the help of many wonderful people. And I would like to thank them all: you are the ones who made it happen.

First of all, I want to thank my family, and especially my parents, who supported and encouraged me every step of the way, who shared my hopes and did their best to allay my doubts. Special thanks to my father who proof-read the novel (so if there are any typos left, it's not my fault)!

Then I would like to thank all the friends who agreed to read the first versions of the manuscript, and who not only gave invaluable feedback and advice but were patient enough to point out the (too many) mistakes and inconsistencies.

My thanks also go to the friends who did not read the novel, but followed my journey to publication and encouraged me all the way.

My decision to self-publish led me to connect through social media with a number of fellow-writers, some of whom also gave me great advice. My thanks go to them too: I did not expect the online writing community to be welcoming and helpful, but it is, and I'm grateful for that.

So thank you again to all of you. This book is yours as well: it would not have existed without you!

One week to publication

In 8 days, As Winter Came and Went will be published!

 

At this stage, there is nothing left for me to do anymore, except wait. I couple of weeks ago, I ordered a proof-copy of the paperback. Once I'd received it, I was able to check all the formatting, and to do some additional proof-reading, which allowed me to find a few real (and embarrassing mistakes) and some commas that I was not wholly satisfied with. Once that was done, I made the corrections on the digital files (paperback and ebook) and uploaded them once again on Kindle Direct Publishing.

 

So now, they are ready for publication. The ebook, which is already available for preorder, will be automatically published on the 4th of December. I will have to publish the paperback manually, however (in the sense that I'll have to go on the website and press the button "submit for publication"). Because it has to be approved and such, and because the process can take up to three days, the paperback might not be available on the 4th, but on the 5th, or even the 6th (if you were desperate to order it on the 4th, you might have to wait a bit longer...).

 

At the last moment, I decided to add an extra illustration at the end of the novel. The book now has a total of 15, one for the prologue, one for each chapter, one for the title page and one for the last page.

 

I have to say, it feels a bit strange to just wait, like that, after all the work that went into the book, the editing and revising and formatting and such. And I'm still worried that there might be some typos left. I mean, it's certain that there'll be typos left, since you can find some even in traditionnally published books that went through professional editing and proofreading. So a self-published book...

 

Anyway, the wait is almost over and soon I will be able to call myself a published author!

Prologue or not prologue?

 

I have an issue with the first chapter of my novel As Winter Came and Went. Or rather readers, seem to have an issue with the first chapter of my novel. Too difficult, too strange, odd style, etc. Which is how it was meant to be (my excuse being that I write literary fiction - aka fiction in which the English language is tortured and mutilated). But though I intended to write something literary, I also wanted to write something that would actually be read. Not something that the reader would want to close and throw away after a few pages, making me feel very misunderstood and mistreated.

The trouble is that this first chapter is especially important to the novel (you can find several extracts of it on this blog). It announces the style. It presents the main character. It raises several issues that will haunt the said character throughout the rest of the novel. And, I'll admit it, I'm fond (proud) of this chapter. So there was no question of deleting it from the book. Was there, however, a way of making it more attractive to the reader, without sacrifising the style or the intent? 

Since the style was what bothered readers, I realised that there was not much I could do... So I decided to ask for advice, in the real and the virtual world. The virtual world? Yes, on social media. 

For the 21st century writer is a connected writer. I discovered that when I was beginning to look into ways of marketing my book. Being present on social media was one of the pieces of advice Google gave me. So I created on Instagram and Facebook accounts dedicated to my writing. And I “met”, on both media, lovely writing communities where both would-be writers and established authors are able to discuss and share their difficulties, their progress, their journey to publication, whether they are traditionally or self-published.

So I asked all those people for advice by posting my question on a Facebook group dedicated to writing. Some said I should be ruthless and delete my chapter (*gasp!*), some said I should ignore my readers, and some said I should add a prologue that would, hopefully, make readers want to go on reading, because they would be desperate to know what happened.

The third option seemed like a good compromise. The problem was that…I actually really, really dislike prologues. Maybe because I always fall for it: I open a book, I read the prologue, the suspense is too much and I cannot rest until I know what happened, what lead to the situation described in the prologue and so on. I find prologues annoying. I think that prologues are nothing more than a trick to lure the reader into the book. But…they tend to work, don’t they? 

So should I add a prologue? The structure of my novel had been the subject of much thought. A prologue would unbalance it. My novel is not a thriller, or crime story, or commercial fiction. It’s literary. It’s already very long. Why make it longer? 

I also had arguments in favour of a prologue. One was that I want my book to be read, and if a prologue could give it one chance to convince one more reader to stick with it….well, I should add a prologue. The other was that when I first started to think about the story that would become As Winter Came and Went (too many years ago…), it didn’t start where it does now. Now, the first chapter shows the main character on a ship bound for England where he goes back after two years spent in Africa. But the initial story (before the first draft was written) was meant to start in Africa, a few weeks before this first chapter.

I pondered on this as I was trying to decide whether or not to include that prologue. And this last argument swayed me in favour of it. I would add a short scene, in Africa, where the story was at first meant to start. Because it would, hopefully, make what follows more understandable. And make the readers ask themselves questions the answers to which they would seek in the rest of the novel. And, because the style is a bit easier than in the chapter that follows, with a bit of luck, it will draw the readers in. At least, that’s what I hope!

As Winter Came and Went - Extract 8

And *drum roll* it is the last extract before the publication of As Winter Came And Went! I hope you've enjoyed those little tasters of my novel, and that maybe it made you want to read the whole of it.

This one is situated at the very end of chapter 1, which, according to beta readers is the strangest, hardest to read chapter of the book. Which is making me a bit worried: what if people decide not to go past it? What makes it all very difficult, is that I believe this chapter is, for many reasons, the most important in the whole novel.

Anyway, this odd chapter 1 does have an end, and apparently it gets easier after that (or maybe readers just get used to my odd style of writing?)... And here it is...

End of chapter 1

Land! A rugged misty coastline…if these grey clouds would lift we would see Land’s End… far off…but nearing…nearing… Black-headed gulls fly between the masts and the ropes, screeching that the harbour is ahead.
“When I left, my wife was with child and I had no news since,” the captain is telling the General.
“There might be a fine, hearty boy waiting for you.”
“I would like a girl, to give my son a little sister. He may be there too, on leave.”
Dennys peers at the horizon, at that land he left two years ago. Will anyone have come for him, will they even be aware that he hasn’t died? And how will he face them? And Victoria, who must’ve thought all that time Oliver was alive… Who will they expect to come off the boat? All of ‘em, the sailors, the captain, the crew, the General even, they have wives, children, sweethearts waiting for them on the shore. Homes, a family that cares for them and friends who’ll drink to their health. Ma could have come. She always said she loved him, in spite of everything. She always said she saw him as her flesh and blood. But she must be in Ireland still, having just heard about him being alive.          I’ll have to pick up my life again… To start from the beginning… How could I? Nothing can ever be the same. I’m branded. By their words, by what I lived, by what I did. They drove me to the brink of insanity. They flung in my face all the foulness of human nature. Their greed, their wickedness… Thirst for power, thirst for gold. The worse is that I spiralled down…to fall…as low, almost as low as ‘em… Loneliness, fear, disgust, hatred…
Did I lose my humanity? I wouldn’t be regretting if I had, would I? I’d be thinking I’d been right all the time. I’d have followed them. I didn’t, ‘cause I rebelled. One day, one day stained for ever by the blood that was spilt, I rebelled. I fought for my humanity. I fought against ‘em, like I fought against the desert. I chose the hardest path.
The loneliness was the worse. To be alone with no one to talk to. That’s what almost drove me mad. I ended up talking alone. To hear a human voice. I talked to the stars. I talked to them ‘cause they looked alive and were a link to home. Not the same, but still better than nothing. Better than talking to the rocks. I talked to the camel but it wouldn’t listen. And how could I tell anyone what I had to live through? Would they understand? They’ll say, why did you answer what you did in the first place, for what reason, explain, you brought it on yourself. Yes I brought it on myself. If I’d known... Blood calls for blood. I wish I’d never gone. I wish I could remember more clearly what happened and what I did… Or I should forget everything. As the ragged cliffs advance to engulf the ship. The mist’ll clear, but not for me.

One month to publication

One month until the publication of As Winter Came and Went!

 

I find it hard to believe, at times, that what started as me, writing as a hobby, a story that, at first, I did not imagine anyone but me reading led to this. Me. Publishing. A. Book.

 

It feels like the beginning of a new adventure and I'm both excited and not a little nervous. I've been a bit behind schedule these last few weeks, but the manuscript is now uploaded on Amazon, I've ordered a proof copy. And... the Kindle edition is available for preorder!!!!!!!

 

You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Came-Went-May-Bermont-ebook/dp/B07K618J3M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541408214&sr=8-1&keywords=as+winter+came+and+went (or, if you do not live in the US, you can type "As Winter Came and Went" on www.amazon.uk or www.amazone.fr or wherever your local marketplace is, and it should be the first book to appear).

 

The publishing process is far from being finished, though. I will still have to check the proof copy for formatting issues and lingering typos (will it never end?). And I now have to gather reviews (hint, hint...) and market my book, like my life depends on it. Because it's all very well to publish a book. The point is getting people to read that book. And because I'm self-published, I have to do all the marketing myself...

 

I also have to finish setting up my website (I'm still behind schedule for this...). And I've still got to put an author bio on Amazon. And there's still this and that... Anyway, with As Winter... available for preorder now, it feels like the publication has already begun. And there is no going back. Which is what's both exciting and stressful!  

Video: Creating the cover of "As Winter Came And Went"

A small video showing the how I created the artwork used as the cover for As Winter Came and Went!

"As Winter Came and Went" - Blurb

 

 

 

September 1820

Lies, nightmares and malaria… They haunt Dennys O’Connor as he crosses the seas, leaving behind him Africa and the desert where he was lost for months.

Once in England, the young man struggles to come to terms with what happened in the Sahara and tries to find his place in the world he left two years ago. A world where he never really fitted in.

Unable to settle down or to make sense of the chaos his life has become, he wanders, from the grey streets of London to windswept moorland, from wayside inns to manor houses, as he meets old friends and new, becomes involved in the training of a capricious racehorse and even begins to fall in love.

But the journey he began when he set off to Africa is far from being ended yet…

Creating the cover of "As Winter Came and Went"

I had begun to think about the cover of As Winter Came and Went even before deciding to self-publish. Which author hasn’t? Daydreamed about a wonderful cover, about the way the book would look in a shop and so on. And I had even wondered, what would I put on the cover if I was able to do it myself? But at this point, I hadn’t even realised it would one day come to that: me creating the cover for my novel. 

What cover did I have in mind then? Actually, there were many covers. One was lush, colourful, rather abstract with floral motifs (think William Morris – and yes, I am aware it’s not the right time period for my story, but everything’s possible in daydreams, right?) and lots of gold-leaf. And (of course) the book would have been a hardback and that design would have featured on the dust-jacket. Another would have featured a horserace (think Stubbs – yes, yes, still not the right time period). Another, quite an elaborate design with a mixture of sketches and floral motifs (why floral motifs? Because they look pretty and quite timeless, that’s why). So, my imagination knew no limits and I dreamt on.

It was another matter when I was confronted by reality: I had decided to self-publish and I had no money to spend on a professional cover design, so I would have to make it myself. 

I downloaded Gimp, a free photo-editing software, because a writing magazine I was reading recommended it and, hey, it’s free! And I opened it. And I had no clue how to use it. And I google “how to make a bookcover with Gimp” and found several helpful videos on YouTube and useful articles on a number of blogs. And I started making “pretend” covers. I never actually thought, here I am, making the cover that’ll have to sell my book. I thought, here I am, learning to use that software and pretending I’m making a bookcover. 

I don’t really know why I was thinking that, but I’m glad I did: it made the whole process quite fun and stress-free. Except that the covers I came up with were very bad: basically, photos, with writing on it. You see, I may be a daydreamer, but I’m not naïve. I knew I had to forget the covers I dreamed about: I did not (and still do not) have enough skill to create them. And I did not even try. And I also thought that many novels, especially literary ones, have very simple covers. And that some novels have photos (landscapes, seascapes, slightly misty as to have an abstract look) on their covers. I’m an amateur photographer. I’ve got lots of photos. So it seemed like an easy solution to have a simple cover, that would not scream at the reader: “handmade by an indie-author who doesn’t know how to use Gimp properly.”

Except those covers (yes, there were more than one), seemed to say instead: “handmade by an indie-author who doesn’t know how to use Gimp properly so put a random photo of a seascape and wrote the title in a fancy font.” I was not satisfied. Those covers were not attractive. And yes, they were random: they could have been put in front of any book. They were not original. They told nothing about the content of the book.

So I thought I had to find another solution. And I thought, maybe I could take several pictures and make a montage, as to combine different elements that would give a clue as to the contents of the novel. As if I had the skills to do such a thing! Anyway, I started looking online for pictures of horse-racing painting dating from 1820 that would be copyright-free and available for commercial use (on a side-note, if you’re making your cover yourself, and not using your own photos, please be very careful about copyrights and check the rules in your country and in the countries where you want to sell your book!). Because, I did have this idea at the back of my mind that I wanted to include something about horseracing. Because it is quite a central element to the plot of As Winter Came and Went, and because I think that horse-paintings of the 18th and early 19th century are very quaint.

And I found a painting from 1828 by Horace Vernet, “A saddled racehorse tied to a fence” which you can see it here:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horace_Vernet_-_A_Saddled_Race_Horse_Tied_to_a_Fence_-_WGA24752.jpg And I thought, great, it’s approximately the right time period, that horse looks nice, there are no people around it. But I began to wonder, how am I going to include it in the cover? As I’ve said before, I do not have the skills to do so. Let’s be honest, I cannot create a nice cover design on a computer.

But there’s one thing I can do better: paint. And I had an illumination. I thought, I know, I’m going to recreate a painting featuring a racehorse. And I wondered why I had not had this idea before. For not only would it allow me to have an original cover, but it would be linked to the novel for two reasons. The first, obvious one, would be the racehorse. The second, not so obvious one is that: one, very important character (no, you do not “know” her yet, for I have not posted any extracts concerning her) is an aspiring painter. And she paints horses. And she paints Summerhaye, the horse featuring on the cover (yes, that’s the talking horse in last week’s extract). So the painting on the cover could be a representation of one of the fictional paintings in the book.

I loved that idea. And I started to paint. The format of the actual painting is A3, taken vertically. I was inspired by the posture and attitude of Horace Vernet’s horse, but I changed the colour from chestnut to black with white legs and a white blaze, to fit the description of Summer. I replaced the buildings by a misty sort of landscape and cloudy sky. And, another change, I did not make my horse have a docked tail (a tail where the last vertebras have been cut), because, though it would have been representative of the time, I think it’s barbarous and I assumed that the first of Summerhaye’s many owners would not have done it (for cultural reasons, but I will say no more), and that later on, the horse would have become too difficult to let someone touch, let alone cut his tail, without trying to retaliate.   

Anyway, I completed the painting, digitalised it by taking and editing a high resolution photo of it, and then used it to create the cover. Not without some difficulty: I had to put it in the right format, crop it to the right size, find an appropriate font. But the most difficult was finding the right colour for the title. How I struggled! It was either too green, too blue, too light, too dark… But in the end I made my choice. And now that I’ve revealed it, well, I’m not going to be able to change it anymore (at least, that’s what I tell myself)!

"As Winter Came and Went" cover reveal

And here it is! The cover of As Winter Came and Went, featuring the racehorse Dennys met in yesterday's extract...
I do hope you like it and that, maybe, it makes you want to pick up the book and read it!
Feel free to let me know what you think of it! I will soon write a post detailing the story behind it.

As Winter Came and Went - Extract 7

I made references in several posts to a certain character who took much more importance in the novel than I had expected he would. He also seemed to steal the heart of some of my beta readers. Anyhow, he became so important that the cover which will be revealed tomorrow, makes a reference to him. Well, now, features him.

So I thought it would be a good idea for this month's extract to be the scene where the main character, Dennys, meets this other character...

Extract from chapter 3

In the morning he decides to go for a walk by the river. Heavy, lazy clouds are gathering but there isn’t any sign of rain yet. The streets are busy: people running to and fro, hailing their acquaintances, greeting their friends… He knows no one here. Andrew has gone back to his parent’s estate; he came two days ago to say goodbye, promising he’d write. Dennys is both relieved and regretful.
The river is filthy. Choked by the waste from the mills. You have to go upstream and past the town to find the semblance of green and pleasant countryside. Dennys follows the path that goes along the bank, walking briskly. He trips over the stones, gets caught in the bramble; at least it occupies his mind, the exertion leaving him breathless and physically tired, but pleasantly so.  
Into the woods and out, past a spinney. A field and a bridge; rust coloured leaves and damp sticky clods clog the narrow space under it. Rustling branches, the gurgling river. Screeching birds. A beast creeping in the bushes. Voices and a clatter of hooves. 
A saddled and bridled horse trots over the bridge, head high, tail swishing; he has no rider. He falls into a canter, quickens his pace, races with the river and stops as he becomes aware of Dennys’s presence. Man and horse stare at each other, gauge each other. It’s like the old legends: the devilish horse inviting the passers-by to jump on and galloping away, leading them to a premature end in a swamp or at the bottom of a cliff. 
He smiles in spite of himself and walks up to the wary horse who snorts but does not move. He raises his hand to stroke the animal’s forehead. The horse shies away, eyes rolling and Dennys guesses that for him, the gesture is synonymous with a blow. He doesn’t give up and calls the horse, whistling softly, hand outstretched. The horse hesitates, before deciding he can trust this human being. He advances and daintily nuzzles the hand with his velvety nose.
Apple? The horse’s eye is bright and expectant.
“Sorry, I’ve got nothing for you.” 
The horse shows his annoyance by flattening his ears against his neck and baring his teeth.
“Don’t even think of it,” Dennys says warningly, and the horse goes back to being a charming, friendly creature.
It’s a pity… The horse sighs.
“Where do you come from?”
You’ll know soon enough. Hear. My owner’s voice.
“And your rider?”
Gone. He was there and then nothing.
“Did you throw him off?”
He fell…
“They’re searching for you, come on.”
I don’t want to go back.
“Why?”
I don’t like them. They make me run in circles and hit me with sticks. They shout. They’ll be angry now. I don’t want to go back.
“They’ll be angrier if they don’t find you soon.”
Don’t you want to go away with me?
“I’m not a horse thief. And you’re a racehorse, aren’t you? What would I do with a racehorse?”
I can run faster than the wind. They won’t catch us.
“Yes they would, come on now.”
The horse looks contrite and refuses to move: his four feet are firmly anchored in the ground.

Announcement!

The cover of As Winter Came And Went (yes, it's done!) will be revealed on Tuesday the 2nd of October! Yes, that's next week!

As a reminder, for people who have not followed this blog for long (or who have stumbled upon it by chance), As Winter Came And Went, a historical/literary fiction novel set in England in 1820, will be published on Tuesday the 4th of December 2018.

It will be able for preorder as an ebook from the 6th of November (or thereabouts). However, once it is published, it will be available as both ebook and paperback.

I will make the blurb known in the coming days/weeks (I'm still working on it).

I have to say that the idea of showing my bookcover to the world (well, to the tiny proportion of the world population who is aware of my existence and that I've written a novel!) is making it all suddenly very real. And I'm a bit nervous about the way it will be recieved. Because though, as the saying goes, you must not judge a book by its cover, a lot of people, me included, do.

And another announcement: I am looking for ARC (Advance Reader Copy) readers!

An ARC is a pre-published version of a book. It may not be totally corrected and not be quite the finished version of the book. Not quite, but almost. And it is sent for free to a selection of readers and reviewers.

So what is this about?

In a couple of weeks, I'll have a digital ARC proofread and formatted and ready to be sent, for free, in exchange for a honest review to be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, or that I can post on my website. Ideally, I would love it if those reviews were made available before the release date (that is the whole point of ARCs). But I'll totally understand it if they're not ready on time! Because I am aware that reading my (...long...) novel takes time...

If you would be interested in getting an ARC, feel free to send me an email at: may.bermont@gmail.com!

What's up?

Too many things! As Winter Came and Went's release date is drawing nearer, and nearer and I'm still finding it hard to believe that yes, I'm actually going to publish a book! And it's really stressful, for there are so many things still to be done!

 

There is one particular scene I want to edit. I'm not sure yet how, or how much, but I know it could be better, and since it's quite a central scene... I'm not going to tell you what it's about, but it's meant to be a sort of climax, and I'm afraid I haven't succeeded yet in attaining the right tone and rhythm and so on with it. So I will have to look at it, again, and see what I can do, if there is anything that I can do.

 

Then I will have to proofread the novel. Thanks to a number of very helpful beta readers (and if any of them are reading this: I cannot thank you enough for your help!), many typos and inconsistencies have already been tracked down and corrected. However, there must be several mistakes lingering still in the manuscript. So I'm probably going to read through it all again, backwards maybe, and try to polish it as much as I can.

 

When all this is done, I'll have to format it. There will be actually two manuscripts, formatted in different ways. One for the paperback and one for the ebook (both of which will be published through Kindle Direct Publishing). The formatting will have to be done at the beginning of November and the two manuscripts uploaded on KDP to make the ebook available for preorder. What will make the formatting difficult is the fact that I've included illustrations. There will be twelve of them, one for each chapter. I've done nine at the moment, and will have to complete the last three as soon as possible. When that is done, I'll be able to create an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) uncorrected version of the novel, which will be sent to reviewers, if I manage to find reviewers willing to read it...

 

At the same time, my author website will go live. I've started to build it but I've got to polish it, and buy a domain name, and so on... I admit that it's not the most important part of the process, but author websites are a must-have today, especially when you're an indie-writer.

 

Another thing I need to get done is my book cover. It is sort of done already, but there are still a few things to tweak... And, on the 2nd of October, I will have a cover reveal! And probably, I will reveal the blurb as well, which means I have to write it, and I'm finding it even harder than the novel itself...

 

And I'm still working on the first draft of the sequel to As Winter Came and Went. I'm half way through, which is good: there's going to be 13 chapters (it might be a bit longer than the first one, except if I cut a lot of scenes, which I might, but there's also going to be a lot more action in the second half of the book) and I'm more than half way through chapter 7. I've also started another manuscript, whose temporary title is Cinnamon, and which will be in the contemporary/literary fiction genre. But I've just written a few pages.

 

So as you see, I've got a lot of writing-related things to do, all at the same time. So it's going to be a hectic couple of months!

As Winter Came and Went - Extract 6

Hmm... Those extracts are becoming shorter and shorter... I might post an extra one to make up for this!

 

The problem is that I do not want to reveal any spoilers that would ruin the palpitating and well-constructed plot (there, people who have read the book are raising their eyebrows and shaking their head and wondering: what plot?).

 

Anyway... Here is this month's offering and I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to tell me what you think in the comment.

 

I chose it because I feel in an autumnal mood and because, though it is not from the beginning of the book, being very descriptive it reveals nothing of my precious plot.

 

Extract from chapter 10

In the woods he strays away from the path, fighting his way through the tangled undergrowth. Bramble, bearing the last, shrunken blackberries of the season. The supple twigs of young oak trees. Fallen leaves creeping over the moss-covered ground. The gnarled trunks are a barrier against the rumour of the sea but the spray still saturates the air, the ground, the lichen and the bark. A salty stickiness, clogging up Dennys’s lungs, dulling his sense of smell, intoxicating and overpowering. And, stopping for a moment, he closes his eyes and becomes part of the wood, rooted in the rotting ground and caressed, like the oaks, by a dream of the ocean he cannot see. 

There is the wishing well, almost in ruins now, sagging as if under its own weight. Bright red, white-spotted toadstools cluster between the roots of a nearby tree. Paving the way to another world. Do the fairies still dwell there? Do they still dance round and round the ancient trees at dusk and through the night? Another world, but he belongs nowhere.
He hears the rain before he feels it and the bare branches cannot protect him. Translucent jewels on the bright green moss; a spider’s web becomes a pearl necklace. A tiny mouse scuttles under dock leaves. In the summer, foxgloves grow between the stones of the well, thriving in the damp dark shade, another refuge for the little people. The amber eyes of a fox meet his. The sodden russet and white of its fur, as it slinks out from behind a bush. The fox does not lower its gaze, does not hurry away. Recognition. It saw not a man but a changeling.