I meant to write this blog post at the beginning of January but time got away with me. In fact, I think that’s a sign of what the rest of my year is going to be like – busy, busy, busy.
While much of the world was on hold in 2020, it feels like 2021 is the year when we pick ourselves up and ask, ‘what’s the best way to cope now that we know what a pandemic looks like?’. That’s how I’m tackling it.
So where will the Life of Fi go in 2021?
Book Two of the Haven Chronicles
The still unnamed (I know, I know) second book in my fantasy series is with my publisher for edits. I’m doing my best to stay calm and button-lipped while I wait, but I’m honestly excited to see what they think and how they feel my baby (sorry, manuscript) could be improved.
The plan is to release Book Two later in 2021. So, as they (someone?) say, watch this space.
I wrote about my editing process back in 2019, in Once upon an edit.
Book Three of the Haven Chronicles
One of the challenges of writing a series of books is ‘shiny object syndrome’. I’m happily working on book two and my mind wanders off to all the things I could do in book three, four and five.
So while my current focus is on getting Book Two out into the big, wide world, I have a brimming notepad filled with ideas on how the series will unfold. In fact, I may soon be moving onto a second notepad.
Once Book Two is polished to its final version, I’ll be getting on with writing Book Three. I already know exactly how it starts. Steve and the darkling are still in hot water and it’s only going to get worse.
2020 Together and 2021 Still Together
Along with all the other contributors, I’m still doing my best to promote two anthologies of shorts created to raise money for the NHS Charities Together Covid-19 appeal. To date, we’ve raised over a thousand pounds for the NHS appeal.
By the way, none of the contributors make any money from 2020 Together and 2021 Still Together. All profits go to the NHS.
My Other Book
I’m also working on something else, a book that will bring together both my experience as an author and as a copywriter too. It’s a non fiction book for a group of people that I love to support.
Writing it is a completely different experience to penning a novel, but I’m enjoying the process immensely.
More about that later this year.
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So there you have it – my focus for 2021. Oh, and just in case you’ve assigned yourself a word for the year, here’s mine,
progress
What have you got planned for 2021 and what’s your word for the year?