My Writing Goals 2022 - How Did I Do?

 

At the beginning of the year, I posted my 5 writing goals for 2022 - so how did I get on?

In 2022, I wanted to:

Publish Book 13

Take part in Nanowrimo

Draft 2 of Book 15

Write short story #1

Write short story #2

Book 13 is now known as The Christmas Cupid, which was published in ebook and audio in October and as a paperback earlier this month, so I can tick that one off my list!

Last month, I took part in Nanowrimo - and managed to reach the 50k goal!

You can see my updates about taking part here

I wrote the first draft of Book 15 over the summer of 2021 and I'd put it aside, ready to dive back into in 2022. I worked on the second draft during the beginning of the year. I loved working on Tessa's story and I can't wait to share it with you!

I wrote two short stories as planned this year: Roll With It and Groundhog Date, which I gave away in my newsletters.

If you haven't subscribed to my newsletter and don't want to miss out on the next free short story, you can sign up here

So that's how I got on with my writing goals during 2022. Let's hope I get just as much done during 2023!

The Christmas Cupid Paperback Publication Day

 

It's the paperback publication day for my latest book, The Christmas Cupid!

‘Laugh-out-loud funny… Everything you want in a Christmas book and more!’ Jaimie Admans

One Day in December meets Groundhog Day in this hilarious Christmas rom com!

Zoey Beake is having a bad December. She might be an elf in the local toy shop’s Christmas department, but it’s hard to stay festive when you’ve just been dumped, you’ve had an extremely unfortunate haircut, and your boss volunteers you to walk on stilts in the toy shop’s Christmas parade.

But then something incredible happens.

Zoey is sent back to the start of December, with the chance to live the whole month again. The catch? She has to match six true-love couples by Christmas Eve. Now it’s not just her own love life she needs to fix… Grab the mistletoe, the Christmas Cupid is ready to matchmake!

A funny and uplifting Christmas romantic comedy for fans of Holiday Romance, One Day in December and Santa, Please Bring Me a Boyfriend!

Amazon UK | Amazon US

Giveaway!

If you're a newsletter subscriber, check your inbox because there should be my latest email with a Paperback Publication Day giveaway of a signed copy of The Christmas Cupid plus some chocolatey goodies.

If you haven't subscribed to my newsletter yet and don't want to miss out next time, you can sign up for free here

As always, I've been posting Book Extras on the blog, including the book's playlist, fun facts and inspiration, which you can find here

If you read The Christmas Cupid, I'd love to hear what you thought and reviews - even if they're just a line or two - are so important so I'll send you good festive wishes if you pop a few words over on Amazon :)

Nanowrimo 2022 - How Did It Go?

 

It's the 1st December, which means Nanowrimo 2022 is over.
How did you get on?

I have to admit, I wasn't sure I'd get anywhere near the 50,000 words mark during this year's Nano. I've 'won' Nano twice before (when I wrote huge chunks of The 12 Christmases of You & Me and The Christmas Cupid) but last year was pretty hectic and I only managed 20-25k. Nanowrimo2021 left me feeling frazzled and it really knocked my confidence as a writer as I struggled to juggle everything that was going on in my life.

But this year's Nano started really well and I was clocking up lots of words. Was it possible I could get down more words than last year?

By the second week, I'd managed to write pretty much the same amount that I got down during 2021's Nanowrimo, and by Week 3, I was really starting to believe that I could hit the 50k target. I was juggling everything that I had the year before but I was managing to keep everything up in the air so much better.

By yesterday, the final day of Nano, I had just less than 1,000 words to make the 50,000 words target, which I managed to hit in the morning.

I was so pleased to reach the goal, and not because it meant I 'won' Nano. It has given me my confidence back. I've really loved writing this month and although I won't have as much time to dedicate to writing during December, I'm hoping to keep up some of the momentum and carry it on in the new year.

To celebrate getting our words down, my local writing group met up in the evening for a meal and a catch up and it was so lovely to relax with friends after such a hectic month. I had tapas plus a massive brownie sundae (it is nearly Christmas and I've just written 50,000 words in a month, so I deserved it).

How did you get on during this year's Nano?

Christmas Quiz

In The Christmas Cupid, Zoey and her friends take part in a weekly pub quiz, so I thought I'd put together a little festive quiz for you to have a go at.

There are 20 questions, with everything from crimbo music, festive soap storylines, seasonal food and drink and Christmas films.

To see the answers, click on the button at the end of the set of questions. Do let us know how you got on in the comments!

‘Laugh-out-loud funny… Everything you want in a Christmas book and more!’ Jaimie Admans

One Day in December meets Groundhog Day in this hilarious Christmas rom com!

Zoey Beake is having a bad December. She might be an elf in the local toy shop’s Christmas department, but it’s hard to stay festive when you’ve just been dumped, you’ve had an extremely unfortunate haircut, and your boss volunteers you to walk on stilts in the toy shop’s Christmas parade.

But then something incredible happens.

Zoey is sent back to the start of December, with the chance to live the whole month again. The catch? She has to match six true-love couples by Christmas Eve. Now it’s not just her own love life she needs to fix… Grab the mistletoe, the Christmas Cupid is ready to matchmake!

A funny and uplifting Christmas romantic comedy for fans of Holiday Romance, One Day in December and Santa, Please Bring Me a Boyfriend!

Amazon UK | Amazon US

Nanowrimo 2022 - The Final Push

We're in Week 3 of NaNoWriMo 2022. This time next week there'll be a rush to get those final words down, but how's it going so far?

I started Week 3 at 36,448 words, which I'm really pleased with and I'm starting to believe I can actually reach the 50,000 words by the end of November. I think it'll be tight, but I'm going to do my best to get there. But even if I don't reach it, I'll still have loved taking part in this year's Nano because I lost my confidence a bit with writing last year, especially when I didn't do as well as I'd hoped during Nano. But this year's Nano has shown me that I can do this. I can write in between all the other stuff that life throws at us, and I'm so grateful that I can physically write as a few months ago it wasn't really possible (a blog post took me three days to put together, a little bit at a time) as I was ill and my hands were so messed up. So whatever my Nano word count is, I'll be happy.

I didn't manage to get to this week's in-person write-in at the library, but there's an online meet-up tomorrow that I'm looking forward to attending. Hopefully I'll get some extra words down!

How are you getting on with Nano this year?

Nanowrimo 2022 - We're Halfway There!

It's Day 15 of NaNoWriMo 2022, which means we've reached the halfway point!

The first two weeks of November have flown by; one minute I'm posting my Day 1 Nano photo on Instagram, the next I'm posting a halfway there pic - madness!

I've really enjoyed the past couple of weeks though, and I've loved diving into my book at every opportunity, wondering where my characters are going to take me next.

We're at the halfway point of the challenge and I'm not quite there with the word count, but I'm not far off at all and I'm going into the second half of Nano at a teeny smidge over 24,000 words. I'm really pleased with this amount as not only am I very nearly on track, I'm also around the point I reached for the whole of the month during last year's Nano, where I managed 20-25k.

I'm aiming for 3,000 words today, to take me up to 27,000 words, which will definitely take me over last year's word count. I've got an in-person Nano meet-up at the library this evening so that should definitely help me to reach my goal. I've only managed to attend one meet-up so far so I'm looking forward to finding out how the others are getting on with their projects.

Spotlight Book: The Mince Pie Mix-Up

I'll be throwing one of my books into the spotlight each month during 2022 and next up is the first book of mine that was published by HQ Digital, The Mince Pie Mix-Up

‘I wish I could live your life. I’d happily swap lives with you.’

’Tis the season to be jolly but for Calvin and Judy the usual festive bickering has already begun! Judy’s convinced that her husband has it easy – no glittery wrapping paper, no playground gossip and absolutely no Christmas baking.

Calvin wishes he could trade in his obnoxious boss and dull nine-to-five job to spend more time kicking back with his kids – how hard can Judy’s life really be?

But after a magical mince pie mix-up, one thing’s for certain – by Christmas Day, life for Judy and Calvin will never be the same again. Perhaps the grass isn’t always greener after all…

A hilarious, feel-good festive read, perfect to curl up with this Christmas. Fans of Carole Matthews, Jane Costello and Mandy Baggot will love this story! As will fans of Freaky Friday or 13 Going on 30!

Amazon UK | Amazon US

See more fun facts here

I like to post little 'Book Extras' (like you'd find on a DVD) for my books here on the blog, and for The Mince Pie Mix-Up I created a Playlist, put together a quiz, shared a book in pics and introduced some of the characters, and asked which character are you?

The Christmas Cupid in Pins

I love using Pinterest while writing, whether it's setting up a mood board for characters or telling the whole story in pins!

While writing The Christmas Cupid, I pinned images for key points in the book, which you can see here

It was fun, but it also gave me a visual of what was happening in the story and helped to bring it alive.

If you've read the book, can you match up the pics to the story?

‘Laugh-out-loud funny… Everything you want in a Christmas book and more!’ Jaimie Admans

One Day in December meets Groundhog Day in this hilarious Christmas rom com!

Zoey Beake is having a bad December. She might be an elf in the local toy shop’s Christmas department, but it’s hard to stay festive when you’ve just been dumped, you’ve had an extremely unfortunate haircut, and your boss volunteers you to walk on stilts in the toy shop’s Christmas parade.

But then something incredible happens.

Zoey is sent back to the start of December, with the chance to live the whole month again. The catch? She has to match six true-love couples by Christmas Eve. Now it’s not just her own love life she needs to fix… Grab the mistletoe, the Christmas Cupid is ready to matchmake!

A funny and uplifting Christmas romantic comedy for fans of Holiday Romance, One Day in December and Santa, Please Bring Me a Boyfriend!

Amazon UK | Amazon US