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Pull up a seat, I have news…

freyathewriter 3 Comments

It’s been a while…

I aim to write weekly bog posts, but unlike Olympic and Paralympic archers, my aim is not always true. So, I’m sorry about that.

The truth be told, I’ve been having some down time. And thinking about where my writing journey will take me next. It has taken me to… a sequel to Anti-Virus. Which *cough cough* maybe, might, perhaps, is likely to become a trilogy. Put it this way, not only do I have the title for the sequel organised, I also have the title for the third book in the series. You know, thinking ahead.

It’s how I roll.

I can’t remember if I confessed this on here as well as over on my Instagram account, but I had been toying with the idea of a spin-off to Anti-Virus, so you didn’t have to read the first novel to read the second. A bit like those series on Sky Witness where they have crossovers, you know? However… a couple of lovely people who have read Anti-Virus (how many times can I write ‘Anti-Virus’ I wonder?) have wanted to know ‘what happens next’. To be fair, I did leave the ending open for that a little, just in case I had the drive to pick up the threads of the story and continue, although it was by no means a cliffhanger.

I have to say, by the time I’d finished the editing, I didn’t want to do this. I was kind of ‘done’. I was all ready to switch genres to my already drafted dark fantasy novel. But… those reader requests, the fact that Callie and Jak kept on bothering me to continue their story, plus some time and space away from their dark and dangerous world… it got me sucked back in to dystopia and the future of these strong, feisty women.

I seem to be addicted. I already have the first two chapters in the bag. Or rather, drafted in Scrivener. You get my drift.

What’s that you say? What’s the new title? You want to know?

This is the here and now. The future is ENDEMIC.

I can’t wait to keep you updated on where this next journey will take me, Callie Hannigan and Jak Hartwood. And some new characters, one of whom is… nope, I’m not sharing yet. You’ll have to wait!

Dog days

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It’s been a while. Longer than I realised, to be perfectly honest. Where does the time go?

I haven’t been doing nothing, although the frenzy of writing, editing, cover design perfecting, book blurb fretting, wrangling with new stuff such as ordering ISBNs, setting up my first ever KDP account for publishing on Amazon and all that jazz has passed.

Now is the season of dog days. As I wait for my ARC readers to read. As every now and again I receive a comment or question from one or two of them. As I think ‘hell, reviews will be happening soon’ and ‘I really hope I haven’t oversold and under-delivered on Instagram’… you know, the usual doubts that creatives indulge in when there’s nothing else to distract them.

But – here we are. The last day of July. Only a few weeks until I publish. I’m not convinced past me ever thought I would get to this point. Actually, I’m convinced that past me thought I wouldn’t get to this point. It’s been a long old road, with life throwing a fair few spanners in the works. You know how life is, right?

I was going to redesign my blog into more of a website today, but having thought about it and taken a look at a few other authors’ websites. I’ve decided to wait until Anti-Virus is published. More for the sake of efficiency than anything else. I don’t want to revamp it now and then have to revamp it again once my novel is out. That seems like a waste of time to me. And time is precious.

Anyhoo… I am now set up on Goodreads as a Goodreads Author and Anti-Virus is on there, marked as ‘to be published’ – do look me up, Freya McMillan is the name! That’s exciting, because my ARC readers can post reviews on there before publication, which is great from a marketing point of view! Goodreads also kindly linked me to Jessica, for which I was one of the contributing authors back in 2014. I hadn’t forgotten about that, but it hadn’t occurred to me I would be linked to it on Goodreads, so that was a lovely surprise. I am still proud of the piece I wrote for Jessica, called The Magpie’s Tongue. It’s dark. There’s death. And destruction. No surprises there.

It’s time for me to have some lunch. I’ll sign off now and leave you with the cover of Anti-Virus, created with the design skills of the fabulous Platform House Publishing – thank you James!

The waiting game

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My partner has said on more than one occasion that she would hate to be inside my head. Frankly, I don’t blame her.

I find it incredibly difficult to properly relax. I used to think that this was normal, that everyone felt this way, but apparently, this is not true. Go figure.

Take this time right now, the fallow period, if you will. My precious gem of a book baby, Anti-Virus, is with my much-valued ARC readers. I am giving them time to read it, at their own pace. Because we all have lives and commitments, the summer is basically theirs. There isn’t a great deal for me to do for the next couple of months.

My brain is making me feel guilty. For not doing something. God knows, I have no idea what that nebulous something is, but it’s poking at me very regularly for not ‘working’. As if a demanding day job isn’t enough.

‘Do more.’

‘DO MORE.’

‘DO MORE.’

‘DO MORE.’

I have a small list of things I will need/would like to do before publishing, but it’s small and manageable and…

I DON’T NEED TO DO THEM NOW!

As you can imagine, that only pacifies my brain (which is behaving like a demanding two year old to be fair) for a short while.

I do have a draft of a fantasy novel that is the first in a trilogy (this is how I have always envisaged it). So I’ve printed it out and am about half way through reading it. I’m quite impressed by past Freya. She had some good plot and characterisation going on. It’s definitely got legs. Will it be a trilogy? Do I have the ability to commit to that?

Time will tell.

‘Pssst… time’s running out! Better get on with it NOW!‘

Oh, good grief…