Tag: Another Taste of Honey

My New Writing Year – 2025

On By TomIn Achievement, author honesty, author ideas, Competitions, fantasy, General, Insight, military career, Novel, paperback, paranormal, Promotion, sci-fi, self-publishing, Short Stories, thriller, Unofficial autobiography, work in progress, writing

This year I will concentrate on two stories; McLENNAN and SELENA: SEA NYMPH, which, unsurprisingly, are poles apart in content.

McLENNAN features a male vigilante, and was inspired by my short story, Resettlement. Fellow crime thriller writer, Barbara Speake suggested that the idea in the short story could be expanded. That tale can be read by clicking on the title or it can be found in my anthology, Shadow: and Other Stories. Research into locations and certain areas of society will keep me occupied when I’m not actively writing the story.

SELENA: SEA NYMPH will be my other main task. It has been a work in progress over the past couple of years, but I’m confident that I’ll finish the job this year.

As a non-swimmer and, therefore, someone who’s never been keen on waterspouts or travel by boat, I will be literally out of my depth in some parts of the story. In my favour, many years ago I tried my hand at canoeing, and I attended a two-week swimming course, so I’m not without experience when it comes to spending time underwater. My imagination, coupled with a lifelong interest in natural history and a nod to conservation, will play their parts in the storytelling.

In the background, I’ll work on A Life of Choice: The Retail Years when the other two stories are resting between drafts. This story stems from the idea that we relate anecdotes and say things like, ‘I could write a book about it.’ It was as recently as November 2024 when I decided I’d aim to do just that. I chose the title to fit with A Life of Choice, my five-eBook series loosely based on my military career. As with my military memoirs, I’ll be in no rush with this story, but I foresee it being a single volume and written in a different format. When I eventually have something to offer for feedback, I’ll post it here.

I will, of course, be reading a lot, beta reading for fellow authors, and I’ll continue to produce short stories for submission to the amazing quarterly Connections e-Magazine produced by fellow indie author, Melanie P. Smith.

I sincerely thank my regular readers for choosing and supporting my brand. If you’re new to my writing, I hope you’ll soon become one of my valued readers.

My Writing Year – 2024

On By TomIn Achievement, author honesty, author ideas, collections, editing, General, Insight, Novel, paperback, Promotion, reading, self-publishing, series, Short Stories, thriller, work in progress, writing7 Comments

In the past few weeks, I’ve been in touch with fellow authors and bloggers I haven’t heard from in a long time. I drifted away from regular blogging several years ago, after spending a while receiving unexpected, but welcomed accolades for my ‘regular and interesting’ posts. I regret the loss of many international ‘friends’, but abandoning the twice-weekly articles and the many regular mutual visits left me more time for my first love–storytelling. Those recent contacts reminded me that my blogging days gave my brand a much-needed boost in the early years.

I didn’t produce an end of year blog in 2023, although I did publish Crusader. That one title felt like an accomplishment because, when only partially through writing the story, a secondary character often took centre stage. I was compelled to remove a sizeable chunk of the story to allow the primary character his own space.

The chapters I’d removed but saved from Crusader, became the foundation of my next story. Earlier this year, I published Constance, and I’m pleased to report that she has appealed to many readers. When I first attempted writing strong female characters I wasn’t sure if I’d be capable, but as their numbers increase, so has my confidence.

I set A Taste of Honey in the USA, aiming to attract more readers there, which worked. Knowing that my readers mainly hail from Europe, it was logical to set the sequel on this side of the pond. I’ve learned a lot since writing the first book, which has now been revised twice. Before going too far with the second part of Honey’s story, I reread the first to absorb the heroine’s mindset. By then, I felt comfortable with the continuing story, moving the character and the action to places more familiar to me.

I published Another Taste of Honey earlier this month as an eBook and it’s had good reviews so far. I’m hopeful that these will continue and the sequel will be as successful as the first part of the story. As with all of my work, I enjoyed living in the adventure and felt comfortable travelling from one location to another in Europe. Amsterdam, Cologne and Berlin all feature as Honey gives chase, and as you might expect, she continues to serve her own style of justice. The paperback will be available in early January 2025.

In November, I published my first anthology of short stories in four years.

Harriet: and Other Stories is a mixed-genre and mixed-theme collection. Five of the tales are sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal, and once again, there are no erotica stories included. Several of the stories were written as submissions for the quarterly Connections-eMagazine published by Melanie P. Smith.

I’ll post again in January to give a foretaste of my aims for next year. In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful festive break, and thank you for your interest and any comments.

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