–William Feather
KS Brae
Monday, 4 November 2024
Author Update
–William Feather
Thursday, 29 August 2024
Book Goals
"I think
books are like people, in the sense that they’ll turn up in your life when you
most need them." – Emma Thompson
I'm a romance writer so it's no secret that I love books. And romance books? Them's my jam. Reading and writing are major parts of my past, present and future. I've always read, I've always written, and that isn't going to change.
Writing
Goals 2024
We're nearing
the latter part of the year, and I have writing goals to fulfil, and not much
time to do it in. The scraps of writing time that I snatch are becoming more
and more important if I'm going to achieve my goals.
- Accalia Mini
This is the
book I'm working on now and obviously, that is not the official title, but the
filler title for the novella that is my work in progress. It's a shifter
romance that I'm shimmying in, between Protecting Their Heart and Rose's story.
- Martha's Book
It's gonna get
written, I swear it is. Slowly and surely the words that tell Martha's
story will get typed. It's just going to happen after Accalia
Mini.
- London Baby
This is a new
series and I'm working on book one, and the goal is to have it written by the
end of the year, even if it's not printed until next. It's a menage romance set
in my favourite city: London.
Those are the three. The three that I want to complete in 2024. Before January 1st 2025 my goal is to complete these projects and then start fresh with more next year. I just have to cram it in between motherhood, day jobs and sleep. I can do it.
Reading
Goals 2024
Up to now, my
goals have been to read my library books and reduce my TBR pile, but I've got a
lot of books and my TBR pile does not seem to be reducing. After my trip to the
book stall at the market, it's actually bigger than it was.
Reading goals are fairly general for me, because you don't know what you'll feel like reading until you're choosing the book, but there are a few authors that I would like to catch up on, because I've fallen behind.
Lack of funds means I can't always afford to buy the books I want and so the novels by my favourite authors that l like to own and display proudly on my bookshelf are building up.
- Gena Showalter
The Lords of
the Underworld series is one my favourites. I absolutely love the books but the
last one I read was The Darkest Touch which means there are about six Gena
Showalter books I have yet to read. Some major catching up to
do.
- Nalini Singh
The writer love
of my life. Oh, Nalini Singh, your words are so perfect. I managed to buy two
of these books when I got a book gift card, but there are still a lot of them
that I don't own. I need my Nalini books for my bookshelves!
- Eve Langlais
Kindle
collection. Eve Langlais's books are funny, sassy and the women are curvy and
don't take crap from anybody. She also writes and publishes quicker than I can
afford so there's a large backlog of these books I have yet to buy.
- Kresley Cole
I feel like
Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter go hand-in-hand. If you've read one, then you
have to read the other. Maybe I feel that way because for me, one led to the
other. Paranromal Romance is my favourite genre, and Kresley is the
queen.
I Love the
Love Books
Obviously,
there are way too many books on my to-buy list for me to get and read this
year, but if I can just get some, I'll be a happy romance reader, and if I can
complete my writing goals, I'll be a happy romance writer.
I've got book lists all over and I can't wait to see that list go down.
If you liked this article then take a look at some of my other posts or head on over to my website to read more there.
Saturday, 3 August 2024
Time to Write
These aren’t the easiest times we're living in right now. Financially, it seems like there are nothing but obstacles. Stability is a goal.
It takes a lot of hours at work just to get by, which can
make being a romance writer an extra challenge. I’d love to spend all my free
time editing, but I guess the trick is finding free time when I have a burning
desire to eat and have a roof over my head.
Priorities
I read somewhere that ‘if it's important to you, you’ll find
the time.’ Well, whoever said that wants to take a closer look at the high cost
of rent and groceries and car insurance, and they’ll understand why my
priorities are the ones that pay.
Except, they’re also kinda right. Being a writer doesn’t pay
me much, that’s why I have the day job, but I still manage to find scraps of
time to scrawl words on paper.
Even this blog. It's 11pm, my baby is sleeping in his cot beside me, the house is quiet and I’m writing this with my phone. It’s important to me, so I’m finding the time. This week, anyway.
Day in the Life
A lot of my writing actually gets done this way. In bed with my phone, or a notebook in the kitchen while I prepare food, even in the shower. Whenever I can. It may take me a long time, but I get there in the end, even if it cost me a bit of sleep. Too much sleep. I love sleeping.
Being Vigilant
I do try my hand at time management but it’s never been my
strongest skill, and I’m such a fan of procrastination. Organising my
bookshelves just seemed so important when it came time to write a synopsis.
I do all the things that are supposed to help. Things like
to-do lists and drinking coffee and forcing myself to open the document and not
wait for inspiration.
It all comes back to prioritising what’s important, but
this is also real life, so there are often times that I open the document and have
to abandon it to make dinner, take my dog out, or settle a tired baby.
Someone once asked how I have time to write and the truth is
I don’t. But I do it anyway.
I’m a Romance Writer
Maybe I have a little more expendable time than others because I keep my romance fictional. It’s all on the page, and it means my time is mine. These really are hard times though, and it would be nice not to have to work all the time just to stay afloat.
Hey, at least we’re in this together, right? In the words of
Brandon Lee in The Crow, ‘ It can’t rain all the time.’
In the meantime, I’ll be working on my next book in bed on
my phone.
If you liked this post then take a look at some of my other
articles, or visit my website.
Sunday, 23 June 2024
Bethany's Camera
Bethany believed in magic. She was a witch after all. It was
kind of a gimmee that she believed in what she knew to be true.
She’d celebrated Summer Solstice the night before with all
her sisters and she’d stolen some of the sunflowers they’d used to decorate the
house, to fancy up her studio a bit. They were perfect props for the adorable
photoshoot she’d just done with a West Highland Terrier and a three-year-old
little blonde girl.
So, yes, an immortal witch in a coven who had just
celebrated Summer Solstice obviously believed in magic, but that wasn’t the
type of magic she was thinking about.
What Bethany meant was art. Okay, she admitted that sounded
cheesy. But it was also true. Art was entirely magical to her.
At first, she’d been drawn to painting but over the last
decade or so, she’d switched to photography. She was always hidden behind a
camera. Her sisters groaned when they saw her coming, but she didn’t care. Life
was intriguing through a lens. It was more beautiful if she could frame it.
Right then, for example, as she walked through the town
centre, the flea market was set up, with every stall selling second hand goods,
and each topped with a colourful tarpaulin that would have made a bright,
uniform image.
She stopped in front of a stall with a red striped canopy,
and rain from the British summer trapped in the material. The market stall was
selling old camera equipment, and Bethany noticed a particular camera. Vintage
and obsolete now, with the range of SLRs and camera phones available, but she
smiled when she saw it, because it was the make and model of the first camera
she’d ever held.
It had a silver body with black leather and looking through
the viewfinder had brought her intense joy. She’d snapped photographs of
everything when she’d owned this camera, wasting reels and reels of film on ordinary
flowers and overhanging branches, straight roads, wooded forests. None of it
had been boring to her.
Now, it was almost ironic that with the unlimited number of
digital images she could take, she was much more particular and took a lot
less.
The price tag on the camera was £8. It wasn’t worth anything
except nostalgia. She searched for the seller of the stall and made eye contact
with a man in his late twenties who immediately approached her.
“I’d like this please,” she said.
“Sure thing.” His gaze lingered on her face as she handed
him the money. Did she have food on her chin or something? “This is going to
sound really forward,” he continued, “But can I have your number.”
The abruptness of the request shocked Bethany. “Um…” What
was happening? She wasn’t like her sister Martha. She wasn’t searching for her
mate. She wasn’t hoping she would find love now that the goddess had forgiven
them and it was possible. She was still enamoured with the world, as terrible
and as heartbreaking as it could be, and that was enough for her.
“I don’t think so,” she replied, shaking her head.
“Okay, fair enough. How about instead, you let me buy you a
drink. There’s a place there.” He jerked his head at a small coffee shop with
silver tables outside.
He was handsome, this man. He had a dimple in his right
cheek and the beginning of lines around his eyes when he smiled.
“I have a family thing to get to.” Not entirely untrue. With
the number of sisters in her coven, there was always something she could tag
onto.
“One coffee. Ten minutes,” he suggested.
She played her old/new camera between her hands. This man
wasn’t her mate, and Bethany didn’t go on dates, but maybe it was thinking back
to the girl she’d been when she’d first discovered art and photography, maybe
it was thinking about how excited she was with what her future held. Something
made her say, “Yes.”
The camera sat on the table between them as Bethany spent
time with someone other than her sisters for the first time in as long as she
could remember. This wasn’t going anywhere. It was just a coffee. But it was
something.
The End
Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Dreams of Distant Places
And not so distant places.
I'm a romance writer so a sense of romance is built in me, and I'm not even as romantic as I could be. I don't like weddings, I don't need a path of rose petals, and a room full of candles just makes me wonder how they got them all lit and how long it takes to blow them out.What Do You Daydream About?
Writing is a Dream
Reality is Okay Too.
Thursday, 25 April 2024
Beltane
My first book River’s Heart is the first of The Shadow Coven series. It’s series about a cursed coven who have finally found the goddesses forgiveness and now they’re finding their mates.
Wicca and magic is a major theme of the series and with Beltane
upon us, let’s take a look at exactly what it is.
What is Beltane?
There are eight sabbats in the Wiccan religion and Beltane
is one of four fire festivals throughout the year. The others are Imbolc,
Lammas, and Samhain.
Given that Beltane and Samhain are opposites of each other, with
Beltane celebrating life when Samhain honours death, you might be surprised to
know that they actually have some things in common. It’s during these two
holidays where the veil between life and death are thinnest, and both mark a
change in the year.
Beltane, however, takes us from a long winter and into a blooming
summer.
We get longer and brighter days and the earth flourishes
with blossoms, leaves and natural magic. We see the start of the summer farming
season. We celebrate purity and protection. We find new life.
More interesting to an erotic romance writer, though, is this
season of fertility and passion. Hell, it’s the season of lust.
You’ll probably be invited to more weddings as we enter this
time of year, or if you have Wiccan friends, handfastings. It’s a sabbat full
of sensuality and sexual energy.
In fact, some people will encourage you to have a little sexy time in your garden. Just try not to shock the neighbours.
When is Beltane?
Beltane takes place between the
spring equinox and the summer solstice, It’s traditionally held on the 1st
of May.
Decorate Your Altar.
When it comes to decorating your altar, think about the
colours of spring. Greens, yellows and blues. You want lush colours. Colours of
the flowers, of the grass and of the sky, and you can use them for your altar
cloth or your candles.
Frankincense and rose are good choices for your oils or incense,
and when choosing gemstones, consider rose quartz, fire agate or aventurine.
You can add a bouquet of spring flowers to your altar. Daffodils,
daisies, tulips, dandelions, lavender. Include peppermint and rosemary too.
Beltane is one of the four fire festivals, but it might not
be easy for you to include a bonfire in your ritual. An alternative is to
represent the element on your altar. You can do this with candles, with a small
caldron filled with yellow and orange items to imitate flames. Even paper will work
for this. Another option is to simply use images of fires. Whatever works for
you.
Other symbols for your ritual include May baskets, floral crowns, chalices, antlers, honey and oats, and fruits like cherries and pomegranate.
How to Celebrate.
Dance around a bonfire, weave around a maypole: there are
many ways to celebrate this festival.
Easiest methods are to make May baskets, or you can wash your face in the morning dew, decorate your garden bush with ribbons, The most simple and natural way to show your appreciation for Beltane is to go outside. Spend some time outdoors. It’s as easy as that.
A Fertile Earth
In wiccan mythology, Beltane is the time of the year when
the goddess and god came together to fertilise the earth, and because of this,
the world bursts with new life. Celebrate by sharing mead and cake with your
family. Make the most of this time of love and passion.
Saturday, 16 March 2024
A New World
I'm currently working on the first book in what will be my third series. This series is a little different to the others because it doesn't include any supernatural elements. This series will be a love story set in London.
The Three Series
The three series of books I'm writing are The Shadow Coven, Lunar Falls and this, as yet unnamed London love stories compilation, and these are the worlds I will be concentrating on for the foreseeable future.
As a romance writer I love creating worlds and watching them develop and I can't wait to write the stories of all the characters who are just waiting to fall in love. Read on for a little information about the worlds that are about to grow.
The Shadow Coven
Protecting Their Heart
The London Series
Still to Come...
Author Update
Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. –William Feather I want to write an update about what I'v...
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No, not the alarm. River groaned into her pillow, but there was no ignoring the annoying tune blaring from her cell phone, demanding tha...
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One book finished... Another to start. Protecting Their Heart is officially released, and I've been on a bit of vaycay before getting ...
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I'm currently working on the first book in what will be my third series. This series is a little different to the others because it doe...