noble assassins and ignoble witches

Honestly, you wait ages for a book about 17th Century court intrigue, then two show up at once.

(Having spent quite a lot of February without a car, I’ve decided the old saying about buses needs updating – in my experience they either show up when they’re supposed to, or not at all.)

This month I’ve got back into audiobooks, for a number of reasons. Firstly, I forgot to cancel my subscription to audible (I reactivate it about once a year, whenever an author I love releases an audible-exclusive book) (yes, Peter Clines, I’m looking at you) so I’ve got some free credits to use up this month. Secondly, I’ve been walking/bussing a lot more than usual due to the aforementioned lack of car, so it’s been helpful to use that time constructively. Thirdly, I hate my brain. All that time spent walking gives me far too much time to think, which doesn’t sound a bad thing unless your brain is prone to unhelpful spiralling and/or rehearsing arguments you intend to use online someday. Audiobooks are a proper godsend sometimes.

So, as well as browsing my way through the fiction section of our stacks at the library, I’ve also been perusing the audiobook selection. I’ve found I much prefer non-fiction to fiction, because it doesn’t matter so much if my concentration wanders. Specifically, I love love love gentle informative non-fiction where someone with a reassuring voice tells me about their deep affection for a particular subject. Two of my recent favourites have been SPIRALS IN TIME and THE SOUL OF AN OCTOPUS, and someone recommended BRAIDING SWEETGRASS to me, which is so definitely my thing that I’m saving chapters as a special treat for myself each day.

I also picked up an audio copy of WITCHES: A TALE OF SORCERY, SCANDAL AND SEDUCTION by Tracy Borman, because why wouldn’t I. It’s a pretty good non-fiction introduction to the witch hunts of the late 1500s / early 1600s, with a focus on one particular case involving the children of the Earl of Rutland. Since I don’t know anything at all about this period of history, I can’t vouch for how accurate all the information is, but it was entertaining enough. Although the narrator did keep putting on accents every time she quoted someone.

At the same time, I’ve been reading THE NOBLE ASSASSIN by Amanda Dickason, which is about courtly intrigue in the early 1600s and, by a fun coincidence, features some of the same characters as WITCHES. The only surviving child of the Earl of Rutland, Katherine Manners, married the Duke of Buckingham, who was the favourite of the king and crops up a fair bit in both books. It was nice to reference back and forth between the two books and learn more about the characters from each.

THE NOBLE ASSASSIN is probably the most enjoyable randomly-selected book I’ve read so far this year, although the plot meandered a little bit and the most interesting bit (a “fake” scheme to murder the prince) felt almost like a side note, slotted in when the main character got tired of mooning over poets.

Onwards, therefore, into the E-Shelves:

The letter E is much more restrained. Not 20+ shelves for them, oh no. Instead, a nice, manageable five shelves to choose from, which means for the first time this month I don’t feel overwhelmed.

After a small amount of consideration, I’ve picked shelf number 4, mostly because it contains a copy of THE BLOOD PRICE by Jon Evans, who once wrote a screenplay version of my book TERROR ISLAND and therefore holds a fond place in my heart:

But this shelf also contains almost too much choice. Now I’m not limited to just two or three authors, I’m dithering. I reckon it’s a choice between Harriet Evans (gentle romance), Pam Evans (historical romance, with dancing), or Lissa Evans (funny romance, I think? Possibly involving cats and snails?):

I’m also going to throw a wildcard into the mix: THE HORSE WHISPERER, on the basis I should probably read it at some point in my life:

While the Lissa Evans book looks like the most attractive option, I think I might’ve read something else by that author (if she’s the same Lissa Evans who wrote WED WABBIT, which she might not be) (no, I’ve not googled it, what do I look like a person who ain’t lazy). So I’ll throw it open to comments again, in case anyone has any strong opinions one way or the other. Or indeed, if there’s another gem on the shelf that I’ve overlooked.

2016 - end o year stats

So. What've we been up to in 2016?

However you look at it, it's been a heck of a year, but I'm going to ignore all the important stuff for now and go with my usual yearly round-up of how much I've written in the past 12 months, because that's something I feel relatively positive about and because I have some nice solid statistics to fall back on, rather than my own shouty opinions.

(I'm not posting all this to boast, btw. I just like stats, and I like being able to take stock of what I've done in a year. Also I hope it'll show that everyone's output is different, we all work at different speeds, we all have different definitions of what is a fair amount of work, and no one should ever make themselves (or anyone else) feel bad for doing more or less than the next guy.)

In total, I wrote 414,204 words, which equates to approximately 1131 words a day average. To compare, in 2015, I wrote 359,224 words (about 984 words a day average).

These totals include everything - first drafts, rewriting, editing, blog posts, competition entries... anything I can claim with a straight face as creative writing. I also included drawing as writing (using the vague definition that a finished picture is worth a thousand words).

Breaking this down into positives:

I wrote the first drafts of two new stories, one of which is now my favourite thing I've written.
I edited two other novels to close-enough-to-finished level.
I polished TERROR ISLAND and released it as an ebook.
I filled up two notebooks with notes, ideas, and random crap.
I wrote every day, even if it was just a couple of sentences (although there were a couple of close calls).
I read 91 books.

And into negatives:

I didn't get as much drawing done as I wanted. Maybe only two or three days included any drawing.
I didn't blog very much.
I didn't crit as many stories for other people as I should've. In fact, I still have three crits outstanding, which is very poor behaviour on my part.
I still don't reply to my emails in a timely fashion.

But in general, I'm happy with my output for the year. I feel like I've done okay. I really hope everyone else feels they've done okay too, despite this horrid year, and achieved something they can be content with.

I'm going to do a separate post about the books I've read, because I'm sure you're anxious to see my stats about those too. :)

Happy 2017, peeps. Stay safe out there.

the return of TERROR ISLAND

Aha, forgot to mention. TERROR ISLAND, my very first novel, is out now in ebook:

Here it is for Kindle in the UK

And here for Kindle in the US

Alternatively, if you would like a nice shiny FREE ebook version (in whichever format tickles your fancy), then why not sign up to the Rakie Keig mailing list?

Email terror_island_novel(at)hotmail(dot)com with the title SUBSCRIBE

And our email monkeys will do the rest (disclaimer: there are no monkeys, it's only me and my stubby-fingered typing skills).

list o acheivements

Last week I finished a new novel, which I reckon is cause for celebration. 86,000 words in total for the first draft, hopefully equating to about 80,000 for the second (once I've cut most of the crap out).

By my calculations, this would be my fifteenth completed novel (disregarding the ones that have been abandoned, lost, buried or disowned)... although I could be miscounting somewhere. This I think is my full list:

1. Obsession No. 1 (about 2002, approx 90,000 words) - a thriller, for some reason. God knows why I keep trying to write thrillers. It's not my preferred genre either for reading or writing. I think a grand total of two people have ever read this, or are ever likely to read it.
2. Coma White (about 2004, approx 120,000 words) - another thriller. Also the longest thing I've written, since I hadn't learned to edit back then. And yeah, the title's from the Marilyn Manson song, which I would apologise for, except I still maintain Mechanical Animals was a perfectly fine album.
3. Animal Bones (about 2005, approx 75,000 words) - homage (i.e. blatant stealing) to Laurell K Hamilton, involving a private detective who works for supernatural clients.
4. Terror Island (2006, published 2007, approx 110,000 words) - wow, was this really the first time I put zombies in a story?
5. Blood Red Sea (2007, approx 80,000 words) - vampire pirates, in a young-adult stylee. The title "Vampirates" was already taken, annoyingly.
6. NighmareLand (2008, approx 80,000 words) - post-apocalyptic zombies. If I had to pick my favourite thing I'd written, this would probably be it.
7. Screenstalker (2008, approx 50,000 words) - my first Nano-novel, about a monster-hunter who lives in the TV and fights movie monsters. And zombies.
8. Home Ground (2009, to be published SOON, dammit, approx 90,000 words) - WWII zombies at an Internment Camp on the Isle of Man.
9. Moths (2009, published 2010, approx 60,000 words) - giant killer moths.
10. Afterglow (2009, approx 60,000 words) - giant killer glow-worms.
11. Lost Souls Maximus (2009, approx 50,000 words) - murder and campanology, my second Nano-novel.
12. Time Alone (2010, approx 95,000 words) - time travel... I'm in two minds whether to include this as completed or not. A first draft was definitely finished, but it's so full of plot-holes and difficulties, I doubt the damn thing can ever be rewritten. :(
13. Blood of the Ancestors (2010, approx 85,000 words) - swords 'n sorcery, without the sorcery and with added zombies. Consensus places this as the best thing I've written so far, which is nice.
14. Return to Terror Island (2011, approx 85,000 words) - my third Nano-novel. You'll notice it went slightly over-budget on the word count. And it wasn't finished until recently. Also I've not told anyone I've written this sequel. I'm looking forward to the reactions. :)
15. The Ravens (2011, approx 80,000 words) - and this is the newly-completed one, written for my lovely husband, with post-apoc zombies and a bike gang. Editing starts next week.

There was also a children's book I wrote in high school, but I'm disregarding that, and also four or five movie scripts. And some short stories. Plus all the stubs of unfinished novels, of which there are several.

I think I'm happy with the list so far. :)

Editing of Nos. 14 and 15 will probably take up the next few weeks, then it's on to world building for Nanowrimo. Huzzah.