It’s Witchland Ebook Publication Day!
It’s an amazing feeling, finally seeing my Kindle ebook on my iPad.
Today, WITCHLAND is out in ebook as well as paperback, and it’s available to read in Kindle Unlimited.
I woke up early like a child on Christmas Day, and the first thing I did was open the Kindle app on my iPad. Heartbeats later, there it was: my book. The one that first came to me as an idea in 2015, only I didn’t know how to write it back then because all I’d ever written was secondary world Fantasy Romance, and I was daunted by the prospect of writing Historical Fantasy. I wrote a couple of scenes before returning to working on one of my other novels.
I wrote a bit more of WITCHLAND in 2016, and kept returning to it between books, but it wasn’t until I did Curtis Brown Creative’s inaugural online ‘Writing a Romance Novel’ led by Jenny Colgan in 2021 that I finished the first draft. I count myself the luckiest of writers, because it was on that course that I met my writing tribe, the J Team (also known as The Coven) whose friendship, enthusiasm and insightful critique notes helped me keep going. I no longer felt so alone writing and editing this book.
As I sit here this morning, looking at my gorgeous cover (Thank you, Damonza!) its colours all the more intense for being backlit on my iPad, it hit me. The journey I’ve been on with this book. The joy I felt writing it, mixed with the frustration and limitations of writing through Chronic Fatigue with Perimenopause symptoms too. Often, the brain fog and exhaustion made me cry, because in my head the story was vibrant and jewel bright as stained glass, whilst the words that came out on the page/screen seemed flat in comparison. I couldn’t get the right depth of emotion, because it’s hard to write emotion when you’re so drained it feels like the strength’s been scraped from your bones.
Even as I write this, my Imposter Syndrome whispers: ‘Why should anyone care? Who do you think you are, to write about your struggles? Are you looking for pity?’
But I’m not writing this for sympathy. I don’t even know if anyone will read this blog post.
I’m writing it because I want to be honest about my journey to this point. And I hope my words will help anyone who does read this to keep chasing their dreams.
I didn’t give up. I kept writing and re-writing. And now WITCHLAND is here. Seeing it in my Kindle library, next to books I’ve loved – books that made me smile again when I was stressed/exhausted/sad – I’m filled with the hope that perhaps, one day, my words could touch a reader’s heart, the way those authors touched mine.
If you have a dream, you can make it come true, just like I did.