Behind the scenes: a mid-year studio update
I guess it’s a bit late for a spring update technically, as it’s already June (WHAT!) but I thought it would be nice (for me) and possibly interesting (for anyone reading) to do a little mid-year round-up of 2024 so far.
Because it’s been… hectic.
Earlier on this year I set my three words for 2024:
Efficiency, Stability and Joy.
And then… life happened.
Looking back now, I have actually managed to embrace the first two.
More or less, at least, which I’m quite pleased with myself about.
(The third one I am still working on 😉)
Book stuff
So a huge curveball was thrown into my plans at the very end of last year, when I heard back from my editor that the ‘Charlotte Duckworth’ book I had done two huge structural edits on was still not working.
She was right, and I think deep down I knew something in it still wasn’t working even when I optimistically sent it back to her, but it was still hard to hear.
I was totally burnt out and exhausted and the thought of having to do any more edits on that book made me want to run away and hide in a cave.
I got to the point of discussing with my agent whether I could give the signing advance back and get out of the contract.
I could not see how I could possibly go back and edit that book again. I felt completely at sea with it, but also, I felt trapped.
I know it sounds a bit pretentious, but honestly creativity can’t be forced, and when you don’t know how to fix something, it’s really difficult to see a way out, and the pressure is immense.
I signed a contract for that book based on a partial I wrote way back in 2022. My editor was going on maternity leave and so she agreed to a long deadline (which was great for me as I had to spend most of 2023 working on my second Rixon book).
But this meant that in the time I spent away from working on the suspense novel, my enthusiasm for the idea waned. And when I came to write it, I’d just lost the love - the initial drive/passion/whatever it is that lights you up enough to write an entire book.
However, I was under contract, and as a former journalist, I never miss a deadline! So I wrote it.
But perhaps my lack of enthusiasm showed. I don’t know. We did two major edits and while it was still a readable novel by the end, something wasn’t working. I think it was lacking emotional truth, and that kind of thing is quite intangible but also very obvious.
My editor was very kind and told me to have Christmas off and try to have a break from it. We then had a meeting in January, where I explained that I didn’t feel I could possibly edit it again, but that perhaps I could write something new, that had similar themes, and the same characters.
So that’s what I did.
I started writing an entirely new book (only three scenes from the old book have made it across) and I sent it to my editor a fortnight ago, and now I’m waiting for her feedback.
We will see. I’m not going to say I think it’s better, or that I’m tentatively hopeful, because something I have learnt over the years is that I am unable to judge my own books!
And on that note…
After The Fire
My second ‘Charlotte Rixon’ book is out in two months time!
Writing this was the first time I have ever had ‘second-novel syndrome’.
And even now, I have no idea how I feel about this book. I love the characters, I believe in them and they feel 100% real to me, but I have no idea about the book itself.
It’s SO weird. I have no idea if it is good, bad, boring, what…
My confidence had been knocked by some of the reviewers who absolutely HATED the main character in The One That Got Away.
I worked really hard on trying to make the protagonists in After The Fire not only likeable but also interesting and complex and flawed but understandable (as I do tend to believe likeable people can be a bit, well, dull! Both in life and in fiction - sorry! 😆).
I hope I pulled it off. I’ve had some really nice early reviews (and currently have a 5 star average on Netgalley!), so fingers crossed.
Here’s the book’s cover by the way…
It’s very different from The One That Got Away but I think - hope! - more in keeping with the book that perhaps my previous covers were.
They were more commercial, and again, this book is definitely not a commercial romance as it’s quite a slow burn.
It’ll be out in August, in both the UK and - excitingly - the US, too, as Bloomsbury USA picked up the rights to it over there ☺️
Web design stuff
Web design this year has continued to surprise me!
I have had some amazing clients, and it’s all been ticking along really nicely. I’m loving being back doing web design again, and feel very grateful to have this amazing career alongside my own writing.
3 author websites I made-over in one day →
5 historical fiction websites I built on Squarespace →
I’ve moved all my CRM stuff across to Squarespace - including, excitingly, proposal acceptance! Which was the final thing I was hanging onto using Hello Bonsai for.
Squarespace recently launched the ability to send beautiful proposals to clients, and have them accept them directly with a simple click of a button, which is a real game-changer for me.
Here’s some more info about these new features →
It means I can run everything through Squarespace now - including invoicing, selling my digital courses, running my newsletter, and even scheduling time with past clients to do updates for them.
It’s all been fab and streamlining things has been so good. A big tick for my Efficiency goal there!
I’ve also come to realise that I much prefer doing my short-and-sweet Author Website in a Day and Author VIP Design Days, rather than big custom design projects.
Not that I don’t enjoy doing these, but blocking off a big chunk of time is trickier when I am juggling parenting and working on my own books.
I also had to pull out of a project for the first time ever, when I realised that I couldn’t deliver what the author wanted.
I’ve talked about this a little in a blog post (see below) so won’t go on about it here, but it was a hard thing to experience.
The difference between branding and web design →
Going forward, I intend to be even more selective with the number of custom design projects I book in each year, and also want to make sure that I am 100% the right designer for any clients I book in.
It’s not a failure to admit that you’re not the right designer. It’s important and fair to both parties that you are a good fit.
I’ve also done a few websites for non-authors this year, and really enjoyed that too. So I’ve updated my website to make it clear that I’m open to working with people other than authors.
I’m going to share a blog post soon with some of my non-author website designs on it too.
My DIY Web Design Course
Elsewhere, my web design course has been a bit of a revelation.
I originally launched it because I knew there were tons of authors out there who didn’t have the budget to pay a web designer but who still needed help getting their website up and running.
I didn’t really think too much about making a decent return on it. I wanted it to cover its costs, and I honestly saw it as more of a service to the author community.
But I’ve had some lovely feedback from students!
Here are just a few messages that really made my day.
It’s also sold way better than I expected. In fact, it’s made me almost as much money so far this year as my client work.
So, I have reduced the price of the course to £199, and I’m going to take some time over the summer to check it all through and make sure everything is up to date, as Squarespace keep moving things around in the back-end, which is rather infuriating…
No such thing as passive income guys!
More about the DIY Author Website Course →
Life stuff
So last but never least, life has been mental this year.
My daughter has a number of complicated health issues, which we are finally - hopefully! - getting on top of, but that has been hugely stressful and worrying.
I am pretty resilient in general, but when it comes to her I am a total stresshead and find my anxiety really, really hard to manage.
Earlier this year we also stupidly decided to have our kitchen replaced and have major work done on our garden. Which meant we had builders here almost every day from February until a fortnight ago.
It’s all done now, and the end result is amazing, but the disruption certainly made things challenging over the past few months.
I am absolutely thrilled with our new kitchen, but I’m also equally thrilled that it’s all done now, and we can have a bit of peace!
Financially, this year has been very up and down. Because the Duckworth book I wrote wasn’t accepted at the end of last year, I didn’t get my delivery advance when I expected, which I’d kind of been banking on.
Also, my other publisher decided not to release my second Rixon book in hardback in February as originally planned (as no one buys hardbacks, eh), which meant that I didn’t get my first publication advance then either.
I will get that money, but not until August now when the paperback is released - and after my July tax bill.
I think it’s stuff like this that authors really need to be mindful of - it hugely affects us, and it’s not really discussed enough, in my opinion.
(Perhaps I will write a blog/rant about it!? )
Stability was my second word of the year, and actually, I’m really proud of how I have managed to keep my income stable through my web design work, despite the book stuff not going to plan.
Again, it’s a good example of how precarious an author’s living can be, and how important it is for us to have a safety net.
It’s not fair, but it is how it is…
So, to wrap things up, despite everything I do feel really positive and content at the moment.
I’m trying my best to work on bringing more ‘joy’ to my life. That’s going to be my focus for the second half of the year.
I’ve also made a pretty big decision regarding my writing, which I will write a separate post about, but for now I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that my editor likes the new version of my book.
I know it will need more structural edits, which means that this book will probably take me nearly three years to write (OMG) but I hope it will be worth it in the end.
Fingers crossed, anyway… At least the writing life isn’t boring!
