Psst! You want to see something gorgeous? (Hint: it starts with ‘cover’ and ends with ‘reveal’!)

Friends!

This is kinda like those 4D scan pics that mommy-to-be’s flash around. You know there are still months to go, but you can’t help squinting at the image hoping not to see signs of Uncle Hubert’s nose.

No Uncle Hubert from this angle. Honestly though, isn’t it lovely? OH FINE. I’ll show you the whole thing soon, but first allow me to introduce to you Affinity, Spirit Walker series book 1. Ta-daa!

Here’s the blurb:

Kai was born with the ability to see brokenness and to fix it. But when a freak accident leaves him trapped in the spiritual realm, he discovers a sinister side to being gifted- much darker than he’d ever imagined. With Affinity Recruiters hunting him down, Kai has to learn how to stay alive, use his gift to save his friends and stop the flood of evil threatening the world. Can he do it before time runs out?

It feels like I’ve been writing this series forEVER. Imagine my surprise when I Googled myself (it’s not as creepy as it sounds, you should totally do it) and found this beauty up for pre-order, releasing on the 8th of June 2018. We’ve been through an extraordinarily tough few weeks as a family and I’ve been a bit out of touch with normal life. I’ll cover it all here at some point, but not tonight though, because it is time to see the COVER! Are you ready? Here goes:

Isn’t it breathtaking? It captures what I saw while writing perfectly. It would tickle me pink if you head on over to Amazon and add it to your wishlist, or pre-order it. If you are an Apple fan, it is up for pre-order on iTunes as well.

Closer to release day, I will probably be running giveaways and things so do keep an eye out for those. I’ll be collecting some lovely swag between now and then!

Chat again soon,

Di xx

 

 

 

Humility vs Perfection and the sweet space in between

Humble is a good place to live, right?

I’ve had an interesting week. Shackles, the first novel that I wrote (over a decade over *cough*) never found an official publishing home. It did get my foot in the door with my current publishing house though, so I’m grateful for that.

A few years back, I read Shackles again and I still loved the characters and the plot. At that point I decided to put it out as a ‘warts-and-all’ freebie to give readers the opportunity of checking out my writing. Bait, if you will. I even wrote a ‘warts-and-all’ disclaimer in the preface because I just wasn’t going to re-edit the whole thing again. (Besides, I’d checked it twenty-trillion-times and had some others look over it for errors too and we were all happy that it was fine.) I knew I’d have to re-edit at some point, but with new books to be written, that never really loomed large on my horizon.

Fast forward a few years to this week.

Out of the blue, four new reviews arrived. Check them out here. All of them positive – some so lovely that I wanted to cry and hug my dog. Considering my allergies, that is quite something.

BUT…

A significant number of these reviews commented on a few grammar and typo issues.

*DIES* but (even bigger BUT…)

Here’s the weird thing, they loved the book anyway.

My immediate reaction was to start re-editing. Sorry kids, make your own supper. But I’m also currently writing to deadline. So what is a girl to do? I feel like I’m parading Amazon in my ancient bikini, the one with the elastic that has given up on life.

It is humbling.

But it’s also beautiful because I know that what they are falling in love with is not my broken ability but they are seeing Jesus through the cracks of what I can produce and are loving Him in the midst of typos and dodgy grammar.

It just doesn’t get better than that.

So I do have a chapter-a-day-only-after-I’ve-met-my-word-count editing plan. But it will take time and in the meantime, I’ll be out there warts and all for the world to read. And strangely, I’m okay with that.

I’d love to hear from you. Perfectionist? Any humbling happening in your life right now? Please tell me I’m not alone in my ancient bikini.

(This blog first appeared on the International Christian Fiction Writers blog.)

 

Giveaway!!! Finding Mia

Hey guys,

Quick one as I’m supposed to be writing. If you want your own paperback copy of Finding Mia, now is your chance.

Toni Shiloh featured FM as her throwback novel and we are giving away one paperback copy to anyone who leaves a comment on the blog. The last time I checked, there was only 1 comment. 1! I kid you not.

The field is way open.

If you’re keen, go here and leave a comment. Ends on the the 7th, so do it now.

Lovies to you all!

 

Di

A Writer’s Life #3 – Of Germs and Catlaps

This week has been trying. Germs ganged up on me and I spent the week fighting the flu. It was also a week of ‘let’s have something extra on every.single.night. shall we?’ 

Well, after all that I’m pooped and decided to stay home from church and catch up with life and my bed and maybe *whispers so life doesn’t hear* write a bit. 

So I get all the kinders busy, plug in my laptop and BAM! Sleepy decides it’s the perfect time for some lap invasion tactics.

Do I fight it or surrender? 

My Top 3 Writing Apps

We are living in the days of an App for every occasion. I blogged on my top 3 apps for writer over here.

I also read about an awful app that would probably lead to some laptop smashing if I ever tried to use it. You can read about it here.

Your turn. What apps have you found useful?

A Writer’s Life #2 Poolside Plotting

9 yo has been nagging to go swim so today we are doing that. It works for me too as I brought along this…

It’s ugly, but it works. #amplotting now is good for #amwriting just now. 

How’s your Saturday treating you?

A Writers Life #1

Living as a writer. That’s the dream. A book or two out there being read by real people, a multi-book contract with a real publisher. It all sounds so exotic, surreal. To die for, daahling.

Here’s the thing… I’m living the dream but my life somehow missed the memo. Or maybe it didn’t. Maybe it read it, had a good chuckle, scrunched it up and aimed at the bin. And missed. 

So my plan is to throw back the curtains on just what an average #writerslife looks like. Here’s #1.

Slept 5 hours last night. Chasing words, you ask? Er, no. Gluing sequins and bathing in glitter to make a mask for my 15yo’s school dance tonight. My hands won’t come clean. Look-

You should see my lounge. Kiddo is happy, so it’s all good.

Finding Mia Book Trailer

Hello!

I’ve always said that trying to write a synopsis (or Heaven forbid.. a BACK PAGE BLURB) is much like squeezing the entire contents of your house into the post box. I’ve also discovered that making a book trailer is just as impossible hard.

So I know it is probably too long, but here you go… the book trailer for Finding Mia…

FINDING MIA BOOK TRAILER

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

 

What happens after you sign a 3 book contract

I’ve just signed a contract with Pelican / Watershed for a 3 book YA series called Spirit Walker. *Pinches arm* I keep checking just to make sure that the contract is real and not one of those so-real-you-can-smell-the-coffee dreams. Each time I look, there it is, all signed and beautiful. It is truly the stuff that I hardly dared dream of way back when I first had the crazy thought that I should try writing books.

So have you ever wondered what an author does after signing something like that? Exotic things involving corks and fine crystal? Nope. Painting the town red, hiding from the hordes of screaming fans? Uh, not quite. I went to my little girls room (that’s her up there on the beach) and finished cleaning up dirty dishes and clothes. There you have it. Exciting stuff, hey? Hehe.

But the fact is, now the truly exciting bit starts. You see, a contract is a beautiful thing because it comes with a deadline. The beauty of a deadline is that it gives me permission to get lost in my head. It gives me permission to  hide away in my room and hunt words. It gives me permission to say no to some things because I seldom have the guts to do that all by myself.

How about you? What is your big dream and what’s stopping you from going for it?

 

 

 

 

The Stuff Inside

Hello friends,

My eldest turns 17 today! Isn’t that incredible? She can now start learning to drive… now there’s a thought.

In other news, I’m blogging today on International Christian Fiction Authors. I’d be thrilled to my tippy toes if you’d head over and have a look-see.

What have you all been getting up to while I’ve been neck deep in book #3?