Blackwell’s Bookshop 146 Oxford Road Manchester M13 9GP
I’ll be chatting with that man again, the wonderful Caimh McDonnell about The Witches of Woodville books and the film Unwelcome. Despite what Stephen Hawking might have told you, space and time are limited, so grab your tickets by clicking here.
I’ll be moderating what promises to be an amazing evening of conversation with two of my favourite authors, Caimh McDonnell and Ben Aaronovitch!
They’ll be discussing their recent releases Amongst Our Weapons and Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch is the hugely entertaining new novel in the bestselling Rivers of London series, which details the adventures of Peter Grant. In addition to his successful series of urban fantasy novels, Ben is a screenwriter, with early notable success on BBC’s legendary Doctor Who.
Love Will Tear Us Apart is the much-anticipated third instalment in The Stranger Times series from C.K. McDonnell, which combines his distinctive dark wit with his love of the weird and wonderful. C.K. McDonnell is a former stand-up comedian and TV writer, who has performed all round the world and has been nominated for a Kid’s TV BAFTA.
Tickets are bound to go fast, so grab yours here!
Every now and then an author comes on the podcast and says those magical words, ‘How honest do you want me to be?’ Matt Cain doesn’t hold back when talking about the squeamishness of UK publishing to embrace commercial LGBTQ fiction.
Matt endured rejections from thirty agents and fifty publishers before getting his debut novel published… and then it didn’t work out. Matt tells us how he made an extraordinary comeback, breaking crowdfunding records with The Madonna of Bolton, having a smash with The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle, and now he’s back with Becoming Ted, his latest heartwarming novel about following your dreams.
And in the extended version for Academy members and podcast Patrons, the Two Marks discuss writing with an authentic voice, titles, rejection, and much more!
WE DISCUSS…
The importance of an author’s authentic voice
Why gay fiction doesn’t need to be literary and serious to sell
And how, after rejection and failure, to make a spectacular comeback…
August, 1940. The ghost, the witch and the traitor… As the Battle of Britain rages overhead, a warlock leader from the Council of High Witches comes …
The Ghost of Ivy Barn by Mark Stay
It’s common for authors to experience failure and rejection, but if you really want to know what it’s like to be constantly knocked back, then be a screenwriter! So many of the scripts I’ve written will never see the light of day, but that’s all part of the fun of screenwriting. I was delighted to discover that even a writer as successful as Cole Haddon has had the same bumps in the road, but he’s embraced failure as the best way to learn and move forward. Enjoy…
Happy New Year from all at The Enchanted Emporium and we wish you a magical 2023 with plenty of happiness, good health and laughter. And books, lots …
Best Books of 2022 and chat of things to come
I love this new poster art for UNWELCOME! The film is out on 27th January in the UK and 17th March in the USA (not sure elsewhere, so please check local listings!). There are more details here.
And here’s the trailer if you haven’t seen it already…
A very Happy New Year to you all! And I begin 2023 with some splendid news. I’ve delivered the fourth Witches of Woodville book to his agent. It will be published on 14th September 2023, and therefore someone at the publisher has pushed the big red “Pre-Order” button (every publisher has one, and it’s usually locked away in the basement) and thusly it is now available to, well, pre-order at many of your favourite retailers (some take longer than others to pull their finger out when it comes to pre-orders… Yes, we’re looking at you, Audible).
So without any further ado, I can exclusively reveal the title and blurb for the next Witches of Woodville book is…
(insert drumroll here)
The Holly King is coming, and you’re on his list . . .
You are cordially invited to the FEAST OF FOOLS.
A YULETIDE celebration in the village of WOODVILLE.
Your host is THE HOLLY KING, benevolent demigod and newly-restored RULER of the woodland realm.
Confront your fears and banish darkness at our Saturnalian Revels, with food and drink aplenty for all you lusty guts. Join your neighbours, Dead-Eyed Fairies and a Woodwose, all overseen for one night only by the Lord of Misrule.
STRICTLY NO WITCHES ALLOWED.
Have you been Naughty or Nice?
RSVP, regardless.
As Christmas looms, the villagers come under the spell of the Holly King, a demigod bent on destroying Woodville. Faye, Bertie and the witches are determined to stop him, but first they must confront terrible truths that threaten to tear them apart.
Golly, that does sound thrilling, doesn’t it! The Holly King will be available in paperback, eBook and audiobook on 14th September 2023, and you will find all the current live pre-order links here: https://witchesofwoodville.com/#thehollyking
A rare thing these days: an in-person interview for the podcast! I got to meet the delightful Christian Cameron in the bowels of Hachette’s big publishing castle near Blackfriars Bridge. We discuss worldbuilding, research, and learning to write without doubting yourself (something I’m not sure I’ll ever get the hang of). Also, before the interview, Me and Mr D discuss AI and how it might impact authors over the coming years…
We bang on about our 200 Words a Day Challenge on the Bestseller Experiment podcast constantly (click here to find out more), so it only seemed fair that I should give it a go. It also occurred to me that the sheer number of projects I had lined up for 2022 might benefit from me writing every day, so why the hell not.
I was also inspired by one of our listeners, Mark Hood, who (at the time of writing) has written every day for over 1100 days. Check out his daily word counter here.
How to keep track of these words? I downloaded a simple to use spreadsheet from MoonBunny Creative’s Kofi page. In fact, I’ve just got my 2023 spreadsheet from Moonbunny here. I saved it on my desktop and popped the words in at the end of every session.
A total of 388,854 words in 2022.
That’s 32,405 per month. A little over a thousand words a day. I rarely wrote more than 3,000 words a day, and in December there were a few days where it was a scrabble to get to the 200 minimum (mostly due to travel/family commitments).
Those 2599 minutes per month translate into about 43 hours a month spent writing… Which, considering I’m supposed to be a full time writer, doesn’t feel like a lot. But I’m also taking meetings, travelling to conventions, co-running/presenting a podcast, interviewing authors/guests, editing books and scripts for clients, and doing housework (it’s often the only exercise I get during the day!).
I also only average 13 words per minute, so I’m not particularly fast.
But… I wrote every day and, as you can see, it all adds up. I usually start at 7:30am on my main project and work for two hours. I start writing by hand in a notebook (each project has a specific notebook), usually typing it up the next day and, in the process, redrafting it. Later in the day, I might work on a secondary project, or edit a client’s book etc.
May was my most productive month as I was in the thick of the drafting of Woodville #4 (exciting title to be revealed soon!). January was my least productive month, at least in terms of words, as I was in the thick of drafting TV scripts: lots of story, though not as many words as a novel.
Here are the projects I worked on in 2022. Most of these have vague titles/descriptions because they’re either works in progress, or they simply haven’t been picked up or announced yet.
I only counted words that contributed towards creative projects, so I didn’t include my diary entries, emails, newsletters, blogs (like this one), or any of the notes or reports I’ve made while editing books/scripts for clients. I’m also a story consultant on a TV thing, which involved reading scripts and giving feedback, but while that was sort-of creative, it’s not my show, so I didn’t count them.
I remember in those early episodes of the podcast where almost every author we spoke to said they wrote every day, and we got very excited thinking we were onto something… Until we got to Sarah Pinborough who said in her own brilliant way that she thought the whole “write every day” ethos was “bollocks” (listen to the full episode here, it’s one of my favourites). And she’s right in a way… If we’ve learned anything in over six years of the podcast it’s that every writer finds their own way of doing things. There are no rules, only principles.
That said, if you’re just starting out then one of the most important things you can do is develop a regular writing habit. And all you need to do is write 200 words a day. You can do that in 20-30 minutes tops. We ask people to try it for a week, and see if they get hooked (and they very often do, and also end up writing a lot more than 200 words a day). It’s less intense than NanoWriMo, and if you follow the #200WordsADay hashtag on Twitter you’ll find me and a community of writers sharing our word count every day. We’re all in it together. Sign up for free to the challenge here, and download Moonbunny’s tracker here.
Was it worth it? Definitely. I got a lot done this year, and I never lost any momentum and it never felt like a burden. Will I do it again? I think I probably will… I might give myself more time off over Christmas next year, but who knows? The thing is, I love writing. It’s a privilege to do it full time, and getting those words in every morning is my happy place. When I’m writing, nothing else worries me and I can’t wait to get back there again. Maybe I’m just weird? Or I’m a writer? Or a combination of the two?
Mark Stay Writes 