2023! What a year! What about 2024?

Over the last month I’ve been reflecting on 2023, and I’ve realised that I’m actually at the end of a very full two year cycle. So what happened in that time?

We moved to Portugal!

It began, of course, with our decision to move to Portugal in 2021. We started thinking about that process at the beginning of that year, just after I’d become a full time writer, and our original intention was to move in late 2022. But then we had a major rethink and decided to move it forward by six months. Life is short. Why wait? Everything ramped up when we had to organise all the paperwork we had to submit in August and September of 2021. It still didn’t really feel like anything was happening until we submitted our application later than we intended in October 2021. Then it was just a case of waiting…

In early February we received the great news that we had been granted residency. At that point, madness ensued! When we had to list the house with the estate agents in February 2022, that made me so busy I barely knew whether I was coming or going! We moved here in April 2022, and since then it’s been 18 months of change. I can’t complain, because it was self-inflicted, and we’re very happy here, and there have, of course, been periods of stability. We’ve lived in a couple of lovely rentals, but it’s not like owning your own house.

Twelve months ago, just days before Christmas, when we were losing hope of ever finding a house, we found one. It was in the perfect spot, in an area of the Algarve that we love, and close to a gorgeous beach. It was big and airy, and although it didn’t have a pool, there was room to build one. So after the usual round of negotiations and paperwork – thank the Gods for a fab lawyer – we signed for the house and exchanged in March 2023. Of course, throughout all this time I was liaising with the company who was storing our furniture, liaising with the people who would get our belongings through customs, (at no extra cost to us we hoped, and of course with reams of required paperwork), and organising emptying our new house of the furniture that came with it. Wow…

I look back and I honestly wonder how I managed to keep writing and organise all of that! Jase has been amazing and did what he could, and certainly when we moved in, he did so much on our house! Old wardrobes were dismantled, holes filled, plastered, and painted, and he went through two drill bits just putting up shelves and pictures!

I helped, but I set deadlines for my books, and I like to stick to them.

Books and Audiobooks

I planned on publishing five books last year, and achieved it! If I don’t set deadlines, it’s easy for days to drift and projects to be delayed. Plus I have to liaise with my editor and ensure I have my books to her on time as agreed. So, what did I do?

• I wrote five books that you, my fabulous readers, loved. And I loved writing them!
• Out of those five books, two were new series starters. I launched Storm Moon Rising, Storm Moon Shifters #1, in April, a spin-off featuring characters first introduced in Dark Star, White Haven Hunters #3. Fortunately, you loved it, so book 2 is with my editor now! Then in December I released the The First Yule, the first Moonfell Witches book, a Yuletide novella, and luckily you love that too! Thank you. I also released two White Haven Witches books and one White Haven Hunters.
• In addition I produced four audiobooks – I think…
• I also set up a few other things that I’d been desperate to do. Although I’ve had my own online shop since early 2022, it didn’t allow me to do what I really wanted to do, so I set up another one, through Shopify, in August/September 2023. Wow! That was a massive undertaking, and took much longer than I anticipated, but I’m super pleased with it. I’m still tweaking it, and probably will be for some time to come, but overall I’m very happy with it. Of course, as you know, I decided to call it Happenstance Books, after Avery’s bookshop – one of the White Haven Witches. I would like to thank you for supporting my shop so enthusiatically. I’m going to write a separate blog post on selling direct, just so you understand why it’s so important to me and other authors. The one thing I really wanted to do with my shop was sell paperbacks, hardbacks, and audiobooks, and offer great bundle prices, and offer merchandise. I will be organising more of all of these things. Of course, I offer ebooks too!
• The next thing I was intent on organising was my Ream subscription, which is a bit like Patreon, but is specifically for books. It’s called Happenstance Book Club. There are several different membership levels, all offering great goodies, so I encourage you to check it out. Joining also gives you access to the group on Discord. Thank you so much to my early subscribers. I am planning on adding lots more to this over the coming year, including exclusive merchandise.
• I set up my YouTube channel, posted all of my audiobooks, and am now monetised.

So, by the end of October, last year, and in fact the year before, felt like A LOT! But I feel that I have laid the foundations for things that I want to build on this year in my career, and also laid the foundations for our wonderful life in Portugal. It is hopefully, our forever country. After moving from the UK to NZ, and then to Portugal, I’m hoping this is it for big moves!

I’m hoping you can now understand why I feel it’s the end of a two year cycle. By December, I was feeling drained, but ploughed on with Dark Heart, Storm Moon Shifters 2. I am now having a break!

Plans for 2024

I am planning on releasing five books again, four full novels, and one novella at Christmas.

• Dark Heart, Storm Moon Shifters #2, at the end of February. It releases on the 22nd Feb from Happenstance Books, and the 28th everywhere else. You can pre-order it now. We’re working on the cover very soon.
• The seventh White Haven Hunters book, as yet untitled, but due for release probably mid May. It might be the last in that series, but there will be books featuring the Nephilim in sort of standalones. They all have their own fascinating stories to explore.
• The first full Moonfell Witches Book, and I’m super excited about this too! It will hopefully be out mid-July. I need to organise ny dates. It will be again a mix of past and present, so a real change in style, and a chance to explore the ancestors and that house!
• The thirteenth White Haven Witches book. This should be ready for a mid-October release.
• A Christmas novella, and I think it could well be a Rise of the King novella. It will be fun to visit Tom and King Arthur and catch up with the Otherworld.

Audiobooks:

• Early this year, like imminently, Di Croft will narrate The First Yule, then Midnight Fire and Immortal Dusk. That will bring the Hunter series up to date.
• The we’ll set a date for Storm Moon Rising in maybe May…
• Then Vengeful Magic and Chaos Magic later in the year. More in that series if possible.
• My other narrator, Adam Gold, will complete Rise of the King. There have been delays, but The Silver Tower should be done this month. The Cursed Sword will be August/ September.

Short stories and extras:

• I’ll be writing a few more short stories and extras – character sheets, graphics, maps etc, around my books for my Ream and newsletter subscribers.
• Growing my Ream subscription and making it truly special.
• Working on more merch for my store and expanding my products and designs.
• Designing merch exclusive to my Ream subscribers
• TJ’s Inner Circle merch for giveaways.
• Finishing the hardback designs for White Haven Witches
• I’ll also be working on German translations, but that requires lots more research and planning.
• Sorting out advertising and reaching new readers

Personal goals:

• I’m very witchy and always have been, so I’m leaning into that this year and growing my practice. I’m very intuitive and love using the tarot. That, however, deserves a blog post to itself, so stay tuned. It’s something I’ve been thinking about more and more, especially at the end of last year and over the last few days.
• Decorating our house – especially my bedroom/study. I love dramatic colours, so my room is about to be transformed and will be much more me!
• Gardening! I love it. It restores my soul. Now we have our own house, I can indulge again.
• Building a better work/life balance, and making sure I take time to enjoy our beautiful new home.
• Combining yoga with my weights excercise. I love yoga, but it’s taken a back seat the last couple of years. Not any more!
• Blogging more on the background to my books. I used to do that regularly, but that didn’t happen last year, and I missed doing that.

So, after that rather long blog post, that’s it! No doubt other unexpected events will occur, but that’s life. I hope to bring you many more fabulous stories and characters that you will love, so stay tuned!

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