It’s three months since I’ve written one of these catch-ups in their normal format. In December, I merely wished everyone a good holiday and in January, I published my annual round-up of the year just gone and objectives for the coming twelve months. But here we are, at the end of February, and it’s as though I’ve never been away. So what’s been happening this month?

Writing This Month

I mentioned last month that I’m planning on publishing two novels this autumn, one thriller and one cosy. And the thriller, Retribution! will come first, so that’s what I’ve been working on so far this year. I’ve been writing cosies for nearly five years now and the style is very different from my thrillers. I’m having to learn how to write grit, violence and tension once more. Plus the plot is a lot more complex and the book is almost twice as long. Then to add to the pressure, I’ve booked my editor from April onward. So this month has been all about getting the first draft finished and polished sufficiently for someone else to see it. As those of you who know me well will attest, I’m a scientist and tend to approach even creative tasks with a mathematical precision. My diary is full of charts; my notebook is full of lists and ideas. I know how much I need to write each day and which date I need to finish each part. And so far, it’s all going to plan. I’ve written approaching 40K words since the beginning of the year; and am confident I can finish this stage of the task by the end of March. (Whether I’m feeling so confident this time next month remains to be seen.)

Needless to say, with such an ambitious objective in terms of novels, I’ve abandoned all pretense of entering competitions at the moment, and this blog post is the first non-novel writing I’ve done all month.

Sales and Marketing

I’m delighted to report I’m still seeing the effects of the two stacked promos I ran for my cosies in October and January. The sales of ebooks has more or less returned to pre-promo levels, but the page reads are still running at two to three times baseline levels. On reflection, January was too early to repeat the exercise. I saw the same pattern as first time around, but with peaks at half the previous level. I’m not going to touch those, apart from my regular Amazon Ads, until October when hopefully cosy #4 will be ready for the off.

With the fourth part of the thriller series due for release in September, I thought I’d have a go at relaunching the first three parts of the series this spring. They were published between 2016 and 2018, and have been pretty dormant for a while. I’ve had the covers redesigned; I hope you like the new brand identify. And I’m currently giving them a rough polish before putting some time, effort and money into promoting them, from early April.

Since the start of the year, I’ve had several bookings from local WI and similar groups, all asking for Woman In The Snow, my talk about working in Russia in the 1990s and how it led to my prize-winning debut novel, Gorgito’s Ice-Rink. That’s resulted in quite a few sales of the paperback version, which is most gratifying, especially as it’s ten years old this year. Time to plan a birthday party, maybe?

Out and About

True to the first of my 2024 objectives (get out there and keep having fun) Michael and I have monthly treats booked right through to August. Both January and February saw us staying in nice old houses and eating wonderful food. (And an extra benefit of booking hotels in the winter is they’re often half empty and upgrades are much more common.) But aside from those excursions; a brilliant day’s chocolate workshop with The Chocolate Tart; and the aforementioned talks about Russia, I’ve managed to fit in some writerly activities as well. I assisted at the online launch party for Carol Amorosi’s great new book Betrayal at Beltane (details in last month’s post). I was interviewed by the lovely Cathy Dodd on Torbay’s Palm Radio (and all from the comfort of my own desk): you can hear that interview here. In Ivybridge, I talked to a group of new writers about characters and settings and also shared the results of the recent stacked promos with the members of South Hams Authors’ Network. I met a whole new group of writers (with a smattering of familiar faces) at the newly-established Teignmouth Writers. And of course, Chudleigh Writers and Exeter Writers are both in full swing. Goodness, it’s been a busy few weeks.

Coming up early next month, we have the seventh online Women in Publishing Summit running from 6th to 9th March. This is one of the highlights of my writing year, as a delegate as much as a speaker. My sales in the US have taken off since he became part of the community back in 2021. The event is a showcase for women who are professionals in the literary world but have in the past found themselves under-represented as speakers. The conference is open to everyone. I have a discount code to share if anyone would like to take part this year; there’s still time to register. Get all the details here. Drop me a line for details of the discount: elizabeth@elizabethducie.co.uk.

In the real world, I am presenting A Broad Abroad at Ivybridge U3A on Monday 18th March. But apart from that, it will be head down, working on the novel all month.

What Have I Been Reading Lately?

As promised last month, this is going to be a quick run-down of what I’ve been reading over the three months since I last talked about my current reading back in November. This year I’m trying to widen my reading, although there’ll still be a preponderance of crime. I’ve recently joined a book club, which means there’ll be a smattering of random reads that won’t fit any particular genre, and many of which I would never have read of my own volition. And I’m trying to read at least one non-fiction book per month although, as you’ll see, I’ve not done too well on that front so far. But let’s start with two books that definitely fell into the ‘couldn’t put it down’ category.

I’m a bit late coming to the party on this one, but Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus was one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time. It rang so many bells for this former scientist of the 1970s and had me laughing and and crying by turn. My review was pretty short, but there’s nothing new to say about a book that’s got over one million ratings and one hundred thousand reviews on Goodreads already:

What can I say that hasn’t already been said many times before. A brilliant book that made me laugh, cheer and cry time and again. It brought the 1960s and 1970s alive once again – and not necessarily in a good way. Highly recommended.

My second book of the month is one we’re discussing next week at book club. I suspect it will divide the ranks as it’s very much a marmite book. A Ladder To The Sky by John Byrne is a sharply-observed look at the literary world, especially in relation to literary prizes. That may be why I enjoyed it so much. I have to say my husband hated it and a close friend described it as brilliantly written but really depressing, whereas it made me laugh in many places. Not sure what that says about my sense of humour. But here’s my review:

I loved every word of this book and read it in 2 days. There’s some great character development, especially regarding the monstrous anti-hero Maurice Swift. He’s gradually introduced to us through Erich’s eyes and we realise how awful he’s going to be become. Then once again, through Edith’s eyes, he doesn’t seem so bad to start with. In the final section, there’s a suggestion of redemption, leading up to one of the best endings I’ve ever read. There’s an interesting thread, mixing real people with the fictional characters. The section with Gore Vidal and Howard Austen was fascinating and very funny. There are some laugh out loud quotes, especially from Dash; and a couple of real tear-jerking moments. Highly recommended.

And one final book that I’m going to spotlight is the latest release from Georgia Rose. Hard to Forgive, comes out tomorrow. It’s the third in Georgia’s A Shade Darker Series, which I am finding thoroughly enjoyable and readable. Here’s my review of it:

This ‘A Shade Darker’ series keeps getting better. Once again, we are back in the village of Melton with some familiar characters and some new ones. Dora Smith takes centre stage this time around. An elderly spinster with a heartbreaking history and some deeply-hidden secrets, she spends her days spying on her neighbours and one in particular. Bit by bit, we see her story unfold, both in the present and in the past. It is skillfully done; and the opening sentence of chapter 24 is a master stroke. A wonderful study in human nature and how we can all believe what we want to on occasion. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in less than a day. Highly recommended.

Elsewhere on my bookshelf, I’ve been reading:

A Song for Dark Times by Ian Rankin: It’s been a long time since I’ve read any Rebus stories. Time to go back and revisit the earlier ones, I think.

The Holly Homicide by Nina Hayes: A cosy murder set in Dublin in the run-up to Christmas, with just a touch of the supernatural. Great fun.

Death Message by Damien Boyd: One of the few authors whose books I read without even checking the blurb or the reviews. Just love this series.

Bad Blood by Angela Marsons: See comment re Damien Boyd. It also applies to Angela Marsons.

Goodbye Elora Inn by Anne Shillolo: The latest cosy murder by the prolific and addictive Canadian writer.

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder: My annual literary Advent Calendar.

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje: One from the book club list; not convinced I want to read more by this author, although I know I’m in the minority there.

Death Comes To Dartmoor by Stephanie Austin: From the pen of my friend and fellow Devon cosy writer (whose name was mentioned by virtually every person visiting my Christmas book stalls. I’m thinking of changing my name!)

Atomic Habits by James Clear: my only successful foray into the non-fiction world so far this year. Some great tips for making improvements one tiny step at a time.

Wake by Anna Hope: another book club choice; some great descriptions of post war Briton and the days leading up to the unveiling of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Overlook by Michael Connelly: the next in the Harry Bosch series set in LA. I’d forgotten about these books but am delighted to have rediscovered them.

Black Coffee by Agatha Christie: I’ve never read her books, although I know most of the stories from TV and film. Originally written as a play but adapted to a novel by someone else. The original was much better.

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith: Again, I’ve seen the TV series, but this is my first time reading the book. It was very long!