Indie Book of the Month

Indie Author Of The Month; Kim M Watt

~ ChanAtkins ~ 3 Comments

Hello and welcome to another Indie Author of The Month post! At the end of each month I highlight an indie author I happen to think is rather wonderful. This is usually because I have read their books and been following them online for some time. For June, please welcome author Kim M Watt. First, let me say that Kim writes books I wouldn’t normally make a beeline for. Humour and fantasy. Not that I don’t like either, but I’m usually more drawn to YA or gritty, dark kinds of books. I was attracted to Kim’s books because of the snippets and graphics she posts on social media, all of which made me smile and want to give these unusual books a go. I have particularly fallen in love with her Gobbelino London series. To find out more, read on!

1. Tell us about your latest release. What is it about and who is it aimed at?

My latest book is Gobbelino London & a Contagion of Zombies, which is book two in the Gobbelino London series. It’s an immensely fun series to write, about the adventures of a feline PI and his human sidekick on the streets of Leeds. Contagion is (surprise!) about an unexpected rising of the dead, resulting in stress-baking reapers, irate magicians, zombie chickens, and some issues of undeadness for our team. It’s aimed at anyone who enjoys a light take on the PI genre, heavily salted with mayhem, humour, and cat hair.

2. Tell us about your publishing journey so far.

I’ve had a few attempts at traditional publishing (starting with a truly terrible vampire novel at 16), but a few years ago I became interested in indie publishing. I like the degree of control it affords the author, and as I’m a reasonably fast writer it also suits me. Plus, as my stories are a bit … quirky, shall we say? Weird has also been used… Anyhow, they don’t fit any one genre that well, so it’s tricky to sell them traditionally. So indie just seemed like a good fit all round. I published my first cozy mystery with dragons about 18 months ago, and it’s just been a really interesting and fun learning curve ever since.

3. When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

Ooh, always! I grew up on a boat in the South Pacific for quite a few years, so was on the NZ correspondence schooling system. Those being the days of very slow post, we sometimes lost incoming coursework. My solution was to write (and illustrate) a book of short stories. Although I may have been trying to avoid my mum’s maths questions by saying I was writing, too.

4. What is your typical writing day like?

I’m really lucky in that I’m able to write fulltime at the moment, so a typical day for me is up around 6 (earlier if the cat feels I’m slacking on food duty), work out or run, breakfast, then write for about 4 to 5 hours. I don’t write every day, but when I’m on writing or rewriting, that’s my time frame to hopefully get a couple of chapters done. I’m not too hard and fast on word counts, but that’s my goal. The rest of the day is then blog posts, social media, newsletters – whatever else needs doing.

5. What is your writing process? (how do you plot a book, come up with characters, find motivation etc)

Right. Yes. My process. *Tries to look like she knows what she’s talking about*

My process is … messy. I’ve tried really hard to learn to plot, and have done everything from plot gardening to circle-y things to Beat Sheets and everything else I’ve come across, including using a small forest’s worth of Post-it notes (I’m sorry, trees).

My conclusion is that it doesn’t work for me, certainly not in the first draft. My best writing is to have a start point and a vague idea of where I want to end up, then I just start writing. I find by hand works really well, or fast typing without correcting anything (and I’m a terrible typist. It’s almost as bad as my handwriting). The characters tell me about themselves as I go along, and that tends to shape the story. I’m mostly just along for the ride at this stage.

I then go back for at least one major rewrite before I send the story out to beta readers, and that’s where I use a Beat Sheet as a reference point to make sure I’m hitting plot points at about where I should be. Motivation is rarely a problem when I work this way – by the time I start writing I’ve usually had an idea rolling around in my head for a few weeks or months, and I have so much fun watching it take shape on the page that I look forward to sitting down. When I try to plot, on the other hand … not so much fun.

6. What has been the most positive thing about your publishing journey so far?

The online writing community. It’s the most supportive and wonderful collection of people – it makes me feel so lucky to be a part of it. I also love how social media means you can chat to readers – it makes the whole process so personal and lovely.

7. What has been the most negative thing about your publishing journey so far?

I’m not sure I’d call it negative exactly, but it’s All The Other Stuff you have to learn – from formatting to figuring out what you want covers to look like to trying to work out why your website suddenly started eating all your photos. There’s a lot!

8. Who is your favourite character from your own books and why?

Aw, that’s hard! I love all of them for different reasons. Gobbelino because he’s just such a cat, and so much fun to write. Beaufort because he’s so optimistic and gentle and fierce all at once. Glenda, who joined the Apocalypse on her Vespa, and who hasn’t told me her full story yet, but I know she will.

9. Where do your ideas come from?

An amazing amount come from Twitter. Gobbelino London started as one of those games that go around – the name of your first pet plus the last place you went on holiday. The Beaufort Scales series was a combination of a tweet I misread (it was about being barbecued by dragons if you went near their hoard, and I thought it was about dragons hoarding barbecues) and a strange discussion with my dad regarding the Beaufort Scale. Anything can be an idea, really.

10. What can we expect from you next?

I have the third Gobbelino London book due out in August, and a fifth Beaufort book towards the end of the year.

11. Tell us three fun facts about you

This is the hardest question yet!

– I’m originally from New Zealand, but haven’t actually lived there all that much.

– The Little Furry Muse (aka Layla the cat, and inspiration behind many snarky feline characters) has been with me for over 10 years, and in that time has lived in three different countries, ten houses, and two campervans.

– I’ve had all sorts of non-writing jobs, including teaching SCUBA diving, teaching sailing, cooking on sailing yachts in the Caribbean, and being bosun on a superyacht. Writing’s still the most fun.

12. What is the best advice you could give to aspiring writers?

Finish your writing. Accept it won’t be perfect, but know when you’ve done the best you can, and put it down. Otherwise you’ll be adding dragons and taking away pixies for another 326 drafts. And celebrate everything. Every draft, every rewrite, every edit. They all deserve celebrating.

Plus drop the “aspiring” bit, unless you’ve actually not written anything at all yet. And in that case – just start. That’s the scariest bit, so just start anywhere. And then you’re a writer 🙂

Thank you so much for inviting me to interview!

Thanks so much Kim for joining me on the blog. If you would like to find out more about Kim and her books, the links are below!

Website: https://kmwatt.com/

Books links: https://kmwatt.com/my-books/

Indie Book of the Month; June “Smash All The Windows” by Jane Davis

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How can it be July already? Seriously, I’m still getting used to May and suddenly we’ve whizzed right through June?

I’ve mostly been reading my own books lately, in terms of editing them on my Kindle, but I did manage to devour two gloriously long Stephen King novels and this gem of an indie book, Smash All The Windows by Jane Davis, which I have picked as my Indie book of the month for June.

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Here is the blurb;

It has taken conviction to right the wrongs.

It will take courage to learn how to live again.

‘An all-round triumph.’ John Hudspith

For the families of the victims of the St Botolph and Old Billingsgate disaster, the undoing of a miscarriage of justice should be a cause for rejoicing. For more than thirteen years, the search for truth has eaten up everything. Marriages, families, health, careers and finances.

Finally, the coroner has ruled that the crowd did not contribute to their own deaths. Finally, now that lies have been unravelled and hypocrisies exposed, they can all get back to their lives.

If only it were that simple.

Tapping into the issues of the day, Davis delivers a highly charged work of fiction, a compelling testament to the human condition and the healing power of art. Written with immediacy, style and an overwhelming sense of empathy, Smash all the Windows will be enjoyed by readers of How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall and How to be Both by Ali Smith.

And here is my review;

This is the third book I have read by Jane Davis, and it’s safe to say I am a fan. I enjoy her writing style, and I feel I am in safe hands when it comes to her delivering memorable characters. This new novel does not disappoint. Smash All The Windows is a complex and ambitious novel spanning the lives of several characters who have been affected by the tragic deaths of 58 people on a London Underground escalator. Much in the same way the victims were blamed by the authorities and the press after the Hillsborough tragedy, the people involved have had to fight tooth and nail to get justice for their loved ones. The timeline jumps back and forth. Sometimes we are in the viewpoint of a character who died that day, and sometimes we are seeing the impact of their loss on a relative or friend. I grew to love all the characters, those living and deceased throughout this book and I can confess to shedding a tear or two as I progressed through the novel. It’s a sad yet beautiful story about the human spirit and families search for truth and justice in the aftermath of a tragedy that should never have happened. Brilliant writing, perfect characterisation and a particularly perfect and poignant ending. Highly recommended!

You can find out more about Jane and her books by following her on;

Twitter

Facebook

and via her website

May Indie Book Of The Month;

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It’s the end of the May (already!!) so that must mean it’s time for me to pick my Indie book of the month. Lately, I’ve been trying to stray out of my comfort zone with reading, and I’ve dived into a fantasy and a comedy, which are not normally genres I would pick. My pick for this month therefore is the epic Heirs Of Power by Kay Macleod. You can read the blurb and my review below. This book is the first in a very original and well-written series, so if you enjoy fantasy, I highly recommend you check it out.

Here is the blurb;

“After stumbling upon an otherworldly ritual, Kitty Fairlow discovers that her own incredible hunting skills are not merely due to a lifetime of training. She’s been gifted powers from an ancient spirit, passed down by her father. She is a Constellation. And she’s not the only one. A new generation of heroes have each inherited unique abilities to prevent the corruption of their world by the Tenebri, a race that thrives on life energy. Kitty, along with a high-born dancer and a snarky juggler, must find their allies before the Tenebri army picks them off. With the powerful enemy emerging, can the Constellations gather in time to put an end to the threat for good, or will their foe succeed and wreak the same destruction they have unleashed on their own world?”

And here is my review;

An original and riveting read which had me hooked from the first page. I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this fast-paced and well written fantasy, which is the first in a saga. I don’t often read fantasy, but this reminded me just how wonderful it can be to truly immerse yourself in a fantastical world of magic and wonder. What really shone through for me in this novel, is how much I could tell the author enjoyed writing it. It just shines on every page and regularly made me smile. I could also tell how much the author knows about and cares about her characters. From Kitty, the tough but kindly girl who finds out she is a Constellation, to the snarky yet vulnerable Asher, I truly believed in them and was rooting for them the entire time. This book is packed tight with action, drama, intrigue and revelations and an epic journey which tests friendships to the limit. Fans of fantasy will adore this book and for people who don’t often give fantasy a go, I urge you to start here!

You can find out more about Kay and her books by following her on;

Facebook and Twitter

Kay has kindly agreed to an interview with me, so look out for that early next month!

 

April Indie Book Of The Month; Rafferty Lincoln Loves…by Emily Williams

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It’s Indie Book of The Month time again! And for April, I picked this glorious YA read by the very talented Emily Williams – Rafferty Lincoln Loves is an emotional and gripping contemporary young adult read. Both I and my 15-year-old daughter really loved this book. Having also read and enjoyed (and been slightly emotionally traumatised by!) Letters To Eloise , I couldn’t wait to read another book by this author. Rafferty Lincoln Loves was everything I look for in a YA read, which is why I picked it to highlight as my April Indie Book Of The Month.

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My Amazon review is below;

The following review is from my 15-year-old daughter. I have also read this wonderful book and will add my thoughts after hers. “I loved this book and it actually made me cry at the end. I liked how lots of normal teenage stuff went on among the unlikely friends in this book, such as trying to fit in, trying to get a girlfriend, bullying, drama at home etc, and that this was interwoven with the main storyline of the missing race horse. I was really rooting for all the characters and really want to read more YA books by this author!”
I read this book after my daughter and she described it as a must-read and one of her favourite books this year. I also enjoyed how the normal trials and tribulations of teenage life were entwined with the main drama of the missing race horse. Rafferty is a normal teenage boy who is slightly obsessed with the ultra popular Liberty Ashburn. When he comes across a missing racehorse, he sees this as a chance to get into horse-loving Liberty’s good books. Along with her younger brother Will, and Dexter, the scruffy outcast who is bullied at school, the unlikely friends secure a hiding place for Minty the horse and spend one long summer caring for him, falling in love with him and trying to hide their secret. I really liked all the characters, none of whom were perfect, but all of whom were memorable. And as my daughter mentioned, a truly emotional ending, so be warned! This is the second book I have read by Emily Williams and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!