
Greetings from the land of chocolate and gluttony.
Seriously, how the hell is anyone supposed to get writing done when there’s all this chocolate laying around and trips to insanely meat-laden carvery’s to be had? How can I reasonably be expected crowbar a thousand words a day out of a brain that’s 60% solid cocoa?
All of which is to say that I’m behind schedule at the moment, something that doesn’t generally happen to me. I have a self-imposed daily word count of one thousand words for fifty days to plug a narrative gap in the Chronicles of Mar series, and nineteen days in I find myself nearly five thousand words behind.
As I said before, this doesn’t usually happen to me. Over the five years or so since I decided to really take the writing seriously, I’ve been very good at self-motivation, goal setting, and getting stuff done. This is pretty impressive given that if you’d ask most people I’ve known with over the last, say, thirty-nine years of my existence, they’d say I’m one of the laziest people you could ever hope to meet. A creature of such slovenly tendencies that I might as well be growing moss. And yet, three novels released in two years, and another quarter of a million words written in the next series. Not bad going for a lazy sod.
So, it’s time to knuckle back down. Five thousand words down, and by the time I write this chronicle for next week, I want to be back on track.
Before I go, I’m pleased to say that Blood on the Motorway has been chosen as one of a select group of books to be chosen for a special Instafreebie group giveaway run by Sue Hollister Barr. Sue is an author, creative writing teacher, and former senior editor for a New York literary agency. She’s put together a select giveaway of 20 books, and mine is amongst the chosen few. As she’s said, ‘Paul Stephenson’s Blood on the Motorway, is a post-apocalyptic horror story with deftly planted surprises. I’m delighted to include it in my “Select Few” collection, particularly since the author will be giving away the whole 80K-word book for free.’
The giveaway runs throughout April, and includes some fantastic (and bestselling) authors such as Bill Hargenrader and Josi Russell. So, if you want some excellent free reads, why not check out the giveaway. If you find something you like, why not tell your friends, too? Just click on the image below for your free books!