Pam Baddeley's Blog

These pumpkins are a little late, but I didn’t quite manage to hit the Hallowe’en deadline for this update. [Image: Depositphotos, standard licence]

November has rolled around again and usually I would be doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which I first did in 2012 and apart from that year had ‘won’ ever since, either completing at least 50,000 words or, when being a ‘rebel’ and editing an existing draft instead, putting in 50 hours or more of that. But towards the end of last No...

I haven’t posted for a while but have been working behind the scenes. Recently, I embarked on the first draft of a sequel to Mageborn. Some years ago, I’d started what I thought was a short story, set in that world, then got stuck. But when I went back to it three or four months ago, I realised it was really the start of a novel and what’s more, one that would come between Mageborn and what was then the second in the series, a book I’d written the beginning and...

Things have been very busy and I’ve kept meaning to post something here but then time gets away from me.

Since my last update, I’ve been working on a number of books, at different stages, mainly those that were completed years ago, had revisions then and were parked while trying to become traditionally published. Since making the decision at the end of 2014 to go the self-publishing route, I’ve been re-editing all of those multiple times and circulating them ...

public domain, Pixabay, by MabelAmber

Well it’s been a while though I have been working on a number of books which are at different stages. Until October I was busy with researching and then producing the print version of The Reluctant Hero which was published then on KDP, using the print service which replaced CreateSpace. (Link to the UK edition here

During lockdown it occurred to me that a book I wrote back in the 1990s, Green Magic, had been overtaken by events – not only does it includ...

Cover design: Fantasia Frog

For too long I’ve been quiet but nevertheless I’ve been busy. After overcoming some last minute technical hitches, I finally published my novel, The Reluctant Hero, on both the Kindle and Kobo reading platforms a few days ago.

Countless revisions and umpteen readthroughs, but I finally got there with a huge sense of relief though I know that in some senses, the hard work starts now: that of trying to market and promote the book. Plus I have further learning curves...

farmama, pixabay, public domain

Despite good resolutions there has once again been a lack of blog update posting. However I have been working on the edit and have completed several more readthroughs. Just when I think it is all done, I spot something else. However, it is down to small changes for ease of reading etc now.

As NaNoWriMo is looming, I shall work on what I hope will be the final edit during November, using NaNo as a goad to get through the last few hurdles in the way of self publi...

Well, my good resolutions about posting more regularly on the blog went a bit by the wayside, but a few other things have also been parked lately as I attempt to get through yet another couple of read throughs. The trouble with a long book like this is there are countless small bits of continuity that slip by, but eventually jump out in yet another read through. Just spotted one where someone stands up who was already standing in the corner of the room …. ho hum.

With all this, never got orga...

denzel, pixabay, public domain

A while ago I was asked to sponsor a family friend who was in training to ride from London to Brighton for a very worthy cause, Myeloma UK. I was very glad to do so, and followed her progress as she trained, did a shorter cycle ride a couple of months back, and ran a countdown to the big day. On the day itself, her dad posted updates on Facebook as he followed her progress on an app.

I’m not equating the hard slog of riding a bicycle, let alone up the big hill t...

pexels, Pixabay, Public Domain

I realise I’ve said little for the last two months although quite a bit has been going on behind the scenes. I  ‘engaged’ a professional editor at the beginning of June, and things are in the early stages, but so far I’m pleased.

I’ve done more work on the ‘back matter’ of the ebook, and also overhauled my stylesheet document before I approached my editor as there were a few small inconsistencies in it.

I played with Gimp again to come up with a transparent cove...

geralt,pixabay,public domain

Funny how you can read the same thing over and over again, re-edit it for the umpteenth time and suddenly have an epiphany – well, fancy term for something that happened when the latest text-to-read runthrough reached a particular conversation. I won’t say what deficiency it highlighted, at risk of major spoiler territory, but suffice to say I’ve been adding new material to a couple of chapters much later in the book to address it. The need for the extra work has...