2013 in Books: Regrets, Resolutions & Recommendations
It’s Hogmanay, or as its better known anyplace outside of Scotland, New Year’s Eve! What better day to sit back and take stock of everything (reading and writing related because I am a book obsessed geek) that’s happened in the last year? Well, I’m not much of a stock-taker (more of a ‘hazard a guestimate and then move on before it freaks you out’ kind of person), but here goes; In 2013 I did this…
I wrote 175 book reviews
Holy crap! I started writing reviews at the end of 2012 so to figure out how many I did in 2013 I had a look on my Amazon account and take away the reviews from the previous year. I would have guessed 150 so the actual figure was a bit of a shock. Now, considering it takes me about an hour to write up and distribute each review to Amazon, Goodreads & one of my blogs, I already decided last month that I was going to cut back on reviews in the future. Hey, I could get another novel written in 90 hours, never mind 175. Wow.
Regrets:
None. I read a lot of awesome books and I left a lot of reviews. If everyone who reads did this at least once in a while, a whole lot more authors would have one of those permanent-smile days on their calendar. That’s worth every minute.
Resolutions:
This was a tough decision to make but I’d have to be crazy not to make it. I’m going to review less and use some of that previously allotted reviewing time for writing novels instead. Next year’s reviewing figure will read more around the 30 mark which leaves me plenty of time to write a whole other novel and maybe even try my hand at some short stories – hooray!
Recommendations:
Looking for something to read? Here are my top 15 picks from my 2013 reading pile (stacked by genre: fantasy-scifi-horror-thriller):
Dark Fantasy with a flawed and totally kick-ass heroine: Thief by Sarah Jane Lehoux
Urban Fantasy with an exotic flavour and a high fantasy twist: Year of the Wolf by Heather Heffner
Urban Fantasy that is gritty and with deep, dark levels that cut to the bone: Pierced by J.C. Mells
Epic Fantasy with vividly depicted horror sequences: The Dim Realm by Matt Holgate
Fantasy Comedy about RPG geeks being sucked into their game: Critical Failures by Robert Bevan
Fairy Tale with a sense of humour, told from the evil queen’s POV: Dewitched by E.L. Sarnoff
Paranormal Mystery Comedy about two psychic twins and their telepathic cat: The Cat Food Chronicles by Maya Pruett
Action Sci-Fi with horror and a fantastic main character: The Might of Fortitude by Jonathon Fletcher
Sci-Fi Horror with fantastic characters & brilliantly built world: The Underlighters by Michelle Browne
YA Zombie Horror full of action and shocks: Zombie Attack! Rise of the Horde by Devan Sagliani
Supernatural Horror about a brutal war between species: Bloodlines by Dylan Morgan
Horror Short Story Collection with fantastic twists and turns: Death Throes by R.M. DuChene
Crime Comedy with a brilliantly witty sense of humour: Cigarette by Jason Purdy
Crime Thriller with dark horror elements and a fast-paced storyline: The Rockstar by Rick Soper
Psychological Thriller about Death coming to collect souls: Don’t Fear The Reaper by Garry Kay
These are the books I read that stuck out to me the most in the last year. There are tons of other excellent reads too, considering my review policy means I don’t finish reading the books that fall under a 3 star rating, and I read and reviewed 175 great books. Want to see if you can stump me? Ask for a recommendation in whatever genre you like and I’ll see what I can come up with.
I wrote, edited and published 3 books
Yeah, this doesn’t sound so impressive when it’s compared to the review figure hence my first resolution. I fully intend on continuing to release 2 Gallows novels a year until the series finishes – I have 6 more books planned before it ends so don’t worry there’s a good few years left to go! The After Death series I originally planned 2 releases a year but I just haven’t had the time so it’s 1 release a year for now. I may review this again once I see how 2014 goes with my first resolution in place.
Regrets:
Hmm. I had really wanted to release Back From The Dark – Teri’s story, a Gallows spin off – at the same time as Fate Fallen but I couldn’t get it finished in time. I’m editing it now and it’s taking forever because I stupidly wrote it in first person so it didn’t turn out right. By ‘editing’ I basically mean rewriting it from scratch which is why it sucks so much ass.
Resolutions:
To put all other writing projects on hold until I finish editing Back From The Dark. I will have this novella ready in the next month or so if it kills me!
To get one extra novel written in 2014 so I can start clearing my backlog of book ideas. In theory this is a sure thing if I drop my reviews down to 30 for the year. We’ll see how well that pans out once my professional procrastination skills kick in.
Recommendations:
Like your supernatural stories action-packed with a good sense of humour and full of surprises? Check out The Gallows Novels. Already have? I’d be forever grateful if you left a short review on amazon or goodreads. Oh and just for info Curse Corrupted is still only $0.99 / £0.77 right now but the price will be increasing on Monday 6th January so now’s the best time to buy!
To finish up I’d like to thank everyone who has downloaded, shared, liked or reviewed any of my books over the last year. You are all greatly appreciated, you have no idea how much!
Happy New Year Everyone! Here’s to a great 2014.
I wrote 175 book reviews
Holy crap! I started writing reviews at the end of 2012 so to figure out how many I did in 2013 I had a look on my Amazon account and take away the reviews from the previous year. I would have guessed 150 so the actual figure was a bit of a shock. Now, considering it takes me about an hour to write up and distribute each review to Amazon, Goodreads & one of my blogs, I already decided last month that I was going to cut back on reviews in the future. Hey, I could get another novel written in 90 hours, never mind 175. Wow.
Regrets:
None. I read a lot of awesome books and I left a lot of reviews. If everyone who reads did this at least once in a while, a whole lot more authors would have one of those permanent-smile days on their calendar. That’s worth every minute.
Resolutions:
This was a tough decision to make but I’d have to be crazy not to make it. I’m going to review less and use some of that previously allotted reviewing time for writing novels instead. Next year’s reviewing figure will read more around the 30 mark which leaves me plenty of time to write a whole other novel and maybe even try my hand at some short stories – hooray!
Recommendations:
Looking for something to read? Here are my top 15 picks from my 2013 reading pile (stacked by genre: fantasy-scifi-horror-thriller):
Dark Fantasy with a flawed and totally kick-ass heroine: Thief by Sarah Jane Lehoux
Urban Fantasy with an exotic flavour and a high fantasy twist: Year of the Wolf by Heather Heffner
Urban Fantasy that is gritty and with deep, dark levels that cut to the bone: Pierced by J.C. Mells
Epic Fantasy with vividly depicted horror sequences: The Dim Realm by Matt Holgate
Fantasy Comedy about RPG geeks being sucked into their game: Critical Failures by Robert Bevan
Fairy Tale with a sense of humour, told from the evil queen’s POV: Dewitched by E.L. Sarnoff
Paranormal Mystery Comedy about two psychic twins and their telepathic cat: The Cat Food Chronicles by Maya Pruett
Action Sci-Fi with horror and a fantastic main character: The Might of Fortitude by Jonathon Fletcher
Sci-Fi Horror with fantastic characters & brilliantly built world: The Underlighters by Michelle Browne
YA Zombie Horror full of action and shocks: Zombie Attack! Rise of the Horde by Devan Sagliani
Supernatural Horror about a brutal war between species: Bloodlines by Dylan Morgan
Horror Short Story Collection with fantastic twists and turns: Death Throes by R.M. DuChene
Crime Comedy with a brilliantly witty sense of humour: Cigarette by Jason Purdy
Crime Thriller with dark horror elements and a fast-paced storyline: The Rockstar by Rick Soper
Psychological Thriller about Death coming to collect souls: Don’t Fear The Reaper by Garry Kay
These are the books I read that stuck out to me the most in the last year. There are tons of other excellent reads too, considering my review policy means I don’t finish reading the books that fall under a 3 star rating, and I read and reviewed 175 great books. Want to see if you can stump me? Ask for a recommendation in whatever genre you like and I’ll see what I can come up with.
I wrote, edited and published 3 books
Yeah, this doesn’t sound so impressive when it’s compared to the review figure hence my first resolution. I fully intend on continuing to release 2 Gallows novels a year until the series finishes – I have 6 more books planned before it ends so don’t worry there’s a good few years left to go! The After Death series I originally planned 2 releases a year but I just haven’t had the time so it’s 1 release a year for now. I may review this again once I see how 2014 goes with my first resolution in place.
Regrets:
Hmm. I had really wanted to release Back From The Dark – Teri’s story, a Gallows spin off – at the same time as Fate Fallen but I couldn’t get it finished in time. I’m editing it now and it’s taking forever because I stupidly wrote it in first person so it didn’t turn out right. By ‘editing’ I basically mean rewriting it from scratch which is why it sucks so much ass.
Resolutions:
To put all other writing projects on hold until I finish editing Back From The Dark. I will have this novella ready in the next month or so if it kills me!
To get one extra novel written in 2014 so I can start clearing my backlog of book ideas. In theory this is a sure thing if I drop my reviews down to 30 for the year. We’ll see how well that pans out once my professional procrastination skills kick in.
Recommendations:
Like your supernatural stories action-packed with a good sense of humour and full of surprises? Check out The Gallows Novels. Already have? I’d be forever grateful if you left a short review on amazon or goodreads. Oh and just for info Curse Corrupted is still only $0.99 / £0.77 right now but the price will be increasing on Monday 6th January so now’s the best time to buy!
To finish up I’d like to thank everyone who has downloaded, shared, liked or reviewed any of my books over the last year. You are all greatly appreciated, you have no idea how much!
Happy New Year Everyone! Here’s to a great 2014.
date
newest »
newest »
Rick wrote: "Sharon,As I've said before the pace at which you read is just absolutely stunning! Three novels in a single year is great! Most "mainstream" publishing house writers average two a year so your w..."
Aw thanks, Rick! I hope you have a fantastic year too. I'm so excited for the finale to the Rock series - just about to start reading now :)
Wow, 3 books published is awesome--I can barely write 1 in a year! Looking forward to seeing Teri's short story out this year :) Thanks so much for the list and your continued support of fellow writers; it is really outstanding and appreciated in the author community! Looking forward to checking out Thief, The Rockstar, and Bloodlines--heck, all of them sound really intriguing.
Thanks! It was awesome finding so many great books and cool authors. I just started your new book and it's even better than the brilliant synopsis makes it sound - such a cool idea and the world building is amazing. I was a bit creeped out being on a train when I started reading though lol!
As I've said before the pace at which you read is just absolutely stunning! Three novels in a single year is great! Most "mainstream" publishing house writers average two a year so your way ahead of them. I look forward to Back From The Dark because Terri is a very interesting character and I really do wonder what happened to her between Fate Fallen and Curse Corrupted, she's very standoffish in Curse Corrupted, so there must be a lot going on there. I really like your list above, and not just for the fact that you included me, which i appreciate greatly, but because you broke your books down into specific genres with book specific tag lines and that's really great for someone who's shopping for something but really doesn't know which way to turn. Thanks for all you do for writers like me, your reviews, tweets, interviews, and everything else helps so much and I can't speak for everyone else but I know I appreciate more than words can express.
Happy New Year to you and i hope you have a very productive and successful New Year.
Rick