The other day at Crowvus HQ, we were discussing our favourite Jane Austen novels. Amazingly, for saying there were four of us with a positive opinion, each person had a different favourite. Jane Austen's books, of course, are not historical fiction, but books written contemporaneously to what is now an historical era. But! All the multitude of spinoffs which her books have invoked are historical fiction. Pride and Prejudice is not my favourite Austen story, nor my second or third, but I absolutely love the series Lost in Austen . People hear the phrase "fan fiction" and immediately think lesser of it, but this is a little unfair. Fan fiction is not a new thing, it is how folk stories grew into legends, adventures becoming more daring with every telling. But what has changed is the way in which these stories are retold and the care which is now (quite rightly!) taken to preserve and protect the rights of the original author. In the case of Lost in Austen , this is not t...
So it's that time of the year again. The time when the internet is flooded with a million and one blog posts about people's crazy new year resolutions. Well, I've got some bad news for you...this is another one of those posts!
This New Year is special. It signals the arrival of a new decade as well, and I find it frightening to consider how much might change before the next decade. A year seems much more manageable to think about.
There are a lot of things I have committed to for the next year. Firstly, my job as a Primary Teacher. I swing from loving my job to the opposite, and I suppose this is quite normal for any paid work.
Another is my Science degree. I have an exam in June - my first exam since I was at High School - so that'll be interesting!!!
Thirdly, Crowvus will take up a huge chunk of my time. It's time consuming, exhausting, it sometimes feels like we're banging our heads against brick walls, but I love it!! As well as publishing other people's books, I also need to keep marketing my own books. Must remember that!
Then there's the John o' Groats Book Festival and the Caithness Music Festival.
On top of this, I continue to be the chairperson of the local Allotment Association. I didn't want this, but really wanted an allotment, and no one else would take on the role. I hope the 20s will see the rise in allotment use in Wick, including me spending more time there.
So, understandably I think, when people say that they haven't done something they should have done and blame on their lack of time, I feel like throwing a bucket of ice over their heads. And then explaining my insane list of commitments.
But on to my New Year's Resolutions. Let's start with Crowvus...
○ Publish 5 books (from different authors)
○ Sign another author
○ Participate in more face-to-face events
○ Complete my final draft of 2/3 books I'm publishing in 2021
○ Grow my Twitter following to 1000
○ Grow my Instagram following to 10. Ok, I'm new!
○ Establish a more reliable YouTube channel
○ Update my website every month
○ Write to schools asking for book reviewers
○ Post a book review every month
○ Post a 'Heaven is Hard Work' blog every Friday
○ Send out a Crowvus newsletter every Saturday
○ Post a youtube video every Tuesday
○ Grow as much of Christmas dinner as possible at the allotment
○ Not buy clothes, but make my own instead.
○ Start a blog about this, posting on Thursdays
I feel certain I have missed some, but can't think of anything more.
What a lot to be going on with! If you feel like helping out, Crowvus is always looking for people who would like to review one of our books, or who want to be part or the book launch team, which includes building buzz around a book, and posting about it when it comes out.
If you're interested, get in touch with me (Clemency) at the_team@crowvus.com
Happy New Year!!
What are your New Year Resolutions?
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