Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

Unofficial #NaNoWriMo Blog #2

What is it? Day #6?

AAAGGGHHHH!!!????

I think I’ve added about 5,000 words to the pot altogether since the start. Yesterday I had a client’s book to sign off and got derailed from a chain of thought I was on with my latest WIP. It’s funny how sometimes… you foresee yourself dedicating quite a lot of words to one scene and when it comes down to it, you realise you don’t actually need that many. I guess that’s the power of distance.

When I get brain clump (that thing where there are too many ideas and I need to decompress) I have to go for a long walk or have a bath or sit and talk to my hub about nonsense for a bit, just to switch off that writing part of my brain while it undergoes repair and de-clumps!

So although a routine of writing is great, I don’t always stick to a pattern. I know those periods of reflection are important and giving your writing brain healing time is so invaluable. I can easily knock out 8,000 words daily so maybe #NaNoWriMo is for me, hey? If I only need to do a little bit at a time, it’s giving me that space in between to direct my novel rather than letting it direct me.

So my target today is a thousand words and a lot of pre-planning!

in other news…

Woke up to discover a FIVE STAR review for A FINE PROFESSION today! Please visit … https://www.facebook.com/BooksandBeyondFiftyShades/photos/a.811098642240685.1073741828.810760315607851/995916467092234/?type=1&theater

www.facebook.com/SarahMLynch

www.twitter.com/SarahMichelleLy

Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

Unofficial #NaNoWriMo Blog #1

So on the first day I managed 1,600 words which was rather measly for me (it was a Saturday), but it was something. Second day, nothing. Today just 1,000 words. But they were pretty good words, so that doesn’t bother me. That’s after spending a day doing many other family/work-related things.

So… yes… here is my blog of unofficial #NaNoWriMo.

Why unofficial? I dunno. I am a person who refuses to be defined and I just so happen to be midway through a project which I have, you guessed it… 50,000 words left to write on. I want to try get to 100,000 words at the first draft stage.

I am just leaving an intense period of editing so I am pumped for this challenge and I am writing a storm on the days I do get to write. By write, I mean switch off everything for just two hours and then be able to enjoy the luxury of knowing I can just type at will for that specified block of time. Yes, two hours a day really is enough for me! I can do my 2,000-a-day with that… just when I am able to fit it in. Let’s see, shall we…

More to come…

And yes, something relating to this might be in the works… p.s. grown men cry over this book apparently…

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Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

How your first novel shapes you…

I may be repeating myself here but it needs saying. It does need saying. Again. A lot of first novels get consigned to the bin. One bestselling author I talked to wrote five novels before he got “published”. All the others may never see the light of day. I hear Hilary Mantel wrote dozens before getting “published”. “Published”: here I am referring to getting that elusive traditional publishing deal. Many hold out for this because to be an Indie means being very brave, or simply believing you have some words people may enjoy. Many writers can probably say… we wrote something and binned it at one time or another. We went on and wrote other things that we thought were better.

My first novel was so far from perfect. In fact it was the hardest novel I ever wrote and will always be because I started writing with an idea but no notion of how to set out the threads that weaved from that initial strain. Some of you might remember me saying that I wrote it while I was on maternity leave. I look back now and with hindsight, I actually don’t know how I accomplished what I did.

One thing I refuse to do is take myself seriously. There are so many, many writers now and it is amazing if you can get a small, loyal following. If you have that, pat yourselves on the back. It is an admirable thing to get something written down let alone published, whether by traditional or any other route. I think of things in terms of my own, personal victories sometimes, because often that is enough for the time being. Now I look back, I realise there were so many times I could have given up and given in. So many points along the road where I was tired, dejected, feeling unappreciated. Wondering what the point was. Whether anybody even cared. My husband always cared but yeah, that is his job. So then… when other people started caring too… that gave me something else. A bit more of an edge. I had to tell myself “you wrote a bloody novel when you had never even written anything creative before!” It was true. Yes, I was a journalist. Yes, I had an English degree. Yes, I have a way with words… that much was clear when I returned to work after maternity to find about six people doing a job I used to do singularly. But a novel is such a different ballgame… I had written a few fictional pieces in my youth and a bit of poetry but I hadn’t even really attempted a short story before I wrote Beneath the Veil.

There has to be so much self-belief. So much self-motivation. It is such a lonely game, such a weary, lonesome road to travel. I am a humble person (I actually am!), but when it comes to self-publishing apparently showing off is essential because nobody will listen if you don’t believe in the first place! I had to change from that humble, carefree “so what, who cares” type person to what I am now, which is a forthright, “here is my book and I flipping believe in it and will fight for it” type hybrid writer/promoter! I am still learning, bloody hell don’t get me wrong, I am still learning there!

Truth was my first novel (to me, back then, when I first started writing) was just a little challenge to myself to see what I could do for myself for a change. I never anticipated what I would turn out. Not in a million years would I have been able to foresee what I could achieve without first giving it a try. I never expected what happened – to actually happen. Never.

I didn’t give up on my first novel because it was such a rush, such a monumental period of creativity I couldn’t pass up. I was taken by an idea for a future world and it took me along for the ride. I just knew I had to get it down, it was then or never. It was all ready in my mind, waiting, to be written down. Sometimes you sit having to force the words. With my first novel, I couldn’t contain them. I itched to write, to scribble, to get it all down. It is great to be able to say, “I wrote erotica that people see as more than just erotica”. But it will be even better when my science-fiction gets me more notice because in actual fact, that is more me. You see, my first words were my truest and I will always gravitate back to them.

I have spent the first part of this year revising this first novel because I felt it was time. I felt there was more. There is still more… more future novels. The reason why I went back is because the prequels have to match the sequels now. There is so much I want to tell you all, and I will, in good time.

We wouldn’t have had A Fine Profession if I hadn’t gotten over that first hurdle of the first novel. Nor would Warrick Jones be breaking hearts either, if I hadn’t carried on, kept the faith, kept writing, knuckled down. Each time I finish a novel I prepare myself for the slump and the possibility that I might not have any more in the tank. I might not have the urge to keep going. I am a realist and sometimes, it just ain’t happening. The pen does not want to move. Yet, always, when I am least looking – I find something else to do. To explore. My first novel taught me that… you start with a singular notion and you let it run riot from there. You don’t stop until you have exhausted every possibility in your mind. I learnt to stop looking to myself for the inspiration and look at the world. The “shaping a novel into a smooth ride” thing, that comes later. Worry about it then…!

More to come…

Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

A Year’s Writing

The year began with the completion of The Ravage Trilogy, releasing part three Beneath the Exile in February. It was honestly a very difficult thing to say goodbye to that body of work. I still feel like Beneath the Exile is one of the best books I may ever write. I took myself to depths I didn’t like to make that book possible. It’s not really genre-specific or definable, The Ravage Trilogy, it is simply three books about how a small band of heroes might try to save the world after a viral outbreak. It’s about friendships and ass-kicking. It’s mostly about one woman, who started out life not well but triumphed, found herself in an extraordinary set of circumstances and was forced to become the person she was meant to be. We writers all feel we know our characters; they will always remain old friends, vital spirits that become immortalised in print. It was so difficult to say goodbye to Seraph, Ryken, Camille, Eve, Mara, Nathan, Connie… et al

But, I finished that book and moved straight onto the one that had been brewing in my head – A Fine Profession (called The Chambermaid to begin with).

Lottie’s story was one I had straight in my head before I began writing. She was promiscuous for a reason, not even promiscuous – I guess more like searching for something. On a journey to a place she wanted to get to but just couldn’t quite make it. It some ways the book is more character study than romance. Her story complete, there were things to be considered. Did Noah warrant a story of his own? Of course he did. So I had to make a few snips in A Fine Profession, a few tweaks here and there, to make A Fine Pursuit possible. His story was one I felt should be told with brutal honesty because after all, Lottie herself was brutally honest too.

So, the trilogy added to the Chambermaid series (A Fine Profession, A Fine Pursuit, Bedtime Confessions) equals 642,000 words. Also, when I was a journalist, sometimes I used to pump out as much as 4,000 a day. So seven years of that… go figure. Me and words have a big thing going on here and it has taken over my life, as you can probably tell. I hardly have time to breathe sometimes. I have a child and a husband, a life, so there’s little time for social networking and blogging etc. Which is difficult, because you need to be able to do those things to get your books out there.

The latest book Angel Avenue, a mere 100K (ha ha, that’s like what 742K now) spilled out very quickly. Why? Well, it was already in my head too. I am working through a backlog of stories here and it’s finally cleared, for now (I guess) until the next voices start speaking to me. So… Angel Avenue, is just a story fuelled by something I notice going on around me quite a lot. A while ago I was asked to write a short story about bullying for a charity thing and I had the basics down (but I knew it should be a novel). So those tendrils were there and it was just a matter of getting it out.

One thing that became evident to me when writing Angel Avenue is that a standalone novel is much harder to write than a duo or a trilogy or a collection of short stories. Not harder in terms of skill or craftsmanship; more difficult in the sense that once it’s done, that is it. You’re done. Forever. You have to get everything out there about those characters and know that you’re done, within one book. Not two or three. There can be no going back then. I edited and edited and edited this book, Angel Avenue. The editing was intense and it produced something I feel immensely proud of. It’s one singular unit and it comes full circle and in my mind, I feel happy about what I created, what I achieved. I also feel very sad because the Jules and Warrick of Angel Avenue live on, but not with me, with all the people who will read it. I gave them a story that means you can decide for yourself what happens next. I have learnt to write so that people will be left wanting more (and unfortunately it leaves me wanting more too but that is the price I must pay).

I am also making headway in becoming an editor. We need editors. They are the bedrock of publishing. Now I have been on both sides, I can tell you. An editor can be the third person and look down on a work without emotional attachment and make decisions that you as the writer might otherwise find difficult. An editor can tell you where things can be pulled and still, the book makes as much of a point as you wanted it to. I have made some calls on other people’s books this year which have made me more confident in crafting my own work.

Five amazing things about this year:

– I got people reading erotica who never would have done before.

– I have reached Australia, Florida, Nevada, California and so many other countries, it’s unreal. I’ve also met some other amazing writers both here and elsewhere.

– People are telling me that they are going back to the start of the catalogue after discovering one of my books.

– I discovered that it pays to have confidence in what you’re doing.

– Trying out new things can pay dividends.

I have written hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of words. I am still learning, all the time. How do I do this? Why do I do this? Read Angel Avenue. This is why I do this. Simply and truthfully, this is a true love, one I found many years ago. One that will always be here for me. The books I write will always be there for people’s enjoyment. My skill will always be at my fingertips. It’s been a good year. I am an extremely lucky, if emotionally wrecked, writer. Writing is not something I do, it is something I am. Because I have to do it, I make time for it. But with the backlog cleared, it’s time to rest and recoup. *and breathe*

Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

I’ve laughed, cried, maybe even sweated, yes, even in winter…

Please visit my homepage to see details of my latest creation.

I felt it was important to tell you a bit about the background and writing of this novel, for my own personal benefit if nobody else’s!

Angel Avenue started as just a short story about a woman running from the ghosts of the past and developed into something very different to what I usually write. I guess in my previous work I have made things difficult for myself, combining genres in the Ravage Trilogy and then adding some pretty complex psychology to the erotica that followed after that.

This is a contemporary romance and was easily the most enjoyable thing I have written so far. After the short story sparked some further exploration, I thought about trying to get to 50,000 words and then after I reached that milestone, I thought, I shall try a little bit more, and eventually I was just hitting above 100K. Some fancy editing has got it down to 99K now. I am actually really happy with that! It’s a feat for me to stick to such a short word count and one, singular novel!

When I was writing this book, I had very specific aims in mind. I wanted it to be a novel of hope and triumph. Of natural humour. It has also ended up being loosely set in my hometown of Hull, and contains some interesting flecks of history. I by no means went overboard there, however, I focused primarily on this schoolteacher I created and the man sent to “save” her. By the end, you might be asking who is saving who…

This is a novel more “me” than anything else I have written. It goes somewhat to explaining how I do this thing I do. It goes back to my roots. In a past life, I may have worked in educational environments. I may have been trained to spot kids suffering abuse… there are lots of strings to my bow.

One of the things people say to me a lot is that English at school was very uninspiring for them. For some, the classics never captivated their imaginations. It was later in life that American literature perhaps obsessed them and gave their creativeness wings. I know that through the work I did with kids, young minds respond to drama and visual representation. After all reading in itself is a difficult skill learnt. The ability to sit there and absorb words on a page was something I never found easy as a girl. I could sit and absorb patterns and times tables within seconds, but words were difficult for me (being a more natural mathematician) and I had to battle to overcome that. I guess that is my personality in that what I don’t understand, I try to overcome. At school kids used to crowd round me in maths lessons to find out the answers whereas in English, I was a late developer and yet, once I got there the results were surprising, especially when I was 14 and holding onto one of the top scores in the country for my English SATs.

I guess with this novel, I just try to say how important education is for some children, how valuable and fundamental it is to their wellbeing. Young minds are a beautiful thing.

This novel will be released within the week and it is the perfect seasonal read. I hope some of you read and enjoy it. I am hoping to release it in as many formats as possible so watch this space!!

Peace out. xxx

Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

British erotic author reaches Nevada…

Please read After Dark Online’s review of A Fine Profession. They said it was the first book they had reviewed that they’d given an all-round five-star status!!!

Thanks After Dark Online!!!

 

Review Sq: A Fine Profession

by Sarah Michelle Lynch

Welcome to another segment of Review Square. Today, we’re hosting a review of Sarah Michelle Lynch’s erotic novel – “A Fine Profession”, in part of The Chambermaid Series.

When I was asked to read the book, to be honest, I was a bit reluctant because of the timeframe that I can deliver the story’s review. I’ve read novels that were good, but filled with far too much fluff and filler; never straight to the point. In this one, I over-estimated the timeframe, and managed to get through the story, within a few weeks time.

A Fine Profession WEBSITE USE

The Chambermaid is a character I can identify with and relate to, except that I’m a guy. When I first read the story, I had to admit I needed to re-read the story, because I wasn’t following it through. The beginning of the story did have fluffs and fillers, and I was almost turned off, until I got a better understanding of the beginning of the story. My interest of the story began when I read the pieces between Alex and Charlotte. Charlotte was a cancer survivor who was just finding herself. At first, she never understood why Alex treated her so special, and how much he had cared for her. Charlotte pushed him away, but her awakening didn’t happen until after his death, and her chance to reconcile with Alex never happened.

Without giving any other spoilers, I read the story through, and I’ve got to say… hell ‘fuckin’ yeah! Where was this author all through my life. If a movie was made, I’d watch the movie. I’ve always been a fan of Emmanuel, but Sarah Michelle Lynch has created “The Chambermaid.”

I rate story – a Platinum Read (5-Star). While I’m not a reader of BDSM, I am a reader of erotic romance. Author Sarah M. Lynch made a name of herself on AfterDark Online. This is a story that if I was to hear about it in the movie theatres, I would watch it, and put it on my DVR, or ask for my DVD. The first two chapters, I will admit, are the tough part, if you’re the kind who’s looking for the straight-to-the-point feeling like me. However, Author Sarah M. Lynch delivers. My advice: read her story through, you’ll grab on to her excitements in her story. She has the potential.

If I had to say about the sex scenes in the story, you are going to need more than a toy to please yourself; even more than napkins. I’ve read erotic romance novels, and despite her writing a BDSM erotic romance, I see her as an erotic romance novelist. She has the ability to cry out for pleasure. And she finally made her mark on AfterDark Online as the first author on here to write a 5-Flame story. I’ve read plenty of stories where the authors will turn you on, and keep you masturbating or having unadulterated sex. I will never disclose, but tell you what to look out for. Home girl, take a bow. You’re first person to make it known. I must advise you, you’re going to get wet or hard off her sex scenes. She more than just delivers, she’s putting you there; very cinematic!

The cover of the story was just as enticing as I could imagine. This is an author who takes into consideration of her stories and the imagery of her story. I also have a thing for women in lingerie, except I’m not into being dominated. LOL.

When it came to suspense level, she also managed to make it to a Game-Changer Status. There is something to be glad about reading this story. She is the first one to reach an all five-status; overall feeling, sex scenes, and suspense. author Sarah Michelle Lynch has made a name of herself. If a movie deal was to take place, my advice would be don’t be a fool. I could envision it on film. Baby girl, give yourself a round of applause! You are the first to hit an all-five category! While BDSM isn’t my true forte, I’m willing to keep an open-mind about reading it. Somehow, I can see Sarah Michelle Lynch writing more erotic stories in the future. My advice, keep a watch out for her.

After Dark Online give you a round of applause. You’re the first to make an all-five star status, and we hope to see you on here again.

Definitely a recommend.

 

Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

Book Six… TBC

Hi guys! Just a swift check-in from me.

I have been stupidly bogged down with editing and stuff lately. Got a busy week of signing stuff off coming up.

Personally, I can confirm my next novel is something very different to anything I have ever done before. I am reluctant to release details at the moment but I can confirm, it is literary/contemporary fiction.

More to come. Until then, check out The Chambermaid. She got a few more reviews this week and I am super pleased that I am reaching various corners of the globe!

Click below and enjoy!

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Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

News and Developments…goodies too!!!!

Oooh, it’s cold. It’s dark outside. It’s not all that nice! My husband works in journalism and is flat-out in the month of November to get you all your Christmas magazines. He hardly sees the light of day. Bless him! I always write something every year for my husband to look forward to reading at the end of this period of slog. Last year it was an unusual one… a 160,000-word action adventure novel, Beneath the Exile, which spanned four decades and several continents.

This year, I will give him something with fewer words but nevertheless, it is still pretty special. I will provide more on that, all in due course. It sure should get published. It’s something with a festive theme… I have a book cover ready and I am editing as we speak. By ze way, it is not erotique… More to come…

I’ve also been busy typesetting other people’s books for publication, editing them, producing covers. So you could say it’s one hectic month and I am so looking forward to Christmas this year! A lovely period of time off with my husband and daughter.

Treat yourself to a double helping of Chambermaid action today for a bargain price of less than £2.70 for the two (A Fine Profession and A Fine Pursuit). Still been getting some great feedback for these erotic stories. You can also still purchase the chambermaid’s short stories for 99pence. Just search Amazon for Bedtime Confessions. (click on the covers on my home page to view these books on amazon).

In other news I have an extra scene I wrote for A Fine Pursuit that I am hoping to release sometime soon! It’s from Charlotte’s POV, though the novel is from Noah’s voice…! A little bonus from our naughty chambermaid. What a year it has been so far.

Catch ya later, Sx

Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

The book I really did not want to write… honest…

I started writing A Fine Profession earlier this year (back around January time) with the thought that it would standalone. It was simply called The Chambermaid until a little while before publication when I decided that the title was shit. I knew there would be a man who came into this woman’s life and it wouldn’t end all happy-go-lightly. I don’t know if it was just a challenge to myself, really, to write something with an unconventional ending for a change. I guess, what it was now I look back, was that I was in the zone of living and breathing that female character’s voice and words. In her frame of mind at that point in time, there was no happy ending. There couldn’t be.

As a writer, you don’t always set out to do things on purpose. Sometimes in the creative process, things just pop into your head and that takes you off on a number of tangents or brings you back to square one if it just doesn’t quite fit with what you wanted to do with the book as a whole. I am very much an instinctual writer and I go with what I feel works. Whatever feels natural. I guess as a self-published author, you have so much more freedom than you do as a traditionally published one.

So, how do we judge how good a book is? What marks a good book? One we relish diving into to get out of our minds for those few, precious hours? One that we have to really traipse through but with big rewards at the end? There are few books that make you go back and re-read them because they made such an impact. I think the only books I have re-read cover-to-cover are The Color Purple, Story of O, Jane Eyre and The Da Vinci Code. Strange combination eh? Each offer something different. One book that massively affected me was Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. I remember purchasing it around this time last year and thinking it would be a lovely, typically breezy read. It wasn’t. It was just the way she made this story seem so commonplace and then gave it such a thwack at the end. I guess I didn’t anticipate what she had in store and that made the effect more powerful. I think that goes for films too. I remember my dad always saying to me when I was young, “watch this… it’s really good”. I would moan and groan, “oh, not an old, boring flick of yours”. Two films he told me to watch were Thelma and Louise, and American Graffiti. Both affected me profoundly, maybe because I never anticipated they would be any good.

I was watching a programme about Shakespeare the other day and it always baffles me when some say they are frightened of going anywhere near the bard because it’s just a very difficult language to get to grips with. I had to remind myself that I am very, very lucky to be at grips with it and I am very, very lucky to have studied his work. It was on BBC4, Muse of Fire, and these two fellas went to meet Baz Luhrman in LA to ask him about what influenced his decision to create Romeo and Juliet for the big screen. I remember going to see that film with a friend when I was 14 and coming out of the theatre absolutely traumatised! We both were. Teenage hormones and… then some! It was powerful. I also remember the grade I got for my SATs in that same year. I was in a school where people like me got lost but I got a mark in the top 2% of the country for the stuff I wrote about Romeo and Juliet in those SATs. Silly educators quickly bumped me into the high sets instead. My mum said I could hold an adult conversation at two. Language ingrained? I guess I understand Shakespeare because I can switch off my mind and use my ear and hear the rhythms and the nuances of the poetry that make sense when you don’t think of it as words, but as pictures. So you could say my way of working is individual (bizarre more like), uncontained and erratic, or maybe just a mind figuring out puzzles. I cannot be defined. Will everyone get me? No. Some won’t. Just like many people don’t get Shakespeare. Not because they’re stupid, just because maybe it’s not for them or they haven’t ever come across that archaic language before.

We all experience books differently and sometimes you evoke some powerful reactions in some people and not in others. It all pivots on so many factors. Like I said, the few books I have re-read in my life are very varied! Don’t slap me around for liking Dan Brown either, please!

I guess I judge books for their quality on whether they actually move me. (Dan Brown doesn’t move me but he engages my puzzle loving brain.) So when I was faced with a decision at the end of writing A Fine Profession, I just knew what lay ahead. There was this man who did love Charlotte, the Chambermaid, yet she just couldn’t be with him! Pretty mean and nasty, aren’t I? I put them through the mill.

The truth is, I guess, A Fine Profession fulfilled its purpose within its own potential (or the parameters I set around it inside my mind). I did what I needed to within that book. A Fine Pursuit therefore is separate, though attached. Yet, it stands on its own if it needs to. It is the book I didn’t want to write… and I shall tell you why. I finished the plot and the major pieces of Book One, say, around May time. My mind started picking at what might be wrong with Noah. What is wrong with him? As soon as I sat down and forced myself to contemplate that, I knew exactly what was wrong with him, but I didn’t want to face it. In real life, I am a bubbly, happy-go-lucky type person who enjoys hot chocolate, beach walks and onesies. I didn’t want to take myself inside this man’s head but I had to. Because Charlotte deserved better. Because I needed to take her story onwards. I had such a clear vision of this book but I actually sat at the laptop sometimes, hating the scenarios I was having to thrash out. Literally, hating it. I just somehow lumbered myself with this gigantic responsibility and I had to see it out. I really had to. The challenge gnawed at me so much so, I was frantic with the need to type. The story was begging me to write it because I could see that end goal and that was what beckoned.

But why do we fall…? So we can pick ourselves up again…

All the writers who assume they are pantsers, or that inspiration comes from the heavens, think again. It comes from some ability to instinctively know what you want to do with a story and ultimately, ploughing on until you achieve it. Some subliminal, subconscious skill. Few books I’ve read have left me feeling wrecked afterward but A Fine Pursuit pretty much has. That’s easy for me to say because I wrote it, but I was controlled throughout the writing of it and I researched like hell. There are one or two books a year that have that effect on me (ones I read – and I read a lot) so if I even get one or two people feeling that way about my book(s), I did what I set out to. I set out to move people. Make them uncomfortable. Make them squirm. Take them out of their comfort zones. Job done. I am so lucky to be able to flex my creative muscles. I am lucky to be able to write. It is a privilege.