A month that sped by - How to write a novel in sixteen days, fail publishing another, and bake bread rolls to compensate

It's been a while, hasn't it? Last time I posted here was in March, we had just gone into lockdown, I was working on book two in a fantasy duology, and finishing edits on A Darkening Fate prior to publishing it. All stoked for publishing it, actually, as I was falling in love all over again with the story and the characters (especially Artuír and Morganne, I confess). Enter April. The fastest month in the history of the world, it seems to have sped by like a comet, blazing the sky (to kind of paraphrase The Waterboys, though I failed to see the whole of the moon because no balcony and lockdown). I honestly kind of blinked and April was gone, you know? Even though there was a lockdown in place, and you'd think time would stretch to inexorable lenghts, I found that days sped by like lightening, and I was always busy, busy, busy, adapting to a million new things, working with a thousand changes to my domestic and professional life, adjusting to everything being thrown our way. I thrived during this Portuguese lockdown, to be honest (as I write this, we're already easing the measures of confinement here), and I managed to get so much done I'm still knod of knocked off my feet about it all.

It was a good month. Hell, who am I kidding? It was a rather excelent month! I finished the edits and rewrites on A Darkening Fate at the end of March, and on April 1st - already counting on delays because of this whole new world order - I ordered my author's copy of it so I could do one last, full revision (swear to you that I always find so many things to change when reading the books on paper! That's why I make this part of the process, and an important one at that, I cannot feel comfortable publishing a book I'm pretty sure I'll still find issues with once I reread it in paper support. And it has to be a specific paper support, none of that print it on your home-printer shite. It has to be book format. Real book.) The due date stated for me to get my hands on it was by April 22nd, which would give me all the time during May to work the final changes and get it right for an early June release. So I put it out of my mind. And went back to my duology, eager to pen down the rest of that story and help a couple of characters take over a stolen kingdom and maybe change the world.

But then, eleven days into the month, as I am working on continuity issues on my book, I had this epiphany. Well, it can't be called an epiphany, it wasn't really that. It was far less mystic and a lot more weird, I think. I was putting down a list of events that had to take place, and working out a timeline for stuff to happen - you don't just march somewhere and take over the land, especially if you've been kidnapped and made a slave, right? - when I was struck by this image in my head that was so strong, so vivid, so brutal. So realistic. All to the sound of one particular song playing on repeat in my head. I knew I had something there, so I instantly opened a new doc. file and jotted down the basics of what came to my mind. It was a bit of a character's bio, in fact, two characters. And the way they crossed paths was clear in my head, an entire scene visually playing on repeat in my brain. This was a Saturday, I remember it clearly, after lunch. I wrote everything I could about those characters and their pasts, added a few snippets of dialogue and interaction between them, did the character worksheets and even made up a Pinterest board with visual inspiration. As well as a YouTube playlist. By the end of the day, the story was going over in my mind, scenes jumping up and down my brain, and I couldn't get back to my other work. So on April twelve, I started writing it.

And in sixteen days, I had an entire novel that completed diverted from most of what I've written so far - but then again, it doesn't. Yes, there's a bit of paranormal in it, because there's a vampire, only not the MCs. And yes, there's some brutal shit going down in the lives of those MCs, and they have very dark, traumatising pasts, and they're very broken and damaged and desperate. So there's all those elements that are very usual to me, I think, and it's a very character driven tale as usual, but unlike the rest of my work, this is mostly and mainly romance. Yes, pure and unadulterated romance. M/M, I grant it, which I toyed around with in other instalments but never fully dug deep into (it was very organic, though, to write. As if I was possessed by the whole story LOL). It's even got a closed ending, which is something I haven't done in... oh, let's see, forever? A happy ending, too, to not divert from the romance staples where the MCs do end up together, riding into the sunset in their happy ever after. But it was the only ending that made sense here, which isn't to say they don't go through hell to get there. So, at that moment, on April 28th, I had this novel finished and was stoked about it but a little deflated. Not only because it was over, but because A Darkening Fate's author copy did not arrive, and wasn't going to. I would not be able to publish it when I'd planned to.

Now, this got me in a mindset that I frankly don't want to be in, and am struggling to get out of. With all the crazy that's been going on, sales (in every single market, not just books, I think) have gone down A LOT. I was hoping to rev them up a bit with a new release, get a few ones with the new instalment on the Heir of Avalon trilogy, get a little income coming in - small as it is. But not having the paper copy to work on, I don't really feel comfortable with publishing, so I'm not going to. Which means there will hardly be any sales for the forseable future, and I am trying to work my mind around it and not let it get to me. I am trying really hard to convince myself it's just a momentary setback, and soon it will all be better again. But nothing is ever going back to normal, and because there isn't a local Amazon, I have to go through Spain, and we all know how much that country has been affected by this entire situation. Right now I don't know when I can even order a copy of my book again. I tried doing it earlier today (I have a very narrow window where I can order something online) and the delivery dates were appaling, which made me think it would just be another no show. Seeing I can only order once a month at the very start of it, it'll be another month before I can even try again. So right now, I don't think I can publish the book before Autumn, and seeing that means there'll probably be no sales until then, my stress levels have skyrocketed. I'm trying to not let it affect me, but...

In order to pull out of that defeatist and negative mindset, and because the lockdown has seen us indulging a tad more (both hubby and kiddo are home fulltime), here are some pretty delicious cheese and cured meats rolls we spruced up one of these days for a laid back, yummy dinner. They're really easy to make, and a treat on the tastebuds. Here's how to:

• 350 gr flour
• 7 gr fresh yeast
• 200 ml lukewarm water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1,5 tbsp olive oil
• five to eight slices of your favourite medium hard cheese
• five to eight slices of cured meat of your choice - chorizo, prosciutto, ham, bacon, pork hock

Start by pouring water into a bowl along with the olive oil. Mix the salt into the flour, crumble the yeast and add it to the mix. Pour into the bowl and using the hook implement on your mixer, knead for 5 to 10 minutes, until it's smooth. cover with a cloth and allow the dough to rise for at least one hour. I prefer to let it go for two and a half, three hours. Once that time has elapsed, turn on your oven at 180º. On a floured surface stretch out your dough and knead it slightly. Divide into smaller portions (it makes about six to eight rolls, depending on the size you aim for) and stretch each one out. Place the meats and cheese in the center and fold the dough around it, forming the rolls. With a knife, score some cuts along the lenght of it. Transfer the rolls onto a baking tray lined with parchement paper and allow to bake until golden. The time it takes depends on the oven, I use mine at 180º with the fan on, and it's between 20 to 40 minutes to bake, according to quantities and size. Hope you enjoy it, and I hope my next post brings better publishing news and that I have a new release to announce, or something like it!