Tag Archives: Writing

My weekend writing retreat

Hi friends! I’ve just come home from a 3-night stay in a cosy, secluded cottage with two of my closest author friends, and it was so good for the soul.

We arrived on Friday evening to the beautiful little converted barn, The Cider House, to scented candles filling the house with a gorgeous scent, and a basket of welcome goodies from the lovely hostess.

After we’d settled in, we had dinner and caught up on each other’s lives. Then we wrote, talked about our works-in-progress and our plans for our author careers. It was a perfect evening with two of my favourite humans!

On Saturday, Rhianne and I got up at 6am to write and let Alice have a lie in (we’re all mums to young kids, so sleep is a precious commodity!). We’ve all got word count goals and deadlines to hit, so we sprinted throughout the day, between lots of bouncing ideas around and helping each other fill in plot holes, and find that one perfect word that’s right on the tip of your tongue but keeps eluding you.

We took a long walk through the surrounding countryside after lunch (a lot of snacks were consumed over the course of the weekend!), and Saturday evening was spent in ballgowns and crowns filming TikTok videos!

Here’s one of mine: https://www.tiktok.com/@lyndseyhall_/video/7225210653278080282?lang=en

On Sunday, we had a slightly more chilled day. I slept in until 8.30am and wrote for a while, but by the afternoon we were all ready for a break, so we decided to do a photo shoot and get some new author headshots and content for our socials.

Then we played a few games of Cluedo (there were loads of board games and books provided in the cottage) and had dinner, and then Alice went for a bath, using the lovely aromatherapy oils the hostess had provided, while me and Rhianne chatted and watched a movie.

I wrote for a while after the others had gone to bed to try and hit my word goal for the day. Then on Monday morning we packed up, tidied the cottage and said our goodbyes, before heading home!

It was the perfect mini writing retreat, we all wrote so many words and got over some bumps in our WIPs with each others help. And I think we all left feeling refreshed and reinvigorated for our writing and publishing careers. Or, I did, at least!

If you’re a writer and you’ve got author friends within a few hours drive, I can’t recommend a DIY writing retreat highly enough. Sometimes, being surrounded by other creatives with the same struggles and dreams as you can be exactly what you need to remind yourself you’re not alone on this path. We’re all in it together.

Lyndsey

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End of Year Review 2022

Hello friends, I hope you’re enjoying the festivities and taking the opportunity to look back at everything you’ve achieved this year and feel proud.

Personally, 2022 has been one of the most difficult but rewarding years of my life, and I’m both nervous and excited about what 2023 will bring.

So, here’s an end of year review with (almost) everything I’ve read and written this year (so far, there’s still a few days to go!).

Books I’ve Read in 2022

I read quite a few thrillers this year, as a palate cleanser to all the fantasy I read and write, and because I’m a true crime addict. After I published The Solitary King in January (can you believe that was less than a year ago?!), I was pretty burnt out and just needed a break from fantasy, so I grabbed a few YA thrillers, including One of Us is Next and This Lie Will Kill You, both of which I loved.

I set my Goodreads goal to 36 this year, and so far I’m at 33, with a couple of books and an audio book pretty close to finishing, so I’m hoping to hit my target by 1 January.

If you want to see my full list of books read this year, you can check out my Goodreads Reading Challenge page here. Otherwise, here’s my top five favourite reads of 2022:

Books I’ve Written in 2022

I tracked 162,859 words in 2022, but I probably wrote even more, as I didn’t start tracking my words written on StoryOrigin until about May.

This year, I’ve written One Fair Eve, my short story for Enchanted Forests, A Fair Vendetta, my companion novella set in the Fair Realm, and The Fair War, the third and final book in my Fair Chronicles series.

I’m so proud of everything I’ve achieved this year, publishing two full length novels, one novella and two charity anthologies (Enchanted Forests and Once Upon a Name). Plus, the audio book of The Solitary King is currently being quality checked by Audible, so could also be out in 2022 if they pull their socks up!

I’m excited for what 2023 will bring, I’ve been lucky to receive some amazing opportunities that I can’t wait to tell you all about very soon. It’s going to be another really fun and busy year for me, and I hope you’ll all join me for the ride!

What are you proud of achieving this year (or just surviving through – I’m halfway through my husband’s 6 month deployment right now and honestly most days I’m in something even more primal than survival mode, so I feel you)? And what are you most excited for in 2023?

Lyndsey

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My Top 3 Tips for Drafting

Writing the first draft is one of my favourite parts of the writing process. (World building and creating magic systems take the top spot). But I know it’s a lot of people’s most hated part, and some of you even prefer editing *shudder*.

So, I thought I’d share a few quick and simple tips for getting that first draft done, whether you’re a plotter or a pantser. Here we go:

Tip 1.

Write a scene/chapter summary at the top of each new page to refer to whenever you get stuck.

Okay, this one is more for the plotters amongst us, but even a lot of pantsers have a general idea of where the story needs to go before it reaches its ultimate conclusion. If you know some of the essential beats or big plot events that will happen in your story, jot them down and paste them throughout your document so that when you finish the first beat you have an idea of the next one. Or, if you’re an outline obsessive, like me, you can write a paragraph at the top of every single chapter so you never find yourself staring at a blank document with no idea what’s supposed to happen next.

Tip 2.

Stop in the middle of the action so you know exactly what’s happening when you come back to it.

This is the one I find the hardest to put into practice, I much prefer ending a writing session with a complete scene, but if you want to hit the ground running the next day, this one works a treat. Just close your laptop mid-battle/kiss/argument/revelation and when you open it again tomorrow you can carry on from there, easing you into a new writing session with as little pain or procrastination as possible.

Tip 3.

Leave yourself a short note about what needs to happen next at the end of each writing session.

This one works if you’re like me and hate to stop in the middle of a scene. When you’re in the flow of the story, you probably know exactly where it’s going next, but you have to stop at some point to eat/walk the dog/socialise with your friends or family. It’s a drag, I know. Just kidding, but if you quickly scribble down a summary of the next scene before you stop for the day, you’ll thank yourself tomorrow when you don’t have to spend ages rereading your last few pages or trying to think of what to write next.

And there you have it, three very simple and effective ways to help yourself get that first draft finished and move on to the next phase of your publishing journey!

Lyndsey

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