C. M. Harald

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September Review 2020

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September Review 2020

The September Review often shows a drop in word count and focus as I return to school after the summer and refocus my energy on my principal job.  This year follows that pattern.  However, with the current situation being different from the normal start of a school year, I’ve been much more tired than usual.  I’ve therefore spent a lot less time on writing than would be the case.

I have had two significant successes this month, with a very successful advertising campaign following up the successful launch of Dead Hander.

September Review – word counts

During September I wrote 4,353 words.  This is lower than originally intended, but as has been the case over the last few months, one reason is the increased focus on editing and proofreading.  I also spent two weeks commuting by car, which knocked out my usual writing slot on the train.  I’m back on the train again, which is incidentally empty, something which happened previously in the lead up to the March lockdown.

September Review – writing projects underway

· There are two first drafts queued in the editing pile.  These are waiting to become the primary editing focus.

· Most of my editing effort, which has been sporadic, has been focused on the ‘Long Journey’ short story I previously had on the website.  I’ve given it a tidy and have just to apply the last edits and give it a final read-through.  I did not get started on the edits for the last book in the Royal Zombie Corps series.

· The 1980s short story, set in the zombie universe, has made some progress this month.  This first draft is still a long way from completion.

· The third story in the Butcher’s Funeral series is part-written, but is still on hold.

September Review – other projects

The launch of Dead Handlers at the end of August has continued to increase interest in my books.  Likewise, a timely advertised one day offer on the first zombie book, Blood, Mud and Corpses, nearly hit a major milestone for me.

Publishing schedule

Having returned full time to school, I am still happy with my revised publishing schedule. I have left it unchanged for now.

· December 2020 – ‘The Sands of War’, book 7 of the Royal Zombie Corps series. The last book in the WWI sequence.

· Early 2021 – Butcher’s Funeral new cover and 2nd edition.

· Summer 2021 – Butcher’s Funeral book two titled ‘Butcher’s Fire’. 

October Plans

· Extend my writing focus as I become used to the ‘new normal’ of working in a school during an epidemic.  Fingers cross we make it to the half-term holiday without a lockdown affecting schools.

· Complete edits of the short story

· Begin the editing process for ‘The Sands of War’

· Finish the first draft of the 1980s zombie short

· Continue working on marketing efforts

August Review 2020

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August Review 2020

As usual, the summer has proved productive, although this was because of the amount of editing and proofreading I undertook, rather than new words.  For this August review, I am pleased to report I have released Dead Handler.

August Review – word counts

In August I only wrote 4,484 new words towards my various projects.  However, I’ve tried to not get hung up on word counts as I’ve been putting a great deal of effort into editing and proofreading. What’s the point of new words if you never get to improve the ones you’ve already got?

August Review – writing projects underway

· ‘Dead Handler’, Book 6 of the Royal Zombie Corps series, launched on Amazon at the end of the month.  This was about three weeks before the official Amazon publication date, but in line with what I intended.

· There are two first drafts queued in the editing pile.  These are waiting to become the primary editing focus.

  • · There are several short stories I’ve queued for editing.  I’ve pulled one which was previously published on the blog for a tidy up.  The story should go back online during September.
  • · I have started a new short story in the zombie universe, set in the 1980s.  I’m planning for this to only be available to mailing list subscribers.

· The third story in the Butcher’s Funeral series is part-written, but is still to one side while I work on other areas.

· I’m continuing to develop ideas for two new future series through background reading and research.

August Review – other projects

Following the wipe of the blog earlier in the year, I’ve finally reinstated all the old posts.  This was a task I’ve been dragging my heels on for quite a while as it has been time consuming.  However, now everything is back – except one short story which I’m editing further. 

With a book launch in August, I also worked on a few marketing approaches. 

Publishing schedule

The new publishing schedule seems achievable, and I’ve been happy with how achievable it should be.  Time and workload will tell, as my main job will probably demand over the next few months.

· December 2020 – ‘The Sands of War’, book 7 of the Royal Zombie Corps series. The last book in the WWI sequence.

· Early 2021 – Butcher’s Funeral new cover and 2nd edition.

· Summer 2021 – Butcher’s Funeral book two titled ‘Butcher’s Fire’. 

September Plans

· Re-establish my working routine as I return to my full-time job after lockdown

· Complete edits on one story

· Begin the editing process for ‘The Sands of War’

· Add a significant chunk to the 1980s zombie short

· Continue working on marketing efforts

Dead Handler – Now Available!

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I am excited to announce that Dead Handler, book 6 in the Royal Zombie Corps series, is now available on Amazon.

Amidst the chaos of the Great War, the Germans have a new weapon. The dead have no sides, the people who command them do.

With Britain reeling following the zombie outbreak in London, the Central Powers launch their Spring Offensive, a last desperate attack to knock Britain and France out of the war before the vast US army arrives. For the first time Germany uses zombie soldiers. In a desperate attempt to end the new zombie threat, the British despatch their leading zombie expert to duel with the notorious Dead Handler.

Dead Handler available for pre-order

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Dead Handler, book 6 of the Royal Zombie Corps series is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Dead Handler will be released in the second half of August 2020. It’s a great book, and like Outbreak London, it is a longer book than the first four in the series. The final, 7th book in the series will follow later in 2020.

Amidst the chaos of the Great War, the Germans have a new weapon.

The dead have no sides, the people who command them do. 

With Britain reeling following the zombie outbreak in London, the Central Powers launch their Spring Offensive, a last desperate attack to knock Britain and France out of the war before the vast US army arrives. For the first time, Germany uses zombie soldiers. 

In a desperate attempt to end the new zombie threat, the British despatch their leading zombie expert to duel with the notorious Dead Handler. 

July Review 2020

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It’s an excellent time to take stock in this July Review. Last summer I stepped up the pace with my writing, so now a year on it’s a good time to reflect on what has worked and what hasn’t.

In the last twelve months, I’ve managed to publish one book, Outbreak London. I’ve also got one book coming up on Amazon pre-order (more details to follow on this blog later this week). I’ve also two more books ready for editing and am writing a third.

Having gone over two years without publishing, it was good to get things moving again. I was completely over-optimistic and hoped I would be able to publish at least four books over the course of the year. Getting the drafts written, was not the problem. The biggest challenge has been getting the editing to a high standard, especially the frequent redrafting, which is very time-consuming. I’m therefore revising my release plans for the next year to be far more realistic with the time demands. Likewise, I’m adjusting my workflow to better balance the creative versus the editing demands.

A number of other things I put in place a year ago are also having an impact. This blog has been more active than before, although it tends to be based around monthly reviews rather than anything else at the moment. I’ve grown my mailing list, the CM Harald Readers’ Club. If you haven’t signed up for it, you can download an exclusive short story only available to subscribers. I’ve also improved my marketing on Amazon and Facebook. Writing several short stories, I’ve experimented with some new characters and stories I’d like to develop. Finally, I’ve been really pleased to commission some excellent new covers, one of which was for a previously released book.

July Review – word counts

Word counts in July are usually excellent as I’m moving into the summer holidays and therefore have much more time to write. However, this year I’ve used the time to work on Dead Handler to get it ready for publication. As a result, I’ve written far fewer new words. Writing new words is not where the bottleneck currently is, so I’m not worried about holding back on this. Therefore, instead of the 15,000 words I was aiming at in July, I’ve only hit 5,800.

July Review – writing projects underway

· ‘Dead Handler’, Book 6 of the Royal Zombie Corps series, is now available for pre-order. It will shortly be going out to ARC readers, and is undergoing the application of final edits. I’m expecting to release the book towards the end of August

· There are two first drafts queued in the editing pile

· The third story in the Butcher’s Funeral series is part-written, but I’ve put it to one side while I focus on editing drafted work

· I’m continuing to develop ideas for two new future series

July Review – other projects

I’m continuing to work on a number of marketing projects and tided several aspects of this blog. July was my third best-ever month for sales, which is good considering how Coronavirus impacted sales earlier this year. Several other authors in my genre, and related genres, experienced significant drops in sales during the early stages of the outbreak.

Publishing schedule

In light of the areas which have progressed over the last year, and those which have not, I’m massively adjusting my publishing schedule to make it far more realistic. Now I have a year of experience working at this writing pace, I think it is only realistic to aim to publish new works twice a year. I may well exceed this, but this is unlikely based on the current pace.

· August 2020 – ‘Dead Handler’, book 6 of the Royal Zombie Corps series.

· December 2020 – ‘The Sands of War’, book 7 of the Royal Zombie Corps series. This is the last book in the WWI sequence.

· Early 2021 – Butcher’s Funeral new cover and 2nd edition.

· Summer 2021 – Butcher’s Funeral book two titled ‘Butcher’s Fire’. 

August Plans

· Release ‘Dead Handler’. It has a release date in September on Amazon, but it will be released in the second half of August.

· Apply final edits to ‘Dead Handler’, finalise copies for publication.

· Get back to writing the first draft of Butcher’s third book.

· Edit a short story.

· Continue working on marketing efforts.

June Review 2020

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With the pubs opening in England, perhaps the country is finally returning to routines, even if the priorities are backwards. It’s a good time to have a June Review as my patterns are also changing. Schools aren’t operating fully on site, so I’m still working a hybrid of some days in school, some days from home. It’s been good to see some pupils, having started working face-to-face with them again in the last few weeks. However, despite not being able to fully attend school, I can go to the bar to buy some beer after work. All is good in the universe.

Pleasingly, I’ve managed to keep at the writing. However, I usually do well in June, writing in the garden in the good weather during the evenings. The last fortnight has been slightly damp, almost as if summer has been cancelled. Hopefully, it’ll pick up soon so I can get back out there.

The picture is one of the lockdown cookery attempts I’ve made. This one is a Wagamama recipe Katsu chicken. Very tasty and one of a few new dishes I’ve tried.

June Review – Word Counts

June was the best month so far this year for word counts. Having fallen behind earlier in the year, I had a target of nearly 15,000 words for June. I cleared this with 15,378. Compared to 11,459 in May, this is quite satisfying, especially as June had eight days at 1k+.

June Review – writing projects underway

· ‘Dead Handler’, Book 6 of the Royal Zombie Corps series, is now 85% edited. This is dragging on quite a bit. I’ve split the last chapter into three as it was far too long. While I’ve increased my pace of editing, I’m still making plodding progress with this.

· ‘Butcher’s Fire’, Book 2 of the Butcher’s Funeral is 2nd in the editing queue.

· The third story in the Butcher’s Funeral series is progressing with a fair degree of rapidity, consuming most of the 15,000 words I wrote in June.

· No progress has been made on the future historical story. I’m also pondering the outlines of a low fantasy series.

June Review – other projects

The short story ‘Let’s Eat Children‘ was posted on the blog in June and has been a hit on Facebook. There were a few requests for more short stories, possibly more stories in this vein. I’ll be looking at tidying up some short stories, including some previously released on the blog, but not currently available.

Sales are continuing to return to pre-Coronavirus levels, with late June close to where things were for me before the lockdown. I’ve continued to work hard on my advertising strategy, trimming out underperforming adverts on Amazon.

Publishing schedule

I’ve delayed several items on the agenda simply as I’m finding the in-depth editing very time-consuming. Until I can figure out how to do it quickly, I’ll have to settle for a lower pace of publication.

· Summer 2020 – ‘Dead Handler’, book 6 of the Royal Zombie Corps series.

· Summer 2020 – Butcher’s Funeral new cover and 2nd edition.

· Autumn 2020 – ‘The Sands of War’, book 7 of the Royal Zombie Corps series. This is the last book in the WWI sequence.

· Winter 2020 – Butcher’s Funeral book two titled ‘Butcher’s Fire’. 

July plans

· Finish editing and proof-reading ‘Dead Handler’. Really want this checked off the list as it’s been hanging around for ages.

· Release ‘Dead Handler’ to the ARC readers for final checking.

· Continue writing the first draft of Butcher’s third book.

· Continue to research the new historical series I’m working on. Continue outlining low fantasy story. Not sure how much of a series this one could be.

· Continue to learn about publishing and writing.

· Edit and upload another short story to the blog.