My Next Book - 'The Raven and Other Tales', A Collection of Short Stories

After finishing my last book, ‘The Spellbound Spindle’, I was undecided whether to start writing the next novel or attempt to put together a collection of short stories.

With various curve balls coming my way last year into the first half of this year, when I finally got back to writing, I found it easier to write short stories as I struggled to focus on a full-length novel.

I’d already written some of the stories for the blog and a couple were part of writing exercises. When I finally decided on a theme for the collection, I looked through what I had and picked out the better ones.

I’ve rewritten parts of the stories and edited them while writing up a couple of new ones.

The theme is ‘retelling’ and features mainly fairy tales with a couple of original stories, written in, what I hope is, a folktale style.

With regards to the cover, I thought I’d keep the imagery similar to ‘The Spellbound Spindle’ – white background, black image and red lettering.

The tricky part for me is working out what order to put the stories in. Oh. And let’s not forget the back cover blurb – I haven’t even thought about that yet!

That, plus formatting, is going to keep me out of trouble for the next little while. I’m hoping to have it done and dusted by the end of the week.

The whole process, for me, is a mixture of excitement and the tedium of waiting. Of course, the plan is to crack on with the next novel. Not to forget the endless cleaning, decluttering and escaping into nature.

Apple tree in garden