​I wanted a bit of publicity – I got it.
 
I also got countless messages spouting hate and making slanderous comments about me and my books. I got review-bombed mostly on Goodreads, but with a few on Amazon too.
 
My crime?
 
Being upset about a review that wasn’t what I’d hoped for, and saying so publicly.
 
That was where it all started, at least.
 
Here’s the post: 

The post caused a lot of discussion, and the vast majority of the posts on it were encouraging and nice.  But there were a few nasty highlights.  I blocked most of the posters of this stuff, so I can’t see it anymore, but it seems they keep coming;  here’s one:
 
“Don’t come on Twitter and cry about getting a three star review.  Be glad you got a review and be glad they were constructive.  Stop being such an egotistical idiot.”
 
So posts like these don’t bother me too much, and I could shrug it all off, but one of the kind of people who decided my post was a bit too much for them, decided to do some trawling of my Twitter/X account.  They found a reply to a post I wrote some time ago where I stated a few facts they didn’t like.  Having written a book that features actual genocide, I (foolishly) decided to correct someone who was making an inaccurate statement. I stated the following:
 
“There is no genocide in Palestine, The definition of genocide is “The deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group””
 
I also stated a few other objective facts about the war.  The original post got a tiny handful of views.  No-one really cared, but now?  It was tagged to my original post about my review and got swept amongst the pro-Palestine lot.  Oh dear, they are a very passionate bunch.
 
It seems there is also another issue too – the same lovely person who found my historic tweet and decided to tell the world that I’m a Zionist, also said my cover was made by AI; which to be honest, I can’t categorically say is incorrect as I didn’t do the bulk of the design work myself.  But what I can say is that I paid a designer to make it and I don’t know for certain where she got her imagery from.  But I also got the Photoshop files and I know there is a load of layers, lots of adjustments and a hell of a lot of design work in there regardless. 
 
Anyway, I was now guilty of several crimes in the view of the Twitter mob, and so they descended.
 
My post is clearly still rattling around the internet, as the review bombing continues.  Here’s how it looks now:

I reported a load of reviews, and some were removed, but a load more have appeared.
 
Here are a collection of the highlights:

 
“Ai cover art, author is a zionist, poor writing and a rude author who feels entitled to only 5 star reviews immediately after publishing?? Girl be for real.”
 
“AI cover + rude, entitled, immature and self-absorbed author, one star is honestly far too generous of a rating for this book”
 
“AI cover is enough to not touch this shitty shit with 10 foot pole but the whole tantrums over readers not rating the way you like speaks a whole another entitlement. I won't even consider pirating it, let alone encourage my reader friends to read it and spend money on it."
 
“I've never read it but her attitude on Twitter is deplorable AND the ai cover is fugly”
 
“weirdass freak author"

 
The three-star review that kicked this all off really upset me, and I said as much online.  Having thought about why, I realised it was mainly because it made me doubt my own work.  I have put an awful lot of time, effort and money into that book, and I wanted it to be read by as many people as possible – but not just read, enjoyed.  But these troll reviews?  They don’t bother me quite so much as I know they aren’t from people who have read my book.
 
I write for a lot of reasons, but mainly, I write so I can give pleasure to others.  So when I think I haven’t delighted them as much as I’d hoped, it upsets me.  But I got even more upset by the idea that this review would put off future readers, so fewer people would subsequently read my work, and fewer people would enjoy it.
 
According to some, admitting this in public is a heinous crime, and I should be immediately ridiculed and abused.
 
As for the AI cover and Palestine stuff – I get those topics are very divisive and there are some very strong opinions on the subject.  I regret breaking my own rule of not engaging in political posts on this rare occasion for this exact reason.  As for AI?  I would never read an AI written book, because I like to read something that a human has created.  But I can’t say I’m anti AI in general.  It’s a very saturated market; editors, designers and marketing are expensive.  If we use a little AI to help us, is that a problem?  I think it’s a tool.  I know some people disagree and I respect that, but is it worth trying to destroy me as an author because you disagree with my opinions?
 
I’ve heard about other people being mobbed on Twitter, but I never thought it would happen to me.  Now it has. 
 
I’ve had plenty of people telling me how I should react, too.  And I agree with those who tell me to ignore most of it and wait for the twitter storm to die down.  But I can’t do nothing.  I want to at least highlight how seemingly innocuous things can blow up.  How past moments of carelessness can result in you being kicked when you’re down.  How the mob can descend and shout “Kill the Witch!”

​My anxiety has flared up and I couldn’t do any of the work I’d planned to do yesterday on my audiobook because I was on edge all day.  I couldn’t sleep.  I still have a massive lump in my stomach and I wish this whole debacle would just go away.  I'm sure it will in time I just hope the damage isn't permanent.
 
So now what?
 
I wait for the storm to die down and carry on.  What else can I do?

And if you're wondering, this is what the people who have read my book and aren't trolls say, including the review that started all this off, here's a collection:

Everything seemed achievable back then.  I had loads of time, right?
 
Correct, but you can’t account for being let down by others.  The Queen of Vorn was supposed to be edited and ready for a proofread by December 2024.  The editor I appointed for this finally finished this week – after I’d published it. 
 
Let’s rewind a little so I can explain.  December came – just three chapters edited.  I was promised it by January.  January came, nothing.  February approached, I got techy, and some more chapters were drip fed.  And so it continued, chapters drip fed at the speed of a semi-retired snail.  Meanwhile, publishing day approached.
 
What to do?
 
I decided to cut my losses and looked for another editor to finish off my book.  I found one. Yippee!  He was nice and reliable and efficient, but unfortunately, he didn’t achieve much more than I could have got out of Pro Writing Aid, even though I tried to pay him more money to get a more in-depth edit.
 
But better than nothing, right?
 
Meanwhile, I didn’t turn off my original editor and I let him continue to drip-feed me chapters.
 
I got my book into a decent state, decent enough for my ARC (Advance Reader Copy) readers – I was desperate to get it out to them, I was madly hoping for a bunch of reviews to be print-ready on publishing day.  So I sent out my book to hundreds of people, and waited, and waited…
 
I know most will never read it.  To quote Logan Ninefingers from the works of Joe Abercrombie (a fellow Lancastrian author who I occasionally Twitter-stalk):
 
“You have to be realistic about these things.”
 
Yep, realistically I know the vast majority of people who have a free copy of my book will never read it.  People just don’t value free stuff.  I guess I need a bigger list of newsletter subscribers – but how to get one of those without spending hundreds on ads, I’m not entirely sure.  But anyway…
 
I got my ARC copy out, then proceeded to try to polish my manuscript as best I could.  To save on paying a proof-reader, and also to mitigate the risk them letting me down, I invested in Pro Writing Aid.
 
Wow, I have to say, it’s bloody good!  I’d say it's better than a proof-reader as it does more; it highlights sentences that are too long or ones that are clunky.  It suggests re-phrasing – and sometimes the suggestions are half-decent.  I suggest it’s a worthwhile investment for any indie author.
 
So, I finished my Pro Writing Aid-assisted proofread, formatted my book into an e-book and paperback, and uploaded them to Amazon.  I ordered a proof copy of my paperback, spotted formatting errors and realised the cover needed some colour adjustments.  I did a load more work then voila!  My book was finally ready.
 
Now its out!  Have you bought it yet?  You can read it for free on Kindle Unlimited.  There’s a load of links to Amazon in different countries here:

2024 saw another 12 months of writing and another change of careers (that's another story).  At the start of 2024 I was still attempting to get a traditional publishing deal for book 1 in the Gallantrian Legacy.  I self-published the second trilogy; the plan was to try to get a publisher to take on the first trilogy (you can more about that here).  But I didn’t get a single full request for that book.  The decision to pull The Offspring Trilogy came with a second decision – early in 2024 I decided I’d self-publish The Homecoming Trilogy. 

Confused?  Basically, I published the second trilogy first.  Its a sequel trilogy, but also a stand-alone trilogy.  Think Star Wars episodes 4-6.  The Homecoming Trilogy is the first trilogy in my 6-book series.
 
Anyway, so I stopped querying, took a deep breath, and decided to sort The Homecoming Trilogy out.
 
Boy, did it need work.
 
The Queen of Vorn
 
The Queen of Vorn is book 1 in my 6-book, 2-trilogy series, The Gallantrian Legacy.  This book had already been re-written once.  I didn’t think it was in that bad a shape, until Karen from Snowdon Publishing got her teeth into it.  After her manuscript review, I knew another re-write was in order.
 
Different authors have different definitions of what a re-write looks like.  My view is its where you have to make so many editorial changes to your story, it is almost a new book.  I’d suggest at least 50% of the words are thrown in the bin and re-drafted from scratch.  The general idea might be the same, the characters might be the same, but there will be minor and major plot changes, and bad prose and dialogue will be replaced.
 
Last summer, The Queen of Vorn got another, rather significant makeover.  It is now almost un-recognisable from the first draft I wrote in Autumn, 2021.
 
It was finished last autumn and is now being line and copy edited by Peter at Snowdon Publishing.  This book is now very close to being ready for human consumption.  But what about the other two books in The Homecoming Trilogy?
 
The Prince of Vorn
 
Book 2 in The Homecoming Trilogy has also had a lot of work.  This one had barely been touched since I wrote it in 2022 and needed even more work than its prequel.  Its plot didn’t need as much jiggling about, but the writing itself was awful.  Writing and having professional edits, then dealing with your editor’s subsequent suggestions is a very good way to learn to write better, and between drafting this book and taking another look at it, I’d had a pro-editor pull three other novels to bits.  I’ve improved a lot as a writer as a result.
 
The Prince of Vorn was re-written, sent for a manuscript review, then all the points that came out of that review were addressed.  I’ve almost done this, I’ve just a few chapters to proofread then it will be ready for a line and copy edit.
 
The King of Vorn
 
Book 3 in The Homecoming Trilogy needed even more work than The Prince of Vorn.  The writing and the plot needed a lot of adjustments before I was happy to send it to Karen to get her feedback.  But I finished a pretty comprehensive re-write of that book in November, and it is now under review.
 
Magic Breakers
 
I also did an edit of Magic Breakers, which is the first book in a whole other series, and I did some querying of that one.  So far, I’ve had no luck.  But I have been invited to talk about querying by The Writer’s Workout.  A link to the website is below. In March 2025, you will have the chance to watch a video of me waffling about querying, plus you can watch loads of other people who are involved in writing and publishing.  The conference is fully online and free.  I really do recommend you take a look.

​That pretty much summarises what I’ve done writing wise in 2024, so what will 2025 look like?