WINGS OF BLOOD Captain Tess Night was raised to fear the Lord of Blood, and he made a sport of brutally killing soldiers like her, but when a cursed prince returns from the dead, the two are forced to ally. ⚔️ FMC with a sword 🩸 MMC with blood magic 🫶 Found family #A #F #📖 #Q #BluePit

Adulthood sneaks up on you in such unexpected ways. One day you're young and carefree, and the next you're filling out a form on the Royal Horticultural Society website letting them know you found box tree caterpillars in your garden.

The tricky thing about writing a fae character who can't lie, I have recently learned, is figuring out what to do with sarcasm and dry humour. Some of his dialogue, if delivered straight, would be considered a lie, but he's saying it as a joke. Does that count? 🤔

Dusting off this account because I've heard it's the place to be for pitch events, and they were always fun. Threads doesn't have them and I'd rather eat gravel than go back to Twitter so... hello! Any kind souls want to let me know if there are any coming up? #WritingCommunity

And if you're interested in learning how and why I cut 10k words from an already published novel I wrote about that in a blog post of my own. 👇😁

A post from my editor @jesslawrence.bsky.social on how to know your book is done. My first book I cut 10,000 words out of it AFTER I had published the first version. That was crazy. The last book I wrote was done at 45k words. Then at 57k words. The finally at 62k words. Done is a relative concept

I've hit the point with this WIP revision where I just want to read the story, but I don't want to have to write the story first. Like, can't I just have a completed draft already?

The WIP I'm revising started as a chill project after querying another book. Well, it grew legs and now I want to share it with everyone, hence the revision. 3 chapters in, I love this story and these characters. I call it Chaos Child (v. apt) but this annoying gremlin of a WIP has my whole heart ❤️‍🔥

I just got today's Wordle on my first guess. Nothing can stop me now. I am invincible 🙌

2024 has been a good year for editing. I've laughed, I've cried, I've sat at my desk for far, far too long, but it was all in service of fantastic stories! Thank you so much to every author who has trusted me with their words this year - it's been a pleasure 🧡

I'm rereading an old WIP ahead of revising it and I just came across this note Past Jess left for me where a chapter ends abruptly 😭

I have a #CosyFantasy that is currently a finalist for Book Blogger Novel Of The Year called Glunda The Veg Witch that people might like. 😊 mybook.to/glunda 🥕🧙‍♀️

Never, ever put off buying book one of something because book two isn't out. That's a good way to ensure book two is dropped by the publisher. Sure, a couple of big noisy boys have let you down. Most of us can, do, and are burning to in fact finish what we started, given half a chance.

✨this december, love thyself✨ 7th I know meditation and mindfulness have many cringe and walk away. "what's the point of just sitting and breathing? I've never been enlightened." Nop, it's not the point either. Let's just take a quick look at the breathing aspect ⬇️🧵 1/6

Bless you for this. Short story collections are special. Often harder to write than novels too. If you want one for free check out my steampunk shorts collection, The Hammersmyth Tales. 😊 mybook.to/hammersmyth2

To add to this, my services also make for great gifts for the writer in your life (including yourself 🧡) And I even have cute little gift cards mocked up, so... 👀

I've got a few editing slots open for January and February – developmental editing, copy-editing, query packs, or my brand new Editorial Consultations! Anyone who reaches out before the end of the year can lock in my current rates before I give them a little bump. www.jesslawrence.co.uk/services

Happy to share the recent launch of a client novel - 'Huw is Missing' by Martin Whitbread. If you're looking for a gripping mystery with an older protagonist, this is a great read! www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DNFZF6DG

So is there a guidebook for new(ish) BlueSky users? I'd like to hang out here more often but I'm not sure of the ropes...

I can't do polls on here (can I?), but I'm curious to know: Writers and readers, if a book is split into Parts, do you prefer the chapter numbers to keep counting up, or to restart at Chapter 1 for each Part?

I've come to the library to write, for a change of scenery, and I'm already up 1300 words 🙌

Finished! The chapter has been rehashed and it's now actually kind of good (for this draft at least). Plus I've set myself up nicely to pick the words back up tomorrow ☺️

Okay, I have the whole day to write. I have a chapter that needs completely rehashing. If you catch me loitering around here before I've made progress, shame me! Don't let me procrastinate, please!

Am I procrastinating from writing, or does my brain really and truly just need a rest?

Escalator handrail at Waterloo station is feeling a little needy 🤭

This WIP just hit 50k and is still going strong 🙌

I've recently signed two new authors up to work with, and they share the same names as the two protagonists in my current WIP. And they're not terribly common names. If I get an enquiry from an Abernathy now... 👀

When your smoke alarm decides to do its low-battery warning at 4:30am, leaving you wide awake, what else can you do but get up and write 3000 words of a new story idea that came to you? Sidenote, the story is not smoke alarm related 😆

I've been itching to reach 40k on the WIP this weekend. I was tinkering away at a chapter and I happened to look down to see I'm on exactly 40,000 words. I love when that happens ☺️

Frantically scribbling notes on my phone while on the bus so I can at least say I contributed to my WIP today!

I hate first drafting. Hate it. Which isn't to say I don't love this WIP, because I do, but ohhhh I can't wait to be revising it instead of writing it 😣

Must. Keep. Mind. Off. New. Story. Idea. 😬

Okay, I'm sticking a pin in the writing for a bit – may come back to it later tonight. If not, I wrote 1400 words!

You know that moment when you write a scene and your characters do something even you didn't expect, but when you look back it's like of course they did that, that's exactly right and could happen no other way? Just had that moment ☺️

Alright, alright it's time to knuckle down. I will not be back here or any other social platform until I've added at least 500 words to this WIP!

Any tips for a newbie here? I'm seeing different 'feeds' but not sure what they mean. Do we use hashtags? How does it all work?

Right, that's 1200 new words banked for this WIP tonight! I love how this one just keeps tumbling out of me ☺️

I need to send my first post so... Hello!