#FreshStart - George Loveland

It’s the beginning of a whole new year; what time could possibly be better to become more motivated and inspired? You have a whole 365 days ahead of you, and now is the time to start making them count, so we're asking authors what they've got planned for the year ahead!

George Loveland explains why the number of books you release in a year doesn't reflect all you've learned.

Reflecting on the previous year is always fun. If I look at it in terms of books I released in 2018, it was a bad year! I only managed to release one book, though I planned to release three or four. What happened? Life; and some pretty major changes! I got married, for one, and spent most of the year flying back and forth from London to Mexico, where my husband lived. We also had to work on his visa for the UK, as well as bringing our two fur babies’ home to England with us. This took most of the year, but finalised in November and now we have our first Christmas together. I also went to French Polynesia for a once in a lifetime experience, and so a lot of my time this year has been spent travelling. It’s a good job my book series, Up in the Air is based on a cabin crew who travel the world. When I get on a plane, I take a lot of notes!

I had thought I had nothing to show writing wise, but actually I learned a lot. I was working on a story for a long time, which seemed to fall apart. I’d written a first draft, going through a second round of edits and finding that things weren’t working and I couldn’t convey what I wanted to in the story. In the end, I took a step back and let it go. It helped to have a conversation with my friend, and editor, to help me see the light. It pains me to think about all the hours I’ve lost in the story, but to be honest, nothing is ever lost when we can take something from the experience. The main idea for the story is still there, it’s just changed into something much stronger.

There were two other pieces I managed to complete, the first is the third book in my Up in the Air series, which will come out in February 2019, and a short story for the Rainbow Advent Calendar. This was a fun end-of-year project which allowed me to test the waters with a new type of story and way of writing.

Thinking about what I would like to achieve in 2019, there's the release of the third Up in the Air book, and then a secret project I am involved in, set to release later in the year. However, I want to write the last two books in the Up in the Air series and then work out what’s next. I’ve found that doing too much planning doesn’t work for me, so focusing on just three books will be good for me. Anything else is going to be a bonus.

What would I like to see in Romancelandia? Acceptance of each other, quirks and all. I have made so many great friends in the short time of being here, and I certainly want that to continue. There are a couple of conferences I am going to be at, ShiMMer and Euro Pride Con, and will love to see fellow authors and readers there. However, in Romancelandia, it feels as though someone pushes a button every now and then and all hell breaks loose. Maybe we can have a year clear from drama so we can do what we all love; read and write books.

By the end of 2019, which seems so far away but we know will be here before we know it, I would certainly like to be further in my own writing. With that, I mean some of the more technical aspects of it, where I am able to use techniques to further my writing abilities. I think I am more of a story teller than a writer, and so I want to be able to hone that part of it. It would also be great to get edit's back from my editor which tell me I've finally nailed speech and how to put it on the page in the correct manner. That would be a miracle though; can I still ask Santa for one of those?

George's latest release, Up in the Air: West Coast, is out now. For more information about him and his writing check out his website, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.