WRITER'S DREAM; It's A Juggling Act

 "This is how you do it; you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it's done. It's that easy - and that hard."

Neil Gaiman

I have lost count, over the years, of the number of people who have told me that they are  writers too, or that they are working on a book and hope to get it published.  In all my years as an author, only one of those people has actually managed to achieve this goal and get his book traditionally published. What sets this person apart from the rest is that he'd already made a name for himself in his field of expertise, and so he had a ready-made audience the publisher could sell to.  In addition, military books are quite the publishing trend right now, so that worked to his advantage too. Plus of course, he actually finished writing the book! 

Many people don't. They make excuses of not having enough time because they work, or have kids, or travel, and so their dreams fall by the wayside. My friend does all of those things, yet he still managed to finish the book and get it published, so a lot of it is down to personal dedication and commitment.  The fact remains though, that you will only get published once you have written something that a publisher can turn a profit on and so having an audience already in place is a huge advantage.  

Writing a book is hard work. It might not be physical labour, but it is certainly a mental work-out. When you are spending 8-10 hours a day writing, you can expect to finish up with headaches and blurry vision!  Your body might be aching from sitting in one position so long, but your spirit yearns for fresh air and movement, while your mind is in a fug of tiredness and longs to switch off.  This can lead to burn-out if you don't take enough breaks, or if you also work in another, more mundane job and write in your spare time. 

Writing is always a juggling act. To begin with you will be balancing your creative life with your normal working life and family time.  You might dream of one day quitting your day job and being a full-time writer, thinking that this will put an end to the juggling, but that's simply not the case, because as any professional writer will tell you, there are many things to juggle when you write full time - taxes, deadlines, different projects, promoting your work, writing synopses, meetings etc. 

Writing your first book is like an oasis of calm in comparison to what comes later! When you write your first book, you will usually be writing it on spec, with no publisher and no deadline, so you can take your time with it. Even if you write to commission, as I do, editors generally allow extra time for new authors to nail down that first book. They know it's hard work, so they give you space to get on with it. You are able to fully focus on that single project.

However, when you make writing your sole career, then by the time the first book is published you should already be writing the next one, plus you will be expected to complete a variety of other tasks as well, such as creating new book proposals, attending lunch meetings, responding to editorial queries, flat-planning new projects and so on. Not all these tasks will lead on to paid publishing contracts. Some will, but some will be discarded. That's just the nature of the game. 

In any one working day, I might be achieving a daily word count on the current project, then going through proofs of another book, while promoting the most recent drop, emailing editors to negotiate new contracts, invoicing accounts for monies due, dreaming up ideas and creating synopses for new projects, researching topics, mastering my taxes, editing copy to make sure it's as clean as can be, ready to send and so on. 

That's quite a lot of balls to juggle!  It can be easy to become overwhelmed, especially if your House works to a fast turnaround, like mine does. For example, the project I delivered at the end of June is already in its proofs stage, so I'll need to make time to go through those proofs and send my feedback to my editor, in addition to working on the current project, which also has a tight deadline.  Sometimes you just need to take a breath! 

The point is, that you will always be juggling your writing with other things, even if you write full time. Having swathes of free time to write books at a slow and steady pace is a pipe-dream, a remnant from the Victorian Literati era which simply isn't feasible in modern publishing. 

If you are easily overwhelmed, or an anxious person, a professional writing life might not be for you, but you can still write for fun. If, however, you hope to become a professional author one day, then my advice is to get used to juggling your writing with other responsibilities as soon as possible, because while the responsibilities might change, the juggling won't. You must be mentally and emotionally equipped to keep your balls in the air! 

The writing life can be quite stressful at times. That said, there is no better feeling than holding the final published copy of your book in your hands, and seeing it on shelves in bookstores, or anticipating the release of a project that you have poured your heart and soul into.  It's all worth it, because it really is the best job in the world! 

Happy Writing.

BB Marie x

BOOK NOOK; A Lesson In Vengeance by Victoria Lee

 "I know what she's going to say. She's been talking to Dr. Ortega, who has filled her ears with stories about my paranoia, my obsession with the Dalloway Five. It was no use explaining how all academic passions veer toward obsession. She wouldn't understand that magic can be a metaphor, like Ellis said. That magic doesn't have to be magic for it to mean something. That sometimes magic is a salve over a burn, and it's the only way you can heal." 

I have been deep into a Dark Academia phase of reading lately.  I don't know if it's the nostalgic back-to-school vibes I'm feeling, or the wet and stormy summer we've been having this year, but I have been very drawn to tales of murder and mystery in university settings. I can't seem to get enough of them, devouring one novel after another and dreaming of the cosy study days I used to spend in the common room at university, where we had deep purple velvet study booths to work in. I do miss that common room. On days pouring with rain, it was such a snug place to escape to on campus.

As it has been raining almost every day since St. Swithin's Day, I have been curling up at home with some great books and slowly making a dent in my tbr pile. This book, A Lesson In Vengeance, has held me captive for the last two days and I have enjoyed every moment of it.

Like most Dark Academia novels, the story takes place in a collegaite setting, this time in an exclusive boarding school for girls. Dalloway School is an elite finishing school for the well-bred girls of wealthy families. Unlike other finishing schools however, Dalloway has a magical history, being founded by the daughter of one of the Salem witches. It boasts an extensive library of magical texts and prides itself on its historical occult associations. 

Dalloway has an interesting past, being the school where five young students, known as the Dalloway Five, were mysteriously murdered in the 1700s, allegedly by the powers of witchcraft.  It is these five girls that our main character, Felicity, feels drawn to study for her thesis and to help her new friend, Ellis, research for her novel.  And so the two girls set about trying to prove that the girls were not murdered by magic, but in far more mundane ways, which were staged to look like magic.

Dalloway is an exciting school. For a start it has it's own secret coven, hosting occult meetings and initiations in dark, underground chambers. While this novel doesn't go into depth regarding magical practice, it does give a delicious flavour of magic and witchcraft, with different characters holding opposing views as to whether or not magic is real. Could the power of witchcraft really be enough to kill five girls in the eighteenth century, or were they murdered for being witches themselves, by a superstitious mob? Felicity and Ellis are determined to solve this mystery once and for all, yet as they experiment with various theories, they dabble in some very dangerous activities along the way.

This is a book of ghostly haunting, skulls, seances, psychopathy, midnight jaunts to the woods, a derelict church being used as a covenstead and witchy meetings in the middle of the night. It has plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing. Although I thought I had predicted the outcome, I was only half right, which was a lovely reading experience. I like it when a book surprises me.  All the way through, I was willing the main character to use her common sense and stop being so drawn in, because I could see what was coming - but the author had a satisfying trick up her sleeve which she kept hidden until the end and I really appreciated that. 

I will say that this novel, being set in a girls boarding school, does have the predictable lesbian sub-plot, but this isn't intrusive or overdone. The author even acknowledges it as a cliche, within the dialogue, which makes me wonder why she felt the need to include it at all, when a close friendship between the characters would have sufficed. 

However, I didn't like the sudden appearance of a non-binary character two thirds of the way through the book (likewise the lesbian parents), especially as this character didn't do anything to really serve the plot or move the story forward, and their contribution could have been written in a more authentic way between the original characters. I felt that these characters were written purely to tick the inclusivity/woke box, rather than as an authentic plot point, and as a result it felt quite clunky and unnecessary.  Also the subsequent they/their pronouns made the writing seem messy and I found that very irritating. That said, it is a very brief appearance by secondary characters, so it didn't ruin my overall enjoyment of the book.  It's worth keeping in mind though, if you don't want to read about that kind of thing. It's not going to be for everyone, and having such issues rammed down your throat when you least expect it, via a form of entertainment, can be extremely annoying. So skip this novel if you are likely to be overly offended by it. 

On the whole, I really enjoyed A Lesson In Vengeance. I loved the atmosphere of Dalloway School and the witchy undertones. The ending was very satisfying and the writing style was magnetic, drawing the reader into this dark, dangerous world of magic, mystery and murder most foul. I hope that the author writes more books in this setting. It would be fantastic if she wrote the actual novel, Avocet, as mentioned in the book and written by the character of Ellis - I'd really love to read that one!  We'll have to see what Victoria Lee comes up with next, but I shall be keeping an eye open for her future works.  Happy reading!

BB Marie x

AD; This book was sent to me by the publisher for the purposes of review. It is available now in all formats. 

ONCE UPON A DREAM; Slow Living With CFS

 

Sometimes you just need to sit down with tea and cake

It's a beautiful summer's day, with bright golden sunshine and a warm breeze dancing through the trees. It's one of those days that makes you want to lay in the sun, sprawled out like a lazy cat enjoying the last of the summer heat before the dark season returns.  It's a day for Sunday lunches, afternoon snoozing and slow living.

It's just over a year since I left my student job at the veterinary practice and I feel like I have been catching my breath ever since. There is no doubt that the long hours and enforced overtime were having a negative impact on my health and I am not sorry to be free of it. I worked there for four years and I do keep in touch with my friends from the practice, but I made the right decision in leaving.  At the time, people often asked me why I was leaving a secure job that could have lasted me a lifetime, in favour of the sporadic income of an author and the answer is simple - it's because working from home is good for my health. 

Living with any chronic illness is difficult, but living with, and going out to work with an invisible illness is an uphill struggle on a daily basis.  Having Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or M.E means that I simply can't work long hours without triggering the illness.  CFS makes you feel like a car that is almost out of petrol, yet is expected to remain fully functional.  I need a lot of rest. Simple tasks that are easy for most people, such as vacuuming or changing bed sheets, are more draining for me, using up all my energy reserves, meaning that I need to rest afterwards.  

There are certain things that I just can't do anymore. Back in the day, I would go horse riding in the mornings, spend the afternoon writing my daily word count, then go off to a dance class at teatime, followed by an ice-skating class in the evening - all on the same day! I would follow the same routine several times a week.  Now I have to limit myself to one activity/outing every two or three days, with recovery days in between. Likewise, cleaning the house from top to bottom in a single day, is a thing of the past.  Now I have to pace myself, tackling one room at a time.  So you can imagine what 12-14 hour shifts were doing to me, over that four year period! I just couldn't wait to finish the Master's Degree, so I could leave the vets and get back to my writing life. 

Sadly, most employers are not sympathetic to workers who are living with such illnesses. They want as much as they can get out of their employees and don't really cut them a lot of slack, even if they have a valid reason for not wanting to work overtime etc.  However, if the government wants people to keep working into their late-sixties, this attitude really needs to change and employers will have to be far more accommodating and flexible for people with health issues.  

For me, it was always the plan to leave the vets as soon as I could return to my writing again. That was the whole point of doing the MA in the first place. I knew it would boost my opportunities with publishers if I had an MA in Creative Writing under my belt, and it certainly has done just that.  

Now I live a much gentler life. It has taken me about a year to reset my routines and mindset and to realize that I don't have to live in a state of high stress anymore. I genuinely believe that it has taken the past twelve months for my body and mind to release all the vet-stress it was holding onto, stress which had accumulated over the four years I worked there. Back then, I only had enough energy for the vet job and the MA. I had no energy left for life - for fun, for adventures however small, for hobbies and activities.  I worked and I studied and that's all.  Everything else was too much. It's no way to live. Recreation is important for our mental health and well-being. 

These days I live a much slower lifestyle, one that is more suited to the CFS and while I do still have some bad days, they are not as frequent or as many.  Making a living as a writer means that even on bad days when I need to rest, I can just grab my laptop and still get my work done. This is the advantage of self-employment and working from home as an author. I can rest when I need to, without fear of the boss, because I am the boss! Having that level of autonomy is vital for keeping on top of the illness.  

As the CFS seems to have worsened in recent years, whether that is due to the long days at the vets or a natural progression of the illness, I find that the hardest thing is accepting the little losses along the way. Accepting that I now have a limited capacity for activity is hard. I've always been a strong person, but CFS makes me feel weak as a kitten.  As much as I would love to exercise five horses in a day, jumping off and un-tacking one, before tacking up and riding off on another, as I did when I worked at the stables, that's just never going to happen again. I do still ride, but I certainly don't leap from one mount to another anymore!  I'm happy riding just one horse and then coming home to write.  

I have learnt to adapt. I know that if I have a busy day, I will need a recovery day the day after, so I can rest. I'll still be working and meeting my word count, but I won't have the energy for much else. Piano lessons are easier on me than riding, as it is naturally much more sedate. It's a more relaxed activity, but of course, I love both. Horse-riding, writing, music lessons, ice-skating - these are the activities that fulfill me the most and I get a lot from them.  They make me who I am.

That said, I have a much richer, fuller life now than I did when I worked at the vets, because writing doesn't take up all my energy, so after I've done working for the day, I still have enough energy leftover to enjoy myself. I go to music school for piano lessons, I go to concerts and ballets in the evenings, I see a film at the cinema or go out for a meal.  All of these things were virtually impossible when I was at the vets because I didn't have the energy reserves left over. I would wake up exhausted on my days off, because I'd worked multiple 12 hour shifts. I was giving everything to the job, and I had nothing left over to give to myself.  So it made sense to leave that world behind and focus on my writing, which is what I'd planned to do all along.

As summer draws to a close, the dark season is almost upon us and I have lots to look forward to. Having my autonomy back means that I can just book whatever takes my fancy, without consulting a rota or swapping a shift. I can just go wherever the mood takes me, so I have tickets to see the ballet, a concert and an afternoon tea. Autumn is theatre and show season and I intend to enjoy it to the max! 

I'll also be heading back to the stables after the summer holidays, so that I can ride all the pretty horses I love. I don't go mad in the saddle these days, but I always enjoy a good gallop through the woods, or making pretty patterns in the sand when schooling and doing flat work. I'm looking forward to being around the horses again and seeing my friends up at the yard. 

This autumn and winter will be quite busy work-wise, as I have lots more writing to do and new commissions to work on. My writing timetable is fairly full this year, with several projects to write, on topics both old and new. There are new book titles and another oracle deck dropping from me this autumn, so I am excited to know what peoples' reactions will be once the books are published. I'm going to be exploring various world mythologies and traditional magical practices over the next few months, but that is all I'm allowed to say for now.  Needless to say there will be many, many days when I am tucked away in my study, writing new books!

I'll certainly need the holidays I have planned! This year I am heading back up to Scotland, not once, but twice! I'm not going up to the Highlands though. Instead I'm going to explore more of the Lowlands and I can't wait. I find that Scotland is so restorative and the fresh mountain air does me the power of good.  I can't quite believe that I have two Scottish holidays booked this autumn and winter, and for the first time ever, I'm taking my mum with me too. We normally go on holidays separately, but as this is a rather special year, we decided to go together. I'm really looking forward to it, as we are going to parts of Scotland I have never visited before.  Autumn can't come quick enough for me. And yes I have scheduled in lots of Recovery Days to combat the CFS during all this gallivanting around. I'm just glad that, thanks to working from home, I finally have the energy to have a life!

If you struggle with a chronic illness I hope that this little blog post has helped you to see that you are not alone. Lots of people have health issues that the world cannot see, does not seem to acknowledge and which employers prefer to ignore, but I know that the struggle is real. Try to remember that you are not being lazy or difficult, you are simply trying to cope. Give yourself little things to look forward to, but remember to include time for recovery, as even happy events can be draining. 

Love and Blessings 

Marie x

BOOK NOOK; Gothikana by RuNyx

"She must have looked a ghostly sight with her white gown and long raven hair and the candlestick in her hand. Without stopping, she quickly descended the way she had come up, her heart beating in tandem with her footsteps, this time loudly on the spiral staircase, her gown and loose hair flowing behind her, probably making her look like a mad woman. What a first day it was turning out to be."

What can I say about Gothikana, except - what a surprise this book turned out to be! I was expecting it to be Dark Academia, and it is, but it is also very, very saucy, so much so that I would say it's for over 18's only and the disclaimer at the front of the book is in alignment with that. The language used is quite crude at times and this is an explicit book, so be prepared for that as you go into it. I wasn't at all prepared, so it took me completely by surprise, being somewhat more graphic than say, a Highland Guard novel for instance.  Having said that, it's a great story and it ticks all the DA boxes that I was looking for, so I've been tucking myself into bed with it every night for a week. 

As autumn is just around the corner I have been drawn to more Dark Academia of late, so when I remembered this book was waiting for me on my tbr shelves, I decided to give it a go. Gothikana is just the kind of DA book that I enjoy, with a added slice of spice! It takes place in an old castle, situated on top of a mountain, right on the cliff-edge, overlooking a deep forest and a large, dark lake.  As the title suggests, it is full of Gothic vibes, from the Collegiate-Gothic setting, to the anti-hero professor, to the witchy ways of Corvina, the main protagonist. 

The castle of the University of Verenmore is isolated, mysterious and said to be haunted by the ghosts of students who have disappeared over the decades. It has a reputation for driving its students mad, with more than one suicide to taint its history. At Verenmore, students lose all sense of reality, with little to no communication with the outside world.  Into this strange world comes Corvina, a strange girl in her own right, one who hears voices in her head and who sees shadows and spirits as she reads her deck of tarot cards, seeking answers to her questions. But everything that made her strange in the outside world, from her violet eyes to her precognitions, are the things that make her fit right in a Verenmore. 

When Corvina realises that she is deeply attracted to her professor, Vad, she determines to uncover not only the mysteries of the university, but also the mystery of her anti-hero teacher too. This sets her on a collision course with Vad, as they struggle to process the forbidden attraction that burns between them. So when another female student goes missing in the night and Vad falls under suspicion, Corvina needs to find out if he really can be trusted. 

This novel has all the best Dark Academia tropes that you could want - sexual misconduct, forbidden love, witchcraft, death cults, an isolated university with a complex history and ghostly apparitions stalking the hallways and bathrooms. The anti-hero is by turns tender and commanding, obsessive and possessive, strong yet gentle, and deliciously mercurial in the most infuriating way!  The story is well-paced and the main characters come to life, but the secondary characters are less well developed.  That said, there is a fantastic twist towards the end and the denouement arrives via the catalyst of a sexy masquerade ball, where anything goes, with all the Dance Macabre vibes. What's not to love?

I have enjoyed reading this novel and I will be looking out for the new prequel to it, that is out this summer. If you love Dark Academia then you will probably like this, although if you are easily offended by crude language, a domineering hero, or rampant sex scenes on a piano in a castle dungeon, you might prefer to skip this one! I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about my next piano lesson with James after reading Gothikana! Oh well, such is life. 

This is a book best read by candlelight with a glass of ruby red Merlot, while listening to Camille Saint-Saens Dance Macabre on repeat. Just don't get over excited or you might spill your wine! Enjoy. 

BB Marie x

AD;  This book was sent to me by the publisher for the purposes of review. It is out now and available in all formats. 

BOOK NOOK; In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

 

"Ysolde strained to listen to the forest, but it was as though it was holding its breath, even the wind stilling a moment. A chill spread through her, but she knew not to rue her luck."

I was very kindly sent an ARC of this book by Hatchett/Orion Children's Books, which is one of the perks of being a book blogger and reviewer - free books!  It is by an author whose work I have read before and enjoyed, so I was eager to give this one a go.

In The Shadow of the Wolf Queen is the first installment of a new fantasy trilogy and it follows the fortunes of Ysolde, as she tries to find her sister, Hari, who was abducted by riders. Set in a beautiful world of forests and magic, where the trees speak their own language to those who have the gift of Listening, this book is a wonderful introduction to a new fantasy realm. 

In some ways it reminded me of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, in others it was reminiscent of the Robin Hood fable.  It is nicely paced, with an ending that leaves you eager for the next book in the series, however, I'm not sure I'll remember the story that well by the time book two is published.  It is a well drawn fantasy novel and is perfect for the YA audience it is aimed at, but it didn't feel particularly memorable to me. Maybe I'll feel differently once I've read the whole series. I am looking forward to book two coming out in due course.

As with all of this author's work, the writing style is beautifully lyrical, almost poetic and she paints a vivid world with her carefully chosen words.The cover art is stunning and would look great face-out on a bookshelf.  It is a fairly short book, one that I read over a couple of afternoons, sitting in the garden. As this novel is filled with earth magic, I felt it was fitting to read it in the garden, surrounded by trees, with the birds chirping and the bees humming alongside me. All in all, it is a very pleasant read and a lovely book to take on holiday with you, or to sprawl in a park or garden with. Happy summer reading! In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen is published at the end of August. 

BB Marie x

AD; This book was sent to me by the publisher for the purposes of review. It is released on August 31st in digital, audio and hardcover formats and is available for Pre-Order now. 

BOOK NOOK; The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer

 "This women's life of ours. Why must we suffer so? Cursed for being women. Prized for our cunts and maybe our looks, but not much else. They use us, Martha. They trade us, they shag us, they trap us. No sooner raise us up than they beat us down."

The summer rain hasn't let up all day. It's been far too dull and grey to go anywhere, but it has been the perfect weather to relax indoors with a witchy novel. This one was sent to me a couple of months ago by Orion and I have been engrossed in it all day.

The Witching Tide is a novel about the witch hunts. It follows a protagonist called Martha, a midwife who is nonverbal and who has no power of speech, though she can hear perfectly well and has learned to communicate with her own brand of sign language.   The novel begins when a fellow housemaid of Martha's is carted away on a charge of witchcraft. From then on it reads like a countdown to the inevitable, as one woman after another is taken up on similarly fabricated charges. 

I find it interesting that Martha is nonverbal, because her very silence serves to give a voice to the historical women who were also tried, and hanged or burnt, as witches. Martha has no words to defend her friends, or herself. This is a clever way of ensuring that the reader can empathize with the women of the past who were shouted down and disbelieved when they attempted to reason with their accusers.  Those historical women, condemned as witches, were also silenced, just as Martha is silent. 

This is a very visceral novel. The author doesn't shy away from describing the conditions in which the prisoners were kept and the things they were forced to do to try and survive. No female is safe from the witch hunters, not even innocent children. There is plenty of room on the scaffold for any woman who dares to stand up for herself or her neighbours. 

Whilst this does make for rather harrowing reading at times, it also illustrates the dilemma that such women found themselves in when the witch-finder came to town. Often, the safest place for a woman was right by his side, becoming an aid in his investigations and helping to examine the accused witches. Such women were known as witch-prickers, needling their neighbours in order to try and keep themselves above suspicion.  As Martha's friend says;

"We got no witches in Cleftwater. Leastways, we had none, until the witch man came. He's poisoned us all."

This needling of other women is something that still goes on today. Some women do band together and turn on one another, motivated by jealousy and spite. We might not refer to it as witch-finding or witch-pricking anymore, but such ordeals do still take place within modern society. Finding yourself on the receiving end of this kind of female spite can be very unpleasant. When one woman gathers her friends and family together, so that they can put another woman through an ordeal of this kind, the needling leaves its mark. 

That said, a clever woman will be able to defeat her enemies quite swiftly, by turning the tables on them and living well herself.  A modern witch will always survive and thrive, proving to her enemies that they cannot keep her down, no matter how hard they might try, or how envious they might be.  She will always rise above them, for all to see. Also, life has a way of ensuring that we hear of the fall of our enemies - which after being subjected to such an ordeal, is always welcome news! Survive and thrive - that's just what we witches do. They may have hanged us in the past, but these days we tend to be the last ones standing!

Martha is certainly a character with a strong survival instinct. She plays the hand that she has been dealt to the best of her ability, carefully walking a very thin line between safety and sorcery.  All it takes is one wrong move and the noose awaits. 

Overall I enjoyed The Witching Tide very much. It swings along at a good pace, though I did find the momentum waned towards the end of the book. I wouldn't say that the final pages were an anti-climax as such, but it wasn't the conclusion that I was expecting. It is, however, an interesting novel, steeped in the chilling atmosphere of the witch hunts, so if you like that kind of thing, you will probably enjoy it. I found it to be a great way to spend a rainy, summers day. Happy Reading! 

BB Marie x

AD; This book was sent to me by the publisher for the purposes of review. It was released on the 6th July and is out now in all formats. 

WRITER'S DREAM; Becoming a Book Reviewer

 

I have been working with Net Galley as a professional reviewer for about two years now. During that time I have been privileged to receive many, many books from lots of different publishing houses. These books, known as Advance Reader Copies or ARCs, are frequently sent to me some time before the publication date, meaning that I am lucky enough to be one of the first people to read them. 

For a bookworm, this is a dream come true. Not only do I get sent lots of free books, but I get to read them before they are even published! It's like being let into a secret society, where the currency is books, traded back and forth as ARCs and reviews.  It really is a fantastic way to spend my time!

As a Wiccan author and columnist, I have always been sent free books from the Mind, Body,Spirit genre and I have long been a reviewer of New Age music too, but it is only in the last two years that I have been sent free novels. This is great because not only does it save me a ton of money - I would normally buy all the new witchy novels anyway, now I get sent them as complimentary ARCs - it has also introduced me to novels I would not normally read, but which I have greatly enjoyed. The novel Idol comes to mind, as it is not the kind of book I would pick up ordinarily, yet it turned out to be one of the best books I read last year.  Being introduced to new books and new authors in this way, is hands down, one of the best parts of being a book reviewer.

I am often asked how to go about becoming a book reviewer and the simple answer is - just start to review the books you read! Use whatever platform you are most comfortable with, be that a Blog, YouTube, TikTok or Instagram. It really is that easy. However, I think the question people are really asking me, is this one; 

"How do I get publishers to send me free books?"  

I can only answer that, from my own experience. You have to really love books and stories. Publishers are looking for people who are passionate about books, who have favourite authors and genres, who are avid readers.  They are not looking for reviewers who only want to get free books. They are looking for reviewers who have an authentic, deep-seated interest in books and reading. In short they want bookworms and bibliophiles.  So, in a nutshell, to get on a publishers ARCs list as a reviewer, you will need to be able to prove your interest is genuine and that you are not just looking for freebies!

Most publishing houses, and Net Galley, prefer to work with people who are already a part of the publishing industry in some way, or who have an audience to share with, such as librarians and teachers.  If you are a published author, columnist, journalist, bookseller or bookshop owner, then you stand a much better chance of getting onto the ARC lists. I know that this seems unfair, but there are only a limited number of free books to go out, so the sales team have to ensure they are reaching a target audience, or that they are working with a fellow professional of the publishing industry and someone who can be relied upon to write a professional standard review. It is also true that some publishers are more generous than others and have bigger review budgets. 

You have probably noticed that I get sent a lot of witchy novels - that's because my audience is most likely to be interested in those kind of books, so anything witchy, magical and fairytale, will be sent to me. I have also reviewed MBS books and New Age CDs for magazines, so I get sent those too.  Someone who writes a baking blog will be sent cookbooks, while a makeup artist will be sent books on beauty, and so on.  The ARCs you are sent are targeted to your audience, so you need a defined audience to begin with. 

When I started my blog back in 2011, the first thing I ever posted was a book review.  I wrote about one of my favourite witchy books, by one of my favourite authors, The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory.  This novel wasn't a new release. It had been in my bookcase for some years and I had read it many times, but I felt that it set the tone for what I wanted my blog to be - magical, witchy, gothic and bookish.  The point is, I started where I was, with what I already had, reviewing a book I knew well and loved enough to re-read, so I wanted to share it.  

That, I think, is the key point - you have to want to share your reading experiences with others. Being a reviewer isn't about being a gate-keeper or showing off what publishers have sent you. It is about sharing a genuine love of reading.  It is about meeting your obligations to the publishers who have been kind enough to send you books, by writing and posting an honest review of the books they send.  

Building up relationships with publishers and editors in this way takes time. By the time I started being asked to write reviews for publishers via Net Galley, I had been consistently writing regular book reviews on my blog for ten years. Yes, ten years!  This is the kind of authentic dedication to books that editors of publishing houses are looking for.  It is likely that they will check to see if you regularly post about books anyway, so you need to make sure that you do.  You also need to ensure your reviews are more than just a couple of sentences long!

It can be quite tricky to review books in depth, without giving too much away.  Reviews are so important that we did a whole module on reviewing books as part of my Masters Degree in Creative Writing & Literature.  I'm sure that this has stood me in good stead, but the fact is, I was reviewing books on my blog long before I had the MA under my belt. It does carry weight with publishing houses though, as they know that you have been trained to review to a professional standard. 

That said, there is no reason why you cannot start reviewing books from right where you are, just as I did.  I never wrote reviews with the intention of being sent free books. I wrote them because I had enjoyed reading a great story and I wanted other people to know about it. Even now, if I really dislike a book, it simply doesn't make it onto my blog. I meet my obligations to the publisher by posting my honest review of it on their preferred platform, usually Net Galley, but I don't feature it on my blog, if I don't like it.  Only the books that I feel fit in with my platform, my audience and which I have enjoyed, actually make it onto ShimmerCast Dreams.

So my advice is to start with whatever book you are currently reading and post your review. Then, keep posting regular reviews and build up a body of review work. I can't promise that you will ever be placed on the ARCs lists, or that you will receive free books, but you will at least have the satisfaction of sharing what you love.  Make sure your reviews are polite and respectful, even if you hated the book! Editors won't work with people who consistently trash their books or authors!  Keep a log of what books you have reviewed, and a notebook to make review notes as you read - it can be easy to forget what you liked and disliked once you've finished reading. 

You will also need to dedicate a significant chunk of your time to reading. If you want to become a reviewer, then you can't just read for fun, as and when you feel like it. Your reading commitment should run to the standard university timetable - that is, you will need to be able to commit the time to reading one or two books per week if possible, or at least three or four books in a month, and writing your reviews of them, in order to be taken seriously as a book reviewer. This is something to consider if you have a busy life with work, children, elderly parents etc. 

Bear in mind that you won't get onto the ARCs lists overnight. It took me ten years of regularly reviewing the books I bought and read on my blog, before I was ever sent a free witchy novel by a publisher.  But if you're prepared to be that dedicated, then go for it and see what happens.  In the meantime, I have some fabulous magical and ghostly books to share with you, that are all due to be released in the next few weeks. Spooky season is coming up and I have some great spooky reads for you, so keep checking back! 

Good Luck!

BB Marie x