I’ve also been obsessed with assembling the best space-themed outfit I can, ready for my events about The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

My video of my June reading just went live:

Books mentioned (all links to Amazon UK):

Wilde like me* | Girlhood* | Other Minds | The Power | The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson* | False Lights* | Truth or Dare| The Pearl Thief* | The Book of Dust | Days of Grace*

*books provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

I’m in the middle of writing a first draft, and to say I’m finding it difficult is an understatement. One of the main reasons is that I find it so hard to actually sit down and write. Here are some tips I’ve learnt for making writing easier, even if you’re not feeling in the right mood.

1. Don’t prioritise admin

At the start of each day, it’s tempting to answer your emails first, which are often easier and quicker than writing. But this puts your brain in a different mindset than the creative zone you need to be in to write. It’ll be harder to switch over when you need to start writing. Often, admin is less urgent than writing anyway. It can wait.

2. Avoid social media

Delete your apps. Log out of your accounts. Don’t let yourself check any social media at all until you’ve achieved your daily work counts. The internet these days can be such a negative space, it’s hard to stay upbeat and write. You have to shut out the rest of the world to get things done, however difficult it is at first.

The only exception for this is probably myWriteClub, which allows you to update your writing total, and follow your friends who are doing the same.

3. Give yourself an outlet for breaks

Whether it’s a walk around the garden, a colouring book by your desk, or just waiting for the kettle to boil for tea, give yourself something to do that takes a set amount of time when you need a break.

I use newsletters for this. When I need a break, I pick one from my inbox and read it. I prefer these to social media because they’re usually a lot more upbeat, contain lots of interesting links, and are a finite length – there’s no way to get sucked into mindless scrolling.

Here are some of my favourite writing-related newsletters:

Misfits & Daydreamers | Snacks in the stacks | Dog Ear Half A Dozen 

Getting Clever | Witty Title Here | Zan Romanoff | The Black Cardigan 

I subscribe to a lot of these, so if this is your thing, check out my own blog over the next few weeks – I’m going to be posting a full list of my favourites.

4. Trick your brain into entering the writing mood

I use music, essential oils and candles to give ‘signals’ to my brain that now is the time to work. I also try to restrict recreational time online to my ipad, so whenever I sit at my desk, I know that it’s time to work.

5. Sometimes, you just can’t write.

If you’re not in the mood, you can’t force it. Answer your unanswered emails instead, or file your taxes, or write some blog posts or make some playlists or moodboards to inspire you and share with readers.

Don’t beat yourself up for not writing, because being an author has other responsibilities too.

Good luck with your writing – if I can do it, you can too!

I’m really into email newsletters at the minute. I love that they’re a great way to take a break from writing, and get a social media fix, without getting sucked into mindless scrolling. They always contain lots of interesting links to things that get me thinking.

As I’ve become a bit of a connoisseur of them, I thought I’d share some of my favourites. All links go to the latest entry, where possible, and you can also subscribe at the link. My favourites have *** next to them.

Books & Writing: ***Misfits & Daydreamers | ***Snacks in the stacks | Dog Ear Half A Dozen | Getting Clever | Witty Title Here | Zan Romanoff | The Black Cardigan 

Fandom: ***door | *** The Rec Center | Better than words

News & politics: ***The Ann Friedman weekly | Above the Bottom Line | Proceed Until Apprehended | Goodnewsletter | #awesomewomen | Women aren’t funny

Beauty: The Iris Letter | ***Girls’ Night In

Pop Culture: ***Bravo & Buchanan | ***This Week’s Work | Deez Links | Pop Warrior | Read Look Think | Emma Gannon Weekly

Introspection: The Sunday Letters | Grief Bacon

If that isn’t enough newsletters for you, you can also subscribe to my own here – it updates once a quarter, and I’m really enjoying writing them.

I’ve been experimenting with a new style of reviewing over on my youtube channel, where I combine garden tours with book round ups! I’m going to do this every month, so if that’s your thing, you can subscribe. Here’s the latest video:

Books mentioned (all links to Amazon UK):

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy | Arrival by Ted Chiang | Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal | Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi | The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal | Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia | A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers  | Strong Poison: Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L Sayers | Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari | The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley | The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley

The Next Together (part 1) | The Next Together (part 2)  | The Next Together (part 3)| The Next Together (part 4) | The Last Beginning (part 1) | The Last Beginning (part 2) | The Last Beginning (part 3) | Another Together | Another Beginning | The Loneliest Girl in the Universe | The Quiet at the End of the World | Book 5 (ghost house) | Book 6 (loneliest 2) | Book 7 (earth) | Book 8 (fandom) 

I am writing a scene with Clove and Ella for something exciting…and I’ve missed them SO MUCH. I’m getting emotional.

#the last beginning #another beginning
4TH JUN 2017

I’ve got a special announcement coming your way tomorrow. Here’s a clue. Can anyone guess what it is? 👀

#another beginning
20TH JUL 2017

walkerbooksya: Let’s celebrate YALC with some FREE eBooks!
We’re thrilled to announce that to celebrate YALC 2017 we are going to be publishing three novellas by authors Alison Goodman, Lauren James and Non Pratt in eBook format. These will be available FOR FREE, and we’ll be publishing one a day over the YALC weekend. You can find more information about each of the eBooks below:

Lusus Naturae by Alison Goodman, publishing Friday 28 July

Experience Lord Carlston and Lady Helen’s first meeting from Lord Carlston’s point of view in this compelling novella, a companion to The Dark Days Club.

London, April 1812. Lord Carlston, a man of dubious reputation and infuriating manners, has recently returned from the Continent. He is in London to assess whether Lady Helen Wrexhall has inherited her mother’s Reclaimer abilities, which would mark her as a protector of society. These abilities would also take Lady Helen from the glittering ballrooms and bright lights of her first Season into a world of demonic creatures and deadly power. Not the usual aspirations for a young lady in Regency society…

Perfect for longstanding fans and readers new to the series, the novella also includes a chapter from The Dark Days Club, so you can experience the same scene from Lady Helen’s point of view.

Another Beginning by Lauren James, publishing Saturday 29 July

Featuring the much-loved protagonists Clove and Ella, Another Beginning is a companion story to The Last Beginning, set during the siege of Carlisle in 1745.

“Elenore Walker, ancient literature thief. It makes an odd sort of sense, actually,” Clove said.

Clove is working as a maid in the Finchley household while she spies on Katherine Finchley and Matthew Galloway. But her mission is briefly interrupted when fellow maid Ella persuades her to help steal a valuable historical document from the main defence in the city – the castle. The two girls embark on a risky adventure involving scaling castle walls and hiding in the most unlikely of places! A fast-paced and fun read, perfect for Lauren James’s existing fans, and readers who enjoy historical fiction and romance.

Includes the first chapter of Lauren James’s third novel, The Loneliest Girl in the Universe.

Truth or Dare: Sef’s Deleted Scene by Non Pratt, publishing Sunday 30 July

Get Sef’s side of the story in this deleted scene from Non Pratt’s gripping new novel Truth or Dare.

In this previously unpublished scene from Non Pratt’s gripping love story, Truth or Dare, get a moving insight into Sef’s family life before and after his brother Kam’s life-changing accident. Sef looks back to choosing the name for his family’s new kitten – a moment that seems very far away from his life now, as both he and Amir struggle to come to terms with what’s happened to their brother.

Includes the first two chapters of Truth or Dare, one story told from two sides.

Excited? So are we!

If you’re at YALC next weekend, don’t forget to pop along to the Walker stand to say hello! And if you can’t be there, we hope these three eBooks will help to ease the pain a little bit.

So ready for all of these, @walkerbooksya 💪

#another beginning
13TH AUG 2017

Free short story!
So who would like to see more of Clove and Ella? What about Clove and Ella pulling off a heist? And revealing why Ella was really in Carlisle? THEN I’VE GOT SOME GOOD NEWS 4 U BUDDIES.

As of right now, you can read a free novella by me on Amazon Kindle, or any other eBook retailer, which includes not just one but ALL OF THOSE THINGS. Kate and Matt got their own short story in Another Together, so I had to give Clove and Ella one too! It’s about Clove and Ella pulling off a heist in 1745. It’s pretty fun. Here’s some more information. Enjoy!

A short story set in the world of Lauren James’ Next Together series.

Featuring the much-loved protagonists Clove and Ella, Another Beginning is a companion story to The Last Beginning, set during the siege of Carlisle in 1745.

“Elenore Walker, ancient literature thief. It makes an odd sort of sense, actually,” Clove said.

Clove is working as a maid in the Finchley household while she spies on Katherine Finchley and Matthew Galloway. But her mission is briefly interrupted when fellow maid Ella persuades her to help steal a valuable historical document from the main defence in the city – the castle. The two girls embark on a risky adventure involving scaling castle walls and hiding in the most unlikely of places!

A fast-paced and fun read, perfect for Lauren James’s existing fans, and readers who enjoy historical fiction and romance.

Includes the first chapter of Lauren James’s third novel, The Loneliest Girl in the Universe.

Goodreads | Amazon Kindle | iTunes | eBook providers |  First Chapter

Subscribe to my newsletter to find out about other bonus content about my characters.

Tumblr tag
#another beginning
1ST AUG 2017

https://laurenejames.co.uk/2017/07/29/free-novella-%f0%9f%8e%89%f0%9f%8e%89-can-clove-ella-raid-a-castle-under-siege/

#go go go #another beginning #the last beginning
30TH JUL 2017

Seeing these covers together is the most satisfying thing ever. Wow.

#another beginning
21ST JUL 2017

theparisreview: Behold: the first written use of fuck, from 1528, inscribed by a monk who seems to have been pretty pissed off with an abbot.

#another beginning
15TH JUL 2017

englishable: Old English just has some wonderful words and kennings. I mean, really:

Their word for sea? It was often swan-rad or “road of the swan.” Spider was gangelwaefre, literally “the walking weaver.” They had the simple and now-obsolete word uht, which describes that time just before sunrise when mist still hangs heavy over all the fields and lakes and the last few stars are still out.

…Also, they didn’t say body. They said ban-cofan, which means “bone-cave,” and if you don’t think that’s some hardcore shit right there then you need to get out of my face before I turn your skull into a mead-cup.

In the commentary on his translation of Beowulf, Tolkien argues that translating ‘rád’ as ‘road’ in the context of kennings for the sea is incorrect. On the subject of ‘hronrád’, which is often translated as ‘whale-road’, he says:
“rád is the ancestor of our modern word ‘road’, but it does not mean ‘road’. Etymology is not a safe guide to sense. rád is the noun of action to rídan ‘ride’ and means riding – i.e. ‘riding on horseback; moving as a horse does (or a chariot), or as a ship does at anchor’; and hence ‘a journey in horseback’ (or more seldom by ship), ‘a course (however vagrant)’. It does not mean the actual ‘track’ – still less the hard paved permanent and more or less straight tracks that we associate with the ‘road’…The word as ‘kenning’ therefore means dolphin’s riding, i.e. in full, the watery fields where you can see dolphins and lesser members of the whale-tribe playing, or seeming to gallop like a line of riders on the plains. That is the picture and comparison the kenning was meant to evoke. It is not evoked by ‘whale road’ – which suggests a sort of semi-submarine steam-engine running along submerged metal rails over the Atlantic.”

13TH MAR 2017

I just hit 40,000 words on my WIP, which is a miracle because I’ve belatedly hit The Fear Paralysis. It usually hits around 20k, when I can’t write because I become convinced it’s all terrible.

Things I usually worry about during The Fear Paralysis:

1) By this point in the book, I should really know more about the characters than I do! Am I a fraud?

2) All the “plot twists” I’ve included are REALLY OBVIOUS & everyone is going to guess what happens immediately and get bored. Am I a fraud?

3) I’ve worked out what novels/films/tv shows most heavily inspired the story in my sub-conscious. It’s all been done before! Am I a fraud?

4) I don’t have enough plot to keep this going for a whole book/I have TOO MUCH plot to fit in one book/I have no plot. Am I a fraud?

5) I’ve reread it so many times that its not funny anymore. Everyone is going to find my “humour” lame and embarrassing. Am I a fraud?

I could carry on…. I guess the point is that I’ve done this five times now, and I think this stuff every single time. But in the end it always works out fine & I’m really proud of my drafts. So you’ve just gotta wrestle your self doubt into submission.

And no writer is ever a “fraud”. All you have to do to be classified as a writer is WRITE.

https://twitter.com/mstiefvater/status/863914124748759041

https://twitter.com/mstiefvater/status/863916668552175617

In other news:

Proofs of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe go out to bloggers tomorrow. I may or may not be freaking out about it. They’re going to be pretty fancy though, and look like this:

Cuuuute! There’s a giveaway of a signed copy running on my blog until the 9th, if you want to snag a copy.

I took the opportunity of the glorious wisteria to do a lil The Loneliest Girl in the Universe photoshoot.

You can follow the blog of Commander Romy Silvers from Loneliest on Wattpad: http://my.w.tt/UiNb/qPQJ654qrD

Also, it was announced that I’m going to be at YALC again this year! I’ll be there on the Saturday and maybe a bit of the Friday too.

I’m experimenting with vlogging some book reviews, and recorded a test run on my instagram stories, uploaded to youtube here. I’m going to make it a regular thing on youtube (on a proper camera!) so subscribe over there if that’s your thing.

I love this picture of Katherine and Matthew by Deni at supermixer.blog.cz! It’s based on a drawing by @aliceoseman and I’m obsessed. Thank you Deni!

Some foreign rights news:

On June 13th, the US edition of The Next Together is finally released! It’s been a long road to get here (my original US publisher shut down before the book could be released – hence the long wait!) but it’s almost here now.

I don’t have any copies of the lovely hardback to show you yet, so for now, here is the dust jacket. I’m still not over that beautiful sunset.

Posledni Zacatek, the first translation of The Last Beginning to be published, is out now in Czech with Cooboo Redakce.

I’ve also seen glimpses of the Russian and German editions floating around instagram! I don’t have copies of these yet, but it’s lovely that my book is being published to the point where I’m struggling to keep track of all the editions. Here’s to many shelves full of copies, one day!

I think that’s all of today – talk soon! (When I’ve defeated this writing paralysis…)

I’m very excited that this year I’m going to be appearing at Edinburgh International Book Festival this August, on a Schools Programme panel with Philip Reeve.

Lauren James and Philip Reeve take you on an incredible journey of imagination involving extraordinary beings, complex characters, thrills and thoughtful moments. Both authors have created stunning sci-fi novels that explore time, space, love, loneliness and the end of the universe. Join them on an intergalactic adventure exploring everyday human emotions.

You can view the programme here. Tickets are only available to Scottish students right now – but I think the spares are sold to the general public, so keep an eye out!

My other upcoming events are all listed here.

In other news: Look what’s landed…. 🚀 

I am so proud of this little book! 👽

I’m pretty proud of the fact that by the time I turn 25 I’ll have 13 books published. I would never have thought that was possible when I was a kid. I thought writers were supposed to be in their forties!

Here’s a post I wrote the last time I got a proof, back in 2015, which was a very emotional experience. There’s nothing quite like it!

If you can’t wait for Loneliest, you can follow Romy’s blog and read her fanfiction on tumblr here.

I’m also making good progress on the first draft of my next book.