I admit it, I’m not one of life’s great bloggers but as it’s Christmas, I’ve decided to dig it out, dust it off and get some words down! And who know, my New Year’s resolution might be to make more use of it!
Well, it’s been a rather interesting year on a global scale, but perhaps the less said about that the better – for the moment anyway. On a personal front, it’s been an interesting year too. As a member of two author co-operatives, Authors Reach and Storyland Press, I’m beginning to learn a lot about the business of publishing as well as writing and the huge effort that goes into sustaining visibility in what is a very busy market. Did I say effort? Well, it is but it’s hugely enjoyable too and endlessly fascinating. And what makes it all worth it is the feedback I get from readers, some of whom have supported me from the very first book, which was…. The Runaway Year in 2013! That seems like a VERY long time ago now.
So, 2016 saw the release of three novels from me – Psychic Surveys Three: 44 Gilmore Street, the first in a new series, This Haunted World Book One: The Venetian and Blakemort – A Psychic Surveys Christmas Novella. All have done very well indeed and received great feedback. The story of Gilmore Street is a very personal one with shades of the Enfield Haunting about it, whereas Blakemort was my first foray into writing in the first person and features Corinna, one of the Psychic Surveys team, reliving the time she spent as a child in a house in deepest darkest Sussex – a house that could never be considered a home. The Venetian was a pleasure to write, set between Venice, ‘the world’s most haunted city’ and Poveglia in the Venetian Lagoon, ‘the world’s most haunted island’ it blends fiction with fact and urban legend and has recently been released in audio too – very exciting!
2017 looks set to be another busy year! Psychic Surveys Book Four: Old Cross Cottage is due to be released on April 25th, which is Psychic Surveys Book One: The Haunting of Highdown Hall‘s 3RD BIRTHDAY (it’s also my 50th but shhhh regarding that!!). Around September will be the second This Haunted World book, set in a hotel I visited in America last year in the state of Pennsylvania, very spooky indeed! And there’ll also be a Psychic Surveys Christmas novella, this time written from the point of view of Ness – a lady who hides some very dark secrets!
But before all that it’s Christmas! Have a wonderful and peaceful time wherever you are and thank you so much for reading this and again for all your support. Let’s hope 2017 is a better one for all of us, wherever we are in the world.
Shani Struthers 