My first novel is published and the second one to follow soon

I have seen a great response for my first novel, which was published last month. Sales are good and I hope them to increase so that the story can get out there. I am very proud of the work I have put together for this first book and it took up a fair chunk of my life. It is the eleventh book I have published, but the first fiction book. Before that I had written and published ten non-fiction books that are based on my areas of knowledge and experience such as buying and selling a home, obtaining a mortgage and writing. I have written these guides with others in mind and the idea behind them I to share my knowledge of writing in an easy-to-follow format.

Check out my Amazon Author page.

Writing fiction has taken over a large part of my spare time at the moment. With the success of the first book, I have started on the second and am around a third of the way through now. It is very different to the first novel, which was based on the internal monologue of one character a great deal. The second book is a detective fiction book that looks into the way that a killer leaves clues for the police. The killer is in control and the police are waiting for clues to lead them one way or another in the investigation. It means that they don't get to make massive strides with the investigation until the killer lets them.

Here is the opening scene -

He stood over her looking down at his prey. She looked for all the world like a normal person. But he knew differently. She was chosen to be here at this time, in this place. He knew what he had to do next. She would be the first. She would set an example to others. This was the start of his work.

She looked up at the man above her. He was stood in front of a bright light. He wasn't familiar to her in any way. She wondered who he was. She couldn't see his face. He spoke not much louder than a whisper so she couldn't make out his voice either. She wanted to know who he was. But that wasn't the biggest or the most pressing thing on her mind. She wanted to know what he has planned for her. She didn't have to wait long.

He moved with clinical speed. Just before she saw his hands move quickly towards her, she heard him say something. Again, she couldn't make it out. A few seconds later she was lying in a small pool of her own blood. He dropped something before walking away. He was glad that he lived alone so he could get cleaned up without interruption or detection. He smiled to himself as he strode towards home. The dark of the night shielded him from any prying eyes that might have been present on the short journey.

There is a twist with the identity of the killer which I won't reveal here, but it means that the detective team, lead by Augustine Boyle, take some wrong turns along the way. The way that the killer and the police interact means that there is a lot of dialogue and a lot of tension. I am really proud of it already, and I am only around a third of the way through writing it. Please keep tuned to see how it progresses. I will put small excerpts on this blog so you can see parts of the book before it is written.

My new book David's Goliath is available now

Those of you that have been with me from the start will know that this blog was set up as I went about starting my own business. In the very beginning that was going to be an estate agency, but the way that the UK housing market was going and the rise of the online-only estate agent put paid to that.

It was while setting up as an estate agent that I started writing commercially. I wrote blogs and books to provide an income that would be there in the first few weeks and months of an estate agency, while I was getting on my feet. As the idea for an estate agency dropped, it was soon replaced by the idea that I could write for myself and others. Contented Writing was born. I now write website copy, blogs and ghostwrite books for others among many other assignments. I also write for myself.

Until now all of my books have been Kindle only and were non-fiction on subjects that I knew a lot about - managing back pain, writing and inevitably the housing market. But my latest book is my first novel and also the first in print. It is called -

David's Goliath: If you found a book that told the story of your life, would you read on?

This is the story of a man who goes on holiday to get away from it all for a short time. He spends some time in Spain on his own and while there, he picks up a book that was seemingly left behind by someone and starts to read. Pretty soon he and the book are inseparable and it turns out that the story he is reading is in fact the story of his life.

David reads through and recalls the significant moments of his life but all the while he has the thought in his mind that he will reach the part of the book that tells him of the future. Will he read on?

This book is the culmination of over a year of work and I have thoroughly enjoyed trying to fit this in with all the work I do for others and family life. The book has a lot of me in it, as the main character is based on my life and experiences. Not all of these things have happened to me, but many of them I have seen first hand though friends, family and work colleagues.

I'd love to hear from people who have read the book. Please let me know what you think. The only way to write something bigger and better next time is to hear what people think of this one. I have begun the next novel, which is a crime thriller about a serial killer with a twist. I'll keep you updated on how this is going.

Assessing your startup - where you have been, where you are now and where you are going

This is my moment to look both backwards and forwards in my startup journey. For those that have been with me from the start you will know how my journey has gone. For everyone else I will give you a short recap-

• The idea was to start an estate agency in the town where I live
• As I set about getting things in place I decided that I needed a residual income
• I started writing
• I blogged and I wrote my own eBooks
• From there I found freelance writing
• I started writing for others in my spare time
• I then abandoned plans for the estate agency and became a full-time writer

This has been the journey of a few years summed up in a few bullets points so there have been highs and lows but this is the basic timeline that has brought me to here. Writing is now my life, so as well as this blog I write several others for myself. I write my own books still and publish them on the Amazon Kindle store.I write for other people. And I write whatever comes my way-

• I ghostwrite books for people
• I write marketing materials for people
• I write the content for websites
• I write social media post on behalf of companies
• I write customer brochures
• I write business plans

I pretty much write what people need, with the exceptions of school work and reviews.From this my business has grown and I will use this blog to briefly outline where I am today and where I think I will be over the next 6 to 9 months.

Currently

I have two websites that give me an internet presence. They can be found here-

http://contentedwriting.co.uk/

http://ghostwriterservices.co.uk/

They let the world know that I exists and along with my social media presence are the outward face of my business. They give me access to customers and also give customers the opportunity to check out what I am and what I do before they get in touch.

A lot of my work comes from existing relationships that have come from varied sources and developed over the years. I work for people all over the United Kingdom, and indeed the world, on a regular basis and write for certain people month in, month out.

A great source of business is going to be the BNI networking chapter that I have joined. It is going to break all records as the biggest group to launch in the UK and Ireland and is doing this at lightning pace. I am very proud to be a part of the group and I look forward to being able to give my fellow chapter members a lot of business from my contacts in the future.

The future

I am growing at a much faster rate than I expected at all. The business is flowing and I am being asked more and more to help people with their writing, especially content writing for businesses. I can see a pint in the future 6 to 9 months where I will be looking for someone to help with the writing and join me. I haven't got through Christmas and January yet as my first year of full-time trading so I don't know how quiet it might go. But I am quietly confident that this will be more than I can produce fr myself in the not-too-distant future.

My new novel is being written now and I am around a third of the way through the writing process. It does tens to take a back seat when I am working hard for other people but the idea is to have it ready to be published in the early part of the new year and be generating sales from then.It will be the first fiction book I have written for myself and I am really looking forward to seeing it out there and marketing it. I think it will make a splash.

This has helped me as I have been writing to clear my mind and look to the future. I suggest that if you are looking for a bit of clarity in your startup business right now then you go through a similar exercise. It allows you to focus on what is important and where you want to take your business.