Week Ten - 'After' Book Three

I finished!

Yes, I know! The celebrations are still underway. After ten weeks of writing, I typed the final full stop of 'After' book three. It came to a whopping 100,333 words. No wonder it took me so long.

All in all, it took me 70 days, though I was only putting words on the page for 44 of them.

In fact, if you only count the days I put words to page, the whole trilogy only took me 85 days. How scary is that? Pretty damn scary.

Though in real time the trilogy took me 1 year, 5 months, and 26 days.

And I don't care how awful book three reads at the moment, I couldn't be more proud.

As you can imagine, week ten was intense. I knew all these things needed to happen, and I had to coordinate everyone and everything that was happening, and that took more time than I imagined. But it always gets to a point where you can't stop, doesn't it, writers?

I reached this point on Friday 27th May and wrote and wrote and wrote until I got to the end. I wrote 6,300 words that day. It's only on special occasion that I break 6k in one day. And it was a very special occasion indeed.

I am now the author of two trilogies.

I am now the author of twelve books.

Now to rest until NaNo . . . maybe.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo

Week Nine - 'After' Book Three

Week nine. When I started, I had no idea I'd still be working on this book nine weeks later.

Just so you know, I'm not done yet. But I plan to be done this time next week. How exciting is that? There can't be more than four-five chapters left to write. Which is probably a good thing seeing as during week nine I hit 85,000 words.

I think I'll brush 95,000 words but not quite 100,000. These damn books keep getting longer and longer!

During week nine, I wrote over 16,500 words. That's more like it. I wrote more in a week this week than I have since week one, when I wrote a ridiculous amount of words!

Now that I'm so close to the end, I'm getting waves of nostalgia filling me up. This trilogy has only been in my life for about a year and a half, but I can't imagine life without it. These characters are so real to me that I'm a little disturbed about writing the ending! 

But at the same time, I can't wait to type that final full stop because this achievement is massive. Writing one book is hard enough, but three about the same characters? It's the most magical challenge I know. Who knows, maybe after this I'll give a longer series a go. Now that sounds terrifying.

Most of all though, I'm just looking forward to being able to read book three from the beginning because usually after all my stress and fuss, they turn out better than I expect. Plus, then I can get on editing books one and two now that I have all the information to make them perfect.

Exciting things are afoot. All I need to do is finish the book.

This week is going to be an incredible one.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo

Week Seven and Eight - 'After' Book Three

I'm writing again!

It's been crazy for the past two weeks, but at last, I'm writing daily again. I'm afraid there's nothing to say about week seven as my word count was a big fat zero.

However, halfway through week eight, I got my act together and have ended the week just shy of 6,500 new words. Nothing to shout about, I know. That brought my total up to 72,000. Getting ever closer to the end!

Week nine might be the end of it. Or maybe I'll just slip over into week ten to finish. Either way, week nine is going to be very interesting indeed. My notes say 'HUGE BATTLE', and I must say I'm excited.

How great is that? I'm excited about writing again! Yay!

Whatever happens, I'm finishing this book before I go on holiday in the beginning of June. I can do this!

Gotta get typing away!



Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo

Molten Publishing Service

Have You Ever Dreamt of Being a Published Author?

*So excited about our new publishing service! Can't wait to get started!*

The journey from initial idea to published work is not an easy one.

Molten Publishing would like to make your dream a reality. We believe in Walt Disney’s words, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it’, and we want to see your magic available worldwide.

Molten Publishing are a YA (Young Adult) publishing specialist, and we love phenomenal, action-packed fiction with a protagonist to cheer for.

We will work with you every step of the way, from initial ideas or early drafts of your manuscript to the beautifully designed, completed, and published work.

As part of your publishing journey you will receive the following:

• Manuscript perfection – cutting, adding, polishing, and making it sparkle
• Plot development – brainstorming, exploring, and enhancing your ideas
• Character enrichment – helping you create unforgettable stars
• Pace and tone improvements – giving your work even greater impact
•  Full line edit – sentence construction, word choice, and overall 'voice'
• Proofreading and professional typesetting
• Spectacular cover design – our amazing graphic artists will take your breath away
• ISBN number - to ensure your book is visible to thousands of book buyers worldwide
• Worldwide distribution through retail partners
• Superior author royalty rates
• Online promotion across multiple social media platforms

All of this, and your publishing dream realised for £ 2995.00

This investment represents a twelve month (approximate) roller-coaster ride of getting to know your characters, developing your plot, enhancing your craft as a writer, and releasing your work to the world.

Contact our in-house author molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk and begin your life-changing journey.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo

I Am ZA Ready

ZA has always had a special place in my heart, and over four years since starting Zane's journey, it's more true now than ever.

ZA is special to me for a million different reasons, but one of the big ones is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Now those of you who know me will know how much of a huge deal NaNoWriMo is in my life. I've participated every year since I discovered it in 2011, and it's become a huge part of who I am as a writer. ZA was my very first NaNo novel, and I had never believed I could write so much in such a short space of time. Nothing encourages me as much as NaNo, and ZA was my first stepping stone in discovering the phenomenal world I now throw myself into once a year.

Another reason is of course, zombies. My dad and my brother and I have always been fans of zombie movies. In 2012 we took part in the very first Zombie Run up in Lincoln. I'm also proud to say that I read Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth before anyone even knew what it was. Conversations and discussions in my house directly inspired me to write ZA. I'd be lying if I said that certain phrases and events in ZA weren't based on something real. The phrase itself - "ZA Ready" - was coined in my house. And the character of Jay is somewhat based on the fourteen-year-old version of my own brother.

So yeah, this book means a lot to me.

The original 2011 version of ZA up until last year had been available on Kindle, but as this story means so much to me, it wasn't good enough. I released it on Kindle in 2013 thinking that would be enough, but there was something about Zane's story that kept calling to me.

Original cover design by James Terry - jrterry95@gmail.com

So in 2015 during NaNoWriMo'15, I re-wrote the entire thing after the brilliant Kimberly Ito gave me some phenomenal editing critique. I agreed with every single tiny thing she told me and officially worship her editing talent. I managed to almost double the word count, adding suspense, gore, and of course, a load more zombies.

One of the reasons for doing this was Molten Publishing, the publishing company my dad and I set up in 2015. From then on, writing was not enough. From then on, I lived and breathed and inhaled all things books and publishing.

And that led us to the immensely talented Chris Kemp from CK Creative who designed this awesome cover! Every time my inbox flashed up with an email from Chris, I was excited to open it and see what he'd come up with next.

Cover by Chris Kemp - ckcreative@outlook.com

Of course I can't go any longer without mentioning my second home, Movellas. The Movellas community have supported and encouraged me every step of the way and even helped Chris and I decide on a final cover design.

They also agreed to run a ZA competition, which is still open! Participants have a chance to win a signed copy of ZA and critique from me! The competition is the perfect way to get into the zombie genre if you're new to it.

It's only a little creepy that I have a picture of my sixteen-year-old self standing like Zane . . .

After the cover, I was a buzz of energy (and stress), fiddling with typesetting and blurbs and proofreads.

So yeah, sue me if I'm a little proud.

Okay, a lot proud.

And get ready for the Zombie Armageddon . . .


Like ZA on Facebook!

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo

Zombie Awareness Month 2016

As many of you may (or may not) know, May is Zombie Awareness Month.

What a perfect time to release ZA!

We should all be #ZAReady and Zombie Awareness Month is the perfect time to get ready for the Zombie Armageddon.

You've probably seen these pictures before but they're worth sharing again. Because my family is #ZAReady and has been for many years now.

So join the #ZAM16 fun and write and read and tweet about zombies!

And of course look out for ZA on Friday!

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo

Why #IReadYA

It is no secret that I read YA. In fact, I read pretty much exclusively YA. There's something about YA that you just can't get in any other genre. I love the depth of the characters and their emotions and how many adventures you can go on in a YA book.

Last year for #IreadYA week I posted a blog about Books Nobody's Reading That Everyone Should Be Reading, celebrating some of my favourite YA books that for some reason other people aren't reading and shouting about! Since then, I can't say the list has changed that much so I won't be writing a new one. Instead, I'll do something different.

Here are a list of reasons to read YA;

• YA says things other genres are afraid of saying
• You can fall in love over and over again
• You can enter a world nothing like your own
• You can learn about real issues
• You make imaginary best friends
• You will laugh and cry--sometimes at the same time
• There are endless possibilities
• YA teaches you that you are not alone

There are thousands of reasons to read YA, but I think the most important one of all is:

YA is honest.

You want to know what it feels like to be heartbroken, bullied, trapped in an apocalypse, the chosen one? Whatever you want, it'll be there, ready for you.

YA is a world that anyone can escape to, not just the young adults the books are marketed to.

So pick up a YA. You might be a changed reader.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo