I'm always rubbish at this email writing malarkey.

No, actually, scratch that. It isn't that I'm rubbish at the actual writing, it is that I don't do it often enough, and I should write to you more often, updating you on this crazy author ride as well as upcoming releases.

For 2023 I'm going to buck the fuck down and get organised.

That's what the problem is and always has been for me. The lack of organisation. I know, I've no one to blame but myself, and it is something I'm getting through with the help of a calendar, and more importantly, an iron will to stick to the calendar.

When I started 2022 I had plan to finish writing book 4 in my lad-Lit series called The Other Side. It is the sequel to book 3 Barman (who knew?) and my plan was to complete book 4 because I already had book 5 written.

If you've followed the series you know I've written these books so that they are all self contained, meaning you can read them in any order. Sure there might be the odd reference to previous tales in the books, but it didn't take anything way from the book you'd be reading.

Finish book 4, finish book 4. This was my one goal.

The problem I've found though, is if you're me, and you don't write, then nothing gets written.

And I'm really good at not writing.

It is crazy. It is my favourite thing to do in the whole world by myself...well, second favourite...and I just hadn't been writing.

I then took a long hard look at what I've created over the years and made the decision to delist all of my books. I would essentially become a newbie author once more. A newbie author with seventeen books written in four series under two different pen names (Rob Radcliffe and R.J.Radcliffe).

After listening to a couple of author friends tell me I was crazy to do this, I went ahead and did it anyway. I'd been so overwhelmed with my books, not sure which ones to market, knowing the earlier ones needed a deep dive edit to get rid of things which dated the stories, and also with the Lad-Lit series they were in the wrong series order. Meat Market needed to be book 1 in the series, The Race a prequel, and Checking Out a spin off novella series. This is now how things will turn out.

The Race - Prequel giveaway when you sign up to my newsletter list.

Meat Market - Book 1

Escorting Eric - Book 2

Barman - Book 3

With all my books taken off Amazon, I set to editing Meat, It had been over 15 years since I first wrote this book and probably a decade since I last read it, so revisiting the tale was a lot of fun for me because I was reading it like you do, as a reader, and not the creator of the scribbles. I cleaned the story up and then designed a sparkly new cover to go with it, releasing it after a brief Kickstarter campaign, and then following the launch with a free promo for exposure, placing the sequel Escorting Eric on pre-order for those who downloaded Meat and fancied reading more.

So far I've received of 400 preorders of book two, Escorting Eric, which is launching on the 5th of Jan and I couldn't be happier. Starting from scratch has also meant I've reset my mindset. I can't just write when the whim take, because with the likes of netflix, disney+, and amazon prime around, the whim could never take.

Like I said before, I'm really good at NOT writing.

But there are readers out there who love my books, and I also love writing them.

I decided if I was going to take this seriously then I needed my own space designed for my writing and marketing etc. I needed an office. The kitchen table doesn't quite cut it when you've four young kids running around the house.

And so I built one, an office, my writing shack. The missus hates the fact that it's prettier than any room in the house, and I'm comfortable in there. It is my create space, where Mr. Muse is always waiting for me to sit down and zone in.

Case in point, in November I decided, because I needed to change my writing habits, I'd join the National Novel Writing Month Challenge. It is designed to help author's productivity by challenging us to write 50,000 words in the month of November. For me it was about the writing routine.

On the 1st of November I got up at 5am and wrote until 7:30am. This was going to be my new routine. Fuck watching shit on Netflix nobody cares about. I have readers who have been waiting far too long the next books in several series. My loyalty is to them. To you.

By the 18th of November I'd completed the challenge, finishing off both book 4 in my Lad-Lit series, and also adding a few chapters to book 5. Two brand new books no one had ever read are now in my stockpile.

By the end of November I came out of NaNoWriMo with 85k words under my belt and more importantly, a writing routine which is now part of my day.

For 2023, with book 2 launching, I will also be running a kickstarter campaign in the run up to book 3 (Barman) release.

I'm going to be a hell of a lot more active on social media, especially tiktok because I love it. I'm going to figure out Instagram, and I'll be plugging my wares as well as creating original content for cheeky little videos I hope will make viewers on those platforms smile.

Now that I have my writing shack I'm planning on recording the audiobooks for each of my books. I had thought about going with a narrator for this, but, especially with my Rob Radcliffe books, I think they'd play better having the author narrating them. This also means I need to learn how to produce quality audiobooks. Another learning curve and then eventual feather in my cap.

For my Rob Radcliffe books, next year's release schedule will look a bit like this:

Meat Market: (book 1) On Sale

Escorting Eric: (book 2) Launching 5th jan

The Race: (prequel) Soft Launch a week after EE has launched.

Barman: (book 3) Launching March

The Other Side: (book 4) Launching June

Tindered: (book 5) Launching August

Luce & Gabe: (book 6) Launching October

Unnamed Christmas lad-lit novella: Launching December 1st

I'll also be launching both Mr Millionaire and Miss Millionaire novellas somewhere in between the above schedule, as well as the Checking Out Novella series (4 books) which is a prequel spin off of one of the characters from The Race.

That's Rob Radcliffe's year planned out for launching books. R.J.Radcliffe is another story...

The reason I write under two different pen names is because of the vastly different genres the books fit into.

I love writing my light hearted rom-coms/satires. They're a lot of fun and so easy to scribble down (when I get my butt in the seat). Equally, I'm a huge fan of time travel, sci-fi, fantasy films and books, and The Divine Chronicles don't fit into the same box as Rob Radcliffe's musings.

This means, because I am only one man with two pen names and fans attached to both authors, I will be re-jigging my Divine series this year too. They will receive sparkly new covers and story updates (time travel = lots of dates which need updating to keep everything current).

Additionally. I have three novels and two novellas in the Divine Series, with a planned xmas novel to be released THE VERY SAME DAY as my lad-lit xmas novella, December 1st.

I have also started writing the first book in a time travel adventure series, which I'm very excited about, and also a Peter Pan retelling which is going well.

Ok, stop Rob, you can feel yourself getting overwhelmed again.

It is a lot of work, but you know what? When I receive an email from a reader telling me how much they enjoyed my book, that is what makes it all worth while.

I'm going to end this insanely long email by wishing you a merry christmas, happy new year, and I'll see you in 2023, full steam ahead and ready to have for you many new stories I hope will entertain you.

Until next year x

Rob