Year: 2015

Book Launch Wrap Up

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

Book Launch Cake My book launch for Four Season Summer went ahead as planned at the end of last month, and I’d very much call it a success. The venue (Scooby Brew Cafe, Bangor) was filled to capacity, there was cake, readings, and signings. It was even in the local newspaper (County Down Spectator, Bangor Edition, Page 60).

Below is a video of the readings I did – two from Four Season Summer, and a poem from my first book, Still Dreaming. I stumbled a bit over reading the first section, because there were children present, and I was trying to censor/tone down some bits on the fly. But you get the general idea.

Fan Fiction Milestones

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

On this day two years ago – July 28th, 2013 – I wrote and posted my first ever piece of fan fiction. Since then, fanfic has become a big part of my life, both as a writer and as a reader. It’s my release for when my novel isn’t going the way I want, or when life isn’t going the way I want, and I find it generally good writing practice as well. So, I thought I’d share some statistics in celebration of the anniversary. Fanfic Award Plaque

Basic Stats:

  • Over 5,000 Profile Views | Fanfiction.net
  • Received over 1,300 Reviews
  • 77 Followers | Fanfiction.net
  • On the Favorite Author List of 60 Members | Fanfiction.net
  • On the Favorite Author List of 43 Members | Elysian Fields
  • My Most Popular Story – ‘After the End’ – has over 80,000 Views

I have written:

  • Over 200,000 words of Fanfiction for Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series.
  • Over 3,000 words of Fanfic for other fandoms (Harry Potter, Crow, Serenity, Ten Things I Hate About You, and Once Upon a Time).
  • Over 500 Reviews, Totaling over 21,000 words | Elysian Fields
  • Over 100 Reviews | Fanfiction.net
  • 6 Challenges | Elysian Fields

Continue reading →

Life as a Full-Time Writer

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

I thought some people might be interested to hear about what a full-time writer/author does all day, so I thought I’d share a little insight into my work.

It must be pointed out, however, that the following just applies to me, and that other writers can and will have different schedules. What I love about writing is the flexibility it has, and I’m really interested to find out about what other authors get up to (if you are an author and you’re reading this, please leave a comment to compare and contrast your experience).

But enough pre-amble, here are the basics: I work full time (which is to say, a minimum of thirty hours a week), I work from home (translation: my bed), and I write in a number of areas (fiction, non-fiction, fan fiction, poetry, etc.) and my daily tasks often don’t involve writing at all.

That last point might surprise you the most but, you see, I am currently my own agent, editor, publisher, and social media manager and this leads me to doing a range of tasks that a lot of other writers will never think about let alone encounter.

In this past month I have… Continue reading →

Writing as a Business

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

Laptop and PrinterWhen I decided to go full time self-employed, I completed the Exploring Enterprise Program run by Prince’s Trust, and following that I attended various business seminars and meetings. A lot of the things talked about at these events applied to me, but a lot didn’t, as well.

Setting myself up as a freelance writer has not followed the standard business model (if there even is such a thing) and because of that there’s a lot I’ve had to find out for myself, by simply going out there and doing it.

Many mentors I’ve come across did not have advice directly applicable to my field, and there’s a wealth of guidance all over the internet to do with the actual writing process (not all good, mind you), but I found very little information to do with the background work to having your writing as a business, and even less about the balance between that background work and the actual writing. In light of that, I’m filling that ‘gap in the market’ and writing this post about it.

Being a writer, or artist, photographer, or designer, is different from running a warehouse, or a restaurant. You’re not only emotionally attached to your work but, in a very real sense, you are your work, and that complicates things.

Often I find that what’s best for my writing career in the long run is not what’s best for me business wise, and I have to find a way to reconcile those two things.

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Upon a Flight to Vegas

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

This evening at Belfast Writer’s Group we rolled a dice, which decided story prompts for us to run with. So, the fates decided we were to write a coming of age tale that included an invisibility device, set on a plane, with a main character who an alcoholic carpenter, and another character who was an unsuccessful salesman. The following is what I came up with, in the space of a half-hour:

Alex was a carpenter from Minnesota, on his way to Vegas to celebrate his most recent divorce. With him was his best friend, Jack, an unsuccessful salesperson of no fixed address. Together they would conquer the world, or get drunk trying.

“I’m telling you,” Jack insisted, as he leaned over the sleeping lady sat in between him and Alex, to yell in Alex’s ear, “It makes you invisible. Amazing technology! You should invest before it goes big.”

Alex gave a dismissive wave of his hand, consequently knocking both of his drinks over the lady in the middle seat. She didn’t stir.

“Now look what you made me do!” he slurred, before pressing the button for the hostess, then looking up and down the aisle. “Where is she? What are we paying her for? People here need drinks!”

“Alex, no. Alex, listen, you have to hear this. Invisibility, it’s the future!” Continue reading →

Thoughts on Kindle Worlds

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

As I said in a previous post, I write a fair bit of fan fiction. I also said I had no intentions of publishing it for profit, mainly because doing so wasn’t really an option. The copyright issues are unclear to say the least, and making money off fanfic is not why I write it. That said, I recently was reading about Kindle Worlds, and it changes things, slightly.

Now, Kindle Worlds has existed for about two years, and apparently there was a big uproar about it in the fanfic community in general, and on Tumblr in particular, when it was first announced. Don’t ask me why I’ve never heard about it before, because I’m as baffled as you.

For those who, like me, don’t know what it is, basically Amazon have a branch of the Kindle store specifically dedicated to paid, legal fan fiction. The catch is they only have permission to do this within certain “worlds” (i.e. fictional universes, or fandoms). Oh, and you also need a bank account in the US.

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Depression and Writing and Me

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

It’s been quite a while since I burst into tears for no apparent reason, but tonight I did. Sometimes that’s what depression is like – it hits you out of nowhere. And sometimes it’s just this thing in the background that is on your radar, but no one else has any awareness of it in your life.

Depending on how it affects you (and it does affect people differently) it can really get in the way of ‘normal life’. It can be hard to hold down a job, for example, when things are really bad.

I’m lucky that I work for myself and can arrange my own schedule, to compensate for and work around those days where I’m just not up to it.

Writing in itself usually helps me feel better, but some days it doesn’t work and I can’t compose a coherent tweet let alone work on anything more substantial.

I wanted to write a post for mental health week, but this isn’t the one I imagined. I guess I wanted to be more factual. To come across more professional. But that’s just the thing, isn’t it? My writing is an extension of who I am. And today who I am is a little bit of a mess. Not everything has to be perfect, I remind myself. In fact, some things are probably better being raw. So this is it: my personal experience of being a full time writer with mental health issues. It’s not profound, or polished, but it’s here. I encourage you to tell your story, also. No matter what it looks like.

Current Ploy for Productivity

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

I watched a TED talk once (I love TED talks!) in which some scientist or doctor or something said that people most likely to reach their goals A. actually outline their goals (rather than keep them as vague ideas just in their heads) and B. don’t necessarily have more self control than those people who fail but, rather, put things in place to take them out of the path of temptation, so they don’t need to fight themselves in the first place.

Well, I like setting myself goals, and I’m not particularly good at sticking to them, but this new thinking resonated with me. As such, I have a new ploy to stop myself from getting distracted on the internet when I should be writing, which is (drumroll please!): disconnecting the internet before I go to bed.

Genius, right? Okay, well, to some people that may sound daft, or obvious, and certainly not worthy of a blog post, but hear me out.

Turning off the Internet before bed means that you’ve already got a good chance of success before you even begin your day. Going offline is so much harder half way through the day, when you’re already lost in a sea of cat GIFs on Tumblr.

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The Sea Anthology

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

The Sea Book CoverA poem of mine has just been published in an anthology, titled The Sea (pictured). The book is published by Rebel Poetry, has over fifty contributors, sports some lovely full color photographs, and has all proceeds going to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

Although the official launch was last week at Ardgillan Castle, I’m told there are to be two more: one at the headquarters for Dublin Port Company (the book’s official sponsor), and one in Cork. I’m hoping to make it down to one of these, but I won’t know which until official dates are confirmed. Updates are going up on the official Facebook page every other day or so, so you can keep an eye there for more info.

ISBN: 978-1-910179-46-8

Buy Online here

The Sea on Goodreads