My First Guest Post

     So, I am very pleased to tell you all that I have a guest author on my blog today. 

     Nicholas J. Ambrose is the author of Progenitor which can be found here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RYW8OQ for only .99 cents. 

About The Book:

     Dev is a refugee. At the age of seven, alien spacecraft appeared above her homeworld and covered it with napalm, burning it to the ground. Thrust into the family’s ship and ferried off the dying planet, she is the survivor of a superior race called the Progenitor’s destructive warning: to leave their artefacts alone.

     Twenty years later, Dev becomes understudy to one of the scientists on the Faculty ship Sanctity Architect. She has grown up, moved on and buried her frightful past.

     But unbeknownst to Dev, her life is about to collide with the Progenitors once again. They destroyed her planet, boiled its atmosphere away, burnt her parents alive – and now they need Dev’s help.

     This is the first part in a 4 novella series that is called What Happened On The Sanctity Architect, parts 2, 3, and 4 will be coming out in April and May of 2001 for .99 cents each.  You can follow Nicholas on 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/NickJAmbrose
Website: http://www.regardingthehive.co.uk/
Blog: http://an-authors-journey.blogspot.com/

And without further ado, here is Mr. Ambrose:

     My favourite aspect of writing by Nicholas J. Ambrose

When discussing this guest post with the wonderful Miss Hanson, she requested that I write about my favourite aspect of the writing process. On first reading it, I thought, great! Simple! It’s easy to talk about your favourite part of something, right?

     Not so much. Because, as it turns out, I don’t have a favourite part of writing, and so I can’t highlight anything as stand-out above the rest. For me, there is no ‘favourite’ part, because I love the entire thing. And here’s why.

     The outlining part of a story comes first, and that’s the part of the book that really excites me. It’s the part of the development process where you first start crafting an idea and then falling in love with it. I love feeling like I’m striding into some unknown. The feeling is as though I’m above some great stew pot, and as I go I’m throwing things in, removing bits and pieces I don’t feel quite fit. It’s alternately very fast and quite slow paced, and is one of the most organic parts of the process for me. I’m a world-builder, first and foremost, and this is where I feel I’m in my element.

     Characters are also part of that, and that’s another process I’ve come to love. Answering questions about each one of them is great – it’s a fantastic way of figuring out just what makes each one of them act the way they do. More often than not, it’s an excuse to figure out things that you yourself didn’t even think of beforehand!

     After that’s finished, I can nail down the parts of the story that I want, and figure out where they go, and also make sure that the entire thing gels reasonably well. I love that, as well, because now I’ve set myself something to work toward. I’ve now got a more rigid set of goals, places to go, people to see. I know what I’m pushing to.

     Then comes the writing, and I love that as well! It can be a struggle at times, and there is that pesky middle section to deal with where the excitement from the beginning has worn off and the ending is still far away. There are the times when you’re finding it hard, or wanting to get distracted, or the action is on a necessary slow-down. They’re all times when you feel yourself struggling – but even throughout all those, I love the writing process, because this is the part where you go from having a series of missions for your characters to tackle, to creating a fluid story.

     What next? Well, there’s the ending – and that’s a joyous occasion. When I finished the longest book I ever wrote, with its eighteen months of development and writing, I felt like crying. It’s a huge accomplishment firstly, but secondly, you did it. The story you set out to tell has been told. And that’s an amazing feeling.

     Some folks hate editing and redrafting, but I actually don’t mind it. It’s a necessary part of the process, and it gives me a chance to see the areas I need to improve and fix them up so they’re at the standard they really need to be, so that the book is consistently strong. Instead of hating it, enjoy it! It’s a chance to get to relive the story and make it the greatest story you can. It’s your second, third, forth chance to make this story or book great!

     The process doesn’t always have to end there. For some of you, the writing is just the beginning. That includes me. Because after that comes publishing. Whether it’s free on your website, just given out to friends, distributed on an eReader platform like the Kindle or Nook, or placed on a print of demand service like CafePress or Createspace, this is where your book gets to go out into the world. It’s not just yours anymore – now it’s being shared. Sure, not everyone will like it. But that’s okay, because the thrill comes from knowing that people are reading the words you wrote, the story you toiled over for hundreds of hours, over weeks, months, maybe even years. And for all the people that don’t like it, you can guarantee that there are even more that do.

     The writing process, from start to finish, is lengthy, and doesn’t just include the writing part, but even more than that. It includes the non-writing parts like brainstorming in the confines of your own head, and it includes the later parts like publishing it and promoting it for the world to see. And yeah, there will be low points – but the entire thing is an adventure. And for this writer, I enjoy every minute of it.

     There you have it, a great post written by Mr. Ambrose, be sure to check out the first novella of his series, Progenitor, for only .99 cents.  That's all I have for you today, I will be back on Friday, hopefully with lots of backstory finished and lots of words written.

Until Then,

SJ Hanson