Wela Kabane

I am devastated. My initial intention was to release book 2 in May. Life happened. In a major way. I am one of those people that were caught in the floods that happened in my area. It was a traumatic 6 days. I lost my mojo. I had PTSD. If it rained, I panicked. I couldn't write. My struggle to get the final manuscript completed is well documented in this blog. Finally, after two months of no creative juice, it came back. I wrote and the manuscript was completed.  Side story : I have always struggled with this book. When I wrote The Avaris in 2016, it had always been intended to be standalone. However, Amari and her crew demanded that I continue their adventure. I wrote book 2, The Rise of the Emoryk and then book 3. I proceeded to spend years rewriting them until I found the problem. I was struggling to connect book 1 with book 3 because something was just off with book 2. I don't know how many times I have had to rewrite book 2. I don't think I will ever be satisfied, but

  It is finally here! The cover of my upcoming sequel to The Kenryk Series: The Avaris. When I initially started writing this series, it was supposed to be a standalone. Since the time I wrote books as a child, I had never written a trilogy before. In 2016, I wrote the first book, and years followed of revision after revision of each book. You'd be surprised to know the third book has already been written and finished. In fact, the entire series was completed before I even attempted self-publishing. So, it has been an interesting end to May. I paid for one of those book ad places and ran an Amazon ad at the same time. I don't know which of the two worked, but I was selling a book every day and I even improved my overall ranking on Amazon. You will remember, that I stopped caring about the ranking. I feel like concerning myself with my rank is overlooking all those individuals out there who have taken a chance on my book and bought it. I celebrate every sale because I went into

 Trigger warning: Anxiety attacks.   This week, I am supposed to be officially launching the cover and synopsis of the second book in The Kenryk Series. I've had a good week. I sold 4 books on Amazon, and my ranking went from 3,2 million to 120 000 in a matter of days. I finally understood how Amazon ads work and I watched with glee as every morning I refreshed my kdp page to find a purchase made of my book. I should be excited right? Over the moon? Look at me, climbing up the charts. No, that isn't what happened. No. The exact opposite happened. The PTSD from being caught in the KZN Floods, studying for exams, trying to finish my manuscript in time to have it edited, living with hyper-vigilance in a new Covid world, and my car battery dying on me cracked me open like a raw egg. What started as a normal day unfurled into one that ended spectacularly with an unwanted anxiety attack. For the first time in my life, I typed to a friend "I need help". I rode out the anxiet

And it has been mostly an amazing week for me. I have a tick-tock  page under the handle @welawrites   I have received moderate success on it. The video with the highest views is sitting at 1708 as of now. But you know what? I don't mind. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Also, I posted a series on how I self-published my book so if you want any tips on how to self-publish, simply check it out on my tick tock. Thank you to everyone who has viewed and liked my videos. You're doing the absolute most! Below is a sample of the kind of videos I post Now, for the hustling news. I realised my book sales had dipped. There wasn't much happening at books stores or on Amazon. I remember thinking back to the time I was ten in the school library reading books and imagining different endings. That was when I started writing my books. Then- Aha!- there are schools across South Africa that have school libraries just like the one I went to. I, therefore, decided to email them, not expectin

Almost a year later? I know, I know. I should have done this right from the beginning. However, now that you have read the first book on  Amazon  or  Exclusive Books  and  these different sites you hopefully pre-ordered book 2 The Rise of the Emoryk on  Amazon  and  on all these sites . So, what is this about? Well, I wanted to introduce you to how I saw the book characters in my mind when I wrote the books. Please note, that you're absolutely allowed to have your own version of them in your mind when you read. However, for you to understand the Kenryk, I will begin with the introductions of the key four characters. Name and age. Amari (20)   Korin (24). Yes, he's a man Forde (25) Arteryn (34) Say hello to the faces that will go through the fire with you for three whole books. When I said Korin was beautiful, I wasn't kidding. I'd like to hear your thoughts on what you thought they looked like.  Remember The Kenryk Series: The Rise of the Emoryk #2 comes out 26 August

I have had my first book, the fantasy fiction The Kenryk Series: The Avaris #1 out for a few months now. When I published the book for me it was for the "I did it" feeling. Then I started getting caught up with the numbers, the rankings, and the endless need for reviews. I was desperate. I wanted to be recognised.  It took the writer's block I've finally overcome to realise, that "I did it!" I published my book all by myself. I sourced the illustrator, the book cover designers, the formatter, the printer, and the distributor. I made it into bookshelves. Granted, I have not yet seen my book on shelves, but they are available in other provinces in the country. However, I did get reviews. A teen who has been badgering her father about when I will release the second book and my primary school friend who cannot get enough of Korin.  These are people in South Africa who want to read the next book. I got so caught up in gaining external validation, I forgot why I h

W hen I made the decision to self publish my first book, I didn't think anyone would buy it. Since I have been writing books since I was 10, I was driven by that "I did it" feeling. And I did it. I got my book published. It became available in book stores and online and there were sales. Then I got caught up in the numbers, the rankings, the sales, the reviews. I was consumed by what I could and should be doing to get higher sales and a higher ranking. I forgot why I had started writing in the first place. As a result, I have hit a major writer's block with Book 2 of the series: The Rise of the Emoryk. I forgot why I did this in the first place. Not even music could help until I had to pause and remind myself why I started. I compared myself to others. I started feeling inadequate. I just wanted to reach that level. What Level? That is the question. What level am I hoping to reach? Like my main character Amari in The Kenryk Series, I had worked towards a goal- to be a