Notes From
The Cave
The blog of Thriller Author, A. D. Hay
featuring an exclusive look at her
behind-the-scenes misadventures.

How to Write a Short Story (Part 3) | Behind the Scenes Writing Vlog #12
After the last video blog, I had finally got around to adding more notes to my fourth draft checklist. I was all prepared and had all my spreadsheets plus scrivener opened. And, that’s when I realised I hadn’t finished writing the first draft of my crime thriller short story, The Lawn.

Working with an Editor, A Mini Book Haul, and Creating A Fourth Draft Checklist | BTS Writing Vlog #11
This writing vlog was supposed to be a pure editing and revision vlog. While, I did talk about working with an editor and editing a novel extensively though out this video, I didn’t get much editing done. All of this came down to a decision I made earlier on in the week about waiting for feedback before I continued to finish my fourth draft.

How to Write a Short Story (Part Two) | Behind the Scenes Vlog #10
After the last video blog, I reached a point where I had a fleshed-out story with a detailed outline. In short, I’m finally ready to start writing the first scene of The Lawn. Yay! And, it’s about time. Due to my excitement, I jumped straight into the writing process in the tenth episode of my Behind the Scenes video vlog.

How I Write A Short Story, Part 1 | Behind The Scenes Writing Vlog #9
In this writing vlog, I had initially planned on starting to write a short story, which is titled The Lawn. But, as it turned out, I needed more time to prepare before putting pen to paper or in my case, fingers to the keyboard.

Writing a Short Story Using Story Cubes and A Massive Tea Haul | Behind the Scenes Writing Vlog #8
After a month long trip in the USA and a week of attempting to play catch up, the weekly writing vlog is back. And, it’s back for real this time.

Revising a Mystery Novel and a Short Nonfiction Book | Behind the Scenes Writing Vlog #7
In this Behind the Scenes writing vlog I discuss revising a mystery novel and writing the second edition of a short non-fiction book and two tools that I use.

Starting an Author Newsletter and Rapid Release Book Marketing | Behind the Scenes Writing Vlog #6
On Wednesday, I decided to start up my weekly behind the scenes writing vlog. The week started off with me getting ready to press the publish button on my Patreon page.

Finding the Time to Write and Relaunching a Non-fiction Book | Behind the Scenes Writing Vlog #5
On Wednesday, I found a lost weekly writing vlog from five months ago. Yes, you read that correctly. I double checked my YouTube upload, and sure enough, it was never uploaded. The reason behind my decision to share this Behind the Scenes writing vlog is simple. I believe I will be of value to you.

What You Can Expect From Me in 2019
It’s going to be a busy year of writing for me, and a busy year of reading for you. I do realise that it’s the end of February and I’ve finally written up a blog post highlighting my writing plans for 2019. So, what can you expect from me in 2019?

A Very Chatty Thriller Novel Book Haul
So, way back at the end of April, I decided I wanted to start filming a regular thriller novel book haul on my YouTube Channel every month. I aimed to share them here on this blog, because I’m a bit of a bibliophile and a game nerd, as you can see by the wall of bookshelves behind me in the video. In my defence, the books and games aren’t all mine. My husband, Roland also has a bit of a book problem – he’s a book nerd and a game nerd. Actually, he came with the games and some of them are super cool, but I digress.

Writing A Novella + A Writing Book Haul | Behind the Scenes Writing Vlog #4
I’m super excited to announce that the Weekly Writing Vlog is back, yay! In this Behind the Scenes Writing Vlog, I will discuss where I’m at with writing the first draft of my crime thriller novella, Missing, and share a writing book haul. This episode covers the first few weeks of September, where I discuss how I outline my scenes, breaking my own writing rules and editing as I go along, researching while writing the first draft, and I went a little crazy on Amazon and purchased a few writing books.

A Writer Travels: A Weekend in Strasbourg France
For some reason, this Strasbourg Vlog is another follow me around style video blog that I’ve forgotten to share with you on the behind the scenes blog. Oops, sorry. The month of December was packed with travelling adventures for Roland and me.

Setting the Scene in a Novel and Book Shopping at Foyles in London | BTS Vlog #3
In this episode of a Day in the Life of a Writer Vlog, I discuss my struggles with a scene setting in my novel Immunity, then Roland and I did a bit of book shopping at Foyles in London.

The Babylon Idol by Scott Mariani | A Spoiler Free Book Review
I’m back, and I’m doing another retrospective book review. Yes, classic me. At some point, I need to start taking notes as I read books. Because that’s the sensible thing to do. This new level of organisation would also mean that I don’t have to go back a re-read a book so I can write a review. However, my inner bibliophile doesn’t see an actual problem with this. In this blog post, I discuss why I loved The Babylon Idol by Scott Mariani and my biggest pet peeve in thriller novels.

Missing, Chapter One (A James Lalonde Mystery Novella)
I’ve been considering sharing the opening scenes of my thriller novels and novella for quite some time. And, I’ve finally overcome those nerves and pressed publish. So, here is an earlier draft of the opening scene of my mystery novella, Missing.