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Clan Witch & Word Refinery

Author & Editor

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    • Time is Money
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    • Balanced Discrimination?
    • Incesticide: Collected Horror
    • Remember, Remember, the 5th of November
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    • “Validate Me!”
    • Don’t Wake Me Up
    • Expectant Miscarriage: Waiting for Averey
    • Mid Year Update
    • Interview with a Poet
    • AI & Digital Art – Opinion Post
    • The Crash of Verses
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    • Clan Witch on Etsy
    • New Cover Art
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    • Another Lost Blog
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    • Collector’s Edition
    • New Releases from KJK Publishing
    • ‘Horny Dead Fucks’
    • The Spiralling Pit
    • Horror Sleaze Trash
    • Murmur: Collected Horror
    • Juicy June
    • Beltane Creeps
    • May Day
    • Publishing: Which Way?
    • The Junk of Magic
    • Marching
    • D&T Publishing – Interview
    • KJK Publishing
    • February Mentions
    • Quick 2020 Wrap Up
    • FREE HORROR
    • NaNoWriMo — Not this Year
    • NaNoWriMo Kick-off
    • NaNoWriMo November 2020
    • RELEASE: The Sirens Call eZine Halloween 2020 Edition – Issue 51 | FREE Online #Horror & #DarkFic #eZine #magazine @Sirens_Call
    • Books Releasing in October
    • Insignia Stories — Horror Matsuri
    • Reading, Writing and Subbing 2020
    • Painting
    • Southeast Asian Fantasy
    • The Macabre Ladies Drabbles of Dread
    • An outlet
    • Southeast Asian Fantasy Drabbles (#2)
    • Writing 2020 so far
    • What’s Happening
    • New Release!!
    • Teaser Concoction V2
    • Concoction V2
    • Cusp of Power
    • Concoction: A mini anthology of shorts
    • Concoction: A mini anthology of shorts
    • Work in Progress
    • The Whisky Stories FREE
    • Concoction Teaser
    • Concoction Anthology
    • Out of Colour
  • Short Stories & Poetry
    • Titles List
    • Fuckin’ Maggots
    • One for Sorrow
    • Woodworm
    • Dead Waltz
    • Your Heaven is a Lie
    • Fate Never Waits
    • Just Words
    • People Pleasing Massacre
    • One Last Time
    • No Good Grief
    • Reluctant Reaper
    • Goddess in Motion
    • Wasteland Witch
    • Damaged Goods
    • Wildflower Weeds
    • Just One More
    • Organic Steak
    • Snapped
    • Mindless Motions
    • Subway
    • Devil between the Lines
  • Brazen Folk Horror & Delevan House
    • Delevan House by Ruthann Jagge and Natasha Sinclair
    • First Blood: Delevan House Review
    • The Making of Delevan House #22
    • The Making of Delevan House #21
    • The Making of Delevan House #20
    • The Making of Delevan House #19
    • The Making of Delevan House #Interlude
    • Brazen Solstice 2022
    • The Making of Delevan House #18
    • The Making of Delevan House #17
    • The Making of Delevan House #16
    • The Making of Delevan House #15
    • The Making of Delevan House #14
    • The Making of Delevan House #12
    • Delevan House Announcement
    • The Making of Delevan House #11
    • The Making of Delevan House #10
    • The Making of Delevan House #9
    • The Making of Delevan House #8
    • The Making of Delevan House #7
    • The Making of Delevan House #6
    • The Making of Delevan House #5.2
    • The Making of Delevan House #5.1
    • The Making of Delevan House #4
    • The Making of Delevan House #3
    • The Making of Delevan House
    • The Making of Delevan House
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Clan Witch & Word Refinery

Tag: Neonatal Unit

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Updated cover for ‘One Step Forward, Two Steps Back‘— May 2021.

New Cover!

March 2018, working on and releasing this book was my first time venturing into publishing independently. Being so intimate, I didn’t consider sending proposals to publishers. It could be said that this was my baby for my babies. I’ve always been a writer, but publishing was a way for me to show an example of fearlessness and gratitude to my girls, a lesson that they have taught me, with so many others.

On this, I did everything solo; writing, editing, working with feedback from my very supportive pre-readers, formatting for digital and print, cover design, promotional material and publishing. It’s effortless for those who don’t understand the labour and learning that goes into self-publishing (let alone doing so with something so profoundly personal) to dismiss those who choose that route, like myself, as amateur or playing a vanity game. That could not be further from the truth for many writers who choose to self-publish or join forces with small press’. I touched on this a little recently; https://clanwitch.com/2021/04/06/publishing-which-way/

It’s been three years now since ‘One Step Forward, Two Steps Back’ was released, and there are a few niggles that I often think about changing.

The first is editing. This was my first time editing something at this length, a piece that was (is) as intimate as a diary, journeying through a very traumatic time when it hadn’t even resigned itself to the ‘past’ yet. My heart and head were still sore. On top of that, I can admit that my skills have developed since this publication — I would love to go back and improve. For now, though, with so many other commitments, the past will have to wait, maybe one day. Truthfully, it’s a place I’m not ready to re-visit.

The second is that I’ve never been fully happy with the cover, which I have re-worked and updated. The image of the dandelion, particularly when seeding, has always been one in nature that I find poignant and inspiring. This image, this flower commonly regarded as a weed, represents so many ideas; resilience, strength, perseverance, endurance, determination, life cycles, and innocence. Pairing this with the rainbow’s significance in parenthood (symbolic of a child born after loss; the joy after the storm).As simple as it may be, I love the intertwining of the seeding dandelion head and rainbow. The fit with ‘One Step Forward, Two Steps Back‘ feels right.

Author Natasha SinclairPosted on 18th May 202118th May 2021Categories indie writer, NICU, Self-PublishingTags Birth Trauma, Born too soon, Honest Account, Hospital experience, In Real Life, Memoir, Micro Preemie, Micro Prem, Motherhood, Natasha Sinclair, Neonatal, Neonatal Unit, New Baby, NICU, NICU Baby, NICU Parent, One Step Forward Two Steps Back, Parenthood, Preemie, premature, Premature Birth, Prematurity, Premie, Publishing, Real life stories, Self-Publishing, Traumatic birth, True Account, Wishaw General HospitalLeave a comment on One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
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Recent Posts

  • Time is Money 29th January 2023
  • Delevan House by Ruthann Jagge and Natasha Sinclair 28th January 2023
  • The Making of Delevan House #22 21st January 2023
  • First Blood: Delevan House Review 20th January 2023
  • The Making of Delevan House #21 16th January 2023
  • The Making of Delevan House #20 8th January 2023

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Goodreads

From #BrazenFolkHorror ✌️🌙 Sharing my #brazenFolkHorror partner @ruthannjaggeauthor introduction to our #novel #DelevanHouse out today‼️ The doors of Delevan House are only hours from opening. Another wee Burns number. ‼️New post‼️ My big girl has enjoyed sitting with her dad reading this since her introduction at New Year. A rare (these days) night out in #Glasgow for some #livemusic at #IvoryBlacks It’s the final #SeductiveSaturday with #BrazenFolkHorror before the doors of Delevan House open! I quite enjoyed this.

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  • Home
  • About
  • Word Refinery
    • Word Refinery: Editorial & Creative Support
    • Word Refinery: Terms & Conditions
  • Media Pack
  • Clan Witch eBook Shop
  • Book Merch on Etsy
  • Posts
    • Time is Money
    • Possessed and Obsessed
    • Trust, Value, Editing
    • Scotland Banned Christmas
    • Editing Software
    • Balanced Discrimination?
    • Incesticide: Collected Horror
    • Remember, Remember, the 5th of November
    • Witch on Trend
    • Proper English
    • The month of Samhain 2022
    • Co-conspirators
    • “Validate Me!”
    • Don’t Wake Me Up
    • Expectant Miscarriage: Waiting for Averey
    • Mid Year Update
    • Interview with a Poet
    • AI & Digital Art – Opinion Post
    • The Crash of Verses
    • Delevan House
    • Writing to Music
    • Mental Health in Horror
    • Clan Witch on Etsy
    • New Cover Art
    • TBM Horror
    • Writing and other such Beasts
    • Mental Health and Writing
    • Summer 2022 Release
    • What If I Can’t Decide If I Need An Editor?
    • What Kind of Editing do I Need?
    • Tugging
    • Asylum Daughter
    • YouTube Readings
    • December 2021
    • Flash Sale
    • Masters of Horror UK
    • The Best of Indie Horror: Christmas Edition
    • World Prematurity Day
    • Things I ‘Should’ Be Doing
    • City of the Dead
    • Yes, My Kids are Vegan
    • Another Lost Blog
    • Gorefest!
    • Collector’s Edition
    • New Releases from KJK Publishing
    • ‘Horny Dead Fucks’
    • The Spiralling Pit
    • Horror Sleaze Trash
    • Murmur: Collected Horror
    • Juicy June
    • Beltane Creeps
    • May Day
    • Publishing: Which Way?
    • The Junk of Magic
    • Marching
    • D&T Publishing – Interview
    • KJK Publishing
    • February Mentions
    • Quick 2020 Wrap Up
    • FREE HORROR
    • NaNoWriMo — Not this Year
    • NaNoWriMo Kick-off
    • NaNoWriMo November 2020
    • RELEASE: The Sirens Call eZine Halloween 2020 Edition – Issue 51 | FREE Online #Horror & #DarkFic #eZine #magazine @Sirens_Call
    • Books Releasing in October
    • Insignia Stories — Horror Matsuri
    • Reading, Writing and Subbing 2020
    • Painting
    • Southeast Asian Fantasy
    • The Macabre Ladies Drabbles of Dread
    • An outlet
    • Southeast Asian Fantasy Drabbles (#2)
    • Writing 2020 so far
    • What’s Happening
    • New Release!!
    • Teaser Concoction V2
    • Concoction V2
    • Cusp of Power
    • Concoction: A mini anthology of shorts
    • Concoction: A mini anthology of shorts
    • Work in Progress
    • The Whisky Stories FREE
    • Concoction Teaser
    • Concoction Anthology
    • Out of Colour
  • Short Stories & Poetry
    • Titles List
    • Fuckin’ Maggots
    • One for Sorrow
    • Woodworm
    • Dead Waltz
    • Your Heaven is a Lie
    • Fate Never Waits
    • Just Words
    • People Pleasing Massacre
    • One Last Time
    • No Good Grief
    • Reluctant Reaper
    • Goddess in Motion
    • Wasteland Witch
    • Damaged Goods
    • Wildflower Weeds
    • Just One More
    • Organic Steak
    • Snapped
    • Mindless Motions
    • Subway
    • Devil between the Lines
  • Brazen Folk Horror & Delevan House
    • Delevan House by Ruthann Jagge and Natasha Sinclair
    • First Blood: Delevan House Review
    • The Making of Delevan House #22
    • The Making of Delevan House #21
    • The Making of Delevan House #20
    • The Making of Delevan House #19
    • The Making of Delevan House #Interlude
    • Brazen Solstice 2022
    • The Making of Delevan House #18
    • The Making of Delevan House #17
    • The Making of Delevan House #16
    • The Making of Delevan House #15
    • The Making of Delevan House #14
    • The Making of Delevan House #12
    • Delevan House Announcement
    • The Making of Delevan House #11
    • The Making of Delevan House #10
    • The Making of Delevan House #9
    • The Making of Delevan House #8
    • The Making of Delevan House #7
    • The Making of Delevan House #6
    • The Making of Delevan House #5.2
    • The Making of Delevan House #5.1
    • The Making of Delevan House #4
    • The Making of Delevan House #3
    • The Making of Delevan House
    • The Making of Delevan House
  • Contact
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