I am obviously not the best at keeping my ducks in a row. In fact, half my ducks are lost. The only thing I’ve been able to reliably do is release my books on time. It’s only been 2 books, but who’s counting? (Me. I’m counting.)
This year I want to try something new. I want to keep up with blogging, maybe once a month for updates on my work. I’m also contemplating starting a newsletter. But maybe I should start with baby steps and focus on the blog first. I don’t know.
So as a quick update on all my immediate projects to get into the swing of blogging, I’ve been hard at work, for the most part.
All That Glitters Series
– book 1 second edition current word count: 86,000
– book 3 current word count: 117,000
– book 4 current word count: 39,000
– Whispers current word count: 52,000
I’m working on a rewrite of book 1: Wanted. I should have done this before the re-release of the combined novellas, but some idiot (it’s me, I’m the idiot) thought it would be a great idea to keep it as true to the original as I could. The problem with that is the originals were novellas, and there is a distinct lack of world building and character building space in a book that short. So I’m adding in that missing world building and updating the tone to better fit with my writing style I’ve grown into over the years.
Edits are in semi-swing for book 3: Masquerade. I’m hoping to meet my promised publishing date, but I’ve been having trouble battling S.A.D.
Book 4 is tentatively titled ‘Legend’.
Whispers is also in a sort of limbo as I struggle to focus on writing it, so I’m doubtful of my publishing it on time at this point–luckily I never made that date official.
New Covers for special editions are also being created.
The series, though, is kind of on the back burner right now, as it is just not gaining any readers, so it’s hard to justify all this work I’m putting into it, let alone the new covers and the side character book. So other projects are currently getting more attention as I slowly work through all these rewrites/edits/writing/new covers. Of course, now that I’m working on a rewrite, I feel terrible even advertising it because I don’t want someone to have to buy the book a second time if they want the second edition (unless it’s an ebook, then it gets pushed out to the reader).
In Daylight
– current word count: 37,000
This book is in the process of being completely rewritten and aged up from YA to NA because a sensitivity reader helped me see that I shouldn’t just settle myself into the status quo of immortals being with teenagers. I personally have always liked the idea of NA books, because they keep the idea of YA but are for those older audiences that people have been instead stuffing into “upper YA”. (And we won’t get into the smut in YA BS right now, but just know I firmly believe it has no place there.)
Please enjoy my favorite quote from the rewrite so far:
“Everyone dreams of an eternal kind of love. The sort romance movies and books try to sell us. The kind of love that when you say forever, you mean it. Few people get the chance to prove they mean forever. And even fewer prove it to someone who is already gone.”
Amara – In Daylight
The Lightbearer’s Blade
– current word count: 130,000
This book started out as a meme, but I fell in love with what it became. However, I have trouble being confident in its publishability. For the second time since its creation, I have set it aside, and I don’t know if it’ll ever be finished, let alone published. I did send it to an alpha reader who agreed to help me figure out if it was a story worth telling, and if I can fix up any of the issues caused by it starting out as a meme project.
I do have other projects, but these are the most recent ones (besides some initial ideas for future books), so I feel like they should get the most attention in this post.
As for a personal bit, my migraine is awful, but it’s just life at this point, and I’m doing my best to work through it. Being in pain 24/7 is honestly exhausting, and I struggle some days. But what can you do?
Anywhosit, I hope you’ve all had a great holiday season, and I hope to see you in my next update!
