Hello Champions! I’m going to rip the band aid off pronto and tell you guys that I’ve had to do some re-arranging to my release schedule for the next year.
Originally I was planning to tackle Elves of Lessa book 4 next, but I’m actually swapping it for Leila’s trilogy (my next urban fantasy trilogy) which I will now be tackling next month. I can hear the Urban Fantasy Champions rejoicing, and I am right there with you! But I know some of you are wondering about the next book in my Fairy Tale Enchantress series, which I was originally hoping to launch in December. Sadly, it is probably going to get pushed back about two months as a result of this, but before I get into that I want to give a little life update/explanation for the change.
Currently, I live in a fairly big city, and I’ve been here for roughly five or six years now. Before I moved here, I always lived in the country. As any of my Instagram followers or my Facebook Champions can tell you, I still love the countryside and nature in general. Because of this, I always planned to leave the city in the next few years, but after a rocky few months here in 2020, I’ve decided I am making 2021 the year I’m going to move back to the country. Ideally I’ll be able to make this feat in spring or early summer of 2021. But that means I’m going to be adding a bunch of new stress to my life then.
Thankfully, my family knows everything about my career, are heavily involved in my life, and have no problem lovingly bossing me around, so a few weeks ago my mom–who also beta reads for me and keeps an eye on the website, hi Mom!–gently suggested I rethink my writing schedule in preparation for moving…because trying to write Leila’s trilogy so I could release it on one go like I did with Hall of Blood and Mercy WHILE trying to find a new place to live and get packed was going to be a nightmare.
Annnnd she’s right. There’s no way I’d be able to handle it. So! My new schedule this year is to launch The Prince’s Bargain this month (July) and then write and release Leila’s urban fantasy trilogy–which will hopefully be out in late fall–and finally write Fairy Tale Enchantress book # 4.
I’m really excited about Leila’s trilogy–it’s going to (hopefully) be just as lighthearted/funny and action packed as Hall of Blood and Mercy. And right now I think we could all use a little laughter. So Urban Fantasy Champions, let’s give a cheer!
However, since I’m writing three books instead of one next, Fairy Tale Enchantress # 4 is going to get pushed back–probably to February, or March at the very latest. But! I was a little concerned this would worry the Fairy Tale Enchantress Champions, so I’m going to let you in on a little secret I’ve been hiding, just to assure you that Fairy Tale Enchantress Book # 4 is coming! Here we go: I’ve actually already started writing it.
Yep, I am roughly about 1/4th finished with the book. (It’s hard to know because the Fairy Tale Enchantress books have been so long, and I don’t know exactly where this one will be length wise.) I worked on it for two weeks before I started writing The Prince’s Bargain, and I just finished up another week of working on it. I’ll continue to work on it between Leila’s books, so by the time I’m finished with Leila’s books I’ll hopefully be about 3/4 finished with Angelique.
The downside to this is that the Fairy Tale Enchantress books take so long to edit, even if I finish writing it this year it will still be a two-month process to get it edited, and that doesn’t include formatting, and all the other behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into launching a book.
But the important thing is I want you guys to know I’m seriously working on Fairy Tale Enchantress, and it will be the next project after Leila’s trilogy. It’s a real beast of a book–which is why writing it between Leila’s books actually helps. Breaking it up makes it more manageable, so I don’t sit there staring at my word count and dreading that the book is maybe a fourth finished even though I’d be well past the halfway point for one of my regular novels. (For comparison, the previous Fairy Tale Enchantress– Reign of Magic–was 160,000 words. The Prince’s Bargain is 88,000 words. Beauty and the Beast is roughly 65,000 words. Currently I have over 40,000 words finished in this project.)
Thank you for understanding, Champions. I can’t express how excited I am for my future life changes, and I’m glad I can adjust my work schedule to make it possible.