Blog

Hollow: The One Who Remains [Update]

I’ve been deep in marketing mode for my upcoming book, Hollow: The One Who Remains, which is set to release at the end of May—most likely on my birthday. This book is the second in The Barrenmire Lights standalone collection, and it’s one that’s been particularly close to my heart. Though, I believe each of these books will get better and better as I write and release them.

The story follows two best friends whose bond was unbreakable, a love that was meant...

Required Reading Woes

It’s funny—writing is my passion, and I genuinely believe I’m good at it (not that I’m trying to boast, but every author believes they’re good at what they do or they wouldn’t publish anything, and yes, of course, there is always room for improvement). Yet, back in school, English was the subject that was a constant struggle for me. Not the grammar or the essays (I could handle those fine), but the required reading.

There was something about being told what to read that...

Giveaway

I mailed out 4 book bundles this weekend! Granted, two of them were giveaway winners, but that doesn’t make it any less exciting. There’s something very fulfilling knowing that my work is making its way into other people’s hands. Whether they’re reading it for the first time or adding it to their collection for later, it’s a surreal feeling. I’m sure I’ll do another giveaway soon—I love the idea of spreading my books to more readers, and who doesn’t love a surprise book bundle?

You can...

Sick Days

I successfully wrote five articles this weekend! I suppose it helps that I have been super sick with low energy. As a busybody, this is very unlike me. I don’t spend much time sitting around writing. As much as I love writing, I love feeling like a physically productive person, and I spend most of my waking time on my feet getting something done around the house—and there is always a lot to do around my house all the time.

Clearly, being under the weather has forced me to slow down,...

Giveaway

STFUATTDLAGG Smut Book Club featured me as Author of the Week! Two members of the group won a giveaway that I offered—one book bundle for Can’t Control and one book bundle for Love: The One Who Leaves. Oddly enough, one of the winners is partial to Love and the other Can’t Control, so I didn’t have to choose who would get which bundle. Worked out well.

During the week, there was a brief Q&A between me and the members, and one of the members was interested to know if I had any...

Drop in Books, Rise in Articles

This week, I didn’t get to work on my next book release, but I did focus on staying ahead with my article writing schedule, of which I upload 3 articles per week on my Medium page and LinkedIn. I’ve been working on some exciting features, including an interview with a debut author whose book is still in the works. She is such a beautiful soul, and it was a pleasure hearing her story and getting to know her on a deeper level. I also spoke with a glitch artist,...

Back on the Air

I feel like I just took a season off, but it definitely did not feel like some kind of off-season. If anything, it was an off season, if you know what I mean.

I’ve had to postpone my next book, Hollow, so it will not be published by April, but I will keep you updated on any future dates. It will certainly be published this year, but I no longer plan to have three published books this year, unlike what I was hoping for.

I also missed my last book release, Love. Not truly, but in a...

Merchandise has Arrived!

All of my merchandise has arrived for my book bundles! I’ve officially received everything but the books. I’m still waiting for one more proof to arrive, so that I can approve the final hardcover. Due to the artwork that I included in the physical copy, some of them hit the edges of the pages, and I needed to reformat it to make sure that all of the artwork does exactly that. I’d like the copies to be as perfect as they can be.

I’m expecting this (hopefully) final proof...

A Break in The Barrenmire Lights

I am adjusting the dates for my next releases.

As fellow author, Jenna Barwin, once said, “There’s a clown car of characters screaming to get released from my brain, and the one yelling loudest gets released.”

I was planning on releasing the entire Barrenmire Lights collection, one after the other. However, I have an idea that has been screaming at me—screaming to get out of my head—within these last few weeks, and it’s been so loud, if you know what I mean, that...

The Reoccurring Dream

Sometimes it’s hard being an author. And when I say ‘hard’ what I mean is that I’ve got all these story ideas and all of these characters screaming at me in my head to get their stories written, so I have a hard time sticking to one story at a time. I’ve noticed that when I try too hard to stick to one story at a time, say for one week I force myself to focus on one story, I don’t want to write anything for days after that.

So, I’ve been giving into my little ideas and...

Love Cover

I released my book cover for Love on tiktok last week! Totally on a whim, I didn’t want to release it until the book was available on Amazon and Goodreads, but I couldn’t wait. I’ve been so excited to show you all this book collection, and once the first one is available on Amazon and Goodreads, I will also be releasing the covers and release dates for the following three books on each of those platforms plus my website. Well, maybe not all three of the others. But definitely the...

Progress on Love & A Dark Romance Series to Compete with My Favorite

I’ve made great progress with my next book this week. Last week, I really didn’t get much, but I did write 800 more words than my minimum this past week.

I’m still waiting for my beta readers to finish my book, but I will be starting today on edits for those who have finished. Ten more days and I’ll be cutting off the time though, because at that point, it will have been over one month that my book has been in my beta...

Halloween Scares

The scariest thing that has ever happened to me on Halloween: I wasn’t even planning on pulling out my laptop and writing, but I did—at this point, it’s out of habit; if I don’t want to write, I have to force myself not to. I did something slightly different than usual the night prior: reorganized my workspace and unplugged my USB thumb drive while my laptop was still turned on but not open. This is something I’ve done before with no issues. However, I went to turn on my...

Love

Related to my current novels, I am waiting for the completed versions of my upcoming book covers, and I can’t wait to release to you all the first book in the collection!

As of right now, book one Love is being line edited by yours truly, and it’s been a battle. I mentioned a bit about that last week, but I will say that I am past the point of hating my book, and I again love it. It takes a while to push through that little phase, but I only have three more chapters to line edit. After...

Book Covers Coming Soon

I have sent out copies to beta readers for my next book! I’ve already got one beta readers that has finished and filled out my questionnaire, and things are moving along super nicely. My beta readers should be done soon, at least within the next 30 days, so I will be on track for completing all edits by the end of November.

Currently, in the middle of a line edit on this book, and unfortunately, that is having a negative effect on my other writings. I’m even behind on my...

The Psychological Horror Genre

As it is almost Halloween, and many of the romance book lovers also love horror movies and/or slasher movies, I thought I’d talk about my love of the horror genre.

I’m picky when it comes to my horror, be it reading or watching. My go-to is psychological horror. Get Out, Psycho, The VVitch, Lighthouse, Midsommer, and even The Shining and Saw (the first one. Only the first one).

Slashers and torture porn (things like Saw II and Terrifier) are not my thing, however I...

A lot

I'm taking two weeks away from my next book, and I'm taking this week—this past week—off up until Tuesday not focusing on any of my novels.

However, the week hasn't been boring. I began writing articles again, making sure to that I'm scheduling articles to be posted regularly on Medium. I've also submitted a few different types of article proposals to different publications. Hopefully all works out well for the future.

I have also decided that I am going to remove my podcast from the...

The Accident

Well, I feel like I've almost fully recovered from my concussion. I didn't explain much in my last blog, simply that at the beginning of the month I had an emergency, but what happened was I got a concussion. I won't explain the situation, but it was bad, and I'm only just now starting to feel like myself again. This past week has been very beneficial in terms of my mental health, and it's great to not feel so lost and alone again. I've been pretty open about my mental health on...

I feel lost.

I don’t know what’s going on with me. It feels like time moves too slow when I want it to move faster and too fast when I need more time.

Every time I pick up my phone, I feel lost, almost like I don’t have anyone to talk to. And it isn’t that I don’t have anyone to talk to, it’s that I don’t have anything I want to say to the people that are available to talk to right now.

Will there be a day that I finally just give up? I can’t see myself doing that, but how long can I keep up...

Personal Changes

This week has been difficult—and different. I had somewhat of an emergency situation happen, but that isn’t something I want to focus on. I wish I had more to talk about this week, but I will say that my next book should be published on time. Last week, I mentioned that I had set my book aside for the time being until I could afford my own ISBN. Well, turns out that I should be able to afford it now, so I’m currently continuing to work on Love, and I will keep you all updated...