Keep Swimming

A lovely reader emailed me yesterday to see how I was doing with Sacred Seas. She mentioned not seeing any recent updates on my blog, which reminded me that I have a blog. Ha. I have become a victim of our instant gratification society and post all of my updates on Facebook and/or Instagram because it's fast and easy. Sadly, it never occurred to me that some readers aren't on those sites (and I respect them for that) so I need to blow the dust off of my blog and post something.

Updates...

The third and final book in my Sea Monster Memoirs series has taken WAY too long. I was stuck, uninspired, afraid of disappointing readers with a grand finale that didn't seem so grand, and kept pushing it aside. I even wrote a whole different novel and started a new series while procrastinating on Sacred Seas.

The new book, Virtual Arcana, released in early 2015. I love it. I love the characters. It even ties into my Kindrily series. Awesome, right? Nope. The few reviews it did receive were positive, but much to my dismay, it flopped and has been flat-lining ever since. *sad sigh*

As you can imagine, the failure of Virtual Arcana did not help my worries about Sacred Seas. I still wrote stuff, but it all felt like crap. I worried the writer in me was broken. And I was afraid that even if I did finish Sacred Seas, no one would read it.

Then, in October, Moby, my dog of 15+ years, passed away and my heart broke into a million pieces. The last thing I wanted to do was write magical love stories when I was crying every day over my lost child. (Yes, she was my child. A furry one, but still.)

Cue the New Year when we all swear to do better, be better, work harder, etc. I kicked my butt back into gear and finally started writing some words I didn't want to delete.

As of today, Sacred Seas is hovering around 52k. Only 30k so or more to go before I have a full first draft. Looks like I'm going to actually release the kraken after all. Let's hope I can make it worth the wait. I'm shooting for a release date of sometime this Spring. I think the only author who has taken longer than me to write the next book in a series is George R.R. Martin. At least I'm in phenomenal company, right? My apologies for the long, long wait.

For my Kindrily fans:
1.) Go read Virtual Arcana. (Please. For the love of chocolate, someone read it. lol. No, seriously. ) A few Kindrily peeps make some guest appearances in a faraway future. (And if you write a review I'll love you forever.)
2.) Get excited about the fact that all three books will soon be available as audiobooks, and the narrating team is doing an amazing job. I'm so excited to share them with you.
3.) Hang tight because it's not over. Once I'm finished with Sacred Seas, I'm going to write a companion novel with all of your beloved characters. And then I'm going to write a second companion novel. More is coming!

I can't promise that I'll remember to blog regularly. But I can promise that when I have a new release or big news, I'll send out a newsletter. (No spammy stuff, I swear.) If you don't want to miss my important stuff, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. I always offer a giveaway too!

I hope you're all having a happy, healthy, productive new year so far. Let's all keep swimming!