Launch Day Incoming!
Things are just getting started...
I’m finishing out the year with a new project. I’m pretty confident I can finish it before the ball drops at the end of the year as I’m currently in the middle of the second draft and the story is shaping up nicely.
This makes the third new project I have started up this year. Three very different projects that allowed me to experiment and let my imagination run wild. In one project I got to venture into scfi and dabble with time travel, in another I tried my hand at a cozy adventuring quest romp. And what I’m working on now is a gaslamp romance.
These were all ideas that had been stewing in the back of my mind as I worked on Improvisers and Starseekers. With one publishing and the other in production, I was able to plunge headfirst into creating new stories after spending so much time in cycles of drafting and revising. It was even nice that, besides the time travel story, I could take a lighter hand at research.
There’s never enough time as a writer to work on projects. You have to give the most focus on the project that is bringing in the money, and any new ideas you have will have to wait. Because you don’t know if the idea you have is worth the time and effort to turn into a full novel, and that tinkering you undertake with something new could have negative on the project you contracted to finish. That’s why some authors have short stories that over time become novels. These short stories were seeds of new ideas that they were trying out to see if the idea could sustain a full novel. Sometimes it can, and sometimes it can’t.
I had a feeling that these ideas of mine were more than enough to explore in a novel format. (Especially after I transformed the time travel story from a novella into a novel!) I don’t know how these new projects will pan out in the coming months, but I hope that I will have good news about one, if not all!
Upcoming events
With The Improvisers releasing I have a few events on the calendar, with more to come!
If you or a friend are in the Hampton Roads area stop by Prince Books in Norfolk on 11/7. I’ll be there chatting about The Improvisers and ready to answer your burning questions. The fun starts at 6 pm.
If you’re on Instagram, I’ll be coming at you Live on two different nights on the platform!
11/5 at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT with Bri’s Bookish
11/13 at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT for Sistah Scifi’s Wine Down Wednesday
(Sistah Scifi is also offering signed copies of The Improvisers is you get the book from them!)
If you’re following me on Instagram, you’ll get an alert when the event begins.
I spent October indulging in numerous spooky media, whether it’s revisiting old favorites or trying something new.
I finally got a chance to see the film, Nope. It came out fairly recently and I was proud that I somehow managed to avoid all spoilers about it. I went in only knowing it was vaguely scifi-horror edge and I had a great time! It was a delightful blend of different genres that all worked into wonderful spectacle.
My library has been getting a lot of translations in, and one of my recent reads was A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon. It’s a tribute to the magical girl genre and it’s short novel that weaves quite a tale in its few pages. (A word of warning, it does open with heavy suicide ideation and tackles heavy topics, but the book’s tone isn’t overwhelming dark.)
Election day is tomorrow! I voted early some weeks ago in Virginia. I love early voting so very much. The place where I can vote, isn’t far from my local library, so I was able to vote, grab my library holds afterwards.
I always been enthusiastic about exercising my right to vote. The first year I could, I got there when the polls first open, dragging with me my mother who was bemused at my excitement. I think I found it exciting because it was a mark of adulthood and I saw it as the beginning of how I could help shape the world.
Admittedly voting is less of an exciting event for me these days, but I vote every year because every year is an important election year. No matter what office is on the ballot, each year your vote matters. Because you’re not just voting for yourself, but for your family, for your community, and for the future.
Available everywhere you get books. Don’t forget to request for your local library!