Writing news: Did I really write two books this year?

Because it’s been a few months since I’ve updated… A little potpourri of things.

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who grabbed a copy of Daughters of Legianne during the Indie Visible Hauntfest sale and my Holiday Special sale. It’s still a surreal experience every time I sell a book.

And it looks like I’m committed to keeping that feeling going.

The Unraveling of Covens is in the editing process! I received it back from my editor around mid-November to start working on the developmental edits. Once those are wrapped, it goes off for line-edits.

Which is where I note: That’s when I’ll set the release date and start getting the ball rolling on ARC signups.

In a very wild twist of “I’m an insomniac, so may as well make good use of my time not sleeping” — I also wrapped the first draft of book three this year.

Which puts my word count total at over 260,000 words between mid-April to the end of November.

*coughs*Say what now?*coughs*

Part of me is hopeful that my insomnia stemmed from the fact that this story was hammering at me to get it down, and now. Right down to that very last line, it was just pounding, pounding, pounding.

In and around editing on Unraveling, I’m working through my first round of self-edits before I begin the Alpha reading steps, then Betas. Although it is “done” I can wholly say, the release date is very, very unknown. I was not planning on being this ahead on the timeline. I had each book mapped out to be spring first drafts, early fall editing, and following spring releases.

Book two followed that timeline perfectly. However, book three had other plans. That was clear when I had to pinpoint the perfect place to end two, but three just kept rolling with the story.

In unrelated Realms of Covens news, my fourth book is taking shape. Yes, my fourth. It just sort of exploded inside my head one day when I was doing a training session with my weightlifting coach. Out of the world of Realms, and in an entirely new one. New characters, a new sort of spin on some themes/genres. I’ve been writing scene blurbs on the game sidelines here and there so I don’t lose them and have a base to work with when I’m ready to sit down and write it.

But! I’m excited.

Now that I’ve finally taken the leap, it seems the dam has been opened. Having these stories come to me with all three acts seriously makes me want to cry. I thought I was forever doomed to be a WIP-never-finished type of writer.