Updates

A Tentative Look Forward

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If you go back and look at my Appearances page from 2020, it’s a bit of a mess. There were a ton of events that got scrapped due to the pandemic. Everything simply vanished–from a library visit I had planned to whole weekend conventions. Some events have disappeared completely and won’t be returning (RIP BookCon) but many will be back.

Slowly with the progress of vaccinations, it seems like shows are opening up again this year, and we’re able to make plans to get back out to see people again. Check out my updated schedule on the Appearances page.

Of course, I don’t expect things to go back to a complete normal for a long while. In addition to vaccines, we’ll be practicing safe distancing, masking up, and slathering on hand sanitizer the whole way. I’m just thrilled to be able to attend shows and talk to readers again!

Anyone else excited to be part of conventions again?

April is Going to be BIG

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If you’ve been checking out my Appearances page for this year, then you know there’s a lot planned for next month! In addition to my writing deadlines that I’m working on, I’ve also got three events scheduled! Two of them will be in Georgia, and one will be in Alabama.

Check out the Appearances page for details on locations and times!

Sewell Mill Storytelling Festival – April 6

This is the first year this free event has happened up in Marietta, GA, and it’s going to be a celebration of artwork and books! I’ll be selling copies of Stolen and The She-Wolf of Kanta there with my sister over at Morbid Smile. This is my first event of the season, and I can’t wait!

Alabama Book Festival – April 13

By far one of the biggest events I’ll be attending this year, I was invited to be a guest YA speaker for this free event! I’ll be on a panel YA Science Fiction and Fantasy fiction at 1PM in Venue A, the North Tent. I hope I’ll get to see some of you swing by!

This is the first out of state author event I’ve attended, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. However I’ll be around some absolutely incredible authors like Sarah Lampkin and Laynie Bynum so at least I won’t be going solo!

Copies of Stolen and The She-Wolf of Kanta will be sold at The Snail on the Wall, the official bookseller of the event. I’ll be bringing copies down with me that Friday, so if you’re looking for my books early, they won’t be there until the event.

Book Warehouse – April 27

Finally, I’ll be doing a book signing at the Book Warehouse in Tanger Outlets in Locust Grove, GA. I really loved the eclectic collection of books this bookstore had and they were super nice to help me setup a local signing event! I’m looking forward to seeing my local readers again!

Hardback Edition Copies

I knew a few have reached out regarding hardback edition copies of Stolen. I know my publisher is working on making them available for several recent releases, but I don’t have a date for when they’ll be available. Once they are ready for purchase, I’ll be getting a few copies to bring with me to the events above, but I have no idea when they’ll show up or how long they’ll last! Stolen will be my first book to ever be available in hardback copy and I’m stoked to see it in person!

I’ll also mention that since Amazon has taken over printing copies from CreateSpace, the copies I get can take some time to show up. The 50 paperback copies I ordered took about a month to get to me, and from what I’ve read online, that’s a pretty common phenomenon. So once hardback copies show up, I’ll be sure to let you all know! Make sure you’re following me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, cause I’ll likely post there about it first. The earlier you get your order in, the more likely it’ll reach you in time for an event so I can sign & stamp it for you!

Stolen Reviews

Finally, if you’ve read Stolen and enjoyed it, I would be forever grateful if you would leave a review over on Amazon or Goodreads! These are the best places to leave your love for my work, and even a few words saying that you enjoyed it is all that I need.

Thank you once again for the love and support of my readers! Without you, none of this would be possible!

A Quick Breather

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I am currently waist-deep in edits for my upcoming novel, Stolen, which is due out in January 2019. On top of that, we have the 4th of July Family Fest on Wednesday that we’re preparing for. It’s a local festival and the owners invited us to attend, so of course we said yes.

Needless to say, I feel like I’m busy constantly at the moment. It’s a good busy, but still busy. That said, I wanted to give some updates!

  • Stolen is going to have 2 other books in its series. Book 2 is tentatively titled Broken.
  • I’m doing Camp Nanowrimo this month (you know, whenever I have the time to write…) to get that word count going on Broken
  • I’m taking a trip this month that I’ll be considering my first one for book research. I’ll be studying a cruise ship layout, and yes, I’m planning it to be another YA Horror novel. 😈
  • I’m still working on my Leafeon cosplay for DragonCon. If you want to see updates, hop on over to my Instagram and check out my stories. I try to post short updates there.
  • Finally, you may notice some changes on this blog! I’ve finally taken the plunge for the first time in 8 years (omg have y’all been listening to my rambling rants that long??) and have upgraded my blog. I plan on getting a custom domain name and maybe even sell some original stories on here as well. I’m not entirely sure yet, but once I have the time, I’m going to iron out some details.

Anyway – that’s all I have for now! If you’re an American, please try to enjoy the 4th and keep your head high. I’m hoping to have a lot more fiction announcements down the road! Thank you for reading my work and supporting me – every kind review or appreciative note inspires me to keep going. 🙂

Looking Back on 2017

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Despite the political turmoil of 2017, it was actually a really great year for me. Even though I sometimes feel a little overwhelmed at work since I’m basically defining the new role I’m in, I’ve been able to make up for it in writing, cosplay, and trips.

In January I went to my first out of state Con in Alabama, where I met some amazing new cosplay friends. This was also when we debuted out first CMV and created Black Knight Productions Cosplay. I met even more great new friends at SeishunCon in February, and in April I got to debut a new cosplay: Luka Macken from Black Butler.

At the beginning of May, I was able to announce my first novella publication (that wasn’t self-published) with Radiant Crown Publishing. This was the first time I was able to successfully negotiate a contract that wasn’t for a short story (after having to get an attorney involved on a previous one – that’s a whole other story.) It was so refreshing to have a contract be offered that was so pro-author, and it’s been wonderful working with Olivia and her team so far. I’m looking forward to The She-Wolf Of Kanta coming out on April 17th!!

MomoCon came storming along in May, and Luka was welcomed by a much bigger Con. Plus we got to do our first panel of the year on That Butler, the Musical. Promotion for my novella kept rolling along and by this point I was doing interviews for it.

In June I got the chance to visit Mexico, Honduras, and Belize on a cruise. It was a blast! I had such a wonderful time, despite a few complaints about the cruise liner. As soon as we got back, we went to see Book of the Atlantic in theaters, and had that whole fiasco where the film reel was lost. 🙄 Long story short, once we told Funimation about it, they got a new showing put up for us. It was a few months later, but it was wonderful to see in theaters!

By the end of June there was a cover reveal and a giveaway for SWoK (making it all the more real!) and two beautiful maps for SWoK got released as well. By the time DragonCon rolled around, I had both Scarecrow and Pajama William T. Spears being debuted on top of us doing two panels. We did an encore of That Butler, The Musical and also did Black Butler: Upstairs, Downstairs.

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r the DragonCon hype died down, I created a unique Halloween costume I called the Black-Feathered Queen (that I never got the chance to wear 😢). I also finalized Seto Kaiba (sans coat) for AWA. He went over really well! Kelley and I did our first professional photoshoot with Fairyluna Photography and it was a wonderful experience.

Right before Thanksgiving I negotiated the second contract for the year: one for my debut novel Stolen which is scheduled to release from Parliament House Press in 2018. I’m super thrilled to be working with them and have learned quite a bit about marketing from them already. Like I said before, 2018 is going to be BIG.

Finally in December we got to go to Disney World again, which we always love regardless of how often we visit. Even though it was cold and we had some trouble at the hotel we stayed at, it’s Disney, so we got compensated. They even thanked us for pointing out flaws when we checked out. I also helped organize a family photoshoot with Fairyluna again, which only made us want to schedule more down the road.

All in all, I’m grateful for the new friends, the new experiences, and the new knowledge I found in 2017. If 2018 is even half as good as this year was (again, an exception for the political climate), I’llbe happy. I wish y’all the very best for 2018, and who knows, maybe our paths may cross – if not at a convention, then maybe at least in book form. 😉

Looking back and charging forward

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Every January I make a To-Do list of all my major works in progress and figure out which ones I want to prioritize. Here’s the 2017 edition.

Looking back over last year, I’m super proud of all the work I’ve done. So many short stories got finished up, published, and I’m hoping that more get picked up soon. Here’s a quick rundown of everything I published this year.

  • January 2016 – A Slippery Customer
    • Hit top 10 on Amazon’s Horror anthology list multiple times
  • February 2016 – Tiny Necks
    • Almost entirely 5-star reviews and more keep rolling in
  • May 2016 – Curse of Beauty
    • Received several excellent reviews!  <3
  • October 2016 – Dead Man’s Hill
    • A Halloween tale with a dash of dark humor

However I did notice that I hadn’t made much progress on my novels. Outside of Beyond the Treehouse, I didn’t do that much work on the WIP novels I had. There’s a good reason for that actually.

At the beginning of the year I got a publication offer from a small publishing company, one that I had worked with before. Their communications were a little sporadic, but I was excited to get my book published. However the contract they sent me gave me major concerns. It took me a bit to find some legal advice, but once I did I felt like I had a grounded ability to negotiate and listed out my requests. Unfortunately a big request on my list was not available to negotiate, and I had to reject the offer. A few months later I found out that the publisher was closing shop after being in the business since 2012.

I was upset to hear what had happened to them, and to the amazing authors who worked with them. It was also hard for me to get back into working on my books after that. Short stories I could dive into easily, but books were harder. Books take a lot of commitment, and after having plans fall through like that, it’s been hard to get motivated again.

I’m hoping to change that in 2017. This year I’m planning on focusing a lot more on my novels, and hopefully knock out book 2 for one of my series on the list. I also have a standalone horror novel that I’ve been itching to start too. Here’s my list of WIP novels and short stories for 2017. Look at how complete that short story listing is too!  <3

If you want to see my 2016 WIP to-do list, check out my post:

Hooray for To-Do Lists!