Something Written This Way Comes!

Listen, I have been wishing it was Halloween since the morning after (as I do every year), so I have been doing my best to keep the references and activities laced throughout the year to tide me over. None of which has anything to do with what this post is about . . . It's announcement time! (Plus an update on current projects and the general plan.) So here's the news:

Book 2 now has a projected publishing date! While the title may not be a surprise after about a year of having this website, the cover might be worth an ooh or aah. If you'd like a sneak peek, you should also be keeping an eye on my Wattpad account (don't knock it till you try it!), since I tend to post my pre-release things/samples there. But the important bit: Indelible–a book of poetry themed around love and relationships–will be available on May 31, 2021, in celebration of my 7th wedding anniversary!

That's in the future, though, so what's current? I'll tell you! I just finished arranging book five, though I intend to let that sit before I start in on editing. I've also been hard at work writing new poetry, and I have a lot of unassigned pieces just waiting for a direction. Even so, I did start dedicating some specific pieces to my idea for book six, so there's still some intentionality in the process. And, of course, I've been editing Indelible to get it ready for publishing and dusted off book three–since that manuscript will now be in the hot seat. Speaking of book three, I just shot some material for the book and got motivated to start polishing up some cover ideas for books four and five as well! It's been a fun bit of creativity to shake things up and get excited about projects that have not taken precedence in a while.

But what about even more exciting prospects? Well, NaNoWriMo has expanded its reach over the years and is no longer just limited to November. In fact, just about every month there is something going on, and April (one of those months with just thirty days) is Camp NaNoWriMo. And I have a plan of attack for this year that's a little different. I'm going to once again attempt to write a novel, but this time . . . It's going to be a novel in verse.

Now, if you follow me on GoodReads, you can get a good idea of what I'm reading, and (though I had a bit of a dry spell) a brand new library card has quickly revitalized both my intentions and my reading list. Recently, I kept having a particular genre pop up via friends and recommendations, and thanks to that library card: I finally read my first verse novel (5 to 1 by Holly Bodger, if you're interested)!

I'm in love with the genre, and it feels like something I could have a lot of fun with (and hopefully–selfishly–be good at), so I'm going to give it a try. I've always, always wanted to write fiction (specifically novels), but I leaned hard into poetry in my adult writing years. A novel in verse seems like the perfect blend of my two genre loves. I even already have an idea that wasn't working before–no matter how I reworked it (and I've written over 50,000 words and 20,000 words on various occasions, all to no end), but it seems tailor-made for a verse novel. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, guys, but I'm so pumped about this potential direction for my creative dreams!

So there you have it: April and May are going to be pretty packed with writing, editing, designing, publishing work, and pre-release prep. But even with all that crazy, I'm looking so forward to where things are heading, and I hope you're here for it!