2023 was a whirlwind of publishing books. My second book with Entangled Publishing, Magic Corrupts, Magic Conquers, came out, and I also published Elemental Inferno, The Vanish Witch (Kitaine Neris 1), and The Vanish Tide (Kitaine Neris 2). I wrote two books (The Vanish Tide and A Seduction of Dreams and Nightmares) and a short story (Kiss and Hex, which is included after the Vanish Witch), and outlined several other books. It was a wonderfully productive year; there was hardly a moment when I wasn't working on something.
This year ... was mostly crickets.
In March I published A Seduction of Dreams and Nightmares. A dreamy, high spice paranormal romance. After ASODAN was out I hoped I'd be able to get several more projects done. I wanted to finish re-working my first published book, Affairs of the Dead, so I could put it back out, write and publish the third book in the Kitaine Neris series, write a manuscript to go on sub with my agent, and start the sequel for ASODAN since I plan for it to be a duology. But here we are at the end of the year and I have not accomplished what I'd hoped. I did start Kitaine Neris 3, but that book has been haunting me the way WIPs do when you're happy with large chunks of it, but not all of it, and you can't figure out how to fix what's broken despite multiple attempts to re-direct things. It's a frustrating place to be. It always works out in the end, but it's taking longer to come together than I'd like. Nevertheless, I am hoping 2025 will see this book done and published.
Overall, I've had to recognize that while there have always been things I could do, or wanted to do, I simply did not have the spark to do them. The reasons are myriad; multiple things have affected my ability to feel the drive to write. So while it's been a sad spot that this did not turn out to be a very productive writing year, I had to give myself grace, accept that I was burnt out and in low writing spirits, and allow myself to do nothing. I was creative in other ways at least. I did quite a bit of art throughout the year, but the words most certainly left. One day they will come back.
As I look toward the new year, I don't have any set goals, but I am carrying the hope that the spark will return and I can continue writing books and getting my stories out there.
Another thing I am hoping to move forward with is my Ko-fi page where I will take on art commissions and sell signed books and merch, as well as exclusives for monthly supporters, so please give me a follow over there!
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