Let’s Catch Up

It’s been a busy few weeks around here. Let’s catch up, shall we?

Strictly Business is out in the world. 

Whew. 

Releasing this book was a whole journey. My decision to pull the release date back in March is well-documented. I hated doing it at the time, but I’m so glad I did. The six extra months allowed me to develop the story a little more, and to really spend time in the editing process, as well as pass it off to a proofreader for one last review. 

Naturally, Amazon uploaded the early draft instead of the final version, so there are copies of the book in the world with typos and grammatical mistakes. I took a deep breath, got on chat with Amazon, and, eventually, got it straightened out. Such is the life of an indie author trying to publish books in the in between hours of a busy full-time job. 

I have been pleasantly surprised by the feedback on Strictly Business. I didn’t expect Olivia to have such passionate supporters, or for Beckett’s decisions to have one group ready to slap some sense into him while the other group cried for him. It’s been life-giving to hear that feedback from readers. Writing and publishing books is all I truly want to do, and it means the world to me to hear feedback like this about my characters, especially in a season where I often feel like I’m treading water. 

After Strictly Business was released on August 28th, I took a couple of weeks off writing. I posted updates to a short story on AO3, but I didn’t try to write anything new or dive into editing my next project. It’s the first time that I’ve taken intentional time off writing, and it was a good move. It gave me time to miss writing and creating. I’m diving all the way into my Political Gain series from here, and the editing deadlines to get book one out in January are tight. I also have travel on the calendar for October, November, and December, all book-themed adventures. It’s about to be pure chaos over here (and I’m only publicly sharing a little of what’s going on behind the scenes… 👀), so two weeks off? Needed. 

Granted, I didn’t take two weeks off from my day job, so was I really off? 

I’m really excited to dive into the Political Gain world. Allow me to share the vibes, in case you haven’t read the draft 0 piece on Archive of Our Own: 

I’ll be sharing a lot more about turning this all-human, no-magic Fourth Wing fanfiction into an original series over the next few months. I’m so excited, and admittedly cautiously optimistic about what releasing this book series could possibly do for my career. This was only ever supposed to be a five or so chapter smutty story about a one-night stand with a brother’s best friend. It became what will be three books on love, politics, family, found family, and trauma, and it inspired two more books in the series, to be written (also on the to-do list!). I’m so proud of it already, and I’ve only just begun to truly bring it to life. 

Goodness, the hopes and dreams I have for this series. 

Speaking of those hopes and dreams… 

I suppose I should go work on them, huh? 

Watch this space for more to come on all things Political Gain. Check out Strictly Business and my debut, Off The Record, in the meantime!