It's been over a year and I haven't published a thing... THAT'S DEPRESSING!
In June of 2010 I self published my first book - A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) - a Young Adult Paranormal Romance - and I had such a great time throughout the next several months as I learned all that I could about self-promotion and the whole "publishing your own books" thing... all while working on the second book in the series.
In March of 2011 (right before my house caught fire) I published - My Link in Time (The Immortal Ones - book two)... and even with a destroyed house, camping in my in-laws home for a short while, finding a rental house, and dealing with insurance and finding a new home builder I was still able to get a novella out to my readers in August of that year. And... I've always been able to continue to have fun with my writing.
My publishing dates are as follows:
2010 - June - A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones)
2011 - March - My Link in Time (The Immortal Ones - book two)
- August - Of Fire and Brimstone (The Immortal Ones - Elizabeth's Novella)
2012 - August - Our Summer of Discontent (The Immortal Ones - book three)
2013 - April - LUSH (a YA Dystopian) - new series
- July - The Eve of Destruction (The Immortal Ones - book four)
- October - HUSH (a LUSH novel)
2014 - March - CRUSH (a LUSH novel)
- April - The LUSH Trilogy (a compilation set of all 3 LUSH novels)
2015 - January - The Deathtaker (a Paranormal Romance) - new series
- October - The Deathtaker's Daughter (Deathtaker - book 2)
2016 - NOTHING...
That nothing is killing me and I don't know what to do... I'm truly in a writing slump. I now have 4 new projects that I have started and I can't seem to finish any of them.
In all honesty, I know that part of this can be attributed to the fact that Amazon has changed their algorithms on what readers see when they visit Amazon.com and start searching around for new books... because of this (and my inability to find the right websites/blogs to help me promote my work) sales have been on a steady downfall for the last couple of years. Reduced sales means fewer readers, which means not as many people are awaiting my next novel... which means I can't seem to find the desire to finish any of my works in progress.
I know I am wrapping up my "love of writing" into a ball with "gaining new readers"... and I know that that is sooooo wrong. I need to separate the two and just write because I love it... and not care who is reading it. I know this but I can't seem to convince my heart and my creative mind. I'm not sure how to kick myself back into writing mode. I've got these 4 files on my computer and none of them have "the end" written at the bottom of the page.
The New Deathatker (is about one-third finished)
A virus/zombie book has begun
The Immortal Ones (book 5) has a beginning chapter
And a Faery story is sooo close to being completed (but I wanted it finished as a Christmas story and now that I'm pretty sure I've blown that deadline, it seems pointless).
But... I have a plan...
I think I need to fall in love with my characters again so I'm going to go back and read all my novels and really sink myself into their worlds all over again. That's going to take some time... I have 10 to read... but I hope that when I've finished them all I will be able to dive into the writing pool and swim around until I'm able to complete the stories above. I apologize to the readers who've been waiting for over a year for a new story from me... I hope to have all 4 of those projects completed in 2017... wish me luck! And stay tuned!!
In June of 2010 I self published my first book - A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) - a Young Adult Paranormal Romance - and I had such a great time throughout the next several months as I learned all that I could about self-promotion and the whole "publishing your own books" thing... all while working on the second book in the series.
In March of 2011 (right before my house caught fire) I published - My Link in Time (The Immortal Ones - book two)... and even with a destroyed house, camping in my in-laws home for a short while, finding a rental house, and dealing with insurance and finding a new home builder I was still able to get a novella out to my readers in August of that year. And... I've always been able to continue to have fun with my writing.
My publishing dates are as follows:
2010 - June - A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones)
2011 - March - My Link in Time (The Immortal Ones - book two)
- August - Of Fire and Brimstone (The Immortal Ones - Elizabeth's Novella)
2012 - August - Our Summer of Discontent (The Immortal Ones - book three)
2013 - April - LUSH (a YA Dystopian) - new series
- July - The Eve of Destruction (The Immortal Ones - book four)
- October - HUSH (a LUSH novel)
2014 - March - CRUSH (a LUSH novel)
- April - The LUSH Trilogy (a compilation set of all 3 LUSH novels)
2015 - January - The Deathtaker (a Paranormal Romance) - new series
- October - The Deathtaker's Daughter (Deathtaker - book 2)
2016 - NOTHING...
That nothing is killing me and I don't know what to do... I'm truly in a writing slump. I now have 4 new projects that I have started and I can't seem to finish any of them.
In all honesty, I know that part of this can be attributed to the fact that Amazon has changed their algorithms on what readers see when they visit Amazon.com and start searching around for new books... because of this (and my inability to find the right websites/blogs to help me promote my work) sales have been on a steady downfall for the last couple of years. Reduced sales means fewer readers, which means not as many people are awaiting my next novel... which means I can't seem to find the desire to finish any of my works in progress.
I know I am wrapping up my "love of writing" into a ball with "gaining new readers"... and I know that that is sooooo wrong. I need to separate the two and just write because I love it... and not care who is reading it. I know this but I can't seem to convince my heart and my creative mind. I'm not sure how to kick myself back into writing mode. I've got these 4 files on my computer and none of them have "the end" written at the bottom of the page.
The New Deathatker (is about one-third finished)
A virus/zombie book has begun
The Immortal Ones (book 5) has a beginning chapter
And a Faery story is sooo close to being completed (but I wanted it finished as a Christmas story and now that I'm pretty sure I've blown that deadline, it seems pointless).
But... I have a plan...
I think I need to fall in love with my characters again so I'm going to go back and read all my novels and really sink myself into their worlds all over again. That's going to take some time... I have 10 to read... but I hope that when I've finished them all I will be able to dive into the writing pool and swim around until I'm able to complete the stories above. I apologize to the readers who've been waiting for over a year for a new story from me... I hope to have all 4 of those projects completed in 2017... wish me luck! And stay tuned!!
