Three Years. Its come. It’s gone. Here is a Recap, and What to Expect.

It’s been five years since I published Kiss of Fire

Five years since I entered a publishing whirlwind.

It’s been four years since someone was interested in buying the rights to Imdalind

Four years since I pushed back the publication of Soul of Flame to accommodate that

It’s been three years since I felt like I have had control of my life.

Three years since I have been consistent in publishing.

I am not going to go into details as to what happened three years ago, or why. I’ve written about it before, and I would rather not relive it again. But even without a word as to the reasoning the last three years have been some of the saddest, hardest, most difficult and even painful parts of my life.

I haven’t cried as much in my life as I have in the past three years. I haven’t felt as hopeless and out of control.

IT. HAS. BEEN. TERRIBLE.

Luckily, earlier this month something changed. Something shifted that not only gave me room to breathe, but gave me back a few things that I had lost. It’s because of this shift that I can look to the future without fear, but with excitement, and with an intense eagerness for what is coming. It’s that adrenaline filled joy that I want to share with you all now.

Even with all the good of now, it is just an underscore to what has happened the last three years, and what you as readers have had to deal with. And as much as I have littered information around, I still get emails from readers who are confused and even upset over everything.

So let’s recap the last three years. Clear the air, and get ready for the future.

While I cannot give many details on the details of what has happened to me, I am going to be as open as possible regarding my decisions in the past, and the hopes I have for the future.

Strap on in! It’s going to be a doozy.

River and Raynn

Let’s start with the forgotten child of my catalog shall we. River and Raynn is a story that has always been very near to my heart. I love their story, I love the adventure and I love the complexity. When I first starting writing their story way back in 2014 it was still an exciting escape to me. I loved it, I basked in it.

But as I kept writing it, everything around me began to fall apart. My writing suffered. And the book was put on the backburner as everything I knew was secure faded into oblivion.

River and Raynn: The Catalyst actually sat done and ready on my computer for a few months before I hit publish. And when I did I was probably in the lowest part of my life. I remember sitting in an applebee’s with Spencer (who played River) and his wife, trying not to cry as reviews started to come in.

Not as good as Imdalind. Confusing.

I actually agreed with them. I knew the story wasn’t what I could make it. I knew it was confusing. And I pulled the book a few months later, determined to fix it. But because I didn’t have full control of the book, it sat, and it started at me with a possibility of what it could be.

And there is has remained.

I have hinted several times at cleaning it and republishing it. And while that has never happened, I have sincerely wanted to. I have tried to… but now it is happening.

In fact, I am a few chapters in and going strong! I am writing more life into these characters and breathing new excitement into them. I am excited to share them with you, and not in just their forgotten first volume, but in an entire series.

River and Raynn: The Catalyst

Expected Re-release: Spring 2018

River and Raynn: The Requisite

Expected Release: Fall 2018

Other Books in this Series, Forthcoming

River and Raynn: The Sypher

River and Raynn: The One

Through Glass

This series. This series I loved from the moment I published it. I still do. It’s equal parts adventure and horror and takes you on a journey so different from anything else I have written that I can’t help but get lost in it.

Unfortunately, getting lost is something that a lot of people have done, and I don’t blame them.

This book has gone through more troubles than any other, and because of that it has become a jumbled mess. So let’s break it down step by step.

The first Through Glass book was published in 2013 because I needed a break from writing Imdalind and some of the tensions that had attached to the series. Unfortunately, that was not what my readers wanted. They wanted more Imdalind. So, because serials were becoming popular right then, I broke the book up with the idea that I could instead just write it on the side and publish a novella every now and again. Break up some of my writing, get lost in a different world. And it worked, but confused EVERYONE.

What was worse, as everything in my life began to fall apart, writing those novellas became impossible. They felt impossible.

I remember early on, writing Through Glass #6 while sitting on the floor of my boyfriend’s apartment and feeling like I had conquered a mountain just by writing a chapter. That chapter might have been the worst thing in the world – but I wrote it. And I published it.

It was probably a year after that it became clear I had completely failed on the novella idea, the fans were giving up hope and it was yet another series that was falling flat on it’s face. So, I took a risk and combined the novella’s back into novels with the hope of blitzing through the end of the story and getting them released.

I put out a couple blogs at the time letting people know that if they had purchased the novellas to send me an email and I will get them the combined copy, that content wasn’t changing just moving together, and I still stand by that (so if you qualify email me!). But even with all that, it was just too confusing, too many changes.

If you have been confused by all the crazy – just know that you are not alone!

And even more so, know that I am sorry for all that crazy.

One thing is clear, however, they won’t be switching back again. They are novels – and it will be done by the end of the year.

My plan for Through Glass is as follows: I will be cleaning up book four, The Cut, and releasing the book wide around the end of October. Once the next two books are completed, edited, and ready I will be publishing them. Dates will be announced once the editing process is done. The goal is to get the series published, done and pretty by the end of the year!

I am so excited!

I am excited to wrap up this crazy story. I am excited to finally share it all with you.

I am just excited!

Imdalind

If you are an Imdalind fan you are going to want to strap in, and probably read this section a few times. You might cry, you will probably curse a bit and shake your fist in my general direction. And that’s okay. Feel those feelings. Embrace them… just like when all those characters you loved met an untimely death

But know this. I feel them with you.

Because Imdalind was my downfall.

Publishing Imdalind changed my life. In some ways the change was good, in other ways bad, but it was definitely a journey. And the end result left us with a series that ended like a slap in the face.

So, here is the run down.

Burnt Devotion. Dawn of Ash. Crown of Cinders. They are all crap.

Yes, you can fight me, but this is my own personal opinion. I don’t like them. I love the rest of the series, I take pride in every single one of those books. But those three, those make me cry inside, and none more than Crown of Cinders.

Let me explain.

I HAD to write them. No, it’s true. There were legal reasons, and deadlines put in place by audible. Since they had purchased the audio rights, they had set firm deadlines that I had to meet that made it so each of those books had to come out at a predetermined time.

So, I wrote them. But every word hurt. They hurt because of who was benefitting, they hurt because of a force that I did not approve of.

And that pain shines through. And the books suffered.

They were disconnected, the characters were lost somewhere inside my head unwilling to emerge, the emotions were angry and lacking. And by the time the end of Crown of Cinders rolled around everything was jumbled and confused.

And so I am going to fix them.

Now, by fix I do not mean re-write, I mean go through and clarify some things, fix some writing, maybe add a bit. Plot and everything will remain the same, but I want to put my heart into the books that I wrote when my heart was yanked out of my chest.

They deserve that, I want them to have that.

But that’s not all, and yes, I know that sounds like a 90s infomercial host.

Cleaning up the last three Imdalind books is really part one of what I want to do with Imdalind. And, while one of my plans is going to remain a secret… one I can hint at… and it involves Wyn and Thom.

I have hinted at a spin off series before, and in late 2018 we will see one emerge… now the question is if it will be a before, or after… Feel free to let me know your thoughts on that in the comments.

That’s it! The last three years in a nutshell, and the next few years all laid out for you.

Curious what could come after? Here are just a few of the series that are stuck in my head, ready to make their appearance. But don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away, no titles or plots are being revealed – just the code names that I refer to them as.

1. Em and El
2. Gravediggers
3. Off world
4. The Cows
5. The guy in the Grocery Store
6. That one with the girl

And, of course, we can’t forget HIT.

HIT is coming, and it’s coming faster than you expect it to. Prepare to have your heart ripped out of your chest.

Now, Who is excited?