Updates
Updates
I am really loving reading all of the 2022 writing round ups from authors, and I cannot wait to be able to share one too, hopefully 2023 will be my year. I was hoping to have had something, or rather several somethings published in 2022 but it wasn't to be and the last half of the year was essentially a write off in terms of feeling any really creativity or having any motivation.
I always feel strange towards the end of the year, despite the fact that my birthday is in November and then there is, of course, Christmas. But I find Nov/Dec really unsettling and I usually just about manage to hold on until January when the strangeness seems to bloom and I feel even worse until about March. But this year, that feeling started months earlier than normal (probably due to the added stress of being forced into returning to the office and my teams concerted effort to remind my exactly how little my neuroatypical self fits in with them. So whilst I wrote during the last four months of the year it wasn't really enjoyable and finding words was... hard work.
I managed to complete NaNoWriMo this year but it was like pulling teeth. It was my most erratic in terms of daily words to date, but I got there in the end and felt super proud of myself as I really felt like I wanted to throw in the towel. But now I wonder if pushing through make things worse as I spent the first to weeks of December burnout and unable to focus for more than a few minutes ata time. I got most of a first draft of a MMF paranomal/fantasy romance written but I can't quite bring myself to read it back yet.
But here we are in January and I am feeling a little better? A little more human, I even started having random ideas hit my whilst I was try to sleep so I made notes on my phone and hope that I can get back into the swing of things over the next week or so. My first task of the year is editing a MF monster romance. This has been a labour of love, and it has been through so many versions, I rewrote most of it over last summer as a why choose romance but it didn't feel right. I am almost tempted to put it aside and work on getting somethign else published, but there is something strangely compelling about the story and the characters that means I cannot bring myself to truly put it aside and focus on other stories.
Hopefully I will be able to complete it and then focus on the several other things I have in my current projects folder.
So I guess I should share a super vague update about what I will be working on this year...
TDDoMW - MF Monster Romance with Autistic protagonist (currently editing)
QoM - Why choose monster romance MMFM featuring a half siren with a mixed monster group (first draft complete at 85k)
BttB - MMF monster romance with a disabled protagonist (first draft mostly done at 55k)
ACoW - Dark omegaverse with shifters and an autistic omega (first draft half done currently at 50k)
I am sure this will all get swapped about, especially when I am hit with shiney new ideas that just won't leave me alone but hopefully I will get some of these published this year. I am also hoping to start with my monthly patron shorts again because they were a lot of fun to write.
It’s been a while since I have updated (I am over on my Patreon more and lots of my updates are open to everyone, not just Patreons). Looking at my last update post on here I can see that the year has not gone to plan – or at least the plan I had in January. But I am just trying to roll with it.
I have been doing monthly shorts for my Patreons which have been lots of fun and I am ahead of schedule at the minute and already have this month’s written and I cannot wait to share it. It is the longest of the shorts and is about 5k.
January was a before scene from the Monster Romance I am writing, which is set a few months before the events of the book start.
February was a rather ambitious protagonist summoning, not the demon she intends, but an eldritch horror – they have fun though, it was for Valentine’s Day after all.
March was a retelling of what happened in the first moments after Sleeping Beauty wakes and the revenge she has on the one of cursed her.
April was an experiment with what could be the first chapter in a book about an omega owl shifter and an alpha dragon shifter.
I have a number of projects to share, including some title and cover shaped things. The way my brain is working at the minute means that in all likelihood I am going to have several projects ready to share all at once which is not really what I wanted to do but it’s working right now so I am not going to complain!
So here are a few details about what I am working on.
Wolfshifter Omegaverse – currently approaching the end of the first draft, this one has been super fun to work on, and I am in love with all of the characters. The protagonist is an Autistic omega wolf/witch and the story follows her attempting to find her place in a new pack when she is traded to them by her mother. It is slow burn but high steam with a fair bit of shifter politcs thrown in.
It’s got forced proximity, miscommunication (with an ND angle), a twist on grumpy and sunshine which is more grumpy and feral and snarky and protective and sunshine – Omegaverse pack dynamics are so much fun to explore.
This has a title and a cover and so as soon as I am done with my first round of edits I will have more of an idea of when it will be ready to share. This one is going to be part of a trilogy but each one will essentially be a standalone as it will focus on a different protagonist.
Monster Poly Romance – this one is fairly dark and the first draft is about half way done now. (I think) The characters in this one are very loud and they are all getting into lots of trouble so I am spending most of my writing time with them at the minute. This one is fast burn with high steam and has a very confident and sex positive protagonist who is almost, kind of, the antagonist too. It’s difficult to explain but I am hoping you love these monsters as much as I do.
It’s got a realm of the protagonist’s making, a masked ball, enemies to lovers, violent competition and some very monstrous monsters. They are probably all what you would call morally grey, some darker than others. The protagonist is a half siren half fae and she has a redcap, a kelpie, an unseelie fae and a barghest to play with.
This one also has a title and a cover, so I am hoping to share more real soon. It’s longer than I first thought it would be, an I think it will be about 100k once it is done. This one is going to be a standalone but I already have an idea of a linked book, which features my favourite side characters.
Monster Romance – this one is in edits, but I am not happy with it. I feel like it’s not quite telling the story I want it too and I cannot decide whether it needs to be one point of view or dual point of view. I love these characters so much and I want to do their story justice so I think this one needs to be put aside for a little while. I am feeling a little lost with it.
It’s a dark M/F romance between a human and a monster and it was so close to finished before I realised I wanted to change it. It definitely feels like its been one step forward and two steps back. I really don’t to scrap it all and start again but I am wondering if that’s the best option.
Demon Poly Romance – this is a fast burn, high steam romance with a bubbly succubus and the three demons that save her from being bound on Earth. This is lots of fun to write, and I really love the whole idea of it. I am about 1/3 of the way through the first draft and already have a title for it, though thinking about a cover is proving a little tricky. It’s a little different from other things I am writing and it is a nice change of speed.
I will be sharing things first on Patreon and then on social media and here. I hope to have lots of things to share over the next couple of months, including covers, release dates and some more of the ideas I am working on.