Why I'm failing...

Okay… Maybe I’m being a little over dramatic, but I don’t think I’m entirely wrong.

I have been publishing books for over 6 years and while I understand that every author’s journey is different, and we all measure success differently, for me, personally, I am not satisfied with where I am after so much time and so many books published.

Does that mean I’m a failure?

No. I do not consider myself a failure because I’m still going. I believe as long as I never quit, I will always have the opportunity to succeed by my definition.

What is my definition of success?

Well… Ultimately, I would love to be a full time author. Be able to quit my day job and be comfortable living off my author salary. However, if that isn’t possible, because of the everchanging landscape of the world and value of the dollar, I also see success in an active community. A group of readers who love my writing and enjoy talking with me about it.

I have found a small amount of success in this. I have readers who regularly reply to my newsletters and participate in my Facebook group, and those who occasionally chat with me on my Patreon. And even more rarely, I get the occasional comment on my blog posts. I really can’t tell you how much these interactions mean to me. On days when I feel like giving up, and I see someone has liked or commented on something I posted, I smile and keep going.

So why is it that I’m still dissatisfied?

Unfortunately, I have to admit, it’s all my fault. Just look at the state of my publications. They’re about as predictable as the weather.

This is where I’m failing.

I’ve failed to give you a publication schedule that you can rely on. I write so many different genres, that you never know what you’re going to get from me next. And I’ll start a series, publish the first book or two, get distracted, and not come back to that series for months or even years! I can imagine how frustrating this is for you but trust me, it’s frustrating for me too!

What am I doing to fix it?

I don’t know… I make plans all the time. I promise myself I’ll finish writing a series before I start releasing it. My patience just won’t allow me to sit on a book for that long. I’m too excited to share with you what I’ve written. I’ve tried sticking to one genre. But my brain doesn’t live in one world. It loves exploring the real world, fantasy, and sci-fi. I can’t control that. I suppose I could start new pen names for each genre. But I barely have time to manage one, let alone three or more.

So, what now?

I guess I just keep writing and publishing, and hoping that my audience finds me. An audience as scatterbrained as I am. LOL

In case you’re the scatterbrained reader I’m looking for, here is what you’ll get from me over the next year:

AWAKENED - Post-apocalyptic, MMF A/?/O alien omegaverse romance novel. The second full book in the KNOT MY EARTH series. Releasing before the end of the year. Preorder available!

FASTER THAN LIGHT series - Short, cottagecore, alien romance with omegaverse vibes:

ONCE AND FLORAL WITH THE ALIEN BILLIONAIRE - Preorder available, Releases July 21,2025

GOT IT MAID WITH THE ALIEN BILLIONAIRE - Preorder available, Release date TBA

BAKING LOVE WITH THE ALIEN BILLIONAIRE - Preorder available, Release date TBA

HITCHING A BRIDE WITH THE ALIEN BILLIONAIRE - Preorder available, Release date TBA

You’re in for a lot of aliens but I’m also preparing to write a romantasy series that will be Gift of the Magi meets The Princess Bride but make it dark! Also, for fans of ACOTAR and SIX OF CROWS.

There are half a dozen other WIPs on my list too. I’d love to write the sequel to CALL OF BOOTY and another shifter romance in the SOUL THREAD series. I also have a sequel to RUNNING INTO TROUBLE I’ve been working on for a few years that I’d love to get back to.

Seriously, I love to write but I don’t like sticking to one genre or one series or even one world. My brain just doesn’t work that way and I think that’s why I feel like I’m spinning in circles looking for my readers. Because I am spinning. Genre to genre and no one can grab ahold of me.

The problem is, I don’t think I’ll ever stop spinning.

So, this is me. Spinning around the failure drain but never submitting to going down.

Who’s up for spinning with me?!

Writing: Monthly update for November





fb5dee509afe9e3cd08f0e9cd8036264.png

Annnddd... we have another cat. We think she was dumped outside of town. She followed my husband home from a city council meeting. We called around and found out she'd been hanging out at city hall for several days. No one was looking for her and the shelters were all full. The snow and freezing weather was coming, so we took her in. Meet Harper! She's about 5 months old now and about 5.5 pounds. And a real stinker! We love her so much!




162c7f7d77bef6a5ab739d2000c55be4.png

She's getting along great with our nearly 3 year old Cricket...





5767d5367a49ca437d167af8a41f58eb.png





And the cantankerous 10 year old Caillou wishes the youngsters would leave him alone!





November didn't slow down after the cat drama.

Thanksgiving festivities kicked my butt! Hopefully all of you in the states are recovering better than I did. 

74454374_10157725255262822_4250413783467425792_n.jpg

December 1st, we put up our little Christmas tree. We have two cats who haven't yet experienced Christmas. So, we thought we'd use the little tree to train them. Already found ornaments on the floor and little Harper is a chewer. lol Here it is all lit up!


Now for the writing...

Current Romance WIPs:

FACING FATE - After last month's drama, I'm happy to announce this is ready for revisions! I'll be getting to it soon but I would first like to finish drafting the book I'm currently writing. More about that below. 

INFINITELY ENDLESS (aka Plus One) - The (VERY) rough draft of this is done! It will need a lot of revisions. I'm not sure if I will do this one after FACING FATE or wait because it is so rough. That's what happens when I take long breaks in my drafting process rather than writing straight through.

Running into Trouble.png

RUNNING INTO TROUBLE (an age gap romance) - Started drafting this toward the end of the month. I flipping love it! Daniel and Riley are quickly becoming my favorite characters. I'm roughly a quarter of the way through the rough draft. Hoping to finish it before Christmas!

Here's a little blurb: He’s trying so hard not to get involved with a woman half his age but when all she wants to do is help make his father-daughter dinner the best it can be, how can he say no?!

Word Counts:

941612f00c4dbfb303e0f23e15719134.png

November was better! Though, can you see the impact Thanksgiving had on me? lol

Total for the month was 20,667! Not NaNoWriMo but still a solid month!




Publishing News:

Nothing to report. I'm hoping to publish FACING FATE in late January/early February. Will keep you updated!

Read in November:

Warning I wish I'd had: Sweet Liar is NOT a standalone. It's a part 1 of 2. Literally only the first half of the story. I was quite upset when I finished and found this out.

Magnificent Bastard is a lot of fun though. :D





Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy the first two books in the FATE series today!

Thank you!

Writing: Monthly update for October

Current Romance WIPs:

FACING FATE - Oh, the drama... So, this book had been moving at a snail's pace even though the word count kept rising. I mean, just look at my word count tracker for October! It wasn't until October 30th that I realized why I couldn't find the end of this book.

I'd already passed it.
Here's what I posted in one of my writing groups after it happened...

"I wanted to scream last night but was in a library. Don't think they would have appreciated it. So, I've been frustrated with how long my current WIP is taking to finish. Turns out, I blew past the ending! UGH!!!!!

I sat down last night and wrote a sort of synopsis for the book, ignoring the fact I'd already written most of it. I allowed myself to let things happen that felt right, whether they existed in the book already or not and to come out in whatever order they flowed naturally. Doing this, I discovered I was chasing the wrong ending, things were happening out of order, and I'm missing some key character and plot moments. 😭😭😭

On the upside, I've already written the climax of the story. So, to "finish" the book, I just need to back up and write the resolution.

Downside, this thing is going to need some serious revisions and I'm probably going to lose several thousand words in the process."

As of, November 2nd, I'm done drafting FACING FATE! And now I'm going to take a break from it for a couple of weeks.

INFINITELY ENDLESS (aka Plus One) - This is what I'm drafting while I take a break from FACING FATE. It's coming along nicely! Hoping to finish it this time around.

Word Counts:

IMG_1875.JPG



Got a lot of words written in October, but didn't make a whole lot of progress. UGH!

November will be better!




Publishing News:

Nothing to report!

Read in October:

FYI: Most of these are short reads. Just Roommates is the only full novel on the list. A couple are more like teasers, which I didn't know going into them (Rock Hard, Snowed in with the Ranger, and Lightning Strikes)






Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy the first two books in the FATE series today!

Thank you!

Writing: Monthly update for July

I finally fought my way out of revisions!

Current Fantasy Romance WIPs:

So, I included this in my update last month without considering whether or not readers of contemporary romance would also be interested in fantasy romance.

If you wouldn't mind, I'd love your help deciding whether or not I should publish Fantasy Romance under a different name.

Please respond to the following questions with your thoughts.

Do you only wish to read contemporary romance and would not like to get updates about fantasy romance? Or would you like to know about everything I write, regardless of genre?

Thanks in advance for your input! 

Current Romance WIPs:

FIGHTING FATE - I DID IT! I finished revising! Today, I will contact my beta readers and ask for feedback to be returned within two weeks. After that, I'll revise again, considering their feedback. Then, it's off to ARC readers before publishing!

Release day is not set yet but I expect it will be mid-September.

Can't wait for you all to read Katie and Isaac's story! They fought me just as much as they fought the feelings they had for each other. But it was worth it in the end! I hope you all love them as much as I do. 

PLUS ONE - I will pick this up again in about a week. My family and I are going on a trip to Minnesota next week to an author signing event for the release of Mary E. Pearson's new release, Vow of Thieves and I have to finish reading her ARC!

Word Counts:

IMG_1695.JPG

You'd think this was a drafting month, not a revision month based on those word counts! 

I suppose it kind of was. I added over 20K words to the "first" draft, that was really more of a zero draft.

Really excited Fighting Fate will be a full novel now that it's over 50K words!

 

Publishing News:

Nothing to report on Fake to Fate.

Fighting Fate should come out Mid-September. I'll let you all know the official release day when I know it and include a pre-order link!

Read in July:

I feel like it's worth noting, this book was a gift from my wonderful, supportive husband. 

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy FAKE TO FATE! Ebook and paperback are on Amazon now. Thanks!

If you would like more frequent updates, please follow me on Instagram. If you're as impatient as I am, you can get some of the information in my updates when it happens rather than having to wait for the monthly update!