How Not to Write a Book Series

Here’s how not to write a book series (in case anyone was wondering):

1. Write and publish the first book.
2. Share that book with your family and friends and new reader friends.
3. Have these lovely people read your book and really, truly enjoy it.
4. Tell them that there are eight books in the series and tease them with details from the second book.
5. Then don’t write.
6. At all.
7. For four years.
8. Completely leaving them hanging.

It’s been more than four years since I first published A Warrior’s Legacy: Orestes, and every time someone has asked me about it, even when they tell me how much they loved it, I’ve felt a pang of guilt. I dropped the ball. I made an implicit promise to myself and anyone kind enough to take time out of their lives to go on this journey with me that I was going to keep writing. But I didn’t. At least not my books.

I’ve spent the last few years writing and editing content for other people and other companies, and I’m thankful for the ways I’ve been able to hone my craft (and for the people it’s brought into my life, including my wonderful, endlessly supportive husband). I’ve learned a lot about writing. But I also learned that books don’t just happen; they require planning and perseverance, and I haven’t had that for four long years.

So, if you’ve read Orestes and if you can forgive me for my lapse, I’d like to share two big announcements with you about what I’ve been up to the last couple months:

1. I will be re-releasing Orestes toward the end of July 2014 (just a little more than a month away), in both e-book and paperback format. I’ve been working with an awesome graphic designer to update the cover (which I’ll be revealing soon, don’t worry), and I’m doing a minor editorial update (nothing plot-altering, just some sentence cleanup). Closer to the launch, I’ll go into more detail about this, but for now, just know that if you already own a copy of Orestes, you do NOT have to buy another copy. However, if you really want one, I will be doing some giveaways. Stay tuned for how you can get in on them!
2. This is probably the one you really want to know about. Yes, I’ve been working on Book 2. I’ve been stalling making this blog post because I wanted to be able to share hard numbers with you; I wanted to be able to tell you how many words I have and an estimated release date. I remember when I was waiting for the Harry Potter books to come out, I’d go to J. K. Rowling’s website to see how the next one was coming, and she’d always say vague things like “I’ve been working hard; I can’t share much, but I promise it’s coming along.” Wow, I hated that response. It did nothing to satiate my curiosity. But now here I am saying to you: I’ve been working hard; I can’t share much, but I promise it’s coming along. Unfortunately writing isn’t always a linear process; I’ve written chapters and trashed chapters, moved things around and moved them back, and plotted and replotted until I started talking out loud to myself as I walked through downtown Louisville (I guess if I was going to do that anywhere, downtown is where I’d most fit in). I want to get the book to you as fast as possible, but I want it to be the right book. So bear with me; I’ll probably give you more infuriatingly unsatisfying answers to “How’s Book 2 coming?”, but this time, just rest assured that I am working at it every day.

So what can you do in the meantime? The best way to find out what’s going on is to sign up for my newsletter (see below). I don’t like spam either, so I only send out emails about once a month updating you on my progress, and this will be the first place I announce when the books will be released.

Thanks for continuing on this journey with me; I’m excited to move forward.