Upcoming Publications

It’s been a really crazy couple of months, and I feel like I haven’t gotten as much as as I would have liked, but there’s a lot going on for me!

First off, the first Rock Mesa book is completely finished. I got the edits back last month and have been working to revise the story based on those comments for the past six weeks or so. Making these “secondary” edits is a completely different skill from writing and my normal editing process, I’ve noticed, and it’s definitely one that I’m still learning how to do well. There’s a lot more thinking for a lot less writing, so it makes me feel like I’m being less productive, and that’s not fun.

There’s also a lot of little things that go along with getting a book published that I need to do. I need to write little pitches for my book of various lengths to attract agents and publishers, and that’s a whole other skill in its own right. So I’ve been working on all that, too.

I’ve also submitted a short story for publication in the anthology Werewolves vs. Suburbia. I won’t know for a few more months if it’s accepted or not, but if it is, that will likely be the first thing I get in print, so that’s exciting. It’s a werewolf story, obviously, but it’s more of a horror piece than I typically write. It was a fun change of pace, although I don’t think I’ll be making a career out of it.

Short stories are also really hard to write! There’s an economy of words that I’m just not used to working with. When you have a length limit, every word means so much. I went back and forth with my husband/editor several times trying to pick out exactly the right words and phrases, rearranging sentences within paragraphs, honing descriptions to be as efficient as possible. It’s a real art form, and I have a great deal of respect to the people who do it for a living.

In between all of that, I’ve started writing the second book in the Rock Mesa series, tentatively titled The Cryptid Bros. I’ve written the first four chapters and I’m really itching to write more, but I’m at a critical point with the other books and I’ve had to put it aside for most of May. Hopefully work will start on it again shortly. I think it’s going to be a really fun book, both to write and to read.