Hello everyone!

Can you believe 2019 already has a month under its belt?? Time is a wild thing. Well if you’re the sort to set goals or resolutions with the New Year then I hope you’re still on track! My advice with big dreams or goals is to create bite-sized steps. You’ll accomplish those easier and quicker, plus you’ll feel like you’re really moving towards that end goal as you continuously check each step off the list.

I’m not always much of a goal setter personally but with my debut into the writing industry I’ve been as enthusiastic as Hermione Granger prepping for exams with creating schedules and to-do lists. I want to give you ~3 books/year so that you don’t have to suffer so long between book releases but to do that and have them written to the best of my ability I need time. Therefore I’m working hard to stick to my schedule and write books in advance, not a month before release. I know some authors can write a book and put it out for sale a week later and pop out almost a book a month but I’m just not made that way. Sorry! But hopefully you’ll be patient and stick with me (at least my goal is to give you more content than the traditional publishing timeline which is one book a year+, right?).

So far I have gotten feedback from all of my beta readers for Carrion Crow so I’ve gone through it, made any necessary edits, formatted the manuscript for both Kindle and paperback, and have uploaded those files to Amazon. Phew! I’m telling you, it’s exhausting haha but worth it!

I’ve also received the finished cover for Carrion Crow and I can’t wait until you can see it!! As always my brother has done fantastic work and I’m already impatiently excited to see what he creates for my next book.

And finally, I’ve finished outlining the last book in the Otherworld Trilogy: Wings of Ruin. That book was a bit of a tangled web to sort out as it contains time-jumps (not quite time-travel), crossing plot lines and subplot lines, and as is typical with fantasy there was a large cast of characters to juggle. Just a quick note: It is called a trilogy, but technically Carrion Crow will contain an ending (for those of you who hate the pain of cliff-hangers this is probably a big relief to you haha). Then what is Wings of Ruin?? Well, it’s the villain’s backstory. It’s the big messy What? When? Why? and How? that creates the entire base for both Crooked Raven and Carrion Crow. That being said you must not read it before Crooked Raven and Carrion Crow. Right now you have no choice but to read it last since it’s not even written quite yet, but if you introduce this series to other readers after all three books are available then please make sure they don’t go for the prequel first. It’s like with Star Wars, if you watch the prequels first then everything in the original trilogy just makes sense with no GASPS or WHAAAT’s because you already know the who/what/where/when/why of it all. Still entertaining, but not as surprising or exciting. Ya feel?

So that’s my writing update!

Stay tuned…

P.S. I’ve decided to start adding a Current Read and Current Song mention at the end of my newsletters for fun and for those of you on the hunt for new tunes and books. (I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I include a song at the bottom of each Instagram caption I post). But since this is the first time I’m going to kick it off with two books and two songs.

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📖Current Reads

The Female of the Species
by Mindy McGinnis
YA Fiction | Contemporary Thriller

This book was so good! I couldn’t put it down, made me laugh, made me sob, and had me telling anyone who would listen to read it. The combination of Alex, Peekay, and Jack’s POV chapters really made this a story that hit me hard. The wildly complex yet relatable Alex is definitely on my list of favorite book characters.
(click the book cover to read the description)

Wicked Saints
by Emily A. Duncan
YA Fiction | Dark Fantasy

That’s right! I got an ARC of this upcoming debut! It’s next on my list and I can’t wait to read this dark fantasy story inspired by Joan of Arc.
(click the book cover to read the description)

🎧Current Tunes

“Evermore”
sung by Dan Stevens
from the 2017 Beauty and the Beast Motion Picture Soundtrack

I know the movie itself has a lot of opinions on it but I don’t care about any of that. The simple fact of the matter is that ever since I went to the theater to see the movie and heard this song it’s been in my head and I love it haha Laugh at me if you want but I will always love this song!

“Rasputin”
by Boney M.

As an old soul I’ve known this song for years but not until my brother looked it up on YouTube did we witness the live performance and wow what a glorious treasure haha Just sit back, watch the groove, and enjoy the disco days.

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