Hello everyone!
It’s been a while since I last posted here, and I completely blame my silence on my PhD studies. The good news is, I finished my research study. My dissertation has been written, rewritten, revised, edited, and formatted. It’s been turned in to my advisor and my committee.
The bad news is, I still haven’t defended yet. Due to this and that circumstance, my defense keeps getting postponed, much to my chagrin. Hopefully I get to defend within a few weeks, and then after I complete my post-dissertation edits, I’m finally done.
When they said the PhD journey was a marathon, they were not kidding!
Now onto this very long post:
I will be publishing again!
1. Unfortunately, since it’s been so long since I first published RR, all of my self-publishing knowledge is old and outdated. I need to learn all of this again.
2. Once I have all of that knowledge, I will be self-publishing on a steady and continuous schedule, one that you readers can count on. That was my mistake – starting my PhD and thinking I could do both. You readers deserve my best.
3. I’ve gradually learned that I just need to be less control-freak-ish about writing. No, my stories aren’t 100% what I want them to be, but that’s the thing, you always keep improving. At some point, you need to let go and put your stories out there.
This means…
1. “The Only Reason” will not be coming out because I will be withdrawing the currently published “Reason and Romance.”
2. I am going to replace the current published version with my Redux version of RR. For you readers who know what that means, yes, that is the popular Fictionpress version that so many of you loved.
3. Essentially, it means RR will be replaced by a complete version. No more splitting into two books.
4. I’ll edit the Redux version – getting rid of some outdated references, clunky sentences, all of that, but it’ll still be the same version.
I am aware this decision might be controversial. I am so, so, so, so sorry for having done this to you all. I am truly apologetic that you have had to wait so long for the second half. My mistake was splitting the book into two and thinking that I HAD to rewrite the whole book, just because I thought that’s what writers had to do. The Redux version is what you loved, and that’s what I should have published in the first place.
The good news is:
1. Redux (which will still retain the name RR) will be getting a new, pretty book cover! The current book cover is a bit dark and gloomy, but the story is fun and snarky, and I want to lean into that.
2. Yes, this means TSWAQ will follow shortly after Redux! TSWAQ = “Trouble Starts with a Q.” As in, just about my favorite male lead Quentin Maxwell and female lead Devon Kim.
3. I’ve even found the perfect book model for Devon. It will be so great to see an actual Korean female girl on the front cover. I can’t wait!
I can’t take RR down now because if I do so, Amazon may not allow me to swap it out for Redux. Some self-published authors have had to confront the nightmare of Amazon thinking they were plagiarists. So I will need Redux ready to go when I swap it out for RR.
I am seriously considering publishing “Against All Odds” first since it is a standalone. Once I get AAO, Redux, and TSWAQ out, I can focus on writing brand-new stories (for some of you who know, this refers to my New Adult college story Joya and my witch family saga Winterhaven and others). I am particularly anxious to launch my college romance/drama series.
Let me know what you think!
Congrats on being almost finished with your PhD! I’ve enjoyed all your stories on FP and am excited that we’ll get the chance to read some of them again. I loved the versions on FP, so I’m happy to see the redux version coming out.
In a different note, I’m wondering if you think you’ll ever publish your Rome trilogy? I realize it’s very different from some of your other work mentioned here, but I remember it being some of the best work I’ve ever read and would love to see it also published!
I also strongly think Abide With Me (AWM) will get published since it’s one of my most favorites ever, so that’s another one from FP 🙂
As for Rome … ooo, I’m glad you loved it! Unfortunately, the problem with the trilogy is that it was based on L.J. Smith’s Night World universe, even though all of my characters were original, so I’d have to rework the supernatural universe rules and make them originally mine. The time period and characters/storylines are all mine, just not the supernatural universe rules.
Hi I’ve been waiting forever for the only reason. On goodreads a lot of people seem to still be waiting on it also. That’s how I remembered to check if there’s an update. I never read the fiction press version but read the book version straight away and loved it. I’ll still buy the new version anyway because I want to read the complete series. I was wondering if you could do a blurb for all your upcoming books and a predicted release date for them in a newsletter type of email? Anyway I’m glad your back.
A very good idea! Once I have my plans all lined up, I’ll definitely add an “upcoming” page on this website, and add release dates. Actually I need to redesign it badly – or at least pay someone else to do it for me. When I have more books coming out, that’s when I’ll really do the newsletter 🙂 Thank you for your suggestion!
What exactly do your “college romance/drama series” refer to?
Basically, it’ll consist of quite a few interconnected stories with characters popping in and out of each other’s stories, all set at a fictional university (Wolcott) set in a fictional town (Highwater). Almost none of these stories were previously published or posted anywhere, so they’ll be entirely new to the readers 🙂 The only story that may be familiar is “Abide With Me” – a story I posted on Fictionpress a long time ago. Hopefully that helps!
Hey glad to hear it! Love your work. Any update on when you think you will be able to start publishing again?
I am aiming for this spring/summer since it won’t take too long to get the stories themselves ready, but it’s really a matter of finding the right covers and formatting them and then making sure there’s a schedule. Basically, I just want at least 2-4 stories ready to be published in short order 🙂
Just stumbled upon your post and I am SO excited!! I remember reading all of your stories on FP. That was the time !! Anyway, can’t wait to read about your characters I loved so much! Thanks!! 🙂
Yeah, it was a lot of fun writing on Fictionpress! I’m sad it’s not the same anymore, although I’ve heard good things about Wattpad!