Ooof. Remember when I used to do these on a monthly basis?
As I’m a bit behind on things, I’d thought instead of doing just June in review, I’d cover the entire spring season. That’s quite a lot, so let’s jump right into things.
A Superhero Heist Story: Publishing Breaking and Entering and working on Red and Black #6
Early May brought the fifth book in my Red and Black series, Breaking and Entering! In this story, Dawn and Alex find themselves faced with an impossible task. They, and a team of unlikely allies, must break into a SynergyCorp facility to prevent another Project Regen-like scenario. It was nice to really get to dig into the SynergyCorp storyline after Dawn’s trip to the future, while watching her and Alex struggle with the burden of knowing what’s to come. The actual publication process was a little stressful, thanks to a delay on the cover art. Fortunately, that’s all in the past and you can pick up your copy of Breaking and Entering today!
I’ve also put some time into Red and Black 6, the next book in the Red and Black series. And let me tell you, it has been a challenge. Writing fiction is a complex juggling act of macro and micro plots, individual character journies, and overall themes. If you do it right, it should look effortless, but it doesn’t always feel that way. This is especially true with the sixth book which needs to deal with that cliffhanger from Breaking and Entering and set things up for the seventh and final book in the series.
Every time I revisit this project, I feel like it comes away stronger. But this spring, I knew I needed to step away from it for a moment, which led me to push another project up my timeline.
Diving into Portal Fantasy
In January, I mentioned that I would be working on a new fantasy novel this year. And I am bucking all self-published fantasy trends by making it completely standalone. Yes, I know that this is not smart, but I am full of stand-alone novels ideas that are just begging to be read!
As a series writer, this has provided me with its own set of challenges, as I’m used to each book building on the last. One of the side effects of that? This book is going to have a longer page count than anything I’ve ever written. Fortunately, doorstopper novels aren’t exactly something new in the fantasy genre.
As of the writing of this blog entry, I’m a little more than a third of my way into the book. Like all of my writing projects, it’s going to require a fair amount of revisions, so I can’t honestly say when it will come out. As a result, I’m not hugely comfortable sharing plot elements. Unlike The Twin Kingdoms series, it is not a fairy tale retelling, but like The Twin Kingdoms, I am having a lot of fun with the world-building.
A couple of hiatuses: Podcasting and Beta reading
Before diving into my portal fantasy, I knew that it was something I really wanted to focus on. Part of this was because building a new world from the ground up takes a lot of mental effort. The other part was because I had taken on way too much and was completely overwhelmed.
The back half of 2021 and the beginning of 2022 were frankly, a lot to handle. I published four novellas and a novel, and even though the majority of the writing of those took place long before that, it doesn’t change the fact that the publishing/promotional process takes a lot of time and effort. Even as someone who’s been doing this for four years now, I can still find the whole thing to be overwhelming. Some writers are also master marketers. And while I love being part of every part of the publishing process, I’ll always be a writer first and a publisher second. Publishing so many things in less than a year put me in one of those situations I thought I would never fall prey to. I was too busy with the business of writing that I didn’t have enough time to write.
So before I shifted over to my portal fantasy novel I decided I was going to take a break from two things: beta reading and podcasting.
This wasn’t an easy decision. I know that I will be opening back up for beta reads by the end of the summer, but a lot of indie writers work on narrow timetables. When they ask you to beta read a book, they usually need to hear back from you in weeks, not months. As a result, I’ve had to turn down multiple beta reader requests, which feels like I am letting my friends down. And in taking a step back from my podcast, I feel like I am treating my listeners as if they are second-rate when I appreciate every one of them so much.
Whenever I feel guilty about this decision, I remind myself of one very important thing. That this isn’t going to last forever. I’ll be open to beta reads again by the end of the summer, and the podcast will likely return sometime in the fall. There’s more to being a writer than just the writing. But writing is one of the most vital parts of the process. And sometimes, you’re going to have to prioritize that. And that’s okay.
A sneak peek at summer!
So what’s next, you may ask? Well, on the writing front, the goal is to focus on this portal fantasy book until sometime in August and then shift things back to superheroes. On the podcasting front, Anna and I will be recording a few episodes of One for All to help us rebuild a buffer so that when we do come back, we’ll be able to better deal with the complications that life has to throw at us. On the publishing front, I will be holding some sort of ebook sale around July 31st for my birthday. I’m still working out the details, but the idea is to discount some books in both my superhero and my fairy tale series. So if you’ve read one, and have been curious about the other, this will be the perfect time to try them out.
So that’s it for me! I hope everyone is enjoying the start of their summer. Stay hydrated, wear your SPF, and try not to melt from the summer heat!
Nancy O'Toole 