Print editions of Daughters of the People Omnibus One and The Choosing (A Novel of the Pruxnae) are now available. The interiors of the print editions of The Prophecy, The Enemy Within, Tempered, and In All Things, Balance have a new look, formatting wise.

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The covers for the second edition of Light’s Bane and the upcoming Sanctuary (Daughters of the People, Book 5) should be here within the next two weeks or so. I’m very excited to see what L.J. has cooked up for these two stories.

The print edition of Light’s Bane should be available not long after the new cover arrives.

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The past few weeks have been busy. In light of The Choosing‘s surprising popularity (the pre-order numbers are looking really good), I’ve taken a long, hard look at my writing schedule and rearranged things a bit. No spoilers, but do expect Sanctuary to be released in mid-August. I’ll set an exact date once the cover is here. I’ll announce other release dates once I’ve decided exactly what I’m going to work on when.

Sanctuary was surprisingly quick to write, edit, and revise. It’s a little shorter than the other books in the Daughters of the People Series, but it’s a fast read with really outstanding characters and an action-packed plot. I expect to be able to hand it over to my editor early next week, well ahead of schedule.

I’ll use the unexpected time bonus to work on my next editing/revision project, A Higher Purpose (2nd ed.), the first installment in the Cullowhee Heritage Series. Once it’s finished, I can begin working in earnest on the last two books in that series. I’ve been toying with the plot for Book 4 (featuring Migs, Rafe Prewitt’s brother from A Wicked Love) for quite a while now, but had only the vaguest notion what should happen in Book 3. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve put a little time into developing the latter and have met some fantastic characters. Once I finish the second edition of A Higher Purpose, I can squeeze Book 3 into my writing schedule and hope to have news on when it will actually be published not long after. 

I’ve already started developing the next book in the Daughters of the People Series, which will be titled The Gathering Storm. There are some major revelations in this one. Absolutely no spoilers! (Sorry.) I already have the first two scenes on (digital) paper and will begin serious work on it in July or possibly later this month, depending on when I finish my current writing project.

As for the world of the Pruxnae, my editor absolutely loved The Choosing and is encouraging me to expand it into a series. I’m still considering that. The Choosing was supposed to be a stand-alone, not the start of a new franchise. The problem is that once I grab hold of an idea, it’s really hard for me not to run with it, and the ideas for more stories set in NetVerse are a-flowing. No promises, but if you enjoy The Choosing and would like to read more, drop me a line.

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One advantage of being self-published is the ability to do what some authors refer to as pivot. As Hugh Howey puts it, “Those of us who self-publish are nimble. We can pivot on a dime and publish at the drop of one.” 

That nimbleness has served me well over the past eighteen months or so. It allowed me to squeeze Say Yes, The Choosing, and the as-yet unpublished Contemporary Fantasy Greenwood Cove into my writing schedule without sacrificing the quality or quantity of my main series, the Daughters of the People Series. If I decide to expand the Pruxnae world, I can do that, or if I want to go in an entirely new direction, I can do that, too, as long as I honor my obligations to my readers and to myself.

And that’s probably the biggest difference between self-publishers and other writers. Our contracts aren’t with businesses. They’re with our readers. Having that direct connection allows us to shift quickly and focus on what matters to the people who actually buy our books, not the people that publish and distribute them. 

This is absolutely not a criticism of traditionally published authors and that process. It’s simply an observation colored by my perspective. It took months to develop and write Say Yes, for example. If I’d been committed to a contractual obligation with a publisher at the time I conceived the idea, I never would’ve written it, and that would be a shame. It contains some of my best writing to date and is a beautifully rich story. Even readers entering the world of the People for the first time through SY love it. Does it change the world? No, but it provides exactly what a romance should: A few hours of escape into a lovely, sensual story. (Or as one reader put it, YUM.)

Having the ability to turn on a dime is incredibly important to me, as an individual and as a writer. I love being able to work on an idea when it’s fresh in my head. I love knowing that if I fall in love with a character, I don’t have to say, “Sorry, honey, I don’t have time for you.” I love being able to squeeze something completely different into my schedule, polish it up, and serve it to readers straight from my heart to theirs.

But that’s where pivoting can be a pitfall. While I’m a fairly prolific writer (about average for a self-published author, word-wise), even I only have so much time. So if readers want more of the Pruxnae, I’m happy to give it to them, but the cost will be putting off working on something else, like the holiday novellas/short novels I’ve been dying to write for over a year now. Then there’s that SpecFic idea and the expansion of “Tomorrow’s Promise” into a full-length novel and…

I have a page in my organizer devoted to ideas for stories I’d like to write, three columns organized primarily by series and potential series, some spin-offs. Some writers might get overwhelmed, but for me, this list serves as motivation to sit down and write every day. It’s a physical and visual reminder that if something’s not working, for me as a writer or out in the marketplace, I have other stories I can develop and publish. It’s a symbol of my obligation to readers and of my ability to pivot. 

As I look ahead to 2016, 2017, and beyond, I know that as long as I’m able to write, I will complete the Daughters of the People Series, bringing it to a total of nine novels. I also know that there’s a good chance I’ll work on other stories, too, and that some of those might not even be on that list I mentioned. And frankly, having the ability to work on something I haven’t even conceived yet tickles me pink.