Category: goal setting

Wide Re-Releases are Go!

Leave a comment

It’s been a weirdly slow process, but finally, all four Sweet Somethings books are available across multiple e-book platforms, from Kindle to Nook to Kobo to Apple Books and more!

At least they’re in process. Right now, Draft2Digital is being really slow to update the buy links for everything. But things are chugging alone. I’ll keep checking to make sure things are linking properly, but if all goes well, by the end of the week you should be able to see the full list of buy links.

What’s Next?

Right now, I’m planning to get the print books for each title up and running by the end of April. There are more steps and quirks to a print release, and since this is my first time doing this, I want to make sure I take my time to do it right.

Otherwise, I’m kind of going to be disappearing the next month or so.

Why?

Because I have to write two anthology stories.

Carolina Romance Writers is gearing up for our next anthology project, with a projected release sometime in the spring of 2027 (I will say only that our theme this time is FAIRYTALES!).

And I am FINALLY, after four aborted tries, going to write a story for the annual Hearts Through History Romance Writers anthology. Can’t say much yet except that I have been heavily researching 1774 Boston and trying not to get lost in the weeds of plotting a full historical romance.

Also, fingers crossed that I can get my post-Civil War historical romance ready to release this fall! A lot of work to do on that front as well.

Bookish Updates

Leave a comment

After many months of an unintended hiatus (outside of some silliness on my socials), I have several updates of the literary persuasion to share, just in time for fall coziness and holiday preparations.

Anthologies!

In case you missed it, because I totally forgot to take the time to promo it as I should have done, Carolina Romance Writers (formerly LowcountryRWA) released a fabulous vacation-themed anthology this past spring. All stories are set in the South Carolina Lowcountry and range from super sweet (like mine) to super spicy. A little something for everyone!

My sweet contemporary romance, “Forever After at the Ever Rest Inn”, brings together Max and Vivi when Max heads off for a solo getaway near Georgetown, South Carolina, and a stay at Vivi’s bed and breakfast. Having met briefly as children, the two grow close as they explore the Lowcountry and figure out how to save the inn (and Vivi’s family’s legacy).

Love in the Lowcountry: A Vacation Collection, is available for ebook and print and you should pick up a copy ASAP!

In fact, if you want to pick up a copy in person and meet some of our amazing authors, there are two events where you can do that:

And while we don’t have specifics quite yet, keep an eye out for announcements about the re-release of Love in the Lowcountry, Vol. 2: A Winter Holiday Anthology, with a new cover, a new story, and a couple of added epilogues (including one for my sweet historical, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”).

A Sweet Re-Release (or 4)!

If you recall, Soul Mate Publishing closed its doors last October, which means all rights to my Sweet Somethings Series reverted to me. A lack of time, knowledge, and financial resources have kept me from re-releasing these books to this point.

But that’s soon to change! I am excited to begin the process of getting these books back in print – at least virtual print – with shiny new covers. If all goes as hoped, I’ll have the ebooks available in time for Christmas. That’s my goal, anyway, so stay tuned for announcements about preorders and where to buy.

I won’t be jumping into print re-releases quite yet, as I still have a healthy inventory of print copies from my Soul Mate days. Keep an eye out for info on how to purchase the series in print at a specially discounted price as we head into holiday shopping season.

What’s Ahead in 2026?

I always choose lofty writing goals each year, but going into 2026, I anticipate some projects taking shape.

First, my post-Civil War historical romance didn’t get picked up by the publisher I hoped would be interested. So I’m going to press forward with indie publishing of that story (plus its planned sequels) as we move into 2026.

Second, once the Sweet Somethings series is back up and running, I plan to dive back into the long-in-limbo spinoff trilogy that will follow Marissa’s three best girlfriends, who were introduced in THE ONE I’M WITH.

Beyond that, who knows? Maybe a couple more short stories will be in play. If one shoots for the moon and misses, you’re stilll going to land among the stars. (Okay, I paraphrased Oscar Wilde on that one.)

Emerging (a little late) from the Fourth Trimester

Leave a comment

The past four months have flown by in a whirlwind of adjusting to a new baby, school activities, one illness after another (at least three colds per child, including the baby, the stomach bug for everyone EXCEPT the baby, strep for Babycakes that manifested as scarlet fever, and two ear infections (one double) for Sugarpie), family visits, potty training, Easter, and Little Bro’s baptism.

Add in the normal “newborns only sleep in arms and want to nurse 24/7” situation, and any and all aspirations I had to do anything remotely close to writing have just not happened. Which is disappointing, as I had a couple projects I’d hoped to complete this spring.

schitts-creek-chaos

Also, Sugarpie has officially dropped her nap. So that’s been…fun.

In seriousness, things have actually been going well with the addition of our new little guy. He’s happy and content, playful, and generally sleeps well given his age (various colds that resulted in yucky phlegm notwithstanding). He also is a champ at eating, so he’s now the size of a Thanksgiving turkey.

So what’s up for me going forward? I’ve been able to take on some small freelancing projects this month. While no actual writing has happened, I do have a outline for a sweet historical Christmas romance that I hope to finish up this summer or fall. I’m still planning to submit the post-Civil War historical romance, once I have a minute to finish some minor edits and get my submission materials together (ugh, synopses and blurbs). I also have some work I want to do to expand “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”, my sweet historical romance short story that appeared in Love in the Lowcountry, Volume 2: A Winter Holiday Collection.

And then there’s continuing work on the spinoff trilogy that ties into THE ONE I’M WITH, which has been in limbo for over a year.

In other news, Soul Mate Publishing has graciously extended my contract for Sweet Somethings, which means it will continue to be available for Kindle in its current iteration for another two years or so. Keep an eye out for news about how to get a print copy, if you’re interested.

So I think that’s all the important updates from me! Hopefully as Little Bro settles into more of a predictible schedule (and naps in the crib, not on me, with regularity), more actual writing will get done and I’ll have lots more to share in the near-ish future!

Time for a Reset

Leave a comment

Wow, it’s been a minute since I’ve surfaced in some way, other than sharing some great new book releases. There’s a lot going on around here, including some things literary (which I’ll be sharing details about soon).

I made a decision earlier this month that I need to take a bit of a reset. Real life has definitely thrown some interesting things our way over the past couple years, and I haven’t taken the time to figure out a good balance. I’ve focused on freelancing, which has been great, but at the expense of my own writing.

counter-949233_640

I made the decision to scale back my freelancing – a lot – so I can focus on next steps with some of my in-limbo projects:

  • Do one final read-through and edit of my post-Civil War romance and send out queries for it.
  • Finish first draft of the first book in my Sweet Somethings spinoff trilogy.
  • Expand a short story I wrote for an upcoming romance anthology (more on that soon, once I have the details) and prep for self-publishing.
  • Return – at long last – to the Magnum Opus and really dig into developmental edits to update, improve, and maybe, just maybe, move toward self-publishing in the future.

As often happens with my ambitious to-dos, there’s a good chance more than one of those goals will not make it to completion. But that’s the game plan right now.

My Goals for 2020

6 Comments

2020 is upon us, and with it the obligitory Yearly Goal Setting Post.

Goals.gif

This year, I’m piggybacking onto the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge, hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

So what’s on tap for me this year? I’m trying to be conscious of the fact that I have a new baby, which obviously changes a lot in terms of how much time I have for any sort of goal setting. But here goes.

Writing

Obviously I want to try and do more writing this year. This includes submitting the historical romance that placed 2nd in three 2018 contests (yes, I know that was a goal last year, too). I also need to return to the first installment in my Sweet Somethings spinoff trilogy, which has sat in First Draft Limbo since last February.

This also incorporates freelancing. I had several excellent freelance writing gigs the past couple years and I want to keep that up, in addition to my independent contractor work with Newsela.

As an extension, I would love to finally set up a copyediting business as well. This has been sitting on my chairside table for over a year. I should probably start perusing it:

Ultimately I would love if I can make enough with my pen, so to speak, to cover Babycakes’s school expenses and maybe a little extra.

Reading More Books

Or just reading books.

More on that later.

Cooking

I love to cook and bake, but haven’t had time to do much of either since I went back to work in 2015.

Okay, since Babycakes was born and then we moved to Charlotte and most of my kitchen stuff stayed in boxes for almost a year.

Being a stay-at-home-mom again for a while will, eventually, give me time to cook and bake again like I used to. For now, it helps that I am now the owner of an Instant Pot:

Apparently I can make yogurt with it? I’m also interested in the fact that I can also apparently sterilze baby bottles with it.

Being Mommy

Of course this year, I want to focus once again on being Mommy. I am officially on maternity leave for the rest of the school year, and then we have to reevaluate our plans beyond that. But I have a 5 year old in kindergarten, and I want to volunteer at her school. And of course, Sugarpie is here.

I also hope to not only finish filling out Babycakes’s baby book, but also keeping up with Sugarpie’s.

what are your big goals for 2020?