2016: Day 259 or Taking Some Time Off…Kind Of

Sometimes real life throws curve balls. As writers, we try to anticipate that SOME curve balls will come our way and get ahead enough that when one comes, we’re all good.

But that doesn’t always happen.

So, life threw a monster curve at me this week (everyone’s fine, just life stuff), and I had to, unfortunately, back out of the Christmas boxed set I was supposed to be in (it’ll be fantastic anyway, and I’ll let you know the deets when I get them).

I’m taking the rest of this month to just recuperate a bit from the stress of travel, conference late nights, multiple deadlines, etc. I’m going to read books for fun (I’m currently reading the first book anyone’s ever asked me to ENDORSE!), read craft books, work on my story world bible, etc. So I’m not taking the time completely OFF – I’m not “staycationing” but not actively writing anything new.

At least the rest of this month.

In October, I’m going to finish the Christmas story and release it. I might write on a super fun thing that’s outside my normal genre (at it’s core? a human romance – but in space/on an alien planet). Then again, I might not. I’ll keep working on craft books and fun books and the story world bible.

And then in November comes National Novel Writing Month. And then I will write Christopher Bayfield’s story. He’s Duke Alexander of Ravenzrio’s twin brother and former teen heartthrob. My goal will be to release it around the first of the year.

This need for a break has been coming for a while. In the last 22 mos, I’ve released 11 novels and 5 novellas. Of those, all 5 novellas have been written from scratch, as were 3 of the novels. Six of the novels were more or less done (the first six), while two others required extensive edits. And even when taking a break unofficially because of schedules, etc., I’d still be pushing myself to get SOMETHING accomplished.

And I need a break. So I’m taking one. Not too long. I still hope to have my next book out by January, but before then…rest and recharge.

If only I actually was on that beach up there ;).