I hit a road block in my draft. I’m about 40k words into a 75k word story, so about half-way, and deep into the dreaded sagging middle. The doldrums. I’ve hit this quagmire before. It happens in almost every book. For me, it’s not that the story stalls or gets boring, but more like it…disperses. I have too many thoughts going in all directions and every time I try to wrangle those thoughts together, they slip away.
This is my 23rd book and my fourth series. Wow. I don’t often sit back and take stock, but seeing that in writing makes it feel like an accomplishment. And it also makes me realize that I’m not afraid of the middle-of-the-draft doldrums the way I used to be. In fact, that backlog of experience—those 23 books standing behind me like cheerleaders—will save my draft.
Once upon a time, I would have abandoned my project right here. If you’ve been following my writing journey for a while, you might have heard me mention that I junked four entire manuscripts before I published the one that became Dragons Don’t Eat Meat. I actually abandoned the entire series for years because getting to the story that I really wanted to tell just felt too hard. If I was writing Hallow Crossing ten years ago, the difficulty of wrangling those dispersing plot threads into something cohesive would have made me turn my gaze toward the next shiny, new, unblemished story and abandon this one altogether. Today, I won’t do that.
I love the story in Hallow Crossing. It’s Joelle’s tale, and she’s a character I can deeply relate too. So instead, I’ll put on my big-girl author pants and whip those stray threads into order. More importantly, I have the confidence to know that this is all just part of the process and it will all work out in the end. If there are any aspiring writers in this group, that is my advice to you. Just keep writing. It gets easier.
So what is Hallow Crossing all about? It’s the second book in the Fair Folk of Mullarkey Series, though all the books in this series will be readable as stand-alones. In book 1, we met Elenna and her farm of rescues. We also met her girl gang, Hadley, Nina and Joelle. Hallow Crossing is Joelle’s story. She gave up an unfulfilling life in the city to buy and renovate the abandoned Cedar Grove Inn. Right away, she notices odd things happening—things randomly displaced and odd noises. Hadley and Nina think it must be brownies. This is Mullarkey Mills, after all, where dark things lurk just past the edge of the trees. But as Joelle uncovers more secrets about her old inn and is visited by a fae prince in mourning, she starts to realize that the mysteries of Cedar Grove in run much deeper.
I’m so close to having a complete rough draft for this one, I can almost taste it. The plan is still for an April publishing date. You will, of course, get news of that first, right here.
REDISCOVER AN OLD FAVORITE
Rediscover the Valkyrie Bestiary characters from the very beginning. Before Times features 3 novellas that take place in the years before Dragons Don't Eat Meat (Book 1).
A fae princess and a half-human pest controller learn to navigate a new world where magic is the only rule of law. A great introduction to the Valkyire Bestiary series. If you have read VB, these three prequels will make you want to discover the world all over again.
Includes these 3 novellas:
The Last Door to Underhill: In the last hours of the Flood Wars, a fae princess makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the human world.
The Girl Who Cried Banshee: Kyra Greene is a pest controller, not an exterminator. She has to be clear about that when the pests can be anything from pixies to dragons. But when her fledgling business teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, Kyra takes on a job that blurs those lines.
Three Half Goats Gruff: Kyra Greene, pest controller of fantastic beasts, takes on a rock troll and meets the man who will haunt her dreams for the next three-hundred and twenty-one nights. Come sing around the campfire with satyrs and discover how Kyra found one little lost cephalopod.
GET BEFORE TIMES
VISIT THE VALKYRIE BESTIARY SERIES PAGE
BOOK FAIRS
Hot and free alphas is always a crowd pleaser and I suspect this month will be no different. The snow is thigh deep here. What better time to cocoon with a sexy shifter book boyfriend? There are more freebies this month too (not just sexy shifters), enough fantasy and scif-fi to let your kindle runeth over!
