The Check-In

Welcome to THE CHECK-IN, where you can get a sneak peek into my writing progress every week! Read on to find out what I’m working on and how things are progressing in my world.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Bloody is the Night: I’m nervous about this one, y’all. I was hoping to have this first draft finished by 9/2 and, as you can see, I’m still about 12k to 13k shy of where I want it to be, word count wise. Now, I still have a month before I need to get it submitted to my publisher, but it’s going to be a close one. COVID kicking my butt for two weeks really threw a monkey wrench in my plans for getting this one done on time. CURSE YOU, COVID!
• Mafia Anthology Sub: My (as yet) unnamed submission for the “mafia romance” anthology that my publisher is putting together for Halloween 2024. I have plenty of time to get this finished, which feels SO GOOD. My goal is to have it polished and ready to go by the beginning of March 2024 at the latest. Word count goal for this piece is between 30k and 50k, so I’m aiming right in the middle at 40k. Having this to work on is proving to be a nice mental break from the word of The Night.
• Everything else…: Everything else is on the backburner at the moment. Between promoting my currently released work and trying to get the next Night book in, my writing time has been…well…smushed full of stuff.

I’m frustrated that I’m not making quicker progress on Bloody is the Night. I was so close to having it done exactly according to schedule, exactly according to plan and then life had to throw me for a loop. Gah! But I suppose that’s important to remember for next time, isn’t it? You’ve got to make a plan with enough room to allow for the unplannable.

LESSON OF THE WEEK: AUTHORS MAKE PLANS TO MEET DEADLINES AND GOD LAUGHS. DUST YOURSELF OFF, LAUGH IT OFF, AND GET BACK TO WORK!