Status Update! April 2023

Hey, everybody! The last few months have been pretty hectic, so I think we’re well overdue for a status report!

First up, let’s talk about my novels and where they’re at in the creation process. I spent most of January and February finishing up the edits for Memoirs of a Household Demon. My editor did an awesome job helping me trim down the overall word count without doing any significant damage to the narrative as a whole. This came as a great relief to me since I was worried that I’d lose a lot of the humor and character development that I’d fallen in love with over the course of writing the story. Now that I’m down to 110,000 words, we should be within the reasonable limit to explore traditional publishing options. I’ve started querying agents and hopefully we’ll be hearing some good news sometime soon! (Prayers appreciated.) 

Going back and forth with my editor on Memoirs was such a revelatory experience. I learned a metric crap-ton about all of my bad habits, how to fix them, and how to tighten up my writing in a far smoother and more professional way. This led me to rewrite the opening of chapter 1, shifting from a somewhat exposition-heavy introduction to a more immersive one. I’m feeling much better about the end result. 

That said, I went back to look at Prodigal Seed after two years of neglect and realized that it could use a revamp. A big one. So I’ve begun the long and arduous process of re-writing Prodigal Seed for what I hope will be the last time. I just wish the revisions were as easy as they were for Memoirs. Apparently, Sci-fi is quite a bit more demanding to write than urban fantasy because of all the extra world-building and imagery. In the meantime, I’m planning to commission more artwork for Memoirs and Prodigal Seed. It’ll be incredible to get some visuals of Yuriel and the crew, not to mention a solid depiction of Indigo 03 and the Omegas. 

As for my short stories, my goal (or pipe dream?) is to pump out a new one at least once a month. I actually wrote one for April, but I decided to enter it in a writing contest that only accepts stories that have never been published on any platform. That means that I’ll have to wait until the contest winner is announced in October to release it. If I’m the winner, it’ll be formally published and you’ll get to read it that way. If I’m not, then you’ll find it here instead. The story is titled “Emily’s Shadow” and actually has references to Memoirs of a Household Demon so I’m really excited to release it when I get the chance. As for my next short story, I’ll give you one hint as to the theme: ALIENS (No, not the kind with the acid blood, but yes, the kind from outer space. Trust me, it’ll be great.)

Hope you’ve been enjoying my content so far and please remember to subscribe if you haven’t already! It’s totally free and helps me show publishers how much these stories are begging to read!