Writing Updates
Yet again, it’s been a while since my last update…but that means that I actually have more news to share.
I am both incredibly excited and also extremely nervous to say that, as of yesterday, I have jumped into the query trenches with The Queen of Darkness and Nightmares, book one of my Arthurian legend/Celtic mythology inspired trilogy. I know there is still a very long and uncertain road ahead of me, given how hard traditional publishing is these days, but I’m a person of action, so it is good to feel like I am actually doing something toward my dreams.
I’d started working on books two and three of the trilogy already, but I’ve slowed my work on them in favor of an idea I had for a standalone (still adult fantasy). I’m the worst at coming up with titles, so I still don’t have one despite being almost 60K words into the draft. The setting/time period is heavily inspired by Victorian Edinburgh and has the vibes of Serpent and Dove x One Dark Window x Defy the Night. My drafting has been a little slower for this one, since I’ve had to take a little more time for research than with my previous book (there are alchemists!!), but slow and steady wins the race, right?
Current Read: A Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. I know these books have been out for a while, but I wasn’t overly sold on the dialogue from the initial MI series, so I delayed reading anything else. I’m happy to say that the dialogue has very much improved, so I’m liking this series much better than the OG MI series. I’m all for the tortured anti-hero characters (Will Herondale is basically Victorian-era Jace), but I have to say that I am wholeheartedly team-Jem in this series (and yes, I do know how all of this wraps up, and I know it’s going to hurt).
Previous Read: The Ballad of Neverafter by Stephanie Garber. I was not expecting to like this series (despite its popularity), but I devoured the first two books in a week. Despite seeming overly “fluffy” at first, there are some surprisingly dark/twisted fairytale elements in it that hooked my attention. The real selling point for me in this book, though, was Jacks, the one and only Prince of Hearts. He gave me some serious Solmir (For the Throne) vibes and he absolutely ripped out my heart with what he said/did in that scene at the end (it hurt worse than Rowan Whitethorn’s “Where is my wife?” at the end of Empire of Storms).
