Publishing News!

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

I am absolutely delighted to share this news with you. Take a look:

This is incredible news. The Name and the Key was my graduate thesis at Seton Hill University and I always wanted to see it published. Of course, I'm rewriting it from scratch, but the skeleton of the earlier version is still there and I've been working hard on it for months. And I always wanted to develop it into a trilogy!

The Name and the Key follows Lily's story, where, as a young girl, she discovers her mother's body in the marshes, and is haunted by what she thinks is her mother's ghost. It's far more complicated than that--the haunting is not what it seems. The spirit follows Lily through all reflective surfaces: mirrors, glass, and still water, and begs Lily to "open the door" and be let out. Lily has no idea how to stop these visions or save her mother and it plagues her into young adulthood. Her childhood friend Andresh is acquainted with darker magic from his time abroad, and knows a way to save Lily from the curse, but his own secrets may destroy them both.

The Step and the Walk is the second book that's actually a flashback. It is written as a journal that belongs to Andresh, so readers get to see his point of view during his time abroad. A lot of secrets are revealed in the book as Lily reads it, but it mostly chronicles Andresh's pursuit of magic that can stop death, and his bargain with the demon he calls Isabelle, who reveals the secrets of such magic to him at a great cost.

The Fear and the Flame follows Lily's point of view again right after she finishes reading Andresh's journal. She vows to save Andresh, (and from what, I can't tell you, because it is a huge spoiler if I reveal it here) and ventures to his homeland of Sindalia to find the grimoire that shares Isabelle's true name. Lily plans to command the demon and get her to reveal the key to bringing Andresh back to her...and then Lily plans to kill her. There is a lot of danger in this third book that resolves the series, but as this is a romantasy, there will be a happily ever after--don't worry!

This is the first time in my life I have books under contract that haven't been written yet. My publisher happened to learn through my social media that I was working on a series, and offered me a contract. My agent Rick Lewis helped set that in motion, and voila! Three novels to be published by Oliver Heber Books! I was so stunned by how things came together, and my publisher, who is one of the kindest, supportive writers out there, told me that OHB is in the business of building and supporting authors. I'm so grateful I'll be growing as a writer with them.

The only thing I'm worried about is working under a deadline. Every book I've written has taken me about two years, although technically Son of the Siren took nearly three because of all the rewrites I did based on beta reader feedback.

I don't think I'm allowed to share with you my timeline because it's a part of the contract and the details of that are confidential, but let's just say that I'll be pumping things out faster than I ever have before. And that has me nervous.

Because of this, your friendly neighborhood pantser is trying to plot the trilogy in advance, and in detail. I'm using this outline that I saved as a Word document years ago. I'll be doing one detailed outline per book and keeping it on me like a Bible as I try to zip through writing these novels.

In the meantime, I absolutely cannot contain my excitement for finally finding this story a home. I am so grateful I have the support and encouragement of OHB and even though I'm nervous, I'm grinning from ear to ear and hope to enjoy this particular writing journey.

Please wish me luck!