The good
Queen’s Crown is ready for copyediting!
Yes, I’m so excited about this that I’m just going to jump into the update with zero fanfare. It even has a cover, which you can see in my Facebook group. I’m not going to say this series has been a thorn in my side, because it hasn’t been that at all, but I’m excited to finish it off and move back to scifi. As I mentioned before, after it’s finished, I’ll package the entire trilogy into one novel called Crownkeeper and release it as a standalone for those who prefer their fantasy that way.
Something I didn’t plan on—A House of Nebulas, the sequel to The Stars Wait Not, was more complete than I assumed when I set it aside early last year, so I made some edits and handed it off to a beta reader. Because of my editor’s schedule, I can’t guarantee that’ll be released in 2021, but there’s a possibility of seeing it later in the year. One change from The Stars Wait Not—it won’t be illustrated. That was a huge undertaking, and one I’m just not up for this year. But I don’t want to delay A House of Nebulas further, so I hope readers can forgive me. I do plan on having some cool character art for the back of the book done.
The bad
I don’t have anything else in progress right now, which feels really . . . odd. But inspiration can strike at the strangest time, so I’m hopeful another character or setting will spring into my mind shortly. It’s kind of an exciting wait!
The ugly
On an even unhappier note, I won’t be attending the Realm Makers conference in St. Louis this year. I pretty much saw this coming last spring, so it wasn’t a total shock, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a bit of bummer, especially since Treason’s Crown is a Realm Award finalist. But with the isolation of the past fifteen months, I need to watch my mental health carefully, and three days of hardcore masking and social distancing is the last thing I need to be putting myself through right now. Next year looks like it’s out as well (New Jersey is likely to have restrictions into July 2022), but maybe I’ll be able to return in 2023?
And that’s it! I wish I had more exciting news, but there’s always the second half of the year, right?
That is a lot of good, though! <3