That’s a good question. It’s a long story, and since you come here (or used to) for stories, I'm going to tell you. You deserve an explanation after such a long absence.
Here is the heart of it, I fail to remember over and over again that you can only serve one master.
When Kevin and I moved to Southeast Tennessee, we planned to start a business. At the time that sounded amazing and fun, and it is, but it is also a ridiculous amount of work.
The plan was simple in my mind was this: we would work together during the day, and I would have plenty of time to write sassy, swoony teenage romance in the early mornings and on weekends. Why wouldn’t that be the perfect situation?
If you haven’t forgotten how my crazy brain works, I'm here to tell you, I’m excellent at deluding myself. There was so much delusion going on here I can’t really describe.
The business we started is wonderful, and we are doing something so rewarding. Still, it is a physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing business. You do not leave this business at the door when you lock up the office at night. It is a 24/7 proposition, and it never stops.
Kevin and I are both “type A” people, and we would rather do nothing than do something halfway, so once we started, there really was no time for anything else. In the first two years, we worked eighty-hour weeks regularly. We dropped into bed every night, praying that the phone didn’t wake us with some emergency.
This is not a feel sorry for me thing. Building something together is exhilarating, and while it's had it's difficult moments, we have had a blast and are incredibly blessed.
Of course, there was 2020. Let’s not go there except to say we survived, our business grew, and we kept going. Publishing was a small glimmer of light far, far in the distance of my reality for a very long time. Once I realized I couldn't physically or emotionally do both jobs, I consciously decided to put it on hold and be okay with that.
Now, I don’t want you to be discouraged. During this time, at breaks in the craziness, I wrote. I wrote a lot, actually. I have finished books and extras and started many other stories.
So, are there more Breathe stories? Are there more Thief stories? The simple answer is yes.
There are lots more stories that are done and almost done. But here is the thing. Remember that “type A” thing I referred to? Yeah, that means that publishing isn’t happening yet. I need to relaunch my brand, get some editing done, create some covers, and fix up the website. And thankfully it is all in process. I'm so excited to get back to it.
I’m sorry, dear reader, I disappeared on you for so long. Writing sweet teenage romance with all the angsty drama and suspenseful danger is so much fun. I love my characters, they live in my head as real people. I think about them and what they are up to and create all kinds of difficult and fun situations for them. Still.
This entire thing started as something I did for myself when my kids went to college and no longer needed me.
Then I published, and it became big; not that I’m a big famous writer, I’m not, but the tasks are time-consuming, and it’s a lot to maintain on my own.
I’m not one of those people who can focus on more than one thing at a time, so one master or the other. You see now, right?
My life with Kevin and the people we serve come first. Thankfully, here we are four and a half years later, and we have office staff and help, and the business is thriving. I am taking more time for myself and trying to figure out how to still have my writing career.
Because I have missed you and because I have so much work to do to relaunch, I wanted to do something for you that would make my stories easy to find, give you early access to everything I'm doing and keep us connected. I want you to be part of the relaunch process!
So, I have opened a brand new community. It’s open right now, and there is already free stuff there that I hope you’ll love.
As someone who has been with me on this journey, or even if you’re a new reader, I’d be thrilled to have you be a part of the community so we can get to know each other better. If you’re interested, click on the link I’ve provided and become a follower.
As a follower of my ReamStories community, you can read Gone, the Prequel of the Breathe and Thief Series, and all the one-shots I’ve written so far completely free. Some of these have been published on the blog before. But I have just published a couple I’ve never shown anyone or published anywhere.
Going forward, early access will be available to everything I'm doing- covers, one-shots, new stories, all of it. I can't wait for you to see it and be a part of it.
As a thank you for still being here, wanting to read my stories, and being willing to forgive my absence, I’ve posted two one-shots featuring Rose and Michael, the Rourke parents.
What exactly did Rose say to him after he'd been gone for ten years? If you guessed she had a lot to say? You'd be right.
You get all the tea in that first scene. The second one- I’m just going to let you read that one. My only comment on these scenes is that if you don't read Exhale first, it will be spoiled for you.
This is the reason I love having a community! You can comment after you’ve read a story or a one-shot, and we can discuss the scene! Won’t that be cool? And they will all be in one place for just my readers.
And it’s totally free!
I’m looking forward to sharing more of my writing, connecting with you, and talking about stories, characters, and romance!
I hope you are well and not too battle-scarred from the last few years. I hope we are still friends. Just know I’m still here, praying for you all and writing.
I promise to post more soon. There is way more to the story of moving here. I've already written it all and it's ready to go. My plan is to post Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next little while.
In the next few posts, I will tell you how we got here and share some of my adventures living in the South…
All my best,
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