A bit of (self-)accountability
And a surprise announcement of sorts
So. One of the things I promised in my subscription and main newsletter is that I'll be more honest about all aspects of my writing. Aside from committing to that because it's a good idea, it also keeps me...well, I'm not sure if it keeps me honest, or just keeps me turning things over in my mind, but it's up there.
Today, I wanted to talk about romance. Specifically about why I've not written it in the past but I am starting to now. It's got nothing to do with writing to market though.
The truth is, I'm living the happily ever after dream. I love my partner with all my heart, and we've now been together 20 years, which a lot of people don't realise. Well, dear readers, I'm 46. My eldest is 25, my youngest is 22, and we're coming up on being in our life, which we started together as an adventure in 2006, when we moved from Edinburgh to Gloucestershire. We've been friends to lovers, to inseparable, and I'm so lucky, so I've been thinking about the fact that I've always said 'I won't write romance because I don't understand it properly. The truth is, I do understand it quite well, but it's not the easiest thing to think about sometimes, because I also know how not being in love feels, and to be honest, I think that's why I've always maintained I'm not writing romance.
The thing is though, I've got so many stories to tell, and I think that saying 'I'm not writing that' is something that I don't think is quite right. I guess that one of the things I should probably more say is that it's taken me a longer time - than most might - to actually get to a place where I'm happy writing about it and talking about it and all of that stuff.
What struck me most is that there's a lot of the things that I said at the beginning of my career that no longer feels....true exactly.
This is a very roundabout way of announcing a new novella, Moonlight and Snow. Paid subscribers will get it on Christmas Eve, and it goes live on Christmas Day. I'm just waiting for the pre-order to go live, but it's a brand new story set in the "Once Upon a Twist" universe.
The reason I've gone this way instead of keeping plugging away at my backlist is I really feel like I've got nothing out there this year, bar a few freebies, and I want to put one in the win column. Ten Hour is off for editing, so I'm happy about that, but...I need to do something that's a bit of a win. And this is it.