It's always amazing to me how quickly time flies. Some days, the hours just drag on, but when I look back, so much time has passed! I wanted to introduce my 5th and latest release, "Happy Singles Awareness Day," and am a little embarrassed to admit that it was published four months ago!
I can't believe it's been so long! While writing "Lucky in Love," I realized that young adult romance is definitely my preferred genre, and I knew I needed another book in this series next before I could focus on a younger audience with more fun and less focus on romance. My favorite thing in the world is watching new relationships unfold, and that goes for the stories I write. As I've mentioned before, I'm not usually in control of the plot--my characters tend to have the final say. So, I'm usually a little surprised myself to see how these relationships end up working out.
"Happy Singles Awareness Day" had been in my head for quite some time, though not in the way you might think. I came up with the title long ago, and had been brainstorming how to form it into a viable book. Because I am a pantser and struggle with coming up successful outlines, I had to finally just take a leap of faith and write it and hope that it all came together. I was a little nervous to write it, because I didn't want Carlee's breakup with her long-term boyfriend to be too much of the focus. I tend to write on the lighter side of things, and was worried it might be too much drama. But of course, if you read it, you'll see that this book is full of drama, but mostly from Carlee's mom.
You see, the trouble with Carlee's mom is that while I was writing this book, my husband and I watched our favorite movie, "Pride and Prejudice," the BBC version, which ended up taking several nights. Why is being an adult sooo obnoxious sometimes? Anyway, as a result of being submerged into that movie for several days, Carlee's mother, who is a pushy control freak, accidentally became Mrs. Bennett. It took a lot of editing and work, and with the help of my beta readers and my editor, I was able to tame down her crazy. Mostly, haha. There is still lots of drama, but hopefully there's enough humor and swoony moments to tame it down a bit.
As an author, I typically am only able to work on one book at a time, publishing a new book every year. However, this year is different. I've got three books I am working on since I've been struggling keeping my focus. My first book is "Beans." This is a modern-day Jack and the Beanstalk twist that I started writing two years ago. I've had to completely rewrite the story and change some characters a bit, but I'm really excited for this one. This will be Book 2 of my Forest Hills High Magical Tales series. (Book 1 is Evan the Horrible). This series is mostly magical with just a touch of romance.
The second book I am working on is Book 3 of my Honeyville High Romance series. So far, the title is, "Boy Bands and Summer Kisses," but I'm not set on it. This is a fun one where my character gets to date the lead singer of her favorite band.
And lastly, the third book I'm working on is "Kissing the Prom Queen," Book 3 of my Magical Troubles series. This is a spinoff of the Princess and the Frog. I'm also excited about this one, but am stuck on how she's going to communicate as a frog. I'm hoping I can figure it out soon so I can get back to work on this.
With three books in the works, I'm still fairly certain I'll be publishing only one by the end of this year, but next year may possibly be the year I publish two. We'll see. It can be tough finding time and inspiration with a young child still at home. But in just a few months...he'll be going to Kindergarten! It's only half day, so I probably won't get tons of writing time, but maybe he'll start needing less of my time.
So tell me, what's going on in your lives? What book are you hoping I'll finish first? Let me know!
