August News & Ruminations

A dreamy summertime view along one of the country roads between my house and the trail where I like to do my "Walk & Talk" sessions, recording the first draft of my novels with Dragon dictation.

​Hello, gorgeous readers & romance friends!

I hope your August is off to a glistening start. I dunno, I find August to be one of my best writing months out of the whole year, so I'm looking forward to hopefully being very productive as we head down the homestretch of summer into fall. Fingers crossed! 

​I have a few quick August News items for you:

-- DUKE OF SHADOWS Amazon Deal DownUnder! Throughout August, Amazon AU is offering the ebook of my latest swashbuckling historical romance for only $1.49! Grab a copy for your Kindle  HERE!

-- Likewise, Amazon India will be having a 1-day sale on DUKE OF SHADOWS on August 25. (I don't know yet what the price will be.) Say hello to sexy Luke & Portia HERE!

-- The Gryphon Chronicles is now in Kindle Unlimited! From my Middle Grade pen name, E.G. Foley, this exciting, Victorian-set fantasy adventure series is a fun family read for ages 9 & Up, but lots of adults love it, too! (NOTE: These books are in the AR Program, so kids can earn points if your school participates in the AR Reading Program!)

And now, for the Pinterest Boards of the month!! If you're in the mood for some yummy historical eye-candy, hop on over to Pinterest and peruse my latest collections of Regency goodness.

This month's featured boards are Sumptuous Period Interiors and Regency Wardrobe. I think you'll really enjoy them ~ I'd sure love it if you'd follow me on Pinterest. I'm new on there, and a little lonely! :)

Follow Me!

August Ruminations

On Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

Uh-oh!

Last month, I told you guys about my decision to decline a deal at auction with a Big 5 publisher in favor of going indie.

Well, this month, I have another pretty big announcement once again, this time, concerning my exploration of the small-town contemporary romance and fantasy romance genres.

Sigh. If I only I were a faster writer! I am working on improving all the time in that department, believe me. It's an ongoing process (struggle?) but I wanted to give you, my dear readers, an update on where we are with Harmony Falls and Age of Heroes. Seems I bit off more than I could chew.

My two Harmony Falls books, Dream of Me and Belong to Me, were, you might recall, co-written with my wonderful sister, Jaz Kennedy. Wellll, we had only gotten two books into the series when opportunity came knocking for Jaz and she got a job offer she couldn't refuse. I am thrilled for my little sis, especially since this is in the professional field she actually got her degree in (nonfiction writing). But she no longer had the time to co-write with me. (She's also got 2 little kids in addition to her job, so she's a busy lady.)

Since she was the one who had established the contemporary "voice" of the series, and, given that I haven't yet developed those lightning-fast writing speeds I dream of, I just can't see myself continuing with it alone at this time. Maybe someday. But for the foreseeable future, the Harmony Falls series is pretty much canceled. I apologize to anyone who's disappointed at the news. I'm bummed, too. Small-town contemporary is such a fun, heartwarming subgenre of romance. (Think Hallmark Christmas movies. I'm sorry, I love them, and I don't care what anyone says! LOL.) I will just have to continue enjoying these kinds of books as a reader.

The situation is quite different when it comes to Age of Heroes, the medieval-esque fantasy romance quartet I was (and am still) so excited to begin with Paladin's Prize. Though I've only managed to write one of these so far, I am putting this series in my back pocket to continue later, for sure. Though I have no idea when. I am just in love with writing fantasy romance. This type of book is much closer to my natural writing voice than contemporary. I am much more at home in historical type settings. So, I definitely plan on diving back into Age of Heroes at some point, once I've caught up in Regency Historicals and Middle Grade.

Once more, apologies all around. Awkward! I feel terrible about this. But it is what it is. Things don't always go to plan. I did not expect to lose 6 months perfecting my New York proposal and waiting for the Big 5 deal to be finalized, only to finally receive  the contract and realize it was unsignable. So I lost a ton of time there.

Then, thanks to my really dumb decision to try writing like a "pantser" (for fun, of course!) rather than the plotter I've always been caused my last 5 releases to be gigantic, double-sized books. (FYI, a plotter outlines their novel in advance; a pantser writes "by the seat of their pants," letting the story unfold along the way. Really fun process to do that, but SUPER inefficient for me. And, go figure, when left to its own devices, I now know that my subconscious *loves* to produce huge, sprawling, complicated, gigantic-sized tomes. Oy.) Those kinds of jumbo-sized novels take WAY longer to write. As a result, what should've been about 10 new books from me was only about 5. So...yeah, I did this to myself! Live and learn, I guess! Onward.

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"Well, that didn't work out as planned!"

I appreciate your patience with me! Even though these projects didn't quite work out as planned, I still feel they were a very valuable experience. I learned a huge amount from doing them, had great fun, and most importantly, I got to spread my wings creatively. It's a journey! *g* Onward...

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