Release day for The Blood-Cursed is finally here and I am so relieved and excited. For a while it was starting to feel like we'd never make it here, so getting to say that The Blood-Cursed is out in the world today feels amazing. This book has been through a long and arduous journey to publication (maybe that's karma for what I've made my characters go through?) but it has come out on the other side as beautiful and splendid as ever.
I've talked about this before so bear with me for a second, but I started drafting The Blood-Cursed before even beginning the querying process. I didn't want to deal with sophomore book syndrome and I thought I was the genius who would avoid it (spoiler alert that is not the case). So this book got started November 2020. For reference I signed the contract for The Legionnaire in 2022.
I sent in my draft of book 2 late 2022 and then realized I had made a vital mistake with the plot that needed to be addressed before the book was even worth reading. There was a whole POV I needed to add to connect book 1 to book 3 and enhance the plot line of The Blood-Cursed. That edit was finished early 2023, and I sent it off to Zara and my most favorite cousin Catie for edits.
Catie's edits, as usual, were invaluable to the process of polishing The Blood-Cursed and getting it ready for readers. I went through the developmental process with just her notes, and the book that came out of it was so much stronger.
Over the summer I got the devastating news that Inimitable was no longer going to be moving forward with publishing the rest of my debut series and I was heartbroken. I had put so much faith and hard work into the company both with my own stories and helping with the marketing, that the single email ending our future working relationship felt like a punch to the gut.
But as time moved forward I knew it was for the best. The book was good, it's one of my most favorite things I've ever written. Of course I am biased, but I think I've earned that right. This change meant I had complete control over the publishing journey for this series going forward, and I was ready to leap in. Having friends like Jessi made this easier too, since I knew I could come to her with any questions about the indie process.
Everyone was so supportive when I announced the change, and it was so heartwarming to feel the community rallying around me and my little book. I will never stop being grateful for that. So I set a new release date and got to learning. There's a lot of things that I didn't know about going the indie route, but I wanted to release The Blood-Cursed in October so that meant things were going full speed ahead.
To everyone who helped me get this book finished you have my eternal gratitude. Especially Mandi Lynn, who fit my cover resize into her busy new mom life. I don't know what I would have done without her help.
If you are thinking of giving this series a try, thank you. My greatest dream as an author has always been to find that one reader who needed the story I have to tell. If you love my book, or if you have thoughts about it I would love if you messaged me. Until next time, thanks for reading and celebrating with me.
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