Yes, I'm a huge fan of Smashing Pumpkins. When CDs became a thing, my very first CD purchase was the SP Adore album. After seeing him on one of those late night shows as a musical act (probably one of the Jimmy shows), I can say for certain the man still has a voice that gives me tingles.
NO! That's not what I'm here for! The ultimate milestone is finally here and I'm gloating! My first nine book series is published in completion... or is it? Technically, yes. I have a couple of possible spin-off ideas for it, but I've wanted to tuck this one under my belt so I could move onto other series and ideas and genres.
Let me give you a sexy little roster of my published works:
- The Truth about Heroes: One of Many
- The Truth about Heroes: Two Sides to Everything
- The Truth about Heroes: Menage a Trois
- A World Reborn: Children of Heroes
- A World Reborn: Higher Reasoning
- A World Reborn: Deicide
- Each Endless Universe: Close Encounters
- Each Endless Universe: Dual Decisions
- Each Endless Universe: Original Sin
- UnNamed
Heh. Poor UnNamed, all alone down there... Not for long, since UnSung is in the making and even its two sequels are in planning. Hey, how about a quick look at some future projects in the Bingo ball machine while we're here...
- UnSung (UnQuadrilogy, Book 2) (adult epic fantasy)
- UnHeard (UnQuadrilogy, Book 3) (adult epic fantasy)
- UnVeiled (UnQuadrilogy, Book 4) (adult epic fantasy)
- Dreampunk Chronicles 1: Through the Golden Doors (YA steampunk fantasy)
- Piscine (Sci-fi Crime Thriller)
- Rock My World (webcomic) (sci-fi romance)
Now, those are the ones I feel okay with confirming, each either in advanced planning or a few chapters set up at least. I do have a romance novel idea I'm tossing around as well as a non-fiction idea on the joys and discipline of drawing. I'm actually going to start working on the YA fantasy book next. It will be shorter and kid-friendly, a very different challenge from UnSung, which is an important draw in writing for me-- don't stay comfortable in any one place. I came into this wanting to try anything and everything and test myself. As long as I'm relatively obscure, I can just keep sneakily building my library with whatever I wish, see which ones build momentum. I'm also very careful to choose genres and ideas that I would not hate to keep writing. While I would certainly take a demand into concern, I also have no intention of pandering to one. Having the freedom to work and grow while making it available for public consumption and support is a nice balance.
UnSung will be a work in progress for the next few months yet. I have yet to draft the third part and epilogue and even once they're written, I will attempt to pull in some beta readers and run many edits regardless of how beta reading goes. I'd love to get some eyes on it, but I also don't intend to hold it hostage. As I've said, where I am now, I have no intention of growing stagnant. As long as the ideas keep coming, I'm going to keep moving forward. One of the advantages to living in these times is that we don't have to sit and wait for approval to keep running along the path to growth. I'm not a traditional girl and I won't wait for traditional means. It's just not happening and it doesn't have to.
Don't let gatekeepers stand in the way of your ambitions. Gatekeepers don't mean that your work is ironclad or guaranteed or even that your job is easier. It's not. There are many people who see traditional publishing as appealing because of the amount of work they don't have to do. Whatever your ambitions, bask in the fact that you have options suited to your vision. I'm sure you've seen these before, but there's no shortcut to a masterpiece any way you go. You can count on only ever being able to pick two...
It's not a hard rule for every type of creative pursuit, mind you, and when you're the only one involved you can usually tell yourself you can be all three. However, any outside help you get, it's realistic to expect it to fall under this rule.
Damn it, I just can't avoid the creep into advice mode...
CELEBRATE, YOU WORKAHOLIC, YOU!
In any case, another birthday, but these milestones are a rare beauty indeed. Want to give me a cheap birthday gift? Grab one of my ebooks or two, write a review (and no, I'm not going to act as if the world has ended if you don't like it either-- my career aspirations aren't nearly that fragile).
And look forward to more work ahead!
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