Come into my cyber livingroom, friends, and have a seat on the couch. It’s time for a little catch-up!
When it comes right down to it, I’m an intensely private person. It’s partly from wanting to give my kids some space and partly because when I shuffle off the old mortal coil several decades down the road, I would like my stories to live on without too much personal-life interference from me. But I’ve had so many lovely people ask what I was up to that I thought I might open the door a crack and put some questions to rest.
First and foremost, I am still writing.
Second—and thanks to so many of you who’ve asked—I’m fine. Several of those proverbial other shoes have dropped and I’m still here. Life is good!
And books, yes. Spring has sprung and summer is icumen in, as they say, so where are books?
The truth is, Acair was ready to take the stage in January when he and I decided the recycle icon was the best place for what was jotted down so far. He spent the winter languishing in his dungeon, I spent that same winter mulling his straits, and we regrouped a couple of months later to get back to business. More to come on a release date, as well as news about more romances!
All of that leads me to perhaps one of the bigger changes in my little world and that is that I’ve parted ways, amicably and with a great amount of residual fondness, from both agent and publisher. I’ve had the priceless opportunity to be a part of traditional publishing through some amazing times, but after twenty-three years with Berkley/Jove and the accompanying umbrellas we were existing under, it was time to make a change.
What does that mean for you, my friends sitting on my cyber sofa?
Well, for one thing, it means more books. Some will be the length we’re accustomed to, some will be shorter, some may be longer, but there will be more. On the fantasy side of things, I’m seriously considering moving away from the trilogy structure for a while and experimenting with just how long a robust Nine Kingdoms book would have to be to tell the story properly.
I will be using a variety of e-book platforms, and I’m definitely leaning toward a print-on-demand entity that produces what I consider to be absolutely lovely books. (If we’re going to read paper books, the paper they’re printed on better be glorious!) The main things that will change will be how much control I have over how often stories are released and how they’re produced. Everything else will feel very familiar.
As for the rest of it, I’ve spent a good part of the past few months just breathing in and out. Sometimes when you lose, for whatever reason, huge things that make up your known life, it takes a bit for the ashes to cool. It also takes some time to decide you’re going to be a plucky little Phoenix, stretch out your wings and eye them for sturdiness, then make a great, big leap into the sunrise.
I’ve watched many people I love make that leap and never thought I would be doing the same. It’s a lot scarier than I suspected it would be, but what a glorious view!
So, that’s where we are, my dear friends. I’m going to pull out my laptop and get back to writing. Please feel free to rummage around in your bags/backpacks/rucksacks for something to read—you all know you have at least one book in there!—and settle in. It’s going to be a fantastic journey from this point on full of new adventures and old character friends. We might even manage some retreats across the Pond where we can all tromp up and down castle stairs, inhale some glorious Highland air, and walk along beaches overlooked by centuries-old castles.
Stay tuned!
Affectionately,
Lynn
