Make no mistake. It has been a while. I could blame it on pre-release anxiety as I prepare for the release of my debut novel, which is in two days, by the way. Or, I could blame it on the struggles I’ve had recently when it comes to wrapping up the last two chapters of my novella-in-progress. Either way, I think I’ll avoid placing any blame and just say this… I’m glad to be writing again.
Yes, there is still a lot to do.
As I stated above, I have two chapters left before I can close out the novella I’ve been toiling away at the last few months. It feels a little strange to find myself slogging through a story when I powered through the final book in my trilogy in roughly thirty days, but that’s just the way it goes somedays. I wish I could say that writing like a madman was the kind of effort I could maintain indefinitely, but it’s simply not the case. I am happy with the story that I’ve put together so far, and I am determined to see it finished before the end of the month. The story is a nice little bit of dark, moody fun that highlights Genevieve’s journey between the last two chapters of “The Girl in the Storm.” The novella is titled, “She Hunts in Shadow”, and my tentative plan is to have it released (in eBook form only) sometime around January. That, of course, is all to coincide with a little piece of news that I’ll be announcing, officially, on my Instagram page. What is that news, you may ask?
That news would be the release date of “The Woman in Darkness”, the second book in A Season of Angels. You can find that reveal coming up this Saturday, just head on over to Instagram and look for @stanfieldwrites, if you want to know when to expect the next installment of Genevieve’s journey into a dark, strange new world. I’m expecting to have the edits back on that manuscript tomorrow, if all goes well, and I’m already eager to dive back into that story. It has been quite an adventure bringing this all together, and I am beyond excited to know that I am so close to finally sharing that with all of you. It’s been a strange, wild, and sometimes terrifying ride to get this far.
But here I am. Two days away.
Two days from the release of my debut novel, “The Girl in the Storm.” I keep pinching myself, wondering how it is that I actually managed to get this far? Over ten years ago I sat down and wrote the first two chapters to the story that would one day become, “The Woman in Darkness”. But that idea languished for years untouched, never going beyond those two dark chapters. In the years that followed I began writing another story, this one had a working title I hated (I called it “Chosen”) and I managed to pull five whole chapters together, before it too languished like the first. It wasn’t until my first writing workshop at Southern New Hampshire University that I finally found the courage and drive to pull myself out of the muck. I submitted the first chapter as my final project for the class and eight weeks later I went from five rough chapters to a fully complete, ready to be edited manuscript. It was, as I’ve said before, a wild ride.
And that crazy little ride has finally led me here. “Chosen” became “The Girl in the Storm”, and the discarded idea that began over a decade ago would morph into the second novel in my new supernatural trilogy. I’ve learned a valuable lesson these last two years.
Never give up. Yes, you may throw an idea aside. You may grow weary of the creative work you’re attempting to pull together. And that’s fine. But don’t throw it away completely. And never, ever give up on your dream. It can come true. You just have to find the strength to make it happen. It won’t be easy and sometimes it may seem like a mountain you just can’t climb. But eventually you will. Eventually that dream will become reality.
It did for me. In two days, the story I never dreamed would become reality will be released into the world. Sometimes you just have to believe in yourself. Sometimes you just have to push ahead, no matter what the little nagging doubts in the back of your mind might say. But don’t take it from me. Find out for yourself. Chase your dream, whatever it is, and work at it whenever you find the time and courage to do so. You’ll get there one day.
As for me, there are many more stories left to tell. The third book in A Season of Angels is written and I plan to send that off for editing at some point early next year. I’m excited to bring the conclusion of this story to life, and I hope that when the time comes you will join me on this dark, thrilling adventure. For now, “The Girl in the Storm” will release on November 4th and in a few days, I’ll have an announcement on the sequel to that harrowing adventure too.
Stay tuned, my friends, there is so much more yet to come.
