Let me just say it: There are some scary things going on in the world right now. The Coronavirus is threatening our health, our economy is crashing, and our jobs are, at best, uncertain.

The responsible thing is to stay home. The safe thing. Because this keeps everyone safe, not just you.

If you’re home, you’re not out catching the disease. If you don’t catch the disease, you can’t spread it to others. And if you’ve minimized your exposure to COVID-19, you’re less likely to contribute to it spreading when you do have to go out.

Because there are vulnerable people in this world, some more vulnerable than you. Even if you’re relatively young and reasonably healthy, what could present as a cold to you could send a compromised individual to the hospital, or worse, to their death.

So please, STAY HOME.

Okay, I’m glad we covered that. Now let’s talk about what’s next.

If you’ve read my first book, The Secret of the Codex, you know that I love romance. Kayla and Grady are #couplegoals, and I just loved writing their story.

But except for some fairly steamy-but-still-clean kissing scenes, I didn’t get too much into the romance part. It didn’t feel true to the characters or the story.

In the second book, The Prophecy of the Codex, I explore this a little further. Don’t worry — I don’t get into a lot of details, but you definitely get the point.

I suspect the subsequent books will stay in that same vein.

You have to write what works for the story.

But on February 9th, I started a new book. And this one’s a romance. Like a full-on steamy romance. For mature audiences.

Why the switch?

Who else makes monthly goals?

Setting goals is such a good idea and so helpful! If you don’t set goals, how will you know if you’re achieving your dreams?

So I thought it might be a good idea to keep you guys posted about what I’m working on this month. You know, just for fun. 😊

Have you ever called yourself an “aspiring” writer?

We’ve all been there. Thinking that until we have a book published, or edited, or drafted, or _________, we can’t call ourselves a “writer (period).” We think we are “aspiring” to a lofty title, a far-off goal that may or may not even be clear in our heads. We think that “aspiring” tells people we’re humble. And, deep down, we think “aspiring” means we’re off the hook.

Ouch.

Happy New Year and New Decade!

When I started the last decade, I didn’t really mark the occasion. I barely noted it at the time! But it led into the most challenging but also most rewarding decade of my life.

So I’m excited to see what the next decade holds! I’d hope for more rewarding things, more exciting things, and less of the challenging things, but I was recently reminded that those who go through challenges are often the most kind, understanding, caring, selfless people. And that’s not a coincidence.

But this post isn’t about the decade. It’s about 2020! (My OCD just loves that number.) I have a lot of goals for the new year (some I’ve already made progress on!), so I thought that putting them here would help make me accountable to stick to them! There are a ton — and I know there will be adjustments made along the way — but I’m excited about this year and ready to get these things DONE!

Can you believe we’re at the end of 2019?

This year was pretty, um, challenging for me, so I’m glad to be moving on to 2020! But before I do that, I wanted to give you a rundown of everything that’s happened this year. I’m sure even I will be surprised as I go through it!

Last year, way back before my first book launch (was that just last year??), I wrote a guest post on Shayla Raquel’s blog all about Instagram. I talked about how authors can use Instagram to market themselves before they even have a book out.

I’d heard a lot about “building your platform,” but no one seemed to have good, practical advice. And the advice I could find led me to believe that I had to take pictures of me holding my book and fill my Instagram feed with it. What else would a writer talk about, right?

WRONG. Writers have so much more to say!

But Instagram kept coming up on my radar. So, naturally, I wanted to dive in and learn all I could.

So I did.