December 2024 Update

'Tis the holiday season! Here in the states, we just celebrated Thanksgiving, which means we're now legally ordained to celebrate Christmas with obnoxious levels of enthusiasm. That being said, there are a bunch of different holidays being celebrated this time of year, and they're all just as special.

So how did November go? If you recall, I was attempting to write 50,000 words of a brand new book. Did I hit my goal?

Not even close.

That being said, I'm glad I tried. In making the attempt, I learned a lot about myself as an author; the pace at which I enjoy writing, the way I need to approach new projects, and the importance of preparation.

In order to even make my attempt, I need to spend all of October writing twice as many chapters as usual. This gave me a solid backlog of content, which meant I didn't need to bounce back and forth between multiple different projects. At least, in theory. Realistically, I still continued posting three times a week, and still engaged with my work so that I could incorporate feedback, make edits, things like that. I also didn't prep my reflections, as that's not something that can be done until the final version of the chapter is in your hands.

Now, while I did have a solid backlog of content, the extra time needed to prep it meant I wasn't really preparing the actual new book I wanted to write. I had bits and pieces of an outline, but nothing solid.

However, going into November, I didn't think it would be much of a problem. After all, Blood & Chlorophyll is going really well, and I've never once outlined for that book. However, this is where I ran into my own hubris. You see, with Blood & Chlorophyll, I'm only writing one chapter every two weeks. That's a pretty reasonable pace, and it gives me a bunch of time between releases to think about where the story is going. Are there plot points that need to be foreshadowed? What should happen in the next chapter?

If I'm going to write a new book almost entirely in one month, that's simply not possible without a solid outline. But like I said, I'm incredibly happy I attempted this challenge. I learned so much, and I'm excited to get back to a nice comfortable pace.

So what will become of Six Feet Over/Under?

It's still going to be my next book, as was always intended. Whenever Blood & Chlorophyll reaches its end, I'll switch over to SFOU. So honestly, from a reader's perspective, nothing has changed! It's still a story I'm incredibly passionate about, it just happens to be one that needs a bit more care and attention put into it. I certainly hope you enjoyed the little teaser I put out for it, I think it does a great job of capturing what the story is about.

Anyways, long story short, writing is hard sometimes, and I've learned the proper way to pace myself. Moving on!

Suddenly A Succubus continues to be a blast to work on, especially now that we're digging into some pretty weighty character dynamics. I hope you've all been enjoying the reconciliation between our resident angel and demon! I've got some fun things planned for the back half of the book, and I can't wait to share them all with you.

My big project this month is going to be going back and revising Book One of Suddenly A Succubus. I'll be taking all the feedback I got from my wonderful editor and incorporating it in to make the story even stronger. At some point, once the edits are finalized and I'm closer to publication, I'll make a post about what kind of differences you might expect from the online version of Book One and the official published version.

I recently got back the cover art for the book, and it's beautiful. I'm really excited to share the cover with you guys, but I need to finish working on all the typography and whatnot. Hopefully soon!

In other news, I'm officially closing the poll for Aurelius University's mascot. Let's all give a big welcome to the Aurelius Aurora! It may not be the most typical mascot, but honestly, I kind of love that. It's fun, it's unique, and it will no doubt be incredibly colorful.

On the Blood & Chlorophyll side of things, there's not too much to say. I'm having a lot of fun with it, and it's a pleasant surprise that the book ended up longer than I intended. It's been a lot of fun to spend more time with characters other than Alicia and Kat, and I'm excited to continue building the secondary cast.

Stepping back slightly, Patreon has recently added a bunch of new features for creators, and I'm beginning to poke at some of them. For the month of December, first time Patrons will be eligible for a bit of a discount! On your end, Patrons can also now gift memberships, so if you have any friends or family that are in desperate need of some demon porn, you know where to send them ;)

I think that's everything I needed to touch on. Don't forget that I'm being a very busy girl over on Bluesky, so if you want more of my random bullshit, feel free to create an account and follow me over there!

Other than that, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season <3

Nyx