A whole new … everything

In the kingdom of Connecticut, autumn is symbolic of the end. It’s when the flowers stop growing, the trees start to fall asleep, and the playgrounds become a little less busy. It is not ordinarily a time for renewal.

For me, however, autumn 2019 is a season of rebirth. Like Snow White in the glass coffin, Sleeping Beauty at the end of her 300-year nap, and Cinderella after trying on the lost glass slipper, my books are getting a whole new lease on life. As am I.

Without going into too much detail, a change in representation made it necessary for me to remove my entire series from one account and upload it to another. It could have been a simple switch. But anyone who knows me well knows that I have a tendency to turn even the simplest tasks into long, all-consuming projects because I need them to be perfect. (That, and I’m slightly OCD with a penchant for second-guessing everything.)

So in May, I thought about the fact that my books would have to be moved anyway. I thought about how they’d need to get new identification numbers anyway. I thought about how I was never really happy with the third book’s cover. And I thought about the fact that between the launch of Desperately Ever After and the conclusion of the series, I moved, navigated two pregnancies, had more than a few health scares, and tried to keep up with the impossible task of raising a newborn/toddler. Needless to say, I may have been a little preoccupied (aka crazed, sleep-deprived, manic, spiritually depleted) at times.

So on October 15 — after a summer filled with road trips, beach vacations, and revisions — I am relaunching the entire series without a two-year gap between books 2 and 3. I’m relaunching the series with a new cover for Skipping Midnight, a better map, character lists, and tighter prose. I’m relaunching the series with every plot hole I could find sewn shut, every mediocre word rethought, and many opportunities for future stories sprinkled in.

But most importantly, I am relaunching the series. I formatted the manuscript. I uploaded the art, keyed in the descriptions, and chose what programs in which to enroll. I will be in full control of my creation from here on out — no longer waiting on a white-gloved intermediary to make every minor change.

Technically, I was a self-published author in 2014 and 2016, when these books first came out. But I did not have full control over them. I was “self -published” through an agency. Now that I’m pulling the strings, autumn of 2019 just feels different. It feels invigorating. Like a crisp October breeze or cascade of orange leaves twirling through the air … it feels like I — and my characters — are free.