Oh, Hey There. I’m back?

It’s been a while. Over two years, in fact. Since the last novel push for the Sven Seven-Tails crossover event, I took a bit of a hiatus from writing and Frankie (aka F.J. Blooding) moved to Alaska, so we decided to put our co-authorship on hold.

Don’t worry though. I have been working (slowly) on two exciting new solo projects and Frankie is moving full steam ahead on the next Whiskey-Verse series. We are incredibly proud of the books we’ve done together, and hopefully we’ll be able to add to the Hattie Hunt library again someday.

Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time at home. (Covid-19, I’m looking at you.) So, I decided it was time to get back in the saddle and give the website a face lift. I think it’s going well, though it may be as much a refresh as it is an avoidance of the next chapter I should be working on.

Because writing words has been a challenge for the last few years. If I’m honest, since I finished writing Grizzly Attraction. Man, I love that book for a lot of reasons. Mason and his porcupine may be one of my favorite characters I’ve ever created. It is the first book I wrote beginning to end. Writing the book just felt… good. The words flowed. It wasn’t perfect, but I wrote it in record time. (Not hard to do if you consider the first novel I started in 2004 still isn’t finished.) And I had a rock-star co-author to fill in the bits I missed and make it rock-solid.

I finished Grizzly Attraction with a writing high that has left everything since feeling empty. I’ve heard that feeling talked about. I didn’t think I would experience it myself. But here I am. Terrified I will never write another book as good as that one.

The crazy thing is, I never thought I would write a book like that to begin with. I spent years avoiding writing romance like the plague. I had never ready any kind of urban fantasy or paranormal books, let alone paranormal romance.

Funny how things work out.

If you talk to any author out there, successful or not, indie or traditional, I bet they would tell you how many many stories they have that they want to tell. I know I certainly do.

My problem is I haven’t been able to find the words to tell them. I have started two romances and an urban fantasy since we finished Mirror Mirror Demon Rubble. Those are just the ones that I’ve applied a concerted effort to working on. I have two others that have been on the back-burner for years.

Turns out, I suck at follow-through.I’m not writing this looking for a pity party or to make excuses. I’m writing this to be real. I’m not the only one struggling like this, and I am hoping writing about it might shake some things loose. I guess I could just journal about it, but that’s basically what a blog is anyway. Putting it out in the world instead of in a dust covered notebook seems more cathartic.

The thing is, I have learned a lot in the last few years. It’s cliche, but the struggle is real. Not making progress on stories you want to tell comes with a lot of baggage. Some people are better than others at converting that baggage into something productive.

On my path to finally starting to create again, I’ve done a lot of trial and error over the things that work for me, i.e. what kind of writer I am. So far that has involved finding a middle ground between my panster roots (remember that book I started in 2004? It only took 13+ years to figure out maybe pantsing isn’t the way for me) and our expertly outlined co-authorship (Frankie makes outlines for a living. She’s like, the outline god.)

I definitely fall somewhere in-between. I need structure, but if you ask me to outline every chapter, I’ll make it a few in and go completely brain-dead. I struggle to outline stories I have literal tomes of plot and character and everything else for.

Enter discovery number two. I write CHARACTERS. Apparently plot is for chumps. At least, that’s what my characters tell me when I ask them how they are going to get from point A to point B. “You mean it can’t be done with a bit of meaningful banter and relationships? You need action? And movement? You need to know WHY the bad guy is bad?” Muse, exit left.

Addressing those kinds of issues was a lot easier when I shared an office with Frankie. And more importantly, when I had her co-authorship of plotting amazingness to fall back on.

Writing a solo book is hard. The level of responsibility and fear and self-doubt can be suffocating. But I’m working on it. And, I’m slowly making progress. You guys, I want to tell you about these stories SO bad. But I also don’t want to disappoint you. Did I mention responsibility and fear?

So, in the mean time, I am working some fun author-related side hustles while I trudge through the mires of writing a new book. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE this story, but dude. It really has been a struggle.

I can’t promise anything, but I am going to try and do some more regular updates here on my general writing progress. And I am hoping to get these new projects up and running soon. They’ll show up her at some point.

So for now, keep creating. Stay strong. Believe in yourself. That’s what I’m telling myself. Maybe it will help you too.

Until next time,

Alivia