It has been a very long time. Between my mental health and life, these past six years have been difficult to the point where I gave up writing for a while altogether, and not by choice. I believe I may be getting better, considering the steps I’ve taken and the work I’ve put in over the years.
So, what’s my plan now?
Writing all the things.
Six years ago, I wanted to go wide. It was added to a to-do list that, at that time, included sleeping, homework, and finding five minutes to sit down and just do nothing. Recently, someone asked me why I wasn’t wide after sharing that I was an indie-author. I bumbled the KDP excuse while the rest of my brain did exactly what I’ve taught it to do over the last six years.
Break down the problem.
I wanted to re-edit the books before they went wide. That’s simply impossible, given my backlog of books, hypergraphia, and budget. I’m better off, but I’m not afford-an-editor-for-all-my-books better off. Instead, I have accepted that this is simply a fact of my books.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been releasing books wide through Draft-2-Digital, which I highly recommend so far. The formatting is simple and quick, though I am struggling a little with linking the books the way I want them to be linked, but that can be sorted out next year.
I am going wide. You may even be here because you found one of my books and looked me up. I need to use my website instead of letting it just sit out here.
At this moment, I am sitting with four first drafts. The oldest draft is Kaz, from the Elders series based on Coffee and Blood; the newest are the first three books from a new series called Ash Haven, working titles Bait, Break, and Breed, which are not erotica and obviously need new titles.
Once the books are wide and the editing is done, I’ll return to Ava Keen to write two books and complete the series’ first arc.
My current plan, once Ava Keen is complete, is to do a modified 12-in-12 for one of my oldest worlds… Two Lovers. I’m using this as a carrot on a stick because I really, really want to do this for no reason whatsoever. It makes no sense to do this. Not one lick of it.
Except it’ll be fun.
All told, and you can laugh along with me, I want to be started on the modified 12-in-12 by March 2025.
If you’d like to join me on this adventure, you could always join my discord, Aya’s Hideaway, which is probably exactly what it sounds like. I’ve started streaming my writing and do a lot more updates through there.
On a side note… In my personal life, I do work that requires I don’t use the Oxford Comma, but I prefer it in my writing. If you see the switch in my books, it’s because I had work on the brain when editing/writing. I’ve been trying very hard to catch them all before going wide. Everytime I skip the comma, I think about the little JFK and Stalin meme that circulates every once in a while, but at least it gives me a giggle.
Aya DeAniege 