Hey all,
I am writing a lot lately. I also am trying to stay offline as much as possible. I’m engaging in new hobbies (some of which will be in my books, like learning to make my own vanilla extract, grow garlic, make “ginger bug” soda - so fun!).
One of my goals is to finish all the half-written books I have on my hard drive. Yes - half written. Clark likes to say I have a thousand “open tabs” on my browser.
I do. For real. Like, on Safari and Chrome LOL.
But my brain has a lot of open tabs, too.
My writing - whoo. A lot. We counted 17 half-written books on my hard drive!
SEVENTEEN. I have Random Acts of Luck (yes, book 12). Shopping for a Family (Terry and Carol). Shopping for a Billionaire’s Heart (the final Shannon and Declan book and final, ever, Shopping world book). An unnamed book about a man going blind and a female tuba player. Another Camp Shifter book. 4 - yeah, FOUR - partly-written Meli Raine books. Love You Fire Guy (new Love You Handyman series book). An unnamed wedding book not connected to Wedding Protectors.
And so many - too many - more.
2025 and 2026 are about finishing many of those half-written books. Closing out worlds and series. Tying up loose ends.
Paradoxically, also writing whatever captures my inner joy. Some days, I just write whatever grips me and the spirit tells me it’s time to make a cat wear a kilt, ye ken? Or invent a new use for scrunchies ;) .
A long time ago, I started a “just one bed” book unrelated/unconnected to any of my current series and worlds. You know the trope:
Longtime friends find themselves at a wedding and there’s only one room left and it has just one bed.
An uptight dude and a laidback dude get stuck in a snowstorm at Christmas and… no, wait, that’s Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (which is TECHNICALLY A JUST ONE BED MOVIE!)
Enemies find themselves at a work conference and…
You get the drift.
This one’s half written, and it’s a standalone (NO I SWEAR, REALLY). It occurred to me that I could serialize it - publish a chapter a week in my newsletter.
What do you think? Y’all ready for a Julia “just one bed” book? A newsletter once a week with an all-new chapter for a book that isn’t in my release schedule?
A book you can help shape?
Let me know with a comment or an email reply. ;)
If the answer’s yes, we’ll start the first week of June. A Summer Serial!
I would read anything you write. A serial would be fun.
Let’s have more standalones and less series. If you start a series, after all, how do you know if readers will like your characters? Just asking’…