It sounds like I’m going back on my plans to say that the next Therapist book is almost done, but here’s the truth of it: I really am working actively on the next Healers book, but Therapist 8 was already in the pipeline at the time. While my Fearless Alpha Reader read through a draft of the first ?half? of Strangers, I finished my second draft of Therapist 8.
The cover is in the works by the same artist as book 7 (and I LOVE IT), I’m doing my own last edits before getting any beta readers involved, and I hope to have it out within the next couple of months if all goes well.
After that, full steam ahead on Strangers, with my own suspicions about the outline confirmed: the pacing will fit into two years rather than three, as I’d originally outlined. (Yes, the same timeframe as Healers 1, leave me alone. The “oh wait, this person I hate is a human after all, and I’ve been a jerk” moment comes after ~6 months instead of ~3, for starters)
It’s an unusual feeling for me to be energized and optimistic about two projects at once. Riding it out as long as possible. Besides, over the last two years I’ve tried to develop better habits so that I keep writing even if “inspiration” hasn’t struck. It helps.
Still waffling on joining the fall group sale. It’s a great sale, and they keep building on it; that’s not the issue. I’m waffling on whether I belong there. The more I read of the other books that have been in the sale, the less commonality I see between them – they are truly a range of storylines and tones. So I’m having a little bit of a Bilbowhyshouldn’ti.gif moment about it. If those other books can vary so much, is mine close enough to that range to fit in?
But that’s further off. Don’t worry, I now have a page-long writing-related to-do list to keep all of these projects moving. Self-publishing and plate-spinning go hand in hand.