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Secret Project (+ Moodboard!)

We are less than 60 days away from the start of summer season and my brain is in serious summer mode. So much so that instead of returning to my YA dark fantasy/dark academia edits (which takes place in the winter), I’ve dived head first into an all-new project (that takes place in the summer). I’ve spent the majority of April nailing down an outline, and have officially started drafting. (!!!) It’s very different than anything else I’ve written so far. It leans more into sci-fi territory, but will still have the gothic & psychological horror elements we know and love.

While I’m going to be vague about this for some time, I do have a fun moodboard to share so you can get a sense of the project’s overall vibes. Of course, I’ll be changing this up as the story progresses and takes shape!

Don’t you love it?! I’m so excited about this one, particularly the exploration of a genre mash-up.

Gothic Horror Beta Reads (Round 2)

My gothic horror novel, Melbourgh Manor, is back in the hands of beta readers (eeek!) Sharing my writing is still a very scary thing, but I’ve now shared this story with 9 other people. Each time, it gets a little bit easier — but the imposter syndrome is real. The main purpose of betas (for me) is to gather overall feedback, find inconsistencies, and fix any glaring plot holes that seem to pop up statistically among readers. But yet, there’s always that small part of my brain that hopes no one will find ANYTHING WRONG and that my story will be PERFECT AS IS. But guess what? That will never happen. And every time I get a new email notification from one of my betas, I know that ultimately, my story will be better for it — and so will my writing. Even if my anxiety has me spiraling.

My goal is to have all feedback by mid-May so that I can *hopefully* knock out any remaining edits and then get back to drafting the project I mentioned earlier.

Anyway, here is some of my favorite (& vague) feedback I’ve received about my weird little book so far. 🥹

Publishing Crossroads

Speaking of Melbourgh Manor, I’ve been debating which route I truly want to take when it comes to publishing. For so long, traditional publishing was the only route I would even consider. But now? I’m not so sure. It took me much longer than I’d like to admit to finally decide that my dream of being an author was worth pursuing, and the idea of waiting for someone else to tell me that I’m good enough sounds very, very unappealing. Trad publishing is an achingly long road, if you’re fortunate enough to be on it. And while I am trying to maintain a healthy dose of optimism & realism, if I’m lucky, it could be another 5 years minimum before I have a book published. And that seems like such a long time to wait.

Then there’s self-publishing, which is a whole other beast. It’s not something I’ve ever truly considered – until recently. The idea that I can set my own timeframe & deadlines around projects is, without a doubt, the most attractive aspect for me.

Why wait potentially 5+ years to publish a book with an agent & publisher when I could possibly have 5+ books written and published by then?! – My Brain

And while marketing for yourself is HARD and completely different than marketing for a business that you have no true personal stakes in, I do believe my 8+ years as a corporate marketing girlie will help me. I actually really love email marketing and content creation. (Yes, I realize there is a lot more to author marketing than this — strategy and ads and PR boxes and, and, and…). But, I am currently riding a high of feeling like I can do anything! Will this last? No, of course not!

So, what will I do? Well, I’m planning to query MM through the end of 2026. By that point, I will reevaluate based on how things are going and what sort of feedback I’ve gotten. I will then decide to continue querying or pursue self publishing in 2027. Because even though I am impatient, I still want to give myself enough grace and time to give trad publishing a worthwhile shot, even if it is wildly competitive and highly unlikely to work in my favor.

I am hoping to share more updates soon, so talk to you then!

Liz