Happy Friday!

Well, this week turned out weirder than expected. We got hit with a bug this week and, honestly, it's the sickest I've been in a long time. I could hardly get out of bed, even when I needed to. The Sheriff, my hubs, was home, too. And we kept both the kids home (as if we weren't suffering enough) just in case they had it or were carriers of whatever viral infection we contracted.

It was not fun.

It also threw off my week a bit since I lost some work days, hence this email coming to you a bit later than normal.

There was an upside to being sick, though. It forced me to truly take a day off and do nothing. Did the house look a mess after? Yes. Were there dishes out the wazoo? Totally. But I didn't do a single thing. I told myself I was going to take December off, but that, so far, has proven not to be true.

Around mid-August, I was starting to feel the burn-out. I'd been writing and publishing two books a month for over a year, and it was drying out the well that I thought was endless. Sitting down and writing felt literally painful to me and was the last thing I wanted to do.

I told myself I just had to get through my obligations for the rest of the year (Naga Say Never and Roman Holiday) then I could write what I wanted. But my mental health was tanking, my inspiration was lacking, and I had lost any kind of joy I found in my writing. So, I canceled my last two releases for the year.

If you had preorders for those, I'm sorry for the disappointment. They aren't canceled forever, just for now. I knew I couldn't write a story that would justify the stories I wanted to tell, and it wasn't fair to offer you a sub-par story for all your support.

I knew I needed to re-evaluate my business and come up with a plan that would save me from future burnout.

First things first, less collabs. As much as I love the exposure and working with my fellow authors, collabs have strict rules you have to follow, usually around tropes and word counts, which was stifling in some ways for me. Several stories came out this year which I was told through reviews were 'too short' and 'could have been fleshed out more,' and you're not wrong. But they were collab stories, and I was stuck working with a word count that wasn't sufficient for the story I wanted to tell. All my fault. One for using that story in a collab, for being in the collab, and also, not being less wordy (haha!).

Next, writing more stuff in line with what I like. So, less contemporary romances and more paranormal/fantasy, and if I write contemporary they're probably going to sway more to the dark romance side of things.

Not your cuppa tea? I get it, I have a solution for you, just stick this one out, please!

Finally, slow down the schedule. This one I've already started to implement if you haven't noticed. September, I didn't release anything. October only had Naga, and November was *technically* two, but one was an anthology I had pre-written. This month may have a surprise release, but it's tentative, and I'm not going to talk about it because if I don't get it done, I don't get it done.

But those are some of the things I knew I had to change for myself. But I also know there may be some things I need to change for you, too. So, I figured what better way to figure it out than get your opinion ...

Firstly, do you want nothing to change, and you just want to keep things the way they are? Cool. Click here, and I'll keep you on my main newsletter list.

Next, are you a fan only of contemporary romances? Do you want to see more from my Sage River series or finish out the Renaissance Revival band's stories? Don't fret, you'll get those chances, they just might not be as frequent as it was in 2022. Click here. and you'll be added to a list for just my contemporary romance newsletter.

Or are you interested in only paranormal/fantasy romances? Do you want more shifters, demons, monsters, aliens, etc? Excellent, me too. We're going to be seeing a lot more of those in 2023. Get excited and click here.

Finally, do you not care at all, and you're only interested in promo emails? Do you just want to hear from me when there's a new release or when I have deals to share with you for free or on-sale books? No hard feelings, there's a list for you. Click here.

Those links didn't take you anywhere interesting, it just registers your interest for me so I can do the work to separate you on the backend. My hope is by segmenting you now, I can make sure you're getting the right information when I'm sending you my newsletter. I don't want to bore you with stuff you're not interested in.

That's it from me! Much love,

Follow me on Social Media!