Whelp. Life.
Moving on... Witch series: *L* is still being queried... one agent is interested but not committed, still waiting to hear from the majority. *R* is through the second round of edits and currently in the hands of my critique partner. Happy Holidays: Thanksgiving has a singular, very messy draft completed that will be a headache to sift through when the time comes. Happy Holidays: Christmas is in progress! Hoping to finish it up around mid-May. And that's what going on with me! Hope you are doing well! Love always, Lucy
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I'm a big scheduler.
I really like mapping out the day/week/month/year when it comes to EVERYTHING. My garden beds? Been planned since late November even though I can't do any work until early May. My running goals for 2020? I settled on a half-marathon back in October. Writing goals? I do several maps for my writing goals. The first is a huge year-long document in which I detail what I want to finish in the year. This is pretty flexible, and I allow myself to change it several times depending on what ends up working. Example: last year I was supposed to write the first three books in a contemporary romance series that takes place in Northern Europe. I wrote the first 20k of book 1, and decided to pause it to work on my PNR series. I might come back to it at some point (I did really love those brothers), but I don't force myself to work on something that doesn't have my attention. February 2020's goals: 1. Get *L* completely ready for querying, write synopsis and query letters, create list of agents and publishers to query in March. 2. Tackle first set of revisions of *R* GUYS. Writing queries is HARD. It's very different than writing anything else, at least for me. I'm a big outliner, so even when I have no creative juices flowing, I can still get a few pages written (that can be heavily edited later). Query writing doesn't really work like that. I can't set my timer for thirty minutes and write crap that I will later completely rework. I'm try to be extremely mindful of everything I write, use the *best* words, and really put my strongest foot forward. And it's hard. I've gotten wonderful reviews from all my beta readers, but still it's hard. Getting ready to put myself out there for agents and publishers is scary. What if everyone hates it? What if someone likes it, but tells me I need to rewrite part of it that I adore? What if, what if, what if?? What if an agent loves it, sells it to BerkeleyAvonHarlequinCarinaEntangledHarperForeverLoveswept and I finally can breathe a sigh of relief? What if, indeed. Love always, Lucy Happy Holidays!
I find myself in the midst of the last week of December, which in our family, is basically like entering a place where time doesn't exist. We've been eating cookies at eight in the morning, eating seven meals a day, letting the kids stay up late, skip nap, sleep in, and have a handful of m&ms while still in their pajamas. Chaos. BUT... I have writing news! I haven't blogged in a while (sorry about that, but I think this is going to be a once monthly/ every other month thing), but that doesn't mean I haven't been working. Exciting things going on: I am a few days away from sending my first paranormal witch romance to my team of beta readers. EEEKKK! Usually this would mean you would have it in your hands within two months, but I am going to attempt to traditional publishing with this series. Whether or not I end up going that route is TBD, but for now, that series will be kept under wraps. I've also finished my first draft of the second book in that series, though I'm holding off on writing or even outlining anymore of those until I figure out if I'm going traditional or indie. Next, I've been busy working on a Happy Holidays book! I've done my writing schedule for 2020, and while I may veer off completely, right now, it has a lot of Happy Holidays slated to be written. If all goes as planned, the following will be released in 2020/early 2021: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, Saint Patrick's Day, and a soft maybe on Easter. More likely, you'll have to wait until 2022 for that Easter release. I also have some REALLY BIG NEWS that I cannot yet share with you yet and it's KILLING ME. SOON. I will share it soon. At the latest, February. I hope you are enjoying the end of 2019. It was an exciting one for me!! I self-published 6 books! What?!? 2020 will be quieter in terms of releases, but know that you'll get hit with a bunch of new reading material at the end of the year. Happy New Year! Love always, Lucy Hello!
It's been a while. I promise, I have reasons for that. Many reasons. So, here's what's going on... I finished my first draft of the first paranormal romance novel I was working on. It's about 75k (more than twice the length of my normal novellas!) and is currently with my dear critique partner. This is a different beast than my contemporary stuff, mainly because it's a whole new world. It will definitely take much longer for me to release these than my previous works. I never release the first book of a series until the last one has a first draft completed, so it will be a while until these see the light of day! As we get closer, though, I'll release some teasers with more plot info than I am now. Those of you who have been reading my Happy Holidays series... I'll start by saying sorry. I was really hoping to release either the Valentine's Day Romance or the Saint Patrick's Day Romance, and neither is going to happen. I started both of these separately, but just couldn't write them. My brain was still too engrossed in the paranormal world. I'm not abandoning these holidays (obviously not! There can't be a holiday romance series without Valentine's Day!), but most likely the next release will be the Thanksgiving Romance, and then 2-3 winter holiday books next year. These books are so fun to write, and I think it's important that I be in a super positive and light headspace when I'm working on them, not, you know, also thinking about the darker stuff that's going on in my paranormal world. Okay, now good news! Dance for You is now permanently priced at .99! It's available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. If you haven't had a chance to grab a copy, now is a great time! I think that's it! I hope you are having a lovely autumn. We've really crammed a bunch of fall-goodness into ours. If you haven't grabbed a copy of Something Wicked yet, it's a perfect read for the last days before Halloween! Should get you in the spooky spirit.... Love always, Lucy Hi Readers!
First and foremost, thank you to all of you who picked up a copy of The Star-Spangled Weekend during it's promotion! The response was unreal and it reached #5 for Holiday Fiction! Eeek! I'll admit, I was a little worried starting the series off with the Fourth of July, but Wick and Everly were calling to me. I'm glad so many people were grabbed by them as well! And now, I get to announce the next in the series! Something Wicked: A Happy Holidays Romance will be released September 20th! It will be available on Amazon (Kindle and Paperback!) B&N (Nook and Paperback!), Kobo, and maybe iBooks. I've been having some trouble with that platform (especially since being a stay-at-home-mom means I can't call customer service ever), but I'm hoping to get it straightened out soon. Right now, only the Kindle pre-order is ready (I've got a terrible cold, as do all 4 kids, but will be getting the rest ready in the next two days!). Take a peek! I'll do another post with all the links once they are all ready! In writing news, I'm about 75% done with the story I am currently writing (and keeping under wraps), but after that's complete, I'll be working on a couple Happy Holiday Romances for 2020! Saint Patrick's Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and New Year's Eve are definitely on the release schedule, but I might sneak a few more in there (I'm looking at you, Easter). I hope you had a great summer... it's been unseasonably cool here this past week so I already feel like autumn is upon us. My son starts school next week, and my daughter the week after (first year of preschool! I'll be sobbing). And my rambunctious new student will be getting her cast off her leg this Monday and we can't wait. Having a very wild, daredevil confined to a leg cast has been tricky this past month. I've also been 'accidentally' hit with it several times and have the bruises for proof. Happy Friday! Love always, Lucy I have a love/hate relationship with August. It's really nice here, sunny and hot, not much rain, I get a lot of good food out of my garden, and camp is over yet we still have a month until school starts. But, August signals the end of summer which always makes me a little sad. I love autumn, but winter here is the pits, so I like to remain as far away from it as possible. We're hoping for a late fall and even later winter this year because my kids had to wear jackets for most of June.
In life news, my three-year-old broke her tibia and is in a full cast until August 26. She was knocked over by a bigger kid and it was really a fluke, but alas a hard cast it is. It's definitely changing our August plans (no more beach!) but we have some great, accessible places to go to keep all the kids entertained. MOVING ON! Let's do a what am I reading/ what am I writing post! Reading: In the past few weeks, I've read The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan (LOVE IT), Hunt the Moon by Kari Cole (Also, a big love), Toxic Desire by Robin Lovett (THIS BOOK IS BANANAS), and the first novella in the Spellbound in Sleepy Hallow trilogy (eh, it was okay). I'm currently reading The Duke and I because I slack as a romance author and have never read the Bridgerton books (DON'T THROW THINGS AT ME) and I'm currently listening to Dr. Strange Beard by Penny Reid. My TBR pile includes Summer Magic by T.M Cromer, Game On by Cara Whitney, The Winter Duchess by Jillian Eaton (I might wait a while to read this), It's Only a Scandal If You're Caught by Merry Farmer, The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan, and my aunt sent me So Many Partings by Cathy Cash Spellman which looks amazing but is like 800 pages long and I will probably not read it until autumn. I'm a little weird in that I don't like to read a series straight through. For example, I'll read something in the Brothers Sinister series, then something in May Flowers series, then a paranormal, then back to Courtney Milan, then a contemporary standalone, then a Penny Reid - I like sort of being all over the place. Writing: Dudes, I'm really killing this new series that I am being secretive about. I'm about 1/3 finished, it will be about 300 pages when finished, and I've got the whole series pretty figured out. It has soulmates, witches, curses, a very hot carpenter, and that's all I'm going to say! DON'T ASK ME FOR ANYTHING ELSE! In books I CAN talk about, Something Wicked is back from most of my beta-readers! Overall, lots of positive responses and no major plot points to rework (thankfully, because I did that after my editing stage and it takes a while). ARCs will be up the first week of September and it will be for sale September 20th! I hope you love this autumn romance that was described by one of my readers as "like a Hallmark movie with sex," which was the best compliment, because when I set out to write the Happy Holidays Romances that was the plan! I love a good Hallmark movie, but I'd love 'em even more if they ended with a romp instead of a short, chaste kiss. I hope you are having a relaxing, warm August - soak up every minute of that summer sun! Love always, Lucy Good morning!!
It's release day for Only You! It's the last book in the Falling for You series and all about how smarty pants Lydia overcomes some scary, hard stuff and notices her bearded, best friend might be more than that. I can't believe the last Falling for You book is out! When I started writing And Then It Was You (Falling for You, #1), I did it on a whim. I'd never written anything contemporary before, but one night I had an idea, and wrote the first chapter. I lived in a different house, only had two children, and for the next year, looked at it periodically but didn't do much with it. Then, when my twins were about 6 months old, I decided I was going to make a real run of writing contemporary and went nuts on the series. Now, my twins are almost 2 and it's complete. It feels amazing. In other writing news, Something Wicked is going out to my lovely beta readers this weekend and ARCs will be ready the first week of September! My new book series is going FAMOUSLY! Witches, past lives, magic, an otherworld, soulmates, and a lot of herb-based spell work! In personal news, I have new twin nieces! They had a very rough delivery and will be spending time in the NICU, but I get to go visit them today! I can't wait to shower them with auntie-love! And now, my own twins are yelling for me to get them out of bed so I need to wrap this up! Have a wonderful week! Love always, Lucy This blog post is FULL of info. Here we go.... Only You is available for pre-order! Yay! It will be released on July 24th and I'm so excited! I really love this story... it's my favorite in the Falling for You series. It's also the final novella in the Falling for You series! I am so glad I wrote this series, and that I took the first tentative steps into indie publishing (well, for the second time. I used to have a different pen name). It's been a fun/interesting/stressful/roller coaster first few months!
Next piece of news... What can you look forward to?
Well, in September, I'll be releasing Something Wicked, the second Happy Holidays romance. The books in this series can all be read independently, and while some characters will show up from previous books (Dave and Guy from The Star-Spangled Weekend will be getting their own HEAs eventually), you definitely don't need to read them in any sort of order. Something Wicked is in the same tone as The Star-Spangled Weekend (basically a Hallmark movie but with hot sex scenes) and might include a Victorian witch costume and how one gets out of it. Lastly, my biggest piece of news: Why did the page on the Ex-Pats series disappear? All right, confession time. I loved writing the Falling for You series, and I really love writing the Happy Holidays romances. BUT... these were my first foray into contemporary romance in terms of writing (and I've been writing for 20ish years). Up until two years ago, I only ever wrote fantasy. Urban, contemporary, high, paranormal... but always fantasy (with a romance. I've never written anything that didn't have a romantic component. Though when I was writing high fantasy, you could bet either the hero or heroine wasn't going to survive to see that HEA). A few weeks ago, I was 20k into the first Ex-Pat books. I had the entire book outlined, I had copious notes on three of the other four books in the series. I was in the mind frame to attack this next series. And then, I took a thirty minute drive on a rainy evening. I do my best thinking in the car, and also get my best jolts of inspiration. I came home with a relatively well-formed world that I wanted to write in. I didn't throw away the 20k I'd written, but I did take the night off and wrote down an outline of the world. The next day, I did a little more work on Ex-Pats #1. The day after, I was ITCHING to write in the other world. I stuck my toe in, let myself name a few characters, come up with a few plots points... and then I spent three-ish hours outlining a five book series. I went nuts on it. I couldn't help myself. So, I took some time and thought about it. I wasn't feeling passionate about the Ex-Pat series. Don't get me wrong, I think I came up with some good stories that I could make into great ones with some polish, but the words were pouring out of me. This new series was literally pouring out of me. I'm walking away from the Ex-Pats now and will be working on a contemporary fantasy series. I'm so excited. I'm not giving up contemporary romance, after Something Wicked I'll be releasing a yet-untitled Saint Patrick's Day romance, and Fall 2020 will see at least a Thanksgiving romance. I'll be keeping details to this series under wraps, partially because I am also considering shopping it around to some ebook publishers. Still undecided on that. But, if you are chomping on the bit for more information, follow me on Pinterest or check out this spotify playlist that's been on repeat while I'm working. Now, it's time for me to get back to my new world... have a wonderful weekend! Love always, Lucy Q: Is there a new book out this week?
A: Yes! The Star-Spangled Weekend came out yesterday and it had my best opening day in sales! It's available on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo Q: What about iBooks? A: This one is on me, and I apologize. I had no idea it took so long to become an approved seller through Apple, and I am still waiting for said approval. Fingers crossed it comes through soon because I would really like to release The Star-Spangled Weekend on iBooks before the Fourth of July! Q: What's going on with And Then It Was You? Why isn't it in KU anymore?!? A: Did you notice that? Yes, I did pull And Then It Was You out of KU and put it on Nook and Kobo (still waiting iBooks). But, the good news is it is free on Nook and Kobo and will soon be free on Amazon. It takes Amazon a little while to follow through on price matching (apparently around a week, which would be tomorrow). Q: Will Dance for You and Waiting for You be leaving KU also? A: Truthfully, we'll see. I've gotten a lot of free books picked up in particular through B&N the last few days, so I will probably judge off how many reviews/ interest I get there versus how many KU pages are read in the next month. Dance for You in particular is a tricky one. It's my lowest selling novella (poor Isla and Colt! They're so hot) and while I'm hoping I'll get some bumps up in readership once And Then It Was You is free everywhere, I'm wondering if the audiences at Nook and Kobo might be more into it. Q: When are we getting Lydia's story? A: Soon!! Only You, the final book in the Falling for You series, will be released towards the end of July. I don't have a firm release date yet, as I've been a little crazy here with both writing and my personal life. It will be during the week of July 22, but I'm not sure which day. Q: What's next? A: A few things! I've already written the Halloween book in the Happy Holidays series. I am anticipating some heavy rewrites in July, but still planning on a September 20 release date. Currently, I'm writing the first book in my next series (series name TBD, but for now I'm referring to it as the Ex-Pats). I'm nearly a third of the way done writing it, but it will be a lot longer than my other books and is going to take some serious time. I don't think I'll be releasing it before January 2020. AND this past week I really wanted to work a Happy Holidays book, so I outlined the Thanksgiving story, even though my original plan was to release it in 2020. Suddenly, I'm thinking I might try and write it during the week my husband is taking off in July. I DON'T KNOW. Sometimes the muse just does whatever she wants. To recap what I'm working on: 1. Final edits of Only You 2. Rewrites of Halloween story 3. Book 1 of new sexy series 4. Outlining Thanksgiving story (and maybe I also did a few notes on the New Year's Eve story. I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME) Phew that was a lot. My youngest sister is getting married this weekend, so I will probably take a short hiatus from social media. I'll be back on Monday once we've recovered from the festivities (this coming from a non-drinker). I hope you have a lovely week and weekend! Love always, Lucy This is how I would describe my life right now.
Waiting for You is out! Yay! Star-Spangled Weekend is back from beta-readers! Only You (Falling for You, #4) is with my first tier of beta-readers. It's been a bananas week. Craziest of all, I really just want to write my next book! I've been outlining and researching and making fancy pinterest boards for inspiration. So, as soon as I get my beta-edits done for Star-Spangled Weekend and get Only You into the hands of a few more readers, I will be free to write away! I can't wait to dive into Hunter and Sadie's story. Lastly, my oldest is turning six on Friday and I can't believe it. The years are going by very quickly. I hope you are having a good week, whether it be bananas or not. Love always, Lucy |
Lucy HudsonMy thoughts on the writing and indie publishing process, as well as life occasionally Archives
April 2020
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