Hello from my Hiatus!

Dear readers,

I am so ashamed I haven’t updated you in over a month! Where has the time gone? It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of the year already.

What have I been up to since last announcing Burdened Bloodline’s release? Writing, writing, and more writing. While Burdened Bloodline, the next chapter of the Court of Mystery saga, patiently waits to be released into the world on December 18th, I’ve been diving into some other writing projects. Most important, the next Duchess Jax novel is fully outlined and ready to write! I’m waiting for the release to pass before throwing myself back into her world. Because of this self-imposed hiatus, I am already itching to return to the Realm of Virtues and get Jax out of the trouble she’s caused.

As you may or may not know, I have also been working with my agent Dawn for much of the year in the hopes of selling a brand-new, contemporary cozy mystery series. While the process has been full of ups and downs (I am currently waiting with fingers crossed so hard it hurts), I decided a while back I needed to be prepared should things not go my way. I would really love to publish a cozy mystery series so right now, I am spinning up a whole new small-town world, full of fun and wacky characters to explore in case my current project does not pan out. My writing style for these cozies is fun and hip—I want my characters to be relatable thirty year olds. My generation is growing up and looking for new books and genres to sink our teeth into (sadly, we can’t reread Harry Potter forever) so I’ve tried infusing my “millennial” mindset into the traditional cozy mystery genre. Whether or not it works out is one thing, but I enjoy writing characters that you could very well meet down at the local bar in your own hometown and get along with in this day and age. I don’t want these mysteries to feel dated. Book characters are meant to be your best friend, a co-conspirator on whatever mystery adventure you embark upon, so my goal is to create heroines that people my age can identify with. While this may seem like sound logic, you’d be surprised how tricky this whole endeavor has been.

Is the world ready for a sleuth who relies on her cellphone? We shall see…

Arms Around,

S.B.