Celia Roman's Blog, page 5

Online dating is the pits

I've been single since about 2015, and let me tell you: dating over 40 is not an experience I would wish on anyone.

Over time, I've noticed a steady decline in the, shall we say, quality of single men posting profiles on dating sites.

Not that the average single male over 40 is a bad prospect. Quite the contrary! I easily know a dozen single middle aged men who would make wonderful partners to the right woman.

Those men have simply stopped participating in the online dating space.

The reason is simple, and it's exactly the same for both men and women: dating sites have been taken over by catfishers, con artists, and married folks looking for sex on the side.

It's a serious problem, especially for people like me who live in relatively rural areas and don't particularly enjoy socializing in large groups anyway.

Seriously, my biggest social events of the year are either family gatherings, grocery shopping, or high school basketball games. Everywhere I go, I meet plenty of single people. But I'm either related to them or I've known them long enough to have a good grasp of our potential compatibility or the lack thereof.

Maybe it's different for younger people, but I don't think so. The Smart Phone Age has rendered most younger folks incapable of socializing in person with the general populace, let alone with their peers.

As well, our long-term cultural trend is toward perpetual adolescence, which necessarily accompanies a similar decline in the maturity needed to establish and maintain long-term relationships.

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I was going through a particularly terrible dating spell when Vannessa Kinley stepped up as a character. And so, when it came time to create a prequel gimme for readers, it seemed natural to bring dating into the picture. Nessa is, after all, a single, attractive woman, and she's also somewhat isolated by her job and her status among the supernatural community.

Part of Duncan Seavers' characteristics, good and bad, came from men I've met. I tried to make him a well-rounded character: intelligent, dedicated to his job, and also as deeply flawed as the average human. No human is perfect. It therefore follows that no character is perfect, either.

I also drew on personal experience when writing about Nessa's frustration with the whole online dating process. Like, waiting for a guy to text after a great date, or the need to accommodate different lifestyles, jobs, and energy levels.

Some of that experience also comes from watching friends fall in love with the perfect guy or gal next door, someone they've known or known of for ages.

Most of all, I wanted to craft a relatable story.

The end result is The Single Witch's Guide to Online Dating. I released this prequel exclusively to newsletter subscribers in February 2022. In just nine days, it will also be available to readers at large.

It's currently still available for free to subscribers, but that won't last long. One of my top goals for 2023 is to craft a different gimme for top fans, so I encourage anyone who wants a shot at picking it up for free to do so before I release another freebie.

The post Online dating is the pits appeared first on Celia Roman.

The new Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI novel is here!

After a year-long wait, A Witch and Her Familiar (Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI, Book 2) is finally here.

I was in the middle of writing this one when I hit the burnout wall hard and had to take time off to recover. Over the past year or so, I've discovered quite a bit about my process and how broken it really was. It's been an interesting journey, and without it, I could not have continued Nessa's story.

Here's a little more about A Witch and Her Familiar:

A week and a half ago, a vampire walked into my brother's bar and tried to hire me to find my twice missing mother. I said no, naturally, but that was before another magic-wielder targeted me and my brother in an attempt to draw Mom out into the open.

Now, the supernatural community is up in arms over her disappearance, said vampire is salivating for my help, and the alpha of the local pack is trying to make amends for being a naughty werewolf. Not to mention that my brother and I are trying to come to terms with our new status as each other's familiar.

I would love to step back and relax for a while, but I've got bigger fish to fry, namely tracking down evidence to help the District Attorney strengthen the case against a local bigwig.

The problem? The bigwig is also a supernatural. With half the Council on my case already, can I afford to antagonize another powerful supernatural, especially when he may hold the key to finding my mother?

A Witch and Her Familiar is available at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, and other online retailers. Paperback and audiobook editions are forthcoming.

Happy reading!

The post The new Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI novel is here! appeared first on Celia Roman.

Urban Fantasy Winterfest

The Urban Fantasy Winterfest is underway from now until the end of the month.

This collection of twelve outstanding stories features the second book in twelve different established series, including my own contribution, The Deep Wood (Sunshine Walkingstick, Book 2).

I was very picky when I sorted through the applications for the Urban Fantasy Winterfest and tried to pick out only the best of the best.

Go see for yourself whether I was successful and enjoy some awesome stories!

The post Urban Fantasy Winterfest appeared first on Celia Roman.

The Facebook Experiment

Note: This post is an expansion on a recent update regarding my social media presence.

As part of my continuing education on the business of writing, I attend or keep tabs on several writer conferences. The major one for indies is 20Books Vegas, an offshoot of the 20Books to 50K Facebook group, held every November in Las Vegas.

There's a whole philosophy behind the 20Books to 50K approach that I won't get into. The point of mentioning it is that most of the sessions for that conference are later placed on YouTube for the convenience of those who can't attend and for everyone who wants to revisit the sessions verbatim, rather than relying on their notes. (You can easily find them on YouTube using the search term "20Books Vegas.")

Giving Facebook a Fair Shake

This past January, I viewed a 20Books Vegas presentation by Shawn Inmon, a noted indie author, on growing and maintaining one's Facebook author page.

Social media is not my favorite marketing and reader outreach tool. I would far rather write a blog post or newsletter.

Plus, I never know what to say. To be quite frank, some people "get" social media and can use it effectively, and some don't. My niece, for example, makes spectacular TikToks for educators and parents of young children.

I fall into the latter category.

When I watched Shawn's video, however, I realized that I had never given Facebook a genuine effort. As he explains in that video, most authors try posting for a few days or a week, get discouraged by the lack of immediate results, and quit. I've done that so often it's hilarious.

So this time, I committed to following his advice and posting to my Facebook author page at least once every single day for a minimum of three months. I also committed to checking the page several times a day in order to follow up on any reader engagement.

After a month, not only was I exhausted from trying to create content, schedule it, and interact with everyone, my focus was completely shot. I had fallen into the "must check constantly" mindset, and it seriously hurt my ability to concentrate on the thing that moves the needle forward for my business, namely writing new stories.

Vertical Businesses

Enter Becca Syme, an author success coach whose work on process and alignment pulled me out of burnout.

Becca is not a fan of social media. She understands the research behind social media-driven dopamine addiction and the resultant distractibility. I've heard her say repeatedly that for many people, social media does not deliver the returns promised by those who use it successfully to drive reader outreach and growth.

But I'd committed, so I tucked her advice into a corner of my mind, knowing that if it truly became too much, I could quit.

Then she released an episode of her QuitCast in which she explained the three main types of vertical businesses for writers and what each type builds their brand around: content (stories), the author themselves, or a particular story world (like Witcher).

In other words, authors connect with readers either by providing a large amount of story, or a large and immersive story world, or based on their personality.

This is the manner by which authors pull readers in and satisfy their expectations. Between the three, my business revolves more around content and story world than it does my personality, a comfort considering that I'm a severe introvert and prefer that my stories are the center of attention, not me personally.

More Stories, Please

Now, I had already realized that the time and energy I was putting into my Facebook experiment was eroding my focus and hindering my ability to create.

After watching that video, I also realized that what readers truly want from me is more stories, not more connectivity.

Yes, of course, some readers also enjoy the direct connection offered by Facebook, and I most definitely had a blast interacting with them.

But by and large, my readers are starved for content, and that's where my talents and interests lie.

For example, in October 2021, I wrote an 1800 word short story ("Sunny Girl"), created a double-sided, limited-edition print run, and gave signed copies away to readers inside special Halloween cards.

Readers loved that! One even framed her copy and sent me a photo. I was so touched!

That's the kind of thing I enjoy doing that readers also love: writing these little side excursions into my various story worlds and sharing them with readers in between releasing larger stories.

When I get to a point where I'm writing consistently and can add another writing session to my current schedule, I'd like to begin writing more smaller stories to share with readers via my newsletter and Facebook group, or even to collate into collections.

Digital Minimalism

Other factors have influenced my move to minimize social media, like Cal Newport's work on focus and distraction, outlined not only via his blog and podcast, but also in books like Deep Work and Digital Minimalism.

As I gather more information on social media, I have to weigh its benefits and harms against the limited amount of time, energy, and focus I possess. Are the hours I spent during my brief Facebook experiment a better payoff than producing stories? Does the effort expended on Facebook nurture my mind, create energy, and improve my creativity?

The answers were, again, no.

It's a trade off I'm not willing to make. Either I can spend hours on social media, and hours more recovering from having been on there, or I can use my time to read, write, exercise, and be with my family, friends, and readers in person.

Thus, I ended my experiment after a single month and released any guilt over not meeting my internal commitment of a three-month try. I will still be posting sales and releases there (when I remember, and hopefully I will), but for the most part, I'm going to shift my attention to other, more enriching activities, like writing.

I've got lots and lots of stories brewing, and I'm guessing readers would far rather have those than the brief hits Facebook delivers. You can still find me here on the blog, I'm still doing newsletters, and you can still email me whenever you want to chat.

I'm also hoping to add live events to my schedule in the next couple of years, which has the benefit of allowing real discussions with readers. Even though I'm an introvert (seriously, I'm so shy and reclusive), I'm honestly looking forward to hanging out with you in person!

The post The Facebook Experiment appeared first on Celia Roman.

The end of Shadow Magic

Shadow Magic: A Limited Edition Folkloric Romance Anthology will be unpublished on or around March 1.

My contribution to the anthology was "The Witch in the Woods," a story about how Old Mother (Mary Alice King) and Trey Carson met.

It's a lovely story and I hate for it to go out of print. I'm not sure, however, whether I want to republish it as a single or save it for a collection compiled down the road.

That's my roundabout way of saying that I have no idea how long "The Witch in the Woods" will languish on my hard drive until it's republished.

So please, if you're at all interested in this story, pick up a copy of Shadow Magic so you can read this fascinating little story about two of the minor characters from the Sunshine Walkingstick Series.

The post The end of Shadow Magic appeared first on Celia Roman.

25% Off Box Sets

The first Sunshine Walkingstick omnibus is 25% off at Kobo from now through the end of the month using the promo code FEB25.

This omnibus contains the first three books in the series: Greenwood Cove, The Deep Wood, and Cemetery Hill.

Many other fine box sets and omnibuses are available as part of the same sale.

This is a great time to pick up some really awesome stories!

The post 25% Off Box Sets appeared first on Celia Roman.

Roundup: Updates, News, Writing Progress

Here's a quick update about things that are going on behind the scenes.

Burnout

I'm very happy to say that while I'm not 100% out of burnout, I'm very nearly there. Say, 90-95% or so.

Elsewhere, I've already discussed some of the causes of burnout and the subsequent fallout, such as not being able to write at all.

For example, A Witch and Her Familiar is the first novel I've finished writing since November 2021 when I finished Between a Witch and a Hard Place. Between the two, I completed one novella (The Single Witch's Guide to Online Dating) and two smaller projects for another pen name.

I chose those last two projects to give myself small, easily achievable wins with no pressure attached. It worked. Because of those, I could then turn my attention back to larger projects.

The biggest help, though, has been in working back toward alignment between my personality, life situation, and writing process.

When I hit a roadblock now, I make a conscious effort to sit down and figure out what's wrong, whereas before I simply ignored problems and kept trying to push through them. Or worse, I tried things that didn't work for my process and personality, like focusing on a single project and series.

This is totally a "the more you know" situation: the more I know, the easier it is to recover when I stumble and to avoid pitfalls in the first place.

Publishing and Unpublishing

I don't want to go too in depth here as I've already created separate posts for new releases.

But since this is an update post, I should mention that A Witch and Her Familiar (Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI, Book 2) and the Nessa prequel The Single Witch's Guide to Online Dating are both up for preorder. The former publishes later this month, the latter in mid-March.

I'm super excited to get both of these up to the general public so that I can finish the series and move forward with another one.

Also, very quickly, the Shadow Magic anthology housing the Old Mother/Trey Carson story "The Witch in the Woods" will be unpublished soon.

I'll post reminders of all three events separately at appropriate times.

Current Projects

Currently, I'm developing both Black Witch Rising, the third Nessa novel, and Vampire Alley, the sixth (and possibly final?) Sunshine Walkingstick novel.

The first scenes for both books have already been written and I have a rough idea where each story will go. The development slash outlining phase entails fleshing out the story's middle and arranging them into a loose chronology.

This process can take anywhere from a few days to a few months, and is, truth be told, an ongoing process. But I will hit a point where I'll know it's time to really dive into the writing side of things.

I don't know which story I'll focus on first yet. It's very likely that I'll juggle them for a while until one gels enough to hit its stride.

Writing Time and Space

The biggest impediment right now, though, isn't the development phase, but the lack of writing time. I live in a noisy, chaotic household; my writing time has been narrowed to a few hours each night after everyone else has fallen asleep. This necessarily means that if I've had a long day and need to sleep, too, then I have to forfeit that night's writing session.

My preferred starting time is somewhere between 7 and 9 p.m., but that's not an option at the moment. I'm not quite recovered from burnout enough anyway to be able to write for six to eight hours each night anyway, but I'm going to hit a point soon where I can.

Thus far, the solution to the waking time chaos has been to go write in a nearby parking lot. I actually get a lot of writing done that way, but it's not an ideal solution due to safety and other concerns. Still, it's working for the moment, when I have a need to write before midnight. I'm sure I'll hit on another solution should the parking lot become unavailable to me.

Upcoming Projects

I've already spoken about a few of the future projects I've started developing.

As a reminder, working on one story and one series at a time is a huge reason behind the burnout. I've overextended myself in the past by working on too many projects at a time, too, so right now I'm searching for the perfect balance that both feeds my mind and allows me to finish projects so that I can get them out to readers in a timely manner.

So while the biggest part of my writing workday is aimed at developing Nessa #3 and Sunny #6 (not necessarily in that order), my non-work time is often spent pondering future story worlds. I've already discussed those a little, but here's the official list, in no particular order:

Spring 2024 anthology. I've been invited to submit a story for an anthology that is scheduled for publication in May or June 2024. I've debated several projects over the past few months and have yet to settle on one; however, there's a distinct possibility that I'll write another Single Witch's Guide specifically for this anthology.Nora Vargas / Wildwood Academy. I haven't forgotten about the origin stories I promised readers. Nora has been on my mind since she first appeared in Witch Hollow (Sunny #4). I'm honestly glad I didn't force a story a few years ago, because so many wonderful ideas have made themselves known since then, including a magical school located in the Southern Appalachians, steeped in the particular lores of that area.Henry Walkingstick. Sunny's dad has been stepping forward quite a bit recently with a few story ideas taken from his pre-Sunny days. I have no idea how these will pan out, but I'm writing down the ideas as they come to me with an eye toward writing a short story for a different anthology.Three unique story worlds. I discussed two of these a little already in the intentionality and worldbuilding post, but I'm developing three new story worlds: one with witches, vampires, and werewolves (and also angels, demons, and a nephilim); a second set in Appalachia with all its weirdly wonderful mythological creatures;  and a third that I haven't discussed at all because I have a feeling it's going to be a stand alone story. That last one involves witches, which apparently is going to be one of my things. It's possible I'll reserve it for a Kickstarter project.

And again, I don't know when I'll start working on these, but they're definite possibilities for future stories.

Another Trajectory

While struggling to recover from burnout, I spent a lot of time pondering the kinds of books I write vs. the kinds I want to write, as well as taking a long, hard look at the industry and where it's headed.

My gut feeling is that readers are beginning to want the kinds of stories I grew up reading: deeply written, complex stories with compelling characters and more satsifying emotional payoffs.

Indie publishing has been a huge boon to readers and writers alike, but the Gold Rush age of self-publishing encouraged the production of quickly written, somewhat shallow stories that follow hot trends. There's nothing wrong with that; I'm not dissing any of those stories at all, and I'm not condemning writers for jumping on what's-selling-now bandwagons.

But now that we're reaching market saturation here in the US, readers don't have to settle for light and shallow anymore, if they don't want to. I believe that readers want those deep, complex stories with dozens of intricate story lines, like Game of Thrones (the TV series) but in book form. (And definitely more accessible than the books on which Game of Thrones was based.)

Complex stories have largely been missing from the indie scene, and that void needs to be filled if indies want to continue to remain competitive in the new era of publishing.

My intuition has been telling me to slow down for years and to stop trying to march to someone else's frenetic publishing pace. To stop writing look-alike books (which is hard for me to do anyway; color me quirky), and definitely not to follow trends. Every time I try, I end up getting something a little different anyway, so why not play to my strengths and carve out my own niche?

Social Media

I've been giving my Facebook page some real attention over the last month, trying to see if I can build up a small following there and if it's something I want to do long-term.

The verdict on those? Maybe and no.

Facebook is a huge distraction. It's nearly impossible to hop on just to check on the page and group. Inevitably, I find myself scrolling aimlessly, which not only wastes time in the moment, but also encourages my brain to remain distracted once I'm off Facebook.

Effective writing requires focus over long periods of time. I can't afford to be distracted by Facebook.

Instead, I'm going to fall back to the two things I do enjoy that don't literally drive me to distraction: this blog and my newsletter.

I really love engaging with fans and have enjoyed making those connections on Facebook; I don't want to lose that engagement.

To that end, I'm searching for other, better ways to create connect with readers, like attending cons. We'll see how that shakes out over time.

In the meantime, I'm going to stop posting every day on Facebook and will use the page solely for either announcements (new releases, sales, etc.) or those rare moments when I have something to say that doesn't quite fit into the blog or newsletter.

If you have questions or want to connect with me, please feel free to email me at celia@celiaroman.com. I'm always happy to hear from readers!

The post Roundup: Updates, News, Writing Progress appeared first on Celia Roman.

February Witchy Book Fair

I'm participating in a multi-author collection of witch-themed books this month through BookFunnel.

My contribution to the mix is Between a Witch and a Hard Place (Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI, Book 1), but there are over sixty other titles up for grabs.

There's something for every reader in this collection, from Urban and Contemporary Fantasy to Paranormal Women's Fiction to Paranormal and Fantasy Romance. The following is just a sample of the books available.

These collections are a great discovery tool. If you're looking for a new-to-you author, there are few better ways to find one.

The February Witchy Book Fair is coming down at the end of the month, so go have a look while all the lovely goodies are together in one place.

The post February Witchy Book Fair appeared first on Celia Roman.

Intentionality and World Building

Over the past few weeks, I've been pondering what stories I may want to write when the Sunshine Walkingstick and Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI Series are completed. As I've mentioned elsewhere, it takes a while to build a solid story world; if I want to pick up a new series when these two are finished, then I need to start fleshing out characters and the rules of their respective worlds now.

When Sunny came to me in September 2014, I was still a baby writer with two series under my belt, both still (at that time) in progress. One had been developed over several years, during which I laid out the rules and the series' progression, if not the characters themselves.

Sunny's world took a while to develop, too, but it wasn't as fully formed when I started writing as my first series. I didn't take the time to step back and really shape Sunny's world; as a consequence, it became a monster free for all, which works for her.

After publishing five novels and several shorter works, however, I've come to believe that readers would've preferred a much more narrow slate of monsters, confined primarily to Appalachian cryptids.

Hindsight being what it is, I can't do anything about Sunny's world; it's writ in stone and I like it the way it is now, with all its myriad possibilities and flaws.

Future Series Possibilities

For future stories, however, I'd like to develop the story worlds with a lot more intentionality.

One series I'm contemplating now is also a Contemporary Fantasy set in the rural, Southern Appalachians (more specifically, in western North Carolina). When I began setting the rules down for this story world, I had to decide what kinds of characters (both human and other) would populate the landscape.

This one would not, I determined, be a free for all the way Sunny's was; such an open story world makes no sense for the characters and the situations they face, including the linchpin of the series, the impetus behind the story.

Another series I'm developing, which falls closer to the Urban Fantasy end of the spectrum, is similarly constrained. This one features witches, werewolves, and vampires, as Nessa's series does. Unlike Nessa's series, this one also includes other supernatural beings, such as angels and demons. Again, this was an intentional direction based on the initial premise.

Even with stories I'm developing that are offshoots of existing series, I'm aiming for more intentionality. I picked up a fabulous premade cover from Nocturne Cover Art (shown above) that inspired an expansion of Sunny's story for a Nora Vargas prequel (her origin story).

Originally, Nora's origin story would take place in Miami, where she was raised. After I picked up the premade cover, however, the story has gone in a different direction, merging an old story idea about a magical school located in the southern Appalachians into the world Sunny and Nora inhabit. This has created a wonderful opporunity to expand that world in ways I had never anticipated, if only because Nora faces challenges there that Sunny never has. And part of that expansion is into creatures and monsters that readers of the Sunshine Walkingstick Series stories really wanted to see there.

I'm developing other story worlds, too, some expansions of Sunny and Nora's worlds, others independent of anything I've done before here. I'm not sure which ones I'll focus on first, but the ones mentioned here are thus far the primary candidates.

A Better Reading Experience?

Much of this intentionality is simply a maturation of my grasp of story craft and development. Some of it, though, is a realization that my creative energies sometimes need to be focused more precisely. Writing, like any other profession, requires continual learning and improvement. The one thing I don't want to do is fall into a rut, so that my stories are no longer unique and fulfilling to readers.

Thus, intentionality will, I hope, help me satisfy readers' evolving tastes throughout the remainder of my career as a storyteller. My goal is always to provide the best reading experience I can every time I sit down to plan and write a new story, and my readers shape those decisions more than they realize. They're one of the huge influences behind why I choose the stories I do, why I discard others, and why I am continually (and subtly, I hope) querying them regarding various aspects of story. If the goal is to create a better reading experience, then readers must be at the heart of that.

At any rate, I'm super excited about these new story worlds and the characters slowly coming to life in my mind. It's very likely that I'll choose one soon to work on while finishing out Sunny and Nessa's stories, so expect to hear more on them in the coming months.

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The Single Witch’s Guide to Online Dating

On March 14th, The Single Witch's Guide to Online Dating will be available for sale to the public at large.

This prequel novella to the Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI Series, has been exclusive to fans since its first release in February 2022. Now, it's time to make it available elsewhere.

If you're subscribed to the newsletter or are a member of my Facebook group, you can still pick up a copy for free in those places until I write a new exclusive story.

The preorder links are available on the story's page for anyone who's interested in purchasing it. Thanks so much for your support of this series over the past sixteen months!

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