Michael Bray's Blog - Posts Tagged "new-release"
Back after a long break!
Up until around 2017, i had been quite consistent in putting out books. Novels, shorts, individual stories etc. I should have known it was all going too well, as i started to feel a bit of burn out and have a few mental heath issues.
Figuring i’d just take a few weeks off, then get back to it, i downed tools and did some work on getting myself well. I had no idea it would take until july of 2025 to be in the position to put out a new book.
In hindsight, i had gone beyond burnout, and was starting to resent writing. ideas dried up, and there were other issues in my life away from the page that meant i had to go through a full reboot of sorts, which brings us to today, where, at the time of writing, we are less than 2 months away from the release of my first full length Fiction novel since then, titled, THE SINNER
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The weird thing about this book, is that i actually started writing it way back in 2016, when it was tentitively titled THE WITCH, and, aside from the two protagonists (boy & girl twins) was completely different. I had chipped away at it during that burn out phase, never quite able to muster up the enthusiasm to push on. In early 2017, i scrapped the concept (initially a creepy supernatural story) and morphed it into something else, the story that would become THE SINNER.
I pushed on and got a draft more or less finished by mid 2017, then it just... it sat there untouched until 2019 when i picked it up again and had another surge, finishing the story and doing a quick partial edit. it was complete, but only as a draft. It remained that way until 2020, when again, i tried to pick up again and get it finished, the book at this point feeling like a bit of a weight around my neck.
Fast forward to 2025, and things are in a much better place. i feel good, and have banished a lot of that negativity from my life. I also got this book finished, doing what was, essentially a full rewrite from page one, leading us here, to the finished product, just weeks away from release.
Aware how long i’ve been away, i would be lying if i said i wasn’t nervous about the release window hitting. I’ve been out of the game for a few years now, and despite starting this writing journey back in 2012, i feel like a newbie again. I hope the book does well. i like the story and think people who enjoy my writing will get a kick out of it too.
Now comes the nervous wait for release day and the reaction to the book. i hope people like it, and it was worth the wait!
Figuring i’d just take a few weeks off, then get back to it, i downed tools and did some work on getting myself well. I had no idea it would take until july of 2025 to be in the position to put out a new book.
In hindsight, i had gone beyond burnout, and was starting to resent writing. ideas dried up, and there were other issues in my life away from the page that meant i had to go through a full reboot of sorts, which brings us to today, where, at the time of writing, we are less than 2 months away from the release of my first full length Fiction novel since then, titled, THE SINNER
.The weird thing about this book, is that i actually started writing it way back in 2016, when it was tentitively titled THE WITCH, and, aside from the two protagonists (boy & girl twins) was completely different. I had chipped away at it during that burn out phase, never quite able to muster up the enthusiasm to push on. In early 2017, i scrapped the concept (initially a creepy supernatural story) and morphed it into something else, the story that would become THE SINNER.
I pushed on and got a draft more or less finished by mid 2017, then it just... it sat there untouched until 2019 when i picked it up again and had another surge, finishing the story and doing a quick partial edit. it was complete, but only as a draft. It remained that way until 2020, when again, i tried to pick up again and get it finished, the book at this point feeling like a bit of a weight around my neck.
Fast forward to 2025, and things are in a much better place. i feel good, and have banished a lot of that negativity from my life. I also got this book finished, doing what was, essentially a full rewrite from page one, leading us here, to the finished product, just weeks away from release.
Aware how long i’ve been away, i would be lying if i said i wasn’t nervous about the release window hitting. I’ve been out of the game for a few years now, and despite starting this writing journey back in 2012, i feel like a newbie again. I hope the book does well. i like the story and think people who enjoy my writing will get a kick out of it too.
Now comes the nervous wait for release day and the reaction to the book. i hope people like it, and it was worth the wait!
