My Writing Plans for 2016

Here we are at the start of a new year, and how time flies! It’s hard to believe it’s 2016. Remember the Y2K scare, when people were afraid that civilization as we know it would end at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000? Planes would fall out of the sky, the lights would go out, etc. It doesn’t feel all that long ago.

Anyhow, I usually kick off the year with a post about what I’ll write and release over the coming twelve months. Predictably, I’m doing the same thing this year.

The Daros Chronicles

I’ll release Daros Chronicles 6 in late April or early May. I had to put the chronicles aside while I finished working on Deiform Four, which is why there will be a longer than usual delay between the last installment and the next one. I’ll guesstimate that Daros 7 will arrive sometime in August/September.

When I announced Daros 5, I also asked whether I should continue to publish the Daros Chronicles as installments, or write Daros Volume 2 in one shot (which would contain what would have been Daros 8 and onwards). The vote is close, with the installments option having a slight lead. The survey is still open (someone just did it this week), so if you haven’t voted, you can still do so here. I’ll make my decision when I’ve finished Daros 7. In addition to the survey results, I’ll base my decision on what’s best for my schedule and a couple of other factors.

The Deiform Fellowship

Deiform Four will go to my editor on January 11. I expect to release it sometime in late February/early March (in eBook. Print will arrive in April or May). The working title is Scarred Souls.

I haven’t spoken about this book at all, so I might as well start doing so now. Deiform Four is longer than the first book, but shorter than the second and third books. It’s about a nun who confesses to committing three murders. However, Roberta believes the nun is innocent, so she sends Jillian and Sam to figure out what’s really going on.

In addition to the mystery, quite a bit of personal stuff takes place in this book. From the end of Deiform Three:

If Sam even suspected that Jillian liked her in that way, she’d tuck right back into her shell, and awkward wouldn’t begin to describe the air between them. Jillian would have to be patient. Patience. Always freaking patience.

In Deiform Four, Jillian’s patience runs out…

The Rymellan Series

I wish I could say that I’ll release another Rymellan story in 2016, but I won’t. I think I said in one of my new release announcement emails that I was considering it, and I did consider it. When I have my writer hat on, writing and releasing another story appeals. But when I have my publisher hat on, it doesn’t. Identity Crisis, the last Rymellan story I released, hasn’t sold as well as I would have liked. Given that, it doesn’t make sense for me to invest time and money into publishing another Rymellan story. That doesn’t mean there will never be another Rymellan story, though that could turn out to be the case. For now, it means that I won’t be releasing one in 2016.

Boxed Sets

I released a boxed set of Threaded Through Time late last year. You can now get Books One and Two as one eBook, and for a lower price than what you’d pay if you bought the books separately. Details here. Right now it’s only available at Amazon because I was toying with the idea of putting it into Amazon’s KDP Select program. I’ve decided not to do it, so I’ll be distributing the boxed set to the other bookstores soon.

Later this month, I’ll release a Deiform Fellowship boxed set that contains Deiform One, Two, and Three. I’ll let you know when it’s available.

New Work

Okay, so far I’ve said I’ll release Daros 6, 7, and potentially 8. I’ll also release Deiform Four. Those are the only works I’m committed to releasing in 2016, but I may release more.

I’d like to write a standalone science fiction story that’s been kicking around in my head for a while. I’ve done some up-front work on the story, so I’m pretty much ready to start writing it. I doubt I’ll finish it in time to release it in 2016, but you never know.

Apart from that, I don’t know. There will be a Deiform Five, but I won’t start to write it until later this year, and I’d guess (a really wild guess at this point) that it would come out in late 2017.

The Blog

What about this blog? I haven’t been posting every Friday for several months. I’ll continue to only post when I have something to say. Some months I might not post at all; other months I could post several times. It’ll depend on what’s going on in my writing life and the publishing world.

Happy New Year

I’m ready to get cracking on everything I’ve committed to for this year (and perhaps more). Happy New Year! I hope this year is a fabulous one for you. Talk to you soon.

My Writing Plans for 2016 is a post from: Sarah Ettritch