I've written variations of this post in my head many times over the last few weeks. The words haven't changed a whole lot. Mostly it never felt like the right time, because I hadn't accepted the decision. And before anyone panics, no, I'm not going to tell you that I won't be writing Dreg City 6. I will. Just not anytime soon.
Back in June, there was some pretty big upheaval in my personal life. I'm not going into the details, suffice to say I lost my home office, my privacy, and I gained some roommates. This summer was a huge adjustment period for everyone currently living under this roof. But the loss of a separate writing space for me was difficult to adjust to, and I was under deadline for White Knight so I pushed through it. An I got the book finished just in time for Kitteh to get deathly ill, so the summer pretty much sucked.
Kitteh is fine now, though, so yay!
And then things changed again in August/September, and I had to adjust to another new element in my daily life. Plus I work in retail, and we're beginning to swing into the Holiday Selling Season, so my day job is becoming even more stressful. I'm still frustrated on a daily basis by certain things, and before anyone thinks "you have the power to change your life, Kelly!" No, not with this. This is up to someone else to fix, so that my life can go back to normal. And this post is not meant to embarrass anyone. It's the vaguest way I can try to explain why I've made the decision I've made.
What's the decision, already?!
I'm taking a break from writing. I have given myself permission to take a break. To not stress about my next book, or about getting my next contract. To stop checking sales ranks on Amazon. For at least rest of October, I'm going to watch DVD's, read books, and try to unwind while squirreled away in my cave. Because this, at least, is one thing that I can control right now.
I'm definitely not disappearing from social media. I still have a book coming out this month and another in January. I'll be doing some promo for them, of course, and I'm too addicted to Twitter to leave it. I'll still be blogging when necessary.
The other thing I'll be doing is taking some time to reassess my career. It's a painful thing for a writer to have two series cancelled. I took a risk with the Cornerstone Run trilogy by changing genres and names, and it hasn't paid off like I'd hoped. So I need to think. I need to decide what I want to write, and where I want my career to go from here.
I WILL be writing the final two Dreg City books at some point, because I promised you guys I would. It's been almost five years since Three Days to Dead was published and we began Evy's journey. Everyone who has hung in with me from the start, THANK YOU. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. For the new fans who are still discovering Dreg City, thank you. For everyone who has ever left a review of my work on Amazon, GoodReads, or any other site, thank you.
I'll see you around the internet.
-K
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