Sunday Update – 2021.12.05

Wow! Where did the time go? These past few months have been non-stop action, from books to recreational sports, to holiday family gatherings. I successfully completed the (messy) first draft of book 4 of the Tootsie series during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) last month wiht 50,005 words. I actually crossed the 50k-word finish line on Thanksgiving Day, thirty-minutes before I went to join my family for dinner. I’ve gotta say, this year’s NaNoWriMo really whipped me. I had some major writer burnout after it was all done. I needed a week or two to let my brain recuperate.

The Blackmail is completely edited and awaiting the proofreading stage. This is the longest I’ve had to wait for my manuscripts to be completed, and I am also going to have it looked at one last time by another editor just to make sure everything checks out. At the rate this is going, book 2 will probably be released in March 2022, the same time book 1 was released. I think it might be a great way to celebrate book 1’s birthday! Still, I think the wait will be well worth it for readers and fans of The Arrangement. Book 2 is much longer, darker, and more action-packed.

I’ve gotten some hardback versions done of The Arrangement, and I have to say, I absolutely love how they came out, especially with the dust jackets. I am going to try and do something for the holidays and be able to offer hardback editions.

A big, recent highlight for me this week was that I got my first-ever new patrons on Patroen! This is a huge motivation for me. I will be providing a short story every month based on Tootsie’s adventures as a kid. These stories are for fans of the Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown books. If you are interested in becoming a patron, you can check it out here: https://www.patreon.com/mravenelauthor