I now have a PhD degree! It only took me nearly 7 years, which pretty much explains why I’ve been so MIA.

Better news: I’ve officially begun working on my beloved version of “Reason and Romance.” As I said in my previous post, that means “The Only Reason” is cancelled. However! That means this revised/revamped version will be RR + TOR combined, and it will be longer than the current RR version. It will be a complete story for Adrian and Alex, as it should have been in the first place.

I don’t anticipate this work taking too long at all. I’ve already started researching and relearning the self-publishing business. When I have a firmer date in mind, I’ll drop the details here. Right now, I’m eyeing Spring 2023 (March to May-ish), which is only a few months off! After this, Quentin’s story and Grant’s novella will follow quickly.

Same goes for “Against All Odds” (I may have to change the title, tho). I have been rereading it recently and I realized that I still love Raleigh and Ryan so much, and I’m eager for you guys to rediscover them (or discover them for the first time). It’s still one of my top favorite stories.

I’ve started working on something new, something completely unrelated to River Valley or anything that I’ve ever written before. It’s paranormal reverse harem romance … and since it’s pretty risky for me (being something that I’ve never done before!), I am strongly considering testing Wattpad and seeing if there’s a receptive audience, should I self-publish it in a few months. Would you guys be interested in this? 🙂

As always, let me know what you’re thinking!

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since I last posted here, and I completely blame my silence on my PhD studies. The good news is, I finished my research study. My dissertation has been written, rewritten, revised, edited, and formatted. It’s been turned in to my advisor and my committee.

The bad news is, I still haven’t defended yet. Due to this and that circumstance, my defense keeps getting postponed, much to my chagrin. Hopefully I get to defend within a few weeks, and then after I complete my post-dissertation edits, I’m finally done.

When they said the PhD journey was a marathon, they were not kidding!

Now onto this very long post:

I will be publishing again!

1. Unfortunately, since it’s been so long since I first published RR, all of my self-publishing knowledge is old and outdated. I need to learn all of this again.

2. Once I have all of that knowledge, I will be self-publishing on a steady and continuous schedule, one that you readers can count on. That was my mistake – starting my PhD and thinking I could do both. You readers deserve my best.

3. I’ve gradually learned that I just need to be less control-freak-ish about writing. No, my stories aren’t 100% what I want them to be, but that’s the thing, you always keep improving. At some point, you need to let go and put your stories out there.

This means…

1. “The Only Reason” will not be coming out because I will be withdrawing the currently published “Reason and Romance.”

2. I am going to replace the current published version with my Redux version of RR. For you readers who know what that means, yes, that is the popular Fictionpress version that so many of you loved.

3. Essentially, it means RR will be replaced by a complete version. No more splitting into two books.

4. I’ll edit the Redux version – getting rid of some outdated references, clunky sentences, all of that, but it’ll still be the same version.

I am aware this decision might be controversial. I am so, so, so, so sorry for having done this to you all. I am truly apologetic that you have had to wait so long for the second half. My mistake was splitting the book into two and thinking that I HAD to rewrite the whole book, just because I thought that’s what writers had to do. The Redux version is what you loved, and that’s what I should have published in the first place.

The good news is:

1. Redux (which will still retain the name RR) will be getting a new, pretty book cover! The current book cover is a bit dark and gloomy, but the story is fun and snarky, and I want to lean into that.

2. Yes, this means TSWAQ will follow shortly after Redux! TSWAQ = “Trouble Starts with a Q.” As in, just about my favorite male lead Quentin Maxwell and female lead Devon Kim.

3. I’ve even found the perfect book model for Devon. It will be so great to see an actual Korean female girl on the front cover. I can’t wait!

I can’t take RR down now because if I do so, Amazon may not allow me to swap it out for Redux. Some self-published authors have had to confront the nightmare of Amazon thinking they were plagiarists. So I will need Redux ready to go when I swap it out for RR.

I am seriously considering publishing “Against All Odds” first since it is a standalone. Once I get AAO, Redux, and TSWAQ out, I can focus on writing brand-new stories (for some of you who know, this refers to my New Adult college story Joya and my witch family saga Winterhaven and others). I am particularly anxious to launch my college romance/drama series.

Let me know what you think!