Last Updated on December 14, 2014 by Palessa
I promise, I have NOT been MIA. I’ve been busy with writing as well as other aspects of life, which involve a baby goat, that make me realize just how much I need a personal assistant. It will happen but right now, I just have to grow a couple more arms while I try to squeeze 40 hours in a day.
I’ve been talking about a story I’ve called EG and let me tell you, I’ve discovered what “the rabbit” hole means.
It started back in June/July. It was inspired by the World Cup that literally gave me the idea. I submitted it to the pubisher at the end of November. So that’s about 5 months. I’ve never taken that long to write a story.
NEVER.
Now, it was supposed to be simple, fun story about a girl’s love for football(Soccer in the US) and how she uses it to help young girls in Africa…really, I thought it was simple. The outline was simple. Then I started writing it and 77,000 words later I’m hit with this story that’s just amazing in a lot of ways and is now the first one in a new series I’m calling “Growing Wild.” I’m also planning the next book, which will probably take me a while to write as it requires research I was fortunate to get from the British Library. Yes, the rabbit hole took me on Lisbette’s journey in a way I was not expecting and I am not sorry. It made me stretch, it challenged me and made me work in a way I couldn’t have imagined. Eyubea Girls is a definite departure from the Baxters and I am committed to diving into it as best as I can; I’m also extremely excited to be touching another genre.
Now, I haven’t forgotten Quinn’s story. I couldn’t even if I wanted to because it leads me into another series that’s been on my mind since, I’d say, March 2013. so almost 2 years. I’ve been getting bits and pieces of the stories that I’ve been writing down but I have EG, PLUS another sports based series that I just have to get out in early 2015. Quinn’s story won’t start being written before April; it’s just not possible. I may even have to write it and the first story in the spin-off series together. We’ll see.
So to say I have a lot on my plate would be an understatement but being Jamaican, I have to have 50 things to do before I consider myself active (if you’ve EVER seen In Living Color’s Hey Mon skit, you know what I mean).
I told myself, I would need to take a break because EG REALLY took a lot out of me. Then I started thinking, which is always the start of trouble. I wanted to address a loose end I left in Portrait of Gray. I left it on purpose because I wanted to figure out how to use it.
I’m working on it and when it’s done, I’ll definitely share it with the class. This will be my first foray into the Baxter Family in a few months as I finished writing Book 3 back in May 2014. The Baxters are an emotional and intense family and I needed to step away from them for a bit because other characters were trying to get my attention and I didn’t want to ignore them. Lucky for me, Quinn is a patient. Sandro on the other hand…I’ll explain later 🙂
Speaking of Book 3, I got an early Christmas present a couple of days ago. The cover of Story of Us was just phenomenal. But the print cover was what I was waiting for because it blew me away. Well, I had to choose between 2 and this one won by a nose. So without further ado, here is the full print cover for Story of Us:
I can’t thank Jennifer Stevens enough for her awesomeness in really capturing the story in a way I couldn’t have imagined. I am excited.
OK, so it’s back to writing this special story project. 2015 promises to be an intense year and I’m just beyond excited.
OK really, back to work! Later.