As pretty much the entire world can attest to, the last few months have been...something, to say the least. First and foremost, my heart goes out to everyone affected by the coronavirus and the many resulting measures that have uprooted different aspects of our lives. I truly believe we will come out of this stronger and wiser; it may just take a while and there are sure to be more bumps, bruises, twists, and turns along the way.
Like many people, I've been trying to channel the many emotions of the last few months into some semblance of productivity. It hasn't always worked, but I've felt more encouraged and productive in these last months than I have in a long time. It also helps that we turned the guest room into my own office ;-)
If anyone has some decorating ideas or inspirational quotes I can put on the walls, please feel free to comment!
Another factor in my productivity has been video chatting with my critique group almost every week and doing daily writing sprints with them. Under regular circumstances, we were all too busy with our daily lives for this much communication. Though life is resuming in many areas, I know we're all happy with the regular contact, even just to chat as friends. This has been a tough time, and we (as in all humankind) need as much connection as we can get.
Okay, on to the super exciting part! The last few months, I've been working on the next two stories in The Cavern Series. The full-length sequel, The Surface, is still a few months away, but I have been working on a "1.5" novella that will follow Mera's best friend Ata after the events that transpired at the end of The Cavern. My plan for Ata's story, titled The Awakening, is to release it on ebook format and Kindle Unlimited toward the beginning of August. I'll keep everyone updated on the official release date and accompanying information, but until then I am happy to share the brand new cover!
I'm so excited for you all to read this new novella, and I'm even more excited for the rest of the series to unfold over the next year. Please let me know what you think of the cover and what you're looking forward to most when it comes to Ata, Mera, Jonas, and rest of the Cavern.
Talk to you soon!
Apryl~