Alive and kicking

Hi everyone! Dante and I have been a bit quiet, but we’re still around and scribbling away. We’re thrilled to see how many of you have picked up and enjoyed The Druid’s Gift, so thank you for reading! This story is especially dear to us, and seeing your love for it has brought us such joy.

If you haven’t had a chance to read The Druid’s Gift, it will be on sale this Thursday (March 29) for $0.99 as part of a Kindle Countdown. Be sure to get your copy on Thursday because each day you wait after that sends the price up another $1.

As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been a bit quiet, but we’ve by no means disappeared. Shortly after this year began, I started an Instagram account, and I post a combination of reading habits, daily life, and author news (usually in that order).You can follow me @vanessamozes for updates during the week. My activity on this account is much more casual and laid back, and I’d love to see you there!

Preparations for our July baby have calmed down, but we’re still trying to tackle as much of our house as possible to have it baby-ready. The nursery is completed, so there’s that, but at this rate the yards will take another 20 years of taming. But what’s the rush?

The baby…that’s what.

New year, new intentions

Now that the crazy whirlwind that is the holidays is behind us, it’s time to dive back into daily life and set some healthy intentions. January 31 will mark one year since Dante and I published our first book, and wow did we learn a lot that we’re bringing with us into the new year, though some habits will be left behind. We’re expecting a new arrival into our family come July, so it was important for me to create a resolution that had a chance of surviving past the birth of a new baby (yes, I know priorities will change along with everything else once the baby is here, but the point is to try).

Before room can be made for new plans and habits, some old ones have to be cleared out first. While my writing style with Dante is ever evolving, I like to think that we’ve maintained a healthy balance between our personal lives and writing lives…mostly. Midway through last year I fell into the trap of endless work, of always pushing myself, and of not giving myself enough time to rest and recover. Needless to say, by the time November and NaNoWriMo rolled around, I was burnt out. The idea of editing the first draft of a new manuscript made me stressed and anxious. Whenever Dante tried to ease me into story creation or conversation, I would become overwhelmed. It scared me to recognize I no longer found enjoyment in any part of the writing or story creation process.

Admitting to myself that I was tapped out and allowed a break was no easy thing, but thankfully I had Dante here with me as I recharged. I did not complete the 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo, and I did not write much new content in December—instead choosing to focus on the release of The Druid’s Gift—but I’m now back in a place where the keyboard is no longer intimidating, and I’m actually excited about our stories again. So out with bad habits. Out with endlessly pushing myself to do everything at once, and out with thinking that more is more.

What I’ve kept are the habits that will keep me writing at a steady and consistent—not breakneck—pace. Dante and I are also making the effort to reach our local communities and spread the word about our books. We’re about to send off the first book in the Sons of Ferassi series, The Rogue, to our editor, and are planning to release it sometime in late spring or early summer. Exchanged’s sequel will be released on its own and as part of an anthology with a group of other awesome, fantasy authors. Finally, we aim to have the sequel to The Druid’s Gift ready for release by the end of the year.

More than anything, my biggest intention this year is to enjoy every moment of it. Dante and I love creating stories, and we’ll never stop doing so in one way or another, but we also love each other, our families, and our friends. We will strive for balance, and though we’re bound to fail now and again, we’ll keep learning and improving.

Vanessa

Fall Updates

Hi everyone! We hope you’ve had a great summer. We have lots of updates to share with you concerning new and upcoming projects. 🙂 First off, for those of you looking forward to seeing Aubriel and Callannon again, we’re expecting to release a short story directly following the events in Exchanged around summer 2018.

Until then, keep an eye out for a sneak preview of our next full length novel! This story will mark the beginning of a new series, and it takes place in the same world as Exchanged and The Dryad. We’re planning to release this book by the end of this year.

Finally, we never thought the draft of our short story, The Dryad, would one day turn into a novella, and then become the start of its own series, but it has. Dante made up a story for me (Vanessa) in 2014 as a gift of sorts, and it’s come a long, long way since then. Thanks to a suggestion from our editor, it’s become the prequel of its own series, Sons of Ferassi. We’ll post more about this in the new year.

We now find ourselves busily finishing up Exchanged’s sequel while working on two series simultaneously. It’s not the position we imagined ourselves in back in January, but here we are! If you have questions about any of our work, feel free to email us. We love to hear from you.

Early, happy fall to you all!

Happy summer

We hope everyone is enjoying a calm and relaxing summer so far. It’s hard (and sad) to believe we only have a month or so left until life gets crazy again. Once The Dryad is out, we’ll start posting about the next item on the agenda, which we’re excited to share with you!

Some of you may have noticed we’ve revamped out website so it’s much easier to navigate and read. No more tiny script! If you’d like to join our mailing list, we’re going to have a summer sale on Exchanged soon, and plan to share monthly updates on writing progress and story insights.

Otherwise, happy summer!