I know I’ve been pretty much nonexistent over here (and on social media) lately. I promise, I have a really, really good reason for it! Outside of a few family situations we had going on over here, I’ve been in the very busy process of moving into my own apartment—which is a much more time-consuming process than I ever thought it would be. There’s the lease signing, the furniture purchasing, the furniture assembly (oh God, the assembly), getting everything arranged and packed and unpacked, cleaning, and probably a billion other little things you don’t really think about when you’re in the process of moving.
But rest assured, between that and scrambling to keep up with all my editing projects, I have actually been managing to get some writing done just about every day. So I thought I’d drop in and update you on the projects I’ve been chipping away at between all the craziness going on in my life!
The Unnaturals Series
Reapers (Book 4): I’ve been trucking along on this one for an embarrassingly long time. I think it was originally scheduled to release in May 2020, but we all know what was going on during that particular time, and my motivation for writing was shot. So I bumped it to December 2020, but then I got the rights back for The Becoming Series, and my entire life got consumed with prepping and revising for the reissue of books 1-5 in that series, so Reapers got put on the back burner.
But I actually, shockingly, have been working on the book since then. Initially, it was fairly off and on throughout last year, because my routine got shot to crap. But back in December, I finally got back on track with a daily writing habit, which mostly involved starting really, really small and building it up over the span of a few weeks until I was writing a substantial amount each day. And as a result, I’m an estimated two weeks away from finally finishing this book. The system I’ve come up with gives me a pretty decent idea of when I’ll be able to release a book, and it’s looking more and more like Reapers is going to drop sometime in June. I’m going to fine-tune the date and, obviously, announce it here once I have something firmer.
And, as a side note, I finally have a firm title for book five, and the plan for that book (at least, as it currently stands) has me excited to no end. 😀 And now that I have a title, I can get the cover done, which will be happening this month!
Which leads me to…
The Becoming Series
Bloodlines (Book 6): I’m very excited for this one—Lord knows it’s been a long time coming. I’m happy to say that I actually finished a “draft zero” of this book back in February and have been letting it sit and cook for a little bit, but I’m about to start the deep dive into the revisions for this book as soon as I finish Reapers, if not sooner. The draft zero went swimmingly; I’m super excited to crank out the revisions, flesh things out, add and move around some scenes, and get it out there for you to read. It’s going to be nuts.
Outside of that, I’ve been working on a couple of other little side things: final proofreads and formatting for paperbacks and hardcovers for all my books (there are some available as paperback and/or hardcover, but not all, and I want to fix that), outlining for future books in both my series, plotting out some short stories I want to write and prepping to do the actual writing on them, and probably some other things I can’t think of off the top of my head. I’ve also been planning out my schedule for restarting The Deadening—it was brought to my attention recently that people actually read that one, and it’s been quite a while since I’ve even looked at it, which is a shame, because it’s one of the more inventive projects I started. So I’m definitely getting it on my schedule to hopefully finish over the span of the next year or so. I just have to figure out the best time to restart it.
All that said, I’m super excited for the year ahead. There’s a lot going on, many moving parts involved, but I think you guys are going to LOVE the end result!
Which one of my projects are you looking forward to the most? Let me know in the comments or on social media!
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As a friendly reminder, you can still get The Becoming and The Unnaturals, the first books in their respective series, for FREE on all major ebook retailers, along with Payhip, my online store where you can purchase books directly from me!
The Becoming is now available in audiobook format from Tantor Media! You can check it out and pick up your copy by clicking HERE.
The Unnaturals is also available in audiobook format from Tantor Media! You can pick up your copy of that audiobook by clicking HERE.
“The Night the Moon Died,” a new short story that takes place in The Becoming Universe, is also available from all major retailers for the low price of $0.99! This story takes place after Redemption and before Bloodlines and will reveal a major problem that our intrepid characters will face in Bloodlines. Be sure to check it out by clicking HERE.
You can also sign up for my newsletter by clicking HERE. Newsletters are sent out infrequently and mostly consist of major announcements regarding new releases.
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And, lastly, you can follow me on social media! I don’t post a lot there, either, but it’s a great place to keep up with my progress on my books, since I’m more likely to post a snippet or a thought about what I’m working on as I do so! And I occasionally (very rarely) do little giveaways and such. You can like my Facebook page right HERE. On Twitter, I’m @JessicaMeigs. I’m also on Instagram @JessicaMeigs. I also have a Pinterest, which I’m working on overhauling, so things look rather sparse over there at the moment, but your follow is appreciated!