Allergic to Fluff

I have two WIPs. The first is the follow-up to Farm Fresh and Picked Fresh. Fresh Earth focuses on Charlie & Leo. You met them in the first two Naked Organics books, but this book really dives into Charlie’s psyche. It’s been a hard book to write, mostly because Charlie has a hellish past that comes to bite back.

My second WIP is Extra Ordinary. This story started out as the short story, something along the lines of 5,000 words. It was written entirely from August’s (Gus) POV, but I always wanted to know more about Luca. I got the rights back to that story sometime last year, but it sat on my computer untouched for ages.

Then I found a model that fit Luca: a little bit irreverent, willing to put himself out there, and far more appealing than he realizes. He’s not Gus’s opposite, but Gus would rather blend than flirt openly by winking at a stranger in a public space. I wanted to expand the story, so having Luca on the cover seemed right, especially with the play on words. Gus thinks Luca is extraordinary but he thinks of himself as extra ordinary. See what I did there?

I have covers for both of these books and they have been taunting me to get going on the stories. Sadly, the covers didn’t get me writing. They are lovely covers, and while I’ve been saving these for some dramatic cover reveal, I wonder if part of what holds me back from writing is that I feel no sense of urgency. Pressure helps me meet deadlines, which is why I have all my editing clients give me a due date. Yet with writing, my due date is so squishy, it barely exists.

Add in a challenging book to write, and if I’m not careful, I’ll be writing Fresh Earth until I’m dead, and then I’ll leave everyone hanging. I refuse to do that to my readers!

Fresh Earth was going to be dark from the start. I knew that going in, and I’ve been working on it for years. Literally years! And it hurts like hell to see Charlie suffering so much. If you read the first two books, you saw his torrid history hinted about, but he’s a bear of a guy who is loving and playful and kind, so that makes it extra hard.

I thought Extra Ordinary was going to be a fluffy piece, so I used that as a palette cleanser when Fresh Earth hurt to much to write. Yet Extra Ordinary took a much darker turn than I expected as the story progressed. It needed to, and I’m excited to see where this new happenstance will lead me as I start writing the second act.

I go to angst naturally. I fear readers won’t read angst, but honestly, that’s where my brain goes. And for a lot of very good reasons. So I need to embrace that and let got of the fear that people will hate it. It worked for Silver Scars, after all.

Apparently I’m compelled to write angst; I’m probably allergic to fluff.

So here are the covers. The talented Natasha Snow designed Fresh Earth, and Go On Write designed Extra Ordinary. And hopefully this will give me the kick in the butt I need.

2 Comments

  1. Beth Farkas
    February 21, 2019 / 2:34 pm

    I’m really looking forward to Fresh Earth! I’ve been checking back every so often to see if there was any info on future books in the series.

    • February 21, 2019 / 3:40 pm

      I’m glad to know someone aside from me is excited about this book. 🙂 I hope to have Fresh Earth out in the summer.

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