It feels awkward wishing people ‘Happy New Year’ this year, doesn’t it?  The awfulness that was 2020 did not vanish at the 12th stroke of midnight, January 1st. 

So instead, I wish everyone renewed hope and continued perseverance.  When things get rough we at least have our fantasy worlds of adventure and romance to escape to for a little while. For this, I am grateful. And I want to say a huge ✨THANK YOU ✨ to all of you whose support has helped keep me motivated to write this past year!

I was never one for resolutions.  I tend to reflect back before planning forward when it comes to the turn of the calendar.  If it’s through the consequences of our decisions and mistakes made that life lessons are learned, I learned a few hard ones this past year. But learn I did and am hopefully wiser moving on to 2021. 

So with all that in mind, here’s where I’m at in terms of plans for those interested:

• I am dropping the Brush With Fate audiobook. It is a project that is dead in the water. Only one person has ever expressed an interest in it (and I hug them for that).  The hours it takes me to record and edit are not worth the time I could creatively use elsewhere. It was a positive experience in that I picked up the fundamentals of creating audio chapters.  I also discovered that I could narrate NSFW content with a straight face. Most importantly, it pushed me to complete a full first edit of the story which I would not have done otherwise. 

• A Brush With Fate will be the story I begin to rewrite as an original this year.  My tentative title for the original is The Lady of Butterflies. I want to take time studying drawing techniques. I would so love to be able to hand draw illustrations.  Let’s see how far I can take that this year.

• Finishing my first full edit of The Silk Blade is a priority.  I stopped midway through in order to get Sea of Clouds started but will be resuming my edits as of next week. 

• Speaking of Silk, I am republishing it under a new title Song of the Fox Goddess on my original profile on Wattpad.  I was rather pleased with how the new edition’s book cover came out (see below).  The aim of the new edition is to see if it garners any interest from general readers.  So far I have yet to receive any notification that shows me there are general readers following it (the view numbers it has are all from the kind fanfic readers who hop over to give it a boost, I believe ❤).

• As promised, I launched Sea of Clouds by the end of last autumn.  I can’t say I am encouraged by the decreasing view numbers with each subsequent chapter. It’s been disheartening not getting feedback like in times past but it is what it is.  Perhaps the story is too AU for many remaining fandom readers who prefer stories closely tied in with canon. I get that. So that’s why I’m considering giving it another 2 chapters (when Bai Qian will have entered the story) before deciding whether to keep it going as a MYBQ ff or pulling it to use as an original storyline in the future. 

That’s it for now.  If plans change drastically or I’m struck with new ideas, you’ll all be the first to know!  

PS.  Hey Marie, I guess I did have long-term plans after all, lol.