It’s snowing here. I don’t mind. It won’t stick, most likely, but for the first time in several years we’re actually getting a real winter. I think it’s good for the plants. Our Solstice was low-key but nice. We exchanged gifts, and a friend and I spent the day doing craft work. I made steak and asparagus for breakfast, so that was yummy.
I got a lot of coffee-oriented gifts. Gee, I wonder why? ~grins~
I’m working on Bewitching Bedlam and having a lot of fun writing it. The plan is to have it out in late January. Trust me, it’s fun and steamy, and different than what I’ve written in the past.
One thing I am enjoying immensely about going indie is being able to write what I want. I can explore quirky stuff that the publishers wouldn’t have likely touched. A friend said to me yesterday, and I never thought about it really but it makes sense…that when authors she read on a regular basis had gone indie, their work seemed to have more vision/freedom. She said it was odd but once she read their work they put out themselves, she felt like the work she had read from them with the publishers felt more constrained. She’s right, really. I no longer have to think about “will the company like this idea/part.” My own editor that I hire and my beta reader DO tell me if things seem off–and I fix them. But they don’t try to tell me “You can’t have this part because xxx won’t like it/it might not be popular enough/etc..”
Obviously, I do think about what will turn readers off–and it’s usually what would turn ME as both reader and writer off to a book. Killing off main characters needlessly, changing character motives partway through with no explanation, other things–those are routes I won’t take. But I have substantially more freedom now. And that makes me happy.