Happy Holidays!
To say 2022 was a good year for me writing-wise would be a vast understatement. I reached for the stars this past year and achieved my dreams!
I began the year in the “query trenches,” which is part of the path to traditional publishing. What does that mean? I was sending my query letter and sample pages to literary agents and publishers. Writers call this the "query trenches" because it can be a harrowing and heartbreaking experience to place your dreams in the hands of other people.
When I saw that Quill & Crow Publishing House was open for novel submissions, I was eager to query them—but also nervous. You see, I have been a huge fan of Q&C and its founder for quite some time. I knew a rejection from them would hurt worse than from any other random agent or publisher.
I needed to try, though, for there was something bubbling under my skin ever since their novel submission announcement. Call it eagerness, excitement, or even magic, but I needed to submit Her Dark Enchantments to them. I had to try. I felt like Q&C was exactly the type of publishing house that would understand my gothic and whimsical dark fantasy novel.
When I received the email from Quill & Crow saying that they would like to publish HDE, I sat on my kitchen floor and cried happy tears. This was such a dream come true. With the amazing editors at Q&C, we have polished HDE into something, in my humble opinion, that is truly special.
Getting a publishing contract and editing a novel would have made for a successful year alone, but it doesn’t stop there. I still had another contract to fulfill. I was part of a book box set called Realm of Darkness and needed to complete, revise, and edit a dark fantasy romance novel for it.
Staying within the same world as A Sea of Pearls & Leaves, I wrote a “Little Mermaid” retelling with a Corpse Bride twist called The Mermaid & the Pearl. I don’t quite know how I was able to write, revise, and edit that novel before the deadline on August 1st, but I did somehow. Then, it was onto marketing.
Working with the ROD authors, I learned so much about book marketing and truly had tons of fun. Because of ROD, I made wonderful connections with authors and even joined TikTok. The hard work paid off because the Realm of Darkness Anthology hit the USA Today Bestseller list! That’s right. Your girl is a USA Today Bestselling Author!
Since then, I’ve been working closely with Q&C on editing and marketing HDE, along with doing some reading and writing. It was totally unexpected, but earlier this month, I realized how close I was to finishing the first draft of The Bone Needle.
If you didn’t know, The Bone Needle is the highly anticipated sequel to my first published novel The Crown of Bones. I will go into more detail in a separate post about why it has taken me so long (for now, let’s say it has to do with the other opportunities that came my way). But yes, The Bone Needle is a complete novel now. I cried when I wrote, “the end,” because this is a novel that I’ve been eager to finish for a long time.
My plans for The Bone Needle are to revise it in February, start looking for beta readers in March, work with an editor and cover designer over the summer, then publish the book on Halloween. I will be relaunching The Crown of Bones with a new cover, as well, so that the duology looks like a cohesive set.
I could not have accomplished any of these things without my supportive family, circle of amazing writer friends, fantastic publisher, and, of course, wonderful readers. I am so thankful to each and every one of you for supporting my writing journey in some way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
2023 is going to be another intense and exciting year. Her Dark Enchantments comes out on April 25th (and is currently available for preorder here). In July, I will be attending the author convention Storybound Fest. I am really looking forward to that because I will have a book signing table to sell my books and will also get to meet some of my close author friends! As mentioned above, I plan to have The Bone Needle ready for publication on Halloween. It will be a lot of work but well worth it. After that, though, I might give myself a little break for the winter!
Thank you again for your love and support along my writing journey. I appreciate you more than you know.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Rosalyn
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