A while back I made sort of a State of the Union post here, but as well all know, plans change. So I thought I’d let you in on the new itinerary.I’m about 45,000 words (somewhere in chapter five, for my Literotica buddies) into An Emperor for the Eclipse. What I originally thought would be one [long] book, I’ve now decided to split into three novella-sized parts.

Why am I doing this? Well, this story is a different beast from what I’ve written before, and while I’ll be debuting it on Literotica to see what everyone thinks, it is destined for Amazon at some point. Bearing that in mind, I had to wonder if new readers will want to take a risk on a 180,000 word novel (I’m just guessing at the length here, who knows) without ever having read anything of mine before. I also thought about those of you who are already so kindly reading and enjoying my stories. This will be different for you, too, in that the plot is much thicker and the erotica, while still in my normal, graphic and dirty style, is more sporadic throughout the narrative than it has been in some of my other stories. So the same goes for everyone: I’m thinking you might want to break off a piece first and see if you like it, and then you can move on to the second and third parts if you’re into it.

Does this mean I’m moving away from writing erotica? Not really. There’s room for everything, I think. I still love, love, writing a good sex scene. I love trying to top myself, to get creative, to (I’m hoping) make you feel a little of the joy or surprise or fear my characters are feeling. But aside from sweaty rutting and sense-obliterating orgasms, I have so many stories in me. So many. And while sex is often present, and sometimes one of the central themes, quite a few of the ideas I have in the queue deal with so much more.

There’s my current project, a fantasy world of empires where the characters wrestle with issues of fate, and self-acceptance/discovery. I have a vampire dystopian future I’m excited about that deals with man’s inhumanity to man and the rights of those in power to treat those they consider “dangerous” how they please. There’s a contemporary paranormal piece about a woman who is injured and goes into a coma and is offered a “job” on the Other Side, if she’s willing to die to do it. And the sequel to The Devil’s Luck is a given. And there will be so much sexing in that one, I can’t even tell you.

Of course there are shorter works of (mostly) pure smut, like the two companion pieces to The Eighth House: a Medusa/Perseus bit of femdom, and an Aphrodite/Hephaistos hotwife thing that should get very interesting. And let us not forget The Carpenter and the Deckhand – I can’t wait to get Ellis George and Winters from The Devil’s Luck into bed. Been ready to write those two for months.

So what does all this have to do with the price of tea in China? I tell you I’m splitting up Emperor into three parts because I’m still a good 20 scenes out from coming to the end of the first part. I think that might make Book One alone a good eight or nine Lit chapters. So what I’m going to do is come to the end of what I’m thinking of as the current chapter and (briefly, don’t worry) put a pin in it.

The reason I am doing this is I’m going to begin revisions and further editing to The Devil’s Luck for a launch on Amazon (and possibly Barnes & Noble, I’m still deciding the route I want to go) in September. The plan is to publish TDL on September 19th. Why? Because it’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day, of course!That’s four months away, and it might seem like a long time, and why would I need so much time to self-pub a story I’ve already written? First, I need to make revisions. Primarily to make the appearances of Rowland Graves come more in line with his backstory which was fleshed out after I wrote TDL. I also need to edit. I feel like I’ve learned a good deal more about writing in the last year, and TDL was only the second thing I ever wrote, so now I look over it and see lots of little rough edges I want to sand down. So that needs to happen. Then comes the logistical stuff: I need to make myself a cover design (I have a vision, people, and it will be swashbuckling and glorious, if I have my way). I need to do my homework on marketing the blasted thing. I need to research some small advertising options. As you can imagine, I want people to see this story, not just put it out and have it fade into oblivion (haha, I think I just jinxed myself there).

And I tell you know, those of you who’ve signed up for my email will be hearing from me when the revisions are done, offering a first look at version 2.0 in exchange for honest reviews. Because that’s what happens, apparently, when we go to publish. We become whores for reviews, laying down our bodies as offering to the Amazon Algorithm gods in hopes that we please them.

So I’m giving myself extra time to get this all done. If I finish early, YAY, and I can go back to Emperor: Book One. After that, it’ll probably be some sort of ping-pong between writing the sequel to TDL and finishing the other books of Emperor.

There you have it! That’s what’s doing in the next few months, at least for me. Conversation is always welcome – I love to hear from you. Hit me up in the comments or say Hi on Facebook, you know I’ll be there.

❤ Eris