I survived!
Sort of.
I guess we’ll know for sure by tomorrow night.
After almost five years of work, The Tunnel comes out tomorrow and I am so excited for the launch party. I commissioned book merch from the attending artists, delt with emergencies (like a missing book order), amped up my advertising game compared to the last time, and spent many nights tossing and turning in bed. But I think it’s safe to say that I’ve survived The Tunnel given how many people have expressed an interest in attending the party and grabbing a copy of my book. I even have a new consignment contract lined up and ready to go, as well as 4 and 5 star reviews on Goodreads from ARC readers!
But party planning isn’t all I’ve done this month. Sure, it’s been my main focus, but I’ve also been writing up a storm.
When I first wrote GOATS, based on everything I was going through at the time I figured the draft would be a mess when I started the editing process. But as it turns out, it’s actually not that bad. In fact, it’s better than I expected it to be. And that’s not to say there isn’t room for improvement – there always is – but I am feeling a lot more confident about the story and I’m looking forward to continuing the editing process.
And that’s not the only thing I’ve been working on. The sequel to Skull Daddy is well underway, and I’ve got about 8,075 words written so far. Between what I’ve already written and what I’ve got planned in the outline (yes, I did an outline for this one – bare bones, but still an outline) I’m certain this book is going to be quite a bit longer than the first one. By about 10k words at least.
In book 2, we get to see Willow all grown up and up to no good. But that’s all I’ll say about it for now. Although the eventual third book in the series will be closer in tone to the first book, this particular one is a little different (and a little more messed up). Think Skull Daddy meets Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! (2017). In fact, the title for book two is Skull Daddy II: Mother/Father. I cannot wait to see where this particular writing journey takes me. Thank you so much to all of the readers who demanded and begged for a sequel because I am having so much fun writing it.
Speaking of sequels…
Between beta readers and ARC readers asking for a sequel, I’ve stared drafting out a plan for a sequel to The Tunnel. There’s no outline (yet), but I do have a 2 page word document filled with notes and ideas. If The Tunnel offers a taste of cosmic horror, its sequel will be a three course meal with much more Lovecraftian style goodness. And if you stop by the launch party tomorrow and donate to The Book Purge, you could end up becoming a character in this sequel! I’ve got a much larger cast of characters planned, so I’ll need lots of inspiration.
Ans since I’m in a sharing mood, I figure now’s a good time to let you know the title: The Tunnel: Pandemic
The title might not make too much sense right now, but if you read the first book when it comes out tomorrow… Well, you’ll probably have a better idea of the direction that story is going to take.
Stay spooky, everyone! See you at the party tomorrow night!
