On Wednesday, February 20th, I finished the third book in the core trilogy of The Curse of the Blessed, a series I’ve been working on since December 2018.
So first of all, CONFETTI! BALLOONS! JOY!!
This isn’t the first series I’ve finished, nor the longest, nor in the quickest amount of time, because I’m a speed drafter. But it’s unique and important in a different way.
I’ve mentioned in past blogs that from about September-December 2018, I had a really hard time overall in life, but especially with writing. I felt like I lost my spark and I’d never get it back. I know that sounds dramatic, but if you look at my usual output – and if you lived in my head during those months, my gosh! – you’d know how bad it was. And you’d run screaming. I know I wanted to!
It was like someone died. I was so depressed and felt so hopeless. Especially about writing. I was truly terrified I had peaked in the series I’d finished in June, and with writing The Chaos Circus, and there was nothing left in me. I still don’t know how this resolved itself, except prayer and perseverance.
Sharek and Elynor came to my head at the end of this soul-drought. Theirs was not the first story I’d tried to tell since September. I was terrified I’d start and stop The Curse of the Blessed like I did in September with my book Rhyme and Reason, and in November with my fairytale retellings.
But TCotB was a lesson in healing. In going slow to go fast. In exploring rather than merely drafting. I fell back in love with my calling through telling the stories of people who mourned and grieved and feared they would never be free. People who feared their own craft.
TCotB evolved as I wrote. It changed from a story of vengeance and rage and tragic endings to one of redemption and love offered to the worst parts of us. Of being seen and held through pain. Of learning to love the most unlovable parts of ourselves. A story of new beginnings and hopeful somedays instead of tragic eventualities.
And I think all of that change came about because I was seeking love and hope and redemption for my heart and soul when I stepped into it.
This story was unique. Difficult. Raw. Real. And I can’t wait for the day I can share it with all of you.
Thanks for being on the journey with me!
