Where the heck have you been woman?!

People keep saying this to me.

Actually, no. No one has said this to me. Well, I’ve been saying it to myself, on a daily basis, does that count? If you follow me though on social media, etc, then you might have noticed that I have been a little quieter than usual. It’s because my body was snatched by aliens for a nefarious reason. Actually, no. I just said that cause I wanted to say nefarious. It’s a good word.

Seriously, though.

My last release #FINISHLINE came out at the end of February and since then I haven’t had a new release. I have had 3 audio book releases though – #Swag, #Blur and #Bae. It’s been nearly three months since I’ve had a book release – and I know that’s not a terribly long time, but for me it has felt like forever. I’m used to releasing a book a month OR a book every other month. I admit, I feel a little lost online sometimes when I’m not sharing about my upcoming projects with teasers and things.

I DID reveal a new cover and project – Moth To A Flame  and said the release date was to be announced. I haven’t said anything else about that book, or shared any teasers, etc since the beginning of April. Not like me, I know.

Allow me to explain.

Moth To A Flame is a cover I purchased pre-made, in fact I think its the only pre-made cover I had purchased (up to that point) in my career. I love that cover so much, and as soon as I saw it I wanted to write a story for it. I knew once the GearShark series was finished I would need to move on, so I grabbed the cover and decided it would be my next project after #FinishLine.

Can you hear my own mind laughing at me? I can. It’s very annoying.

#Nerd came out in late 2014… #FinishLine released a few months ago. In the space of those THREE years I wrote solely in the Hashtag/GearShark world (except for Taxi and Maneater). I spent three years with a family and a group of characters that literally ruled my entire life. These series are so popular. They are award-winning characters, they made me an award-winning author. I barely remember what I was like before I started writing Romeo, Rimmel and the rest of the gang. Needless to say, I gained a lot of new readers and followers with the birth of Hashtag and GearShark. The series took over my life so much it was hard to believe I’d written near 20 books BEFORE those 2 series.

When #FinishLine released an epic hangover of a sort ensued. I became a little lost I think. It’s hard to spend all the time with people who were so real to me and then for it to be over. I wasn’t sure what to do without Trent and Drew – Romeo and Rimmel. I wasn’t sure what to write and honestly I often wonder if I will ever write anything as good as those series every again. I often wonder if maybe those were my “peak” books and everything would go downhill from there. It was quite a mind game finishing up those series and trying to move on. I didn’t really want to move on, and even now months later I still think about them, I still sometimes want to go back to that family.

Also, in 100% truth, there was/is this voice in my head whispering that the readers and followers I have gained won’t want to read anything new from me if it wasn’t in that world. That everything I write from here on out will be compared to the Hashtag series and the GearShark series and how the heck can anything live up??

Head games, people. Head games.

Anyway, basically, I was sort of hung-over, sort of brain-fried and sort of wandering through the yellow-brick road of “where is my career going and what is the meaning of life”. I actually didn’t wonder about the meaning of life. I mean, the meaning of life is coffee. Duh.

I announced Moth To A Flame because I was working on it, it was the project I planned to release and because I felt like it was time to announce something. More of that last thing than anything. Writers worry if they don’t keep flinging things out and being “relevant” they will get lost in a sea of books and new releases. And honestly, its not a baseless fear. It happens. A lot. Some books do great and others flop. And since I am being so “lets share” today, I will say a lot of the books I see on my newsfeeds, etc are starting to look all the same. It can be frustrating and discouraging. Add that to finishing a mega series (mega in my mind maybe not to you) it’s been a challenge.

You picked up on the fact I said was when I mentioned Moth To A Flame didn’t you?

This brings me to the Updates, what I’m working on part of the post. If you made it here, you deserve a cookie! Thank you for hanging in!

I have been more quiet recently, but I HAVE been working behind the scenes on things. Real quick: None of these announcements have anything to do with movie deals or TV deals. My agent is working on that, but its a slow thing and I have nothing on that front to announce.

What I do have to announce is THREE upcoming project/releases! One of them is NOT Moth To A Flame. Say what? Yes, I know. Guys. I do my best to never announce anything that isn’t coming soon because I know what its like to be a reader and wait. It stinks. I get it. But hopefully the above blabber will explain where my head was and what happened with that. I do still plan on writing Moth To A Flame, I actually started it. Some of it is written, so I will likely release it later this year. So if you were looking forward to that one, don’t worry, I will write it.

So why then if I started Moth To A Flame and revealed the cover am I not releasing it?? I hate the fact I’m even backtracking on that announcement. Its one of the reasons I’ve dragged my feet about this. I don’t like announcing and then changing my mind. So unprofessional, right? *sigh. In my defense, I have a writers brain. You know what that means? MUTINY.

Yep. My brain does what it wants when it wants. I basically told myself to write Moth To A Flame and my brain laughed at me.

And then, an idea happened. Sometimes as a writer, my brain is taken over by characters or an idea and that’s that. I saw a cover online, an image. And I literally could not get it out of my head. It was instant. I had this other book idea simmering in the back of my brain and this cover/image fit it perfectly. In fact, it created more inspiration and it literally took over my head.

I pushed it all back though and kept staring at Moth To A Flame. One day I was so dejected from not being able to write in it, I pulled up a new doc and started writing this new title. And I kept writing. It’s been pouring out of my brain since.

So. Moth To A Flame is on hold because I am writing this one first. I had to and I have to say I love this one, guys. I was in a place that wondered if I would ever have the passion for another world, another couple as I did for Hashtag and GearShark. If I would ever love anything again…. I do.

I’m so excited to share this one with you. I’ve already got almost all of it written, I have teasers, promo, a cover… It’s nearly ready to go. I haven’t said anything because I wanted to be SURE this time. I wasn’t about to reveal something else that I didn’t TRULY have my heart in.

But I do, I love it.

And not only that but I have TWO other things I’ve been working on. Let me tell you those first then I will come back to this new book.

UPCOMING

I have partnered with Marisa at Cover Me Darling for two projects.

Last year I wrote an 80’s novella titled MANEATER. It was not published by me but another another publisher. I recently acquired the rights back to MANEATER and it’s getting a whole new look! AND it’s coming to print!

In addition to the NEW COVER design it is also becoming a COLORING BOOK!

Maneater will be re-releasing (its not currently available) in E-book with the new cover on JUNE 2. It will not have any new content. If you already have the old version, it will be the same (just a new look).

The PAPERBACK will not only be the story in print, but it will include TEN coloring book pages that are totally 80’s themed. So you can have the book for your shelves AND color it. Even the chapter headings will be colorable. (is that a word??)

Again the re-release of Maneater is JUNE 2nd. I will do my best to have the PB out on the 2nd as well, it depends on the speed of the printer.

The Cover Reveal for the NEW LOOK of MANEATER IS 

The second project I have partnered with Cover Me Darling with is for a

HASHTAG SERIES COLORING BOOK

This will be a completely custom coloring book designed to go with the award-winning Hashtag Series.

It will be approximately 40 pages.

The release date for the Hashtag Series Coloring Book is September 11

I will release more details and sneak peeks of this project later this summer.

 

And now back to the new book….

The book that has completely stole my brain is titled:

 

AMNESIA is a romantic suspense/ dark romance novel

AMNESIA is a full length novel, and will be releasing in JUNE

The Cover Reveal for Amnesia is MAY 25th

Bloggers and Page Owners SIGN UP HERE to be part of the reveal

The cover is designed by Cover Me Darling

I know its not a Hashtag or GearShark novel, but I love this one. I hope you will give it a chance and I hope you love it, too.

So that’s it guys! Those are my announcements. A re-release, a print release, and a coloring book release are coming. As well as, A NEW NOVEL.

I do apologize about Moth To A Flame being pushed back, I hope you can understand that my heart and brain just wasn’t in it, and I cannot release something like that. I have to be “all in” with my current releases and Amnesia just totally took over.

So get ready for some reveals and lots of teasers!

If you’re exciting please leave a comment below and tell me!

xo-

Cambria