It's been a crazy three years and honestly there have been a lot of ups and downs.
May 12th 2018
In July 2015 we bought our first home - it may be a tiny two bedroom townhome that I'm not particularly fond of but hey, we own it. That's a big deal. I also bought an Explorer here from my mother. It's old but was doing okay.
January 2016 our first offspring was born. He's not a good sleeper, is clingy, but also really smart and can already recognize his numbers on sight and count from 1 to 7 among knowing his colors and too many words to count. He even understands concepts like 'around' and 'under' and he's only 2 1/2.
June 5th 2018 - doing his workbook
Then I finally finished my Bachelor's degree requirements and graduated Summa Cum Laude in May 2017.
This was when I decided to take a year off for just writing and the gremlin. At this point I've been repairing the Explorer every 3-6 months. I shot up in my writing income and started a new romance pen name.
I wrote a new space fantasy romance series and the sixth Wolfegang book. None of these increased my income. Wolfegang actually dropped to almost nothing and the 6th book's release was blah. After weeks the only review I had was a bad one which sucked, but there weren't any good ones to balance that out. It seriously deflated my energy.
Prior to this release I'd decided to do one last overhaul for the final book in the series. I got new covers and hired a content editor. So ironically the 6th book is the only one that has been properly edited and the first and only review really didn't like it.
Near the end of my first year of full time writing I panicked knowing something needed to happen if I was going to be able to keep doing this as a career and not a hobby. So I picked a genre I really liked in romance and started writing two new books. Somehow I got a spot with one of the most popular cover artists in the genre.
They both took off as of last month. So at this point I'm finally profiting rather than constantly sinking my money back into expenses. This is great but between debt, future school expenses, preschool...until my son is in school full time I can't get a 'real' job with a steady income. This is all I have to make money while staying home with him.
Now I've recently gotten some nasty emails because I'm an author therefore I shouldn't expect income from my work because this is art and how dare I shift my focus to something that is going to benefit my family? This is why I took down the entire Wolfegang series. It's no longer available and won't be until I do my relaunch.
Apparently I couldn't have the series up without issues so now it's gone. It was too much and set me back emotionally and mentally. After a bout with postpartum depression I've been apt to mental health issues ever since. My entire chemistry is different and this is just how it is now.
Taking it all down and no longer having a deadline for it has nearly erased my stress and depression. I nearly quit and now I'm looking forward to writing again.
It's been a lot of ups and downs.
In July 2015 we bought our first home - it may be a tiny two bedroom townhome that I'm not particularly fond of but hey, we own it. That's a big deal. I also bought an Explorer here from my mother. It's old but was doing okay.
January 2016 our first offspring was born. He's not a good sleeper, is clingy, but also really smart and can already recognize his numbers on sight and count from 1 to 7 among knowing his colors and too many words to count. He even understands concepts like 'around' and 'under' and he's only 2 1/2.
Then I finally finished my Bachelor's degree requirements and graduated Summa Cum Laude in May 2017.
This was when I decided to take a year off for just writing and the gremlin. At this point I've been repairing the Explorer every 3-6 months. I shot up in my writing income and started a new romance pen name.
I wrote a new space fantasy romance series and the sixth Wolfegang book. None of these increased my income. Wolfegang actually dropped to almost nothing and the 6th book's release was blah. After weeks the only review I had was a bad one which sucked, but there weren't any good ones to balance that out. It seriously deflated my energy.
Prior to this release I'd decided to do one last overhaul for the final book in the series. I got new covers and hired a content editor. So ironically the 6th book is the only one that has been properly edited and the first and only review really didn't like it.
Near the end of my first year of full time writing I panicked knowing something needed to happen if I was going to be able to keep doing this as a career and not a hobby. So I picked a genre I really liked in romance and started writing two new books. Somehow I got a spot with one of the most popular cover artists in the genre.
They both took off as of last month. So at this point I'm finally profiting rather than constantly sinking my money back into expenses. This is great but between debt, future school expenses, preschool...until my son is in school full time I can't get a 'real' job with a steady income. This is all I have to make money while staying home with him.
Now I've recently gotten some nasty emails because I'm an author therefore I shouldn't expect income from my work because this is art and how dare I shift my focus to something that is going to benefit my family? This is why I took down the entire Wolfegang series. It's no longer available and won't be until I do my relaunch.
Apparently I couldn't have the series up without issues so now it's gone. It was too much and set me back emotionally and mentally. After a bout with postpartum depression I've been apt to mental health issues ever since. My entire chemistry is different and this is just how it is now.
Taking it all down and no longer having a deadline for it has nearly erased my stress and depression. I nearly quit and now I'm looking forward to writing again.
It's been a lot of ups and downs.
There were a lot of things that set us back too like a near lawsuit with our HOA back in October 2017 after they managed to screw us over. But California HOA laws are really lax so we got shafted.
Then our entire central AC needed to be replace because it broke...during summer when it gets up to 110 here. Car problems - I've registered my Explorer as non-operational for the time being which means no more zoo trips during the week.
My son is on the waitlist for preschool but I doubt we'll get a spot this year. So that takes away a lot of time I was going to use this fall for writing and studying for my grad school entrance exams. My parents are having health issues - there is just a lot going on and it's sucking up a lot of energy.
I'm exhausted and my writing income in sci fi has taken a serious dip. I realize part of this is my fault for being slow, but I need to make money to help support my family...maybe get my son into the private preschool where there isn't a waitlist but is four times as much per month. The social interaction would really benefit him.
So I'm putting the relaunch of the Wolfegang series on hold indefinitely. I don't know when I'll be able to finish writing the last book but I assume sometime after I pass my exams and finish up my teaching certification.
I would like to get my Masters in Accounting and I don't want to have to go into debt to do it. I realize this is a lofty goal, but any little bit helps until my son is in school full time and we are sure there won't be any more little gremlins in the future.
I would like to get my Masters in Accounting and I don't want to have to go into debt to do it. I realize this is a lofty goal, but any little bit helps until my son is in school full time and we are sure there won't be any more little gremlins in the future.
I know it's been a long run and that a lot of people are probably going to be furious with me but I need to do what's best for me, my family, and not force a shitty final book. I'm still working on the edits of the previous books, but I'm not forcing them.
Now this series will come back, it will be completed. I'm not going to pull a GRRM and take 6 years to finish one book. The other issue is once this series is complete I don't know what to write next and I'm not going to waste time, energy, and momentum for it all to die again so I need to figure out what comes next for Ashe. I need to decide what my long term goals are and the best route to accomplish those.
While this post may be TMI, possibly enraging, or depressing, I figured it would be better to write it and inform everyone, and have something people can search for when they realize the books are gone, and don't know what's going on.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
