A little dusting

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It’s long overdue that I dust off this site and add a fresh post. I didn’t mean to take a hiatus from writing fantasy romance books to focus on growing and raising a family, but that’s how the past few years played out. Now, my family’s routines are well established and I’ve carved out consistent time to write again.

A lot has changed since launching my author career with Dante five years ago. I’ve grown as a person and in my profession. I’ve learned many lessons. Since publishing Exchanged in 2017, Dante has slowly become more invested in other career paths, so while he is still a part of the creation process, I do all the writing and editing for our books. My writing has developed so much since taking on the task myself, but since Dante is no longer involved in the writing, my goals have shifted.

Dante and I wrote a number of books very quickly when establishing our author brand, but as I said, I have different goals now that I’m working mostly on my own. I’m so happy to have written and finished both the Exchanged series and the Sons of Fesassi series. It was amazing working with other authors to create the anthology Silver Linings. The Druid’s Gift was and is so dear to me. I meant to put out the sequel in 2018, and I even got around 22,000 words into writing it. I still plan to finish it.

Looking back, I see how my passion for writing allowed me to pour out story after story. I also see how both my excitement and anxiety led me to make story choices that required adapting to a broader audience. I see which relationships flourished in my personal life and made me stronger, and which relationships were one sided. I’ve learned a lot about self-publishing, running a business, and what kinds of investments that requires from myself.

More than all that, I’ve missed being here. I’ve missed creating and engaging. I’ve missed having fun and seeing all the good things. I may keep writing as Vanessa Mozes, or I may take on a new pen name and challenge myself to go for traditional publishing. Either way, it feels good to be back.

The Rogue is now available!

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After much wait, The Rogue is finally available! You can find it digitally via Smashwords, Amazon, or Barnes&Noble. I have a special place in my heart for every book I’ve written with Dante, but The Rogue has something a little more. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

I do have to apologize for the big delay in releasing The Rogue. Our lives underwent a huge shift during the finishing steps of this book. In the time that this book sat almost-finished, I gave birth to and almost lost my first son, had a second son, and received a diagnosis about my first son’s special needs. I’ve changed, matured, and learned more than I can put to words at this time. Now our boys are a little bigger and we’ve gained a good footing with their care, hence I’ve been able to finally finish what I started.

It’s strange to read The Rogue now and feel a connection to its characters and situations even more touching to my life now than when I wrote them. I hope this book in some way touches your life too. However this finds you, may it impart courage and love.

Alive and kicking

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Hi everyone! Dante and I have been a bit quiet, but we’re still around and scribbling away. We’re thrilled to see how many of you have picked up and enjoyed The Druid’s Gift, so thank you for reading! This story is especially dear to us, and seeing your love for it has brought us such joy.

If you haven’t had a chance to read The Druid’s Gift, it will be on sale this Thursday (March 29) for $0.99 as part of a Kindle Countdown. Be sure to get your copy on Thursday because each day you wait after that sends the price up another $1.

As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been a bit quiet, but we’ve by no means disappeared. Shortly after this year began, I started an Instagram account, and I post a combination of reading habits, daily life, and author news (usually in that order).You can follow me @vanessamozes for updates during the week. My activity on this account is much more casual and laid back, and I’d love to see you there!

Preparations for our July baby have calmed down, but we’re still trying to tackle as much of our house as possible to have it baby-ready. The nursery is completed, so there’s that, but at this rate the yards will take another 20 years of taming. But what’s the rush?

The baby…that’s what.

New year, new intentions

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Now that the crazy whirlwind that is the holidays is behind us, it’s time to dive back into daily life and set some healthy intentions. January 31 will mark one year since Dante and I published our first book, and wow did we learn a lot that we’re bringing with us into the new year, though some habits will be left behind. We’re expecting a new arrival into our family come July, so it was important for me to create a resolution that had a chance of surviving past the birth of a new baby (yes, I know priorities will change along with everything else once the baby is here, but the point is to try).

Before room can be made for new plans and habits, some old ones have to be cleared out first. While my writing style with Dante is ever evolving, I like to think that we’ve maintained a healthy balance between our personal lives and writing lives…mostly. Midway through last year I fell into the trap of endless work, of always pushing myself, and of not giving myself enough time to rest and recover. Needless to say, by the time November and NaNoWriMo rolled around, I was burnt out. The idea of editing the first draft of a new manuscript made me stressed and anxious. Whenever Dante tried to ease me into story creation or conversation, I would become overwhelmed. It scared me to recognize I no longer found enjoyment in any part of the writing or story creation process.

Admitting to myself that I was tapped out and allowed a break was no easy thing, but thankfully I had Dante here with me as I recharged. I did not complete the 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo, and I did not write much new content in December—instead choosing to focus on the release of The Druid’s Gift—but I’m now back in a place where the keyboard is no longer intimidating, and I’m actually excited about our stories again. So out with bad habits. Out with endlessly pushing myself to do everything at once, and out with thinking that more is more.

What I’ve kept are the habits that will keep me writing at a steady and consistent—not breakneck—pace. Dante and I are also making the effort to reach our local communities and spread the word about our books. We’re about to send off the first book in the Sons of Ferassi series, The Rogue, to our editor, and are planning to release it sometime in late spring or early summer. Exchanged’s sequel will be released on its own and as part of an anthology with a group of other awesome, fantasy authors. Finally, we aim to have the sequel to The Druid’s Gift ready for release by the end of the year.

More than anything, my biggest intention this year is to enjoy every moment of it. Dante and I love creating stories, and we’ll never stop doing so in one way or another, but we also love each other, our families, and our friends. We will strive for balance, and though we’re bound to fail now and again, we’ll keep learning and improving.

Vanessa

Is it just us, or is this how everyone feels?

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Not only are we still working on three different projects at once, but I am also finishing my master’s program. And the holidays are coming. A sane person probably wouldn’t participate in NaNoWriMo while wrapping up their degree or while preparing to bake (literally) hundreds of cookies to hand out in holiday gift boxes, but I am in no way sane. Not even halfway there.

Anyhow, we can be a bit overeager, so here’s this month’s update on our writing projects in clearer terms. The Druid’s Gift is set to release December 5, 2017! But you already knew that because we can’t stop talking about it on social media. This book takes place in the same world as The Dryad, and you might even recognize a place or two on the map (we have a MAP!).

We are about halfway done writing the first draft to a full length novel following The Dryad. There WILL be characters from the novella in the new book, so take from that what you will. 😉 The words written in NaNoWriMo will be used to finish up this draft and Exchanged’s short story sequel.

Which brings us to Exchanged. We’ve learned a LOT since we released it less than a year ago. Like most authors looking back on their first works, there are things we would change and improve if we wrote it again now. Though we originally intended for the sequel to be longer, we’ve decided to include Aubriel and Callannon as side characters in future books as opposed to main ones. Not to say this will stay true forever, but once we release the short story, we’ll turn our focus to the other two series we started.

Oh, yeah, and we’re about 1/3 of the way through the sequel to The Druid’s Gift. ^_^ To be fair though, I started writing this sequel before deciding to make The Dryad part of a series. So if you end up loving Druid’s Gift (and I have a feeling you will ;), know that more will be on the way.

Love, hate, or feel curious about something? Shoot us a message.

<3 Vanessa

Fall Updates

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Hi everyone! We hope you’ve had a great summer. We have lots of updates to share with you concerning new and upcoming projects. 🙂 First off, for those of you looking forward to seeing Aubriel and Callannon again, we’re expecting to release a short story directly following the events in Exchanged around summer 2018.

Until then, keep an eye out for a sneak preview of our next full length novel! This story will mark the beginning of a new series, and it takes place in the same world as Exchanged and The Dryad. We’re planning to release this book by the end of this year.

Finally, we never thought the draft of our short story, The Dryad, would one day turn into a novella, and then become the start of its own series, but it has. Dante made up a story for me (Vanessa) in 2014 as a gift of sorts, and it’s come a long, long way since then. Thanks to a suggestion from our editor, it’s become the prequel of its own series, Sons of Ferassi. We’ll post more about this in the new year.

We now find ourselves busily finishing up Exchanged’s sequel while working on two series simultaneously. It’s not the position we imagined ourselves in back in January, but here we are! If you have questions about any of our work, feel free to email us. We love to hear from you.

Early, happy fall to you all!

Happy summer

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We hope everyone is enjoying a calm and relaxing summer so far. It’s hard (and sad) to believe we only have a month or so left until life gets crazy again. Once The Dryad is out, we’ll start posting about the next item on the agenda, which we’re excited to share with you!

Some of you may have noticed we’ve revamped out website so it’s much easier to navigate and read. No more tiny script! If you’d like to join our mailing list, we’re going to have a summer sale on Exchanged soon, and plan to share monthly updates on writing progress and story insights.

Otherwise, happy summer!

Giveaway Coming Soon

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exchanged-front-cover-webIf you haven’t had a change to purchase Exchanged, no worries! Next week we’ll be starting a giveaway on Goodreads for a signed paperback copy. We’ll post a link announcing the giveaway as soon as it’s live, so keep an eye out. Pre-orders for The Dryad will also become available by the end of the month. We hope you enjoy both stories, and remember to let us know what you think!