Happy New Year
Ok so I meant to write a more general post lol but actually it’s turned into ‘The Story of Sons of Heaven & Hell and Control‘ lol. If you’re not interested, maybe skip this blog post. If you are for some reason, by all means read on!! It gets more meaningful at the end!
So 2022 ended in total madness!!! Hardly anyone knows this but I didn’t release Lust & Other Demons (in August) until I’d completed the first full draft of Sons of Heaven & Hell (thinking that would give me looooads of time to get it all good & set up for the December 12th deadline I’d given myself… hahahaha). Only then I realised loads of bits didn’t work or weren’t what I wanted, the whole thing turned inside out and I ended up on the deadline of my life!
It all got so intense I couldn’t even read what I’d written anymore! I have pretty bad health issues, too, so lots of that began playing up. I took a break of one week, during which I wrote the 15K novella Control (yeah, I know, I’m brilliant at breaks lol) thinking I’d release that for my newsletter just after book 2 was out, feeling all pleased that at least was basically sorted (if you know how long Control is you’ll see where this is headed…).
I then threw myself literally all day every day - working past midnight most days - for months, into trying to get Sons of Heaven & Hell ready for the 12th Dec!! I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it at several points. But then it all came together, went out and all my friends said, “Great! You can take a break now!” I thought, I’ll just check the novella…
Obviously, I hated it haha. Almost nothing was what I wanted, though it was still Leo & Zeke. I didn’t even understand how I could have thought it was okay at the time. I still don’t! Anyway I went back to the drawing board, almost killed my poor dictaphone (I do nearly all my working out on dictaphone) and gradually found the story I actually wanted to tell. Amazingly, a couple of scenes survived pretty much untouched (the pool scene hehe, no way I was getting rid of that!!).
By the time I’d finished, the novella was late and 21 thousand words longer but I really liked it and genuinely couldn’t wait to give it to the Hammer Falls readers!! As I write, it went out in my first proper newsletter just three days ago. It went live on Amazon two days ago. So far it’s had one Goodreads review (a fabulous one) but I’m still hugely nervous about whether people will like it and also whether people will even find out about it. In 2022 I also found out how hard it is getting out there, especially if you don’t have agents or PAs or srtists & editors and all the rest of it - it’s tough!!! My 2023 wish for Jin, Nate, Sam, Marshall and everyone in Hammer Falls (plus Leo & Zeke) is that they find more people to take them into their hearts and help them journey into the world. They’ve already found some, and those people are a constant source of amazement to me. I’ve rarely felt so touched by anything in my entire life as by the fierceness of their support!
I’ve always wanted to put my writing ideas ‘out there’, and the fact that 2022 was the year I finally pushed myself and made it happen has made me genuinely proud of myself (and I’m hardly ever proud of myself for anything!). So for everyone, I’m wishing you more growth in 2023 of whatever has made you proud of yourself in 2022.
This is pretty much just a great big ramble about Sons of Heaven & Hell and Control - sorry lol - but it’s also me thanking everyone who’s stepped onto this ride with me and given me belief & strength so far. It’s also me hoping you all have or find people in your lives, on the internet, in books or anywhere else, who give you that strength. The world can be a tough & bloody lonely place at times and we need it!
Thanks for reading my books AND all of this lol ^^
Love n good wyrd, Tal :)