Ok, so I've been getting a lot of questions about books and release dates and I have been ignoring them all!!!!!!
I'm awful, right??
But the truth is, I just don't know. I've kind of given up scheduling actual release dates too far in the future because I have an inability to keep them. It's probably the worst way to approach this whole career of mine, since release dates are kind of important... But it's part of this whole chaos I live in, so there you have it.
I am getting closer to announcing one release date though. So I thought I would give you a timeline of books that are coming in the relatively near future.
How's that for vague???
I'm trying to write three books simultaneously right now, which is something I've never done before. It's also kind of crazy. And if I get down to the truth of it, really only two books are being written right now and one keeps getting shelved.
The book that I am NOT writing right now is Sunburst. Here's the reason why. When I released Starbright, something happened with my saving and editing process and most of the edits that were corrected and fixed were not saved that way when I went to publish. Honestly, I don't even know what happened because I have the edited copies from my editor, I can see that she corrected mistakes and I remember correcting them on my own end.. but when it went live, nothing I changed was there. It was like I published my original draft.
Which is awful. Because let's get real, my first drafts are.... atrocious!!!! Terrible, even.
Anyway, she is working to fix Starbright and then I will re-release it as hopefully a completely polished version. But I don't want to start Sunburst until that's finished. Especially since I will be doing lots of re-reads of Starbright and it's important to save Sunburst until after that.
So if you're waiting on Sunburst you're going to have to wait a little bit longer. So sorry!! I just don't want to have to go through the Starbright fiasco ever again!!
Ok, so besides that, this weekend I got some amazing news. Like super exciting, fantastic news!!!!! And I have decided to release The Rush next!!!!!!!
With the release of this book I am doing something I've never done before. I will give more details later, but just know that it is really, really cool.
The Rush was definitely not even in my plans, but the story has completely taken over my brain and life and everything and I just really would like to get it out to you. And then this weekend I got news that I don't have to wait any longer!!! So, I'm not going to make YOU wait any longer either!!!!!!!
I'm hoping for February. But I will announce a more exact date shortly.
But right now, let's all plan for February! We can just mark the whole month on our calenders. :)
Ok, then the third book I'm writing right now is The Relentless Warrior. That will be the next book released, probably before Sunburst. But I'm shooting for April with that one.
I also want to say, that the Relentless Warrior is Jericho's story. Even though it will follow the same storyline as The Reluctant King, it will be from Jericho's perspective NOT Avalon's. Avalon and everybody else will still be IN the story, but Jericho gets to TELL the story.
If that makes sense.
So. The Rush. Then, The Relentless Warrior. Then, Sunburst.
And then I will start all over with those series, and probably add some more books into the mix because I have severe writer's ADD and there are just too many stories to tell and WAY too little time. :)
Oh goodness.
I hope that answers some questions!!
And just to get you as excited as I am for The Rush, here is a sneak peek chapter!!!
“Ah, Ms. Pierce, I wish I could say I was happy to see you,” Mrs. Tanner, the evil witch of a secretary, acknowledged me with a smug smirk that seemed to confirm the fact that yes, in case you were wondering, high school is the ninth ring of hell.
“Oh, Mrs. Tanner, I wish I could say the same thing,” I replied as sweetly as I could. I met her halfway with a long counter in between us.
She was not amused with me.
“You can’t miss any more school Ivy,” Mrs. Tanner warned and I realized it was practically painful for her to give me advice to heed. This must be coming from the principal, the male principal Mr. Costas. “At least not this semester, unless you have a written note from your doctor. Mr. Costas would like to remind you that you are going to have to work hard enough to catch up this late in the quarter, and that skipping, ditching or taking unnecessary sick days will not benefit you toward your goal of graduation.”
“Tell Mr. Costas, I appreciate that he’s looking out for me,” I answered in that same sickly sweet voice I used to annoy the hell out of her.
She ignored me. “Here is your class schedule.”
“Thank you.” I snatched it from her hand and turned on my heel before she offered anymore unsolicited advice.
“The faculty of this school would also like to ask that you not send any more of its students to the hospital,” she called out snidely to my back.
I tensed immediately, my back ramrod straight and my nerves shot to sudden hell.
“I’ll do my best,” I ground out and picked up pace.
I just needed to get to the glass door, push it open and get to class.
Fifteen more seconds.
“If you have any extra cash on you, that canister by the door is for Sam’s recovery
fund,” she finished on a high note.
I couldn’t help myself. I should have just bolted; and not just from the office, from school, from Omaha, from America…. I should have just gone.
But instead of listening to the sound voice of reason my inner conscience was screaming at me, I let the rotting guilt spread its ugly, vicious wings inside of me and I glanced down at the canister. There he was. Sam. Smiling and happy in his senior picture that was not at all indicative of what he looked like now…..
The canister was covered with construction paper asking for donations to help with his physical therapy and explaining that he used to be a senior at this school. The same school he never got the chance to graduate from before a car accident changed his life forever. The plastic cover had a slit cut out of the top so you could drop money into it, long enough for coins and wide enough for folded up dollar bills.
I couldn’t do this.
I didn’t want to do this.
I felt my breakfast lurch in my very upset stomach. I lunged for the office door knowing even a second more spent trapped in the same room as that canister was going to send me into another breakdown.
Only this time there would be serious consequences to pay.
I threw the door open without seeing. I mean literally, I couldn’t see anything. My mind slipped into the horrific memories of the past and I was pretty sure I could make a solid plea for temporary insanity at this point.
So when I shoved the door with as much force as I was capable of and met shouting resistance and then found myself tripping, toppling over something on the floor, I was completely taken off guard. The situation worsened when in the middle of my fall
I was drenched with severely hot liquid and landed painfully on my back, soaking wet.
I lay there for several moments sprawled out awkwardly on the hard tile before the clearest, deepest gray eyes I had ever seen hovered over me. They were male, definitely male. Our gazes locked together and I felt uncomfortably immobilized as the liquid I could now identify as coffee started to cool on my shirt and against my skin.
And then those eyes narrowed on me. My eyes flickered to a face that was completely unreadable, in that I couldn’t identify his expression except that it wasn’t good. Like…. he was mad at me. Like, he was pissed at me.
“Let me up,” I growled, confused by his less than stellar reaction.
“Excuse me?” he asked politely, schooling his expression and realistically sounding polite, like he hadn’t heard me correctly.
“Let me up,” I slowed my speech down, thinking he just hadn’t heard me, probably because he was so disconcerted from staring into my eyes.
I’m not being stuck up here. That’s just usually what happened. I was speaking from experience.
“No problem.” He scooted back from me and I scrambled to my feet. He joined me seconds later with two empty ceramic mugs in his hand.
We both side stepped the spilled coffee puddled in the hallway and I thought for a second that I heard him huff an impatient sigh, but I knew that had to be wrong. The halls were empty now, and we were left to stare each other down in front of the office. I prayed Mrs. Tanner had gone back to hiding in her hole of a break room; otherwise I needed to be concerned with her swooping down at any moment to hall my ass to the principal’s office. If I was lucky, she would demand a detention, but more than likely she would be petitioning for a suspension. She would use this or any other thing she could find against me.
Like I assaulted gray eyes with his hot coffee in an attempt to end any promising future he might have. Like this would be related in some way to Sam.
Realizing that could be the case, I looked down at my shirt hoping to have evidence that I was actually the one assaulted. And then hope turned to irritation when I noticed that it was completely ruined, and uncomfortably sticky and cold. Not that it was a designer shirt…. but the tight fitting, scoop neck black long-sleeved tee looked great with my gray bubble skirt and knee high charcoal boots. And the only extra piece of clothing I even had with me was my favorite hoodie that I wasn’t supposed to wear.
“What am I going to do now?” I bit out, while mystery man watched me from a few feet away.
“Excuse me?” he asked politely again, only this time I heard the faint tones of aggression and confusion.
Not possible.
“You spilled coffee all over me; I don’t have a change of clothes, what am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?” I asked not at all politely.
“I spilled coffee on you?” he asked slowly, his patience growing thin.
I stopped then, in that moment and lifted my eyes to meet his again. He wasn’t looking at me though, his arms were crossed and he was looking around the hallway as if he couldn’t actually believe what was happening and he needed someone else to clue him in. I took his distracted second to look him over.
He was all bad boy with thick layered dark brown hair that was clearly not styled and left messy and sexy from sleep. He had the thick kind of eye lashes that made most girls go crazy, with tanned skin completely in contrast to his silver gray eyes. His gray t-shirt that was just a little too tight and stretched over his biceps deliciously. His low slung jeans completed what might as well have been the uniform for all things wicked.
“Are you seriously going to blame me?” he asked in disbelief, drawing my attention away from the hollow of his throat.
“You spilled coffee on me,” I pointed out, pulling my shirt away from my skin mostly because it was so uncomfortable but also and a bit calculatingly because I knew it would expose my stomach and I was dying to see his reaction to a little skin.
“You came flying out of the office like a bat out of hell and ran into me,” he laughed unbelievably. And not once did his eyes fall to my exposed skin.
“Listen, I don’t have time for this, I’m already late for class,” I ignored his potentially valid point and waited for the part where he would shake off his disbelief and ask for my number.
“You’re seriously unbelievable,” he continued to sound irritated with me and honestly it was a little disconcerting.
“Me?” I gasped. “You’re unbelievable!”
Only I really meant that. Something was wrong. Like maybe I was broken.
Maybe I was broken….?
I had to test this theory, which meant swallowing all of my pride. My entire life thus far had conditioned me to think that nothing was ever my fault and there was always someone else to blame. Usually a man. An apology would take some effort on my part.
“You are one snide little-“
“Wait a second, before you start calling names,” I interrupted him, holding my hand up before he could get any naughty words out of that beautiful mouth of his. “You caught me way off guard. I may have been a little defensive,” I relented, not feeling a single word I was saying, but knowing if I wanted to get to the bottom of this I would have to play his game.
“You are apologizing for being defensive?” he clarified, not looking at all pacified.
What the hell?
“Yes, um, that and for running into you,” I mumbled in a rush.
“What was that?” he stepped forward, tightening the arms that were folded across his chest. I knew he heard me…. cocky bastard.
“I apologize for running into you, I was in a hurry,” I offered magnanimously.
“Obviously,” he narrowed his eyes on me again and rocked back on his heels. “It’s fine, I mean, you took most of the hit anyway.” He nodded to my stained shirt and that’s when I realized he was completely dry except for the hem of his t-shirt.
I hesitated for a long moment, feeling irrationally vulnerable under his scrutiny. Which wasn’t fair, because I was usually the one getting to do the scrutinizing. He looked me over for all of three more seconds before seeming to come to an indifferent conclusion.
Which, let’s be honest, confused the hell out of me.
“I can write you a pass,” he offered out of the blue. I thought, this is it, this is him showing his true colors! But his tone of voice was not anything like the doting, fawning boys I was used to.
“You can?” I squeaked, still feeling exposed for some strange reason.
“I’m the office aide this hour, which is why I had coffee in the first place,” he motioned to the still wet ground.
“Oh.”
“What’s your name?” he asked as if he didn’t know.
“Really?” I laughed.
His expression turned confused. “I can’t write you a pass without it.”
“Oh.” I couldn’t tell if he really didn’t know my name or not. He looked confused, but really I was the one that was so confused I couldn’t even make a sentence.
“Uh, your name?” he asked impatiently.
“Ivy Pierce,” I struggled for confidence. Who was this guy?
“Come on Ivy, what class are you going to?” He motioned toward the office, but there was absolutely no way I was going back in there. Not to mention, the minute Mrs. Tanner figured out he was trying to help me out, she wouldn’t let him go through with it. And for some unexplainable reason I didn’t want to get in it with her in front of him.
Whoever he was.
“Um, I have,” I gave my schedule a quick glance before answering, “Mr. Taylor for creative writing.” He motioned me to follow him so I had to call after him before the door swung shut, “I’ll just wait out here.”
He nodded his head without turning around to acknowledge me. Huh. He jumped up, so he could reach over the chest high partition and grabbed the yellow late slips before settling back down to the floor and filling it out. I watched him through the glass in kind of a state of disbelief. He hadn’t looked back at me, not even once.
Obviously my self-confidence was used to more petting, but I had legitimate reasons to have always thought of myself as desired. I was desired. Always. And it wasn’t something I liked or ever hardly tolerated, but still it was the truth. The male species as a whole couldn’t resist me and suddenly I smashed into someone I didn’t know, get splattered with hot coffee and my mojo was gone?
“Ivy Pierce?” a girl’s voice made me turn my head away from watching the mysterious office aid.
I turned to meet Kenna Lee as she approached the office. I forced a smile that I didn’t really mean and realized how hard it was to keep my focus on her. She was nice enough, or as nice as a girl could be around me and we had known each forever, but as far as friends went…. she didn’t like me. At all.
And I didn’t blame her.
Plus it was hard to keep my eyes off of the office aid writing me a pass. What if he turned to check me out and I missed it? Or even better, what if he never turned to check me out?
Kenna’s smile seemed halfway genuine though so I had to wonder if girls would also be affected by my loss of mojo. Maybe I would start making friends.
“When did you get back?” she asked. She was one of the more attractive girls in our junior class. Her dad was Chinese and her mom was Italian American so she had the good fortune of beautifully mixed genes with long, silky straight black hair, and pretty tilted eyes that were a shocking shade of green.
“Today is my first day,” I answered, wondering what to make of her friendliness.
“Good luck,” she smiled knowingly, but friendly enough.
“Uh, thanks,” I mumbled while she left me in the hallway and entered the office.
Office boy turned at the sound of the door bells tinkling and his gray eyes lit up as soon as they landed on Kenna. He stopped writing my pass to pull her into his arms and smother her in a kiss. She threw her head back in laughter and he went for her neck playfully.
It was kind of gross, in that sickeningly disgusting way that makes everyone around want to vomit. Really happy couples always made me uncomfortable and I felt the need to avert my eyes.
The office door opened again and a tan, long-fingered hand was thrust through the space. I followed the sinewy muscles up to a perfectly toned bicep along his shoulder, collar bone, throat and up to those clear gunmetal eyes staring at me with nothing more than complete disinterest.
“Sorry again about the coffee,” I apologized more sincerely for that spill than I had anything else in my entire life.
Ok. Almost anything else.
With one giant exception.
“No worries,” he replied without even a smile before the door was shut on me and he, whoever he was, went back to flirting with Kenna in the office.
Huh.
That was honestly a first for me.
Who is Rachel?!?
Rachel Higginson is the author of The Five Stages of Falling in Love, Every Wrong Reason, The Star-Crossed Series, Love & Decay Novella Series and much more!
She was born and raised in Nebraska, and spent her college years traveling the world. She fell in love with Eastern Europe, Paris, Indian Food and the beautiful beaches of Sri Lanka, but came back home to marry her high school sweetheart. Now she spends her days writing stories and raising five amazing kids.
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I am seriously so excited for The Rush! All the teasers have me DYING to read it! Can't wait! And February would be an awesome month for it to come out since it is my birthday month and all, it's like a birthday gift I can give myself, but no worries if it doesn't come out so soon. I'll still be here for whenever it does get released 'cause I know it will be amazing!
ReplyDeleteWow, no wonder your brain is consumed by that. Sounds awesome! Don't worry about deadlines, you have kids! Who can meet deadlines w/kids?! Hold onto your sanity, if you can, and deliver when you can. We'll still be here on the edges of our seats waiting for your delicious books to arrive. ;)
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait for The Rush but more importantly The Relentless Warrior!! You know how much I'm in LURVE with Jericho!!
ReplyDeleteBTW I've nominated your blog for the Liebster Award! Check out my post here: http://christinabookreviews.blogspot.com/2013/01/liebster-award.html
It couldnt come out too soon!!!!
ReplyDelete