Many of you are eagerly awaiting the release of my new novel, the second book in what has become the From the Darkness Risen trilogy. I had been perfectly on schedule to release the novel somewhere in mid-April until I took a weekend off to go to San Francisco on a field trip with the Paranormal Research Society. The trip was a much needed getaway for me to clear my head, be with friends, and possibly get some fresh creative inspiration. I got all of those things but I also came home with an awful bug that was probably a severe cold. For two weeks after the trip, I spiked 102 fevers and nearly made the decision to visit the emergency room a couple of times. That wasn’t a good recipe for finishing a book, to say the least.

Since I was two weeks behind on the editing and rewriting process due to being so sick, I have obviously not published the book yet. I’m still going through the last stages. I also have another job, so I can’t work as often as I would prefer, but I am pulling quite a few all nighters. It’s extremely important to me to grow and improve as a writer, so I’m not satisfied with “as good as the first novel.” My goal is for readers to feel like it’s better than the first novel and to feel like they didn’t waste any money on it. I would rather take extra time to publish better quality material than publish less than my best to meet a deadline.

It looks like Book II will be out mid-May. I’m going to put it on Kindle first and then paperback, Nook, iBookstore, etc., will come in progression after that. Remember that I am an independent author, which means I do all of the work on my own. I wrote it, edited it (I do have other people helping with editing), designed the cover, formatted the manuscript, and will publish it. That means I have the luxury of delaying publication if necessary, such as in this case.

Tomorrow I will post a new excerpt of the novel for you all.