Continuation of Carmen's story, Crime Lord Series

I've received countless emails, messages, and comments all wanting to know the release date for book 5, the continuation of Carmen's story. I still don't have a date, but I'm close! The reason for the delay is, I thought Carmen would have one more book, but nine months later, I have to tell you all--it's actually three more.

When my word count reached 150,000, I started panicking because in most cases, 100,000 words is a full-fledged novel, and I felt like I was just getting started. I actually rewrote the beginning of the book multiple times, trying to rearrange the sequence of events to see if I could "get to the point" faster, but the story refused to conform. It wouldn't be rushed. I fretted as the word count climbed, as the plot became more complex and intricate and more and more characters came out of the woodworks. At some point, I threw my hands up and gave in. These books are long as hell and I don't really know what this is, but in a time when reality has become too much to bear, I gave myself up to Carmen's plight and let her world consume me.

I am in the final chapters of the last book as we speak. The manuscript word count is topping out at around 360,000. I have never written anything this long in my life... and I never want to again. I don't know if it's because of the pandemic, I'm evolving as a writer, or because I stopped trying to control the characters and just let them be, but these books are something else. It's not a romance. It's a study of these characters that I've gotten to know over the years. They're evolving, just like you and I. I swear, I fall into this world so easily, sometimes it scares me.

These books are a slow burn. There aren't any quick fixes, insta-love scenarios, or immediate HEA's so for those of you who need to read the ending to see who wins, you're going to have to wait until your friends read book 7 to determine if you want to crack these babies open. Lol. So much happens in these books that I have no idea how anyone will be able to read future installments without being completely lost. Every book builds upon the next. I envy authors who can write stand-alones. Apparently, that's beyond me. My books fit together like a puzzle. You can't see the whole picture without all the pieces.

These books are a definite departure from the rest of the series with new settings and characters who play big roles in future. This book took me down a lot of roads I wasn’t prepared for. Every day I sat down at the computer, not sure what would happen and lo and behold, some character always showed up to tell me what happened next. It's been a very strange year, let me tell ya.

In the book world, it seems like there's huge releases every day and that it takes these authors a week to write a book. I'm just not wired that way. Some stories don't take any time at all, but this one did. A lot of time. Most authors would have just packaged and shipped it. I wanted to do that. I've never been more tempted to just write a quickie HEA and move onto the next story. But I couldn't. You only have one shot to tell this person's story and as Carmen is one of the most interesting I've come across, she deserved the time it took to work through her feelings and choose a path that suited her. Caving to the pressure to put out an edited version would have killed a part of me so I decided to take the pay cut and tell the story in it's entirety even if some people may be turned off by the length or not interested because there isn't enough romance. I decided to include all the hilarious conversations and ridiculous shenanigans. Carmen is uniquely placed to shed light on characters that no one else could. I took my time, hand-stitching while others race ahead on their sewing machines. Maybe their way produces more, but I'm not interested in a massive catalogue. I'm interested in putting out work that sustains people for years to come. And that takes time. Deliberation, perseverance, and patience. I hope you understand when the books come out.

I wrote books 5 - 7 as one massive, honkin' Harry Potter and the Phoenix sized book... Hold up. I just Googled the word count and HP 5 is 257,045 words. I rest my case. I wrote a Harry Potter book and a half this year. The damn thing sucked the life out of me and the hard part is just beginning. I'm planning to edit them all as one book as well and release them one after the other so... it is coming, it's just going to take a while. I want you guys to be able to read them all in one massive chunk so once the first pre-order is up for book 5, know that the others aren't far behind. You will get 3 books from the Crime Lord Series by the end of the year.

Pray for me.

I hope you're all as well as can be under the circumstances. It's viruses, fires, politics, social upheaval, and too much for me to list without feeling depressed. Don't mind me if I scurry back to my fantasy world...

Thank you all for being ridiculously patient and supportive. I couldn't do this without you all. I hope you enjoy Carmen's adventures as much as I have. As soon as the books are ready, I'll be putting up a pre-order!