Fall Updates

News, Updates, and a FREE Book!

Hi there-

It’s been a while, but I thought I’d pop into your In Box and give you some updates about my books and what I’ve been up to. I know some of you are waiting for news about my next book(s) and might even have wondered why I seem to have fallen off social media and this newsletter. I wanted to give you an update about what’s coming up next (and when) and let you know what I’ve been up to.

A lot has happened since the last newsletter I sent back in May. I’m still having a hard time believing that the last newsletter I sent was in May.

May!! That’s kind of… well, that’s really bad. So much for consistency.

A lot has happened since then, though. And honestly, I have no idea why the time went so fast. The summer flew by and now we’re neck deep in September. But here you go! Another one of my sporadic newsletters!

As a reminder, back then I’d just self-published an adult paranormal romance under the name Celia Crosby.

The cover is pretty, eh??

It was a lot of fun to (re)write, edit, design and publish that all on my own. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, there will be a FREE promotion starting today and running for the next couple of days on Amazon. CLICK HERE to get your copy. If you do grab a copy—or if you already have read it— I’d love it if you took a moment to rate or review the book.

I had some big plans when I published Sweet Unrest. Heck, I bought the 500 pack of ISBN numbers and a website for a publishing imprint that I wanted to start because I had plans. I was working on a proposal and synopsis for my next YA with Simon & Schuster and starting to plot out a couple different ideas for adult romance series. I was going to get. things. done.

I still have plans, but sometimes life happens. And life definitely happened. Luckily, it happened in the best possible way.

New Job, New Plans

So, if you’ve been following me for any length of time, you probably know that writing is my second job. I’ve been a full-time professor at a local community college for the last decade—since before my first book sold. What you probably didn’t know (unless we’re good friends) is how hard that job has been. Teaching is always hard—even at the college level. But the place where I worked was pretty toxic, and it only got worse as the years passed.

I’d been writing all along with the hope of someday being a full-time writer. I had visions of eventually quitting that day job from the very beginning. But even with the amazing, surprising success of The Last Magician, I came to realize that wasn’t really a viable hope—not when I live in a very expensive part of the country and have two kids. Not when I don’t love how unpredictable publishing is.

Post-covid, things had gotten really bad at that job, though. I’d been looking on and off for another position for years, but by early spring of this year, I’d reached the point where I knew I needed to get out for my own sanity and health. I needed a plan to quit that wouldn’t bankrupt my family.

Self-publishing Sweet Unrest was part of that plan. I thought maybe I could build a self-publishing empire (I actually still kind of think that, tbh). I looked at becoming a copywriter, a tech writer. I applied for government jobs. I also applied for other teaching positions at other colleges, but I wasn’t really banking on another teaching position. If you know anything about full-time positions in higher ed, you probably know that finding one in the humanities is kind of like finding a golden unicorn. I’d already had one, and I couldn’t imagine being lucky enough to find another.

Well, guys, I found the golden unicorn.

Right after I’d published Sweet Unrest and went to Apollycon, right about the time I knew I had to get to work on getting out of that job by any means necessary, I got an offer for a job at another college. To say I was (and am) excited is the understatement of the century. I am completely over the moon. I knew I wanted this job the second the interview was over. The people I work with now are friendly and supportive. The students are much more engaged and willing to have fun in the classroom. And I get to teach literature. I feel like I won the lottery. I actually smile at work and come home feeling that good exhausted you feel when you’re doing something you really care about.

But the new job means I have had a pretty heavy lift this past summer building 3 completely new courses completely from scratch (including the websites that go with them). Being new I’m also on campus twice as much as I was at my previous position. All this has meant that writing has kind of taken the backseat—for now.

Next Books, Next Plans

I have one more book still under contract for Simon and Schuster—another YA that I’m hoping will be the Vegas/Daemons Urban Fantasy I’ve hinted about before. I’ve already written a bunch of world building documents, some drafts of the plot, and very long (but unfinished) synopsis, but the idea wasn’t quite there yet when the new job happened.

Luckily, I have a really wonderful and supportive editor, who has been completely understanding and willing to give me this fall semester to get my feet under me in the new position. I’m still planning on getting that proposal and synopsis finished by Spring of 2024, but that means the book itself likely won’t be out until 2026. I hope you’ll bear with me while I take a bit of a hiatus from writing and get my new position started on the right foot.

Good news, though, is that I will have a book out in 2024—my first Middle Grade will be on shelves during Summer 2024. I actually wrote this book back in 2013—right after I wrote Unhooked and before I started drafting The Last Magician. It was supposed to be a 2020 book, but my publisher wanted me to finish The Last Magician series first.

Back in 2013, my then-nine-year-old asked me to write a book about an ornithologist (he was really into watching birds). So I did. Except the birds are actually evil, empty creatures from another dimension that enter our world through a rip in the sky. Oops. Not exactly what he had in mind, I’m sure. But he’s about to graduate from high school, and now he’s more interested in guitars than birds now, so I don’t think he’ll mind.

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to share the cover and more details with you soon, because it is absolutely gorgeous. Even if you’re here for the morally-gray love interest/slow-burn romance with a touch of magic that I usually write, I hope you’ll give Keeper of the Rend a try. It’s probably the funniest thing I’ve ever written, which—considering it features demon birds—is saying a lot.

And there’s a goat. Because who doesn’t love goats?

Looking Forward

If you’re still reading, thanks! I can’t tell you how much I’ve appreciated the support I’ve gotten from readers for all of these years. You guys keep me going every day. I 100% wouldn’t be here without you and your support.

I don’t have any plans to stop writing. In fact, I can already feel that itch to make something new. But for the next couple of months, I’m going to be focusing on becoming the best teacher I can be (which, apparently, includes figuring out how to teach Dante). I’ll try to keep you updated if anything exciting happens on the publishing front. Maybe I’ll do some posts about the publishing industry or the whole writing process.

Until then, I hope that you and yours are well. I hope you’re weathering this heat okay. I hope life is treating you right. And I hope you’re finding amazing things to read. (BTW- If you haven’t read Fourth Wing yet, maybe get on that. It deserves every bit of success it’s had.)

Anyway… thanks so much for reading and for understanding. You can still find me occasionally on Instagram and sometimes on BlueSky (though, I’m feeling less and less like sharing my life publicly on social media. I’d rather share here, with the readers who want the news.)

Feel free to drop me a line and tell me how you are and what you’re reading. And what you would want to read about in this newsletter.

And if you made it this far, here…enjoy a picture of our bun. She’s a ridiculous creature, but I hope she brightens your day!

Take care and happy reading,

Lisa