A Letter from Chris

Hello dear reader!

Its a pleasure to have you here! Here’s a peek at what’s happening in my life as well as my plans for the future.

A look back

I launched this newsletter at the end of May, and as of right now I have… one subscriber! So here’s to you, subscriber, whoever you may be! The first newsletter I’ve ever written is hereby dedicated to you!

The month of June was a wild ride and completely unexpected. To understand why, allow me to provide a little context. The entire reason why my debut novel exists is because I heard the song Serity by Vallis Alps during a rough period of my life. It provided the inspiration for what would become my novel, and after telling Vallis Alps that in a tweet they’ve invited me to be their guest at one of their shows in their American tour! If someone had told me five years ago that this is where my journey would take me I would’ve called them a nut! I may never see my book on a proper shelf, but I get to know that the people who started it all will read it, and that’s all I’ll ever need.

In addition to this I won something of an author’s lottery by being selected for a professional review on Reedsy Discovery. Getting reviews is important for any author, but I am at a point where I must pay for them. They’re not cheap, and I’m waaay over budget in the production of my story; so much so that I’ve elected not to pay for a marketing campaign. I simply can’t afford it.

Reedsy Discovery was the most affordable option I could find. The site vets reviewers, and for $50 you may submit your book into their pool of professionals to be picked up. Getting a review is not a guarantee, however, as these professionals choose what they review. And my book was chosen!

So this has been a pretty solid month for me all around!

A look forward

My next steps are to wait for the reviewer to get back to me on what they thought of my story. If its positive then I’m going to smack their words onto my novel’s cover so fast that paper will burn. If its negative then I’ll do my best to learn from it and come back stronger the next time around!

Other than that I’m continuing to meet with my writing circle and bouncing ideas off of them for my next book. I’m toying with the idea of extending my debut novel’s universe, but I’m wrestling with how to go about it. The Dance Between ends with a setup for a sequel, but can also exist as a standalone novel. However, if I write a sequel then I almost feel as though I must turn it into a series with an endgame. This doesn’t have to be the case, but I believe it would offer a satisfying arc for both the readers’ and my own journeys through the world of Iaela.

I’d also like to possibly pick up Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce as my new reading once I’m done with Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. According to some members of my circle it offers an authentic, faithful look into the perspectives of women, which can only help improve any female characters I make in the future. Just like how in order to be a good chef one must eat good and different food, one must experience good and different stories to be a good storyteller!

Finally, I’m heading out into the woods for the 50th anniversary of Pennsic at the end of July—a renaissance festival so big it gets its own area code for the two weeks its up! If you’ve never heard of it then watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__rFb8YpEEc

Live your brand, right?

With my best wishes,

Christopher

The Dance Between will launch on September 1st. Buy your copy here! You may also find me on Twitter at @ChrisWritesNow

A new word that found me: Emulsifier: a surface-active agent (such as a soap) promoting the formation and stabilization of an emulsion (i.e. a mixture of substances.)