December Writing Update

Hey guys!

I wanted to give a writing update! For those who are new, I’m currently working on the prequel for Corrupt Idol under my pen name, Dinah Harper. I needed to take a breather from Roth and Jasmine to build up my emotional stamina for book 4. If you’re looking for snippets of book 4, you can find them under Collections> Bitter Sins Snippets. Once the prequel is published, I’ll be hopping right back into the Singed Series.

Updates about the prequel:

• I’ve officially passed Corrupt Idol’s word count of 56k. I estimate this book will be around 75k words?

• I have about a fourth of the book left to write

• Still no title

I didn’t finish the book in November as I’d hoped. I wanted to stay under Corrupt Idol’s word count, but felt compelled to flesh out more than I intended. When I decided to write this book, I thought I could get away with showing salacious scenes that were referred to in Corrupt Idol and give glimpses of their home life and the deterioration of their relationship. But, it felt very incomplete. The emotional threads weren’t intact because I was skimming the surface of the characters and not digging deep enough to understand what made them tick. So, I decided to let the story do what it needed to, which has resulted in a longer and hopefully more well-rounded book.

I think this book is really going to get under people’s skin. It has mine. It’s honestly poked and prodded at some sensitive spots for me. I found myself avoiding certain scenes because I knew they were going to be quite disturbing.

I thought I was simply taking a break from Roth and Jasmine, but this book is actually helping me work through some childhood trauma I didn’t even know I still had. It’s brought up a lot of questions about right and wrong, religion, love, and other intriguing (and taboo) topics.

As always, the story challenges me, as do the characters. This story couldn’t be more different from the glitzy world that Roth and Jasmine inhabit, and yet, there’s a thread of Roth in Jesse and Violet in Jasmine. No surprise since the characters are an extension of me. I’m always a little worried about going back to a book I published years ago. I’m never sure I can tune into those characters or if I’ll be able to go back to that world. I’m pleasantly surprised to find that if that’s the story you’re meant to be writing, the characters will let you in.

 I think I still need another week or two, but I said that last month. 🥴 So, I’ll just say that I’ll definitely let you know when the first draft is done! During the week that I’ll be letting this book sit before rewrites, I’ll be organizing my notes for book 4 in the Singed Series. While writing the prequel, I actually made up my mind about some things that happen at the beginning of book 4 that I was undecided about, which shows this break is doing me good.

I hope you’re enjoying the holidays! I’m with my sister at the moment and she’s super festive. When I’m by myself I don’t even decorate, so when I’m with family, I follow whatever traditions they have and reap the benefits. Lol. For Thanksgiving, she made homemade custard pie and other desserts and for Christmas, they have much more planned. I’ve been slowing down a bit, sleeping more, and enjoying myself. This is my first true winter. I’ve been embracing the cold, bundling up, and drinking endless hot tea and coffee.

*From Dec. 6-10, I’ll be posting every day. I upped the snippets from 500 words to 1k. After Dec. 10 we’ll go back to our normal 4x a week: Tues, Thurs, Sat, Sun. Just as a reminder, what you’re reading is the raw first draft. Contradictory details may be taken out or changed during revisions. 

Thank you all for coming along this journey with me!