Bitter Confessions, Book Update

Thank you to everyone who came out to our meetup last weekend. It was a blast! We ended up chatting on Discord for over 2 hours. I tried to answer as many questions as I could, and there were some great ones! You can go through the messages on Discord and look under Social>Meetup.

One of the first questions, of course, was about a release date for Bitter Confessions. Quick answer: early 2024 (I’m estimating March??). But, the other part of that is that I’ll be extending the Singed Series into more books.  

Long-winded explanation incoming:

In my last book update, I mentioned that I was only 1/3 into the novel, yet, I was going over 150k words. Romances are usually between 60-80k words. 100k words is an industry standard full novel. I estimated Bitter Confessions was going to be around 250-280k.

I was panicking about the size of it because if you write that much, there’s that much more to revise, it takes longer for editors to go through it, paperback size/pricing issues, and the audiobook length would be out of this world… And I had no idea when I would finish. Therefore, I couldn’t set a release date. 

There was a natural break around 115k words. I would rather not break the book up into more installments, but it’s the only way for me to manage such a massive series. I think offloading portions of the story and not hoarding it to the point where I’m overwhelmed is key. 

Bitter Confessions covers about 2 months (Bitter Secrets covered 1). We’re 3 months into their year. I think the rest of their agreement (9 months) will be either one or two extra installments, which will make the Singed Series a 5-7 book series. 

1. Bitter Heat

2. Bitter Secrets

3. Bitter Confessions

4. Book 4 (year they’re married) Tentative Title: Bitter Sins

5. Book 5 (year they’re married) (not sure if this will be necessary, but considering my current trajectory, it’s possible)

6. Book 6 (post their agreement/finale) Tentative Title: Bitter Fate 

Hopefully, I’ll only need one book that goes beyond their one-year agreement (fingers crossed). I’m not counting Roth’s book, since the series will be complete without it.

So, technically, I’m finished with the first draft of Bitter Confessions! I’m working on the next installment, tentatively titled Bitter Sins!

Book Word Counts:

- Bitter Heat: 90,004

- Bitter Secrets: 136,467

- Bitter Confessions: 115k (I still have a lot to flesh out, though, so expect this to be around 123k or so after revisions)

Just like I usually do, there’s no gap in between books. Bitter Confessions picks up the morning after Bitter Secrets, and Bitter Sins continues on the same night as the end of Bitter Confessions. My goal right now is to write as much of book 4 as possible so when it’s time to revise BC, I can enhance scenes, add foreshadowing, and keep the timeline and story sharp and cohesive. 

Tentative Work Schedule:

- Now – December-ish: Writing book 4 (possibly book 5). 

- January – February: Revise Bitter Confessions.

- February – March: BC goes to editor, prep for release, still writing book 4/5? 

- Estimated release for BC is late March, early April. 

This is all tentative. A myriad of things can and will happen, but I just wanted to give you guys an idea of what’s going on and my estimates. Book publishing for me isn’t as rigid and mechanical as it is for most authors (to my detriment) because I care more about the story than putting out something, but this is what I’m aiming for. 

I believe in 2024 I’ll be putting out Bitter Confessions early in the year and Bitter Sins later in the year. So, at least two books will be added to the Singed Series! It would be great to see if I get out another, but we’ll see.

I’ll continue sharing snippets on Patreon of whatever I’m working on and keep you all updated on anything to do with this series. 

I will probably show chapters leading up to the release, but am super hesitant to put up the whole thing and have it pirated right before I publish. Patrons may just get early chapters, and maybe not the full thing? I’m not sure. We’ll figure that out when the time comes.  

I know this is a lot of information, but I wanted to make sure to keep you all informed. Publicly, I’ll just be announcing that the first draft of BC is done, early 2024 release, and there will be more installments. I won’t be adding the tentative titles or explaining in depth the way I am here. 

I was really nervous to announce more installments and was resisting the idea as well because I signed a 4 book contract for translations. I reached out to the publisher to see what they thought about more books, and they said they would just add as many books to the contract as needed! And to my delight, most of you on Discord were ecstatic to hear about more books, which stunned me. On social media, most comments seem to be like, “This better be the last book.” I think people are so used to tidy duets and trilogies and can’t comprehend maintaining a relationship or a durable storyline over this many books? Even I’m a little dumbfounded since I’ve never done anything like this before, but the story keeps unspooling and as long as there are people who are interested in the story, I’m going to keep giving it. 

Writing and publishing is such a long process, but your enthusiasm and support keeps me pumped and focused! I enjoy reading all your comments and different perspectives on what you read. It’s fascinating how everyone’s minds interpret subtle cues and details. 

As you can see, especially with the Trentham Ball snippets, there’s a ton of moving parts and storylines. It’s about Roth and Jasmine, but there’s so much going on in their world, which provides endless material to pull from. 

Since the end of BC is the Trentham Ball, I’ll be going back to the beginning of BC and show a bit more than I was previously, so you get a fuller sense of the book. I may show scenes and snippets from book 4, Bitter Sins, which is what I’m working on, but I’m going to try not to since that would just be confusing as hell. (Watch me ignore my own advice and start showing shit because I can’t help myself. LMAO).

Let me know if you have questions, and I hope you all have a great weekend! It’s sunny and humid here in Hawaii. Makes me lazy. Can’t wait for it to cool down.