Where I’ve Been, What Happened, and What Comes Next

I know updates have been a little quieter lately.

That has not been because things have stopped happening. If anything, the opposite is true. So much has been happening behind the scenes that I have had to step back, narrow my focus, and put my energy where it matters most: finishing Reborn In Shadows: Phoenix Rising, taking care of my health, and making some difficult decisions about what I can and cannot realistically do going forward.

I wanted to take a moment to explain where I’ve been, what is changing, and what readers can expect next.

The first and biggest update is this: Phoenix Rising is in its final stages.

Book Three of The Ryder Chronicles has been my primary creative focus for months now. I have been deeply, intensely, almost obsessively focused on bringing this story to the finish line. This book matters to me in ways I am still learning how to articulate. It is bigger, more emotionally demanding, and more ambitious than anything I have written so far. It carries the weight of everything Miriam and Ava have survived, everything they are still fighting for, and everything this series has been building toward.

Because of that, I have given it everything I can.

That kind of focus can make the outside world go quiet for a while. Social media slows down. Website updates become less frequent. Messages take longer. Marketing gets pushed to the side because the book itself has to come first.

And right now, the book is coming.

I am planning a cover reveal and preorder announcement for mid-to-late May. I am so excited to finally start sharing more of Phoenix Rising with you. This is the next chapter in Miriam and Ava’s journey, and I cannot wait for readers to see where their story goes.

At the same time, I want to be honest about another reason I have been quieter.

This winter was hard.

I struggle with depression, and this winter it hit me extremely hard. There were days and weeks where simply getting through the day took more out of me than I wanted to admit. I kept writing. I kept working. I kept pushing forward. But I was not okay in the way I wanted to be, and I did not always have the energy to show up publicly with the same consistency or enthusiasm.

I am through the worst of it now. I am feeling better mentally. The fog has lifted enough that I can look ahead again, plan again, and feel excited again. But I also want to acknowledge that getting here took time, and I had to be honest with myself about what I could carry.

That honesty became even more necessary after Knoxville Book Festival.

Knoxville was my first major book convention as an author. I wanted so badly for it to be a positive milestone. I wanted it to be one of those moments I could look back on and say, “This was where things started to open up.”

Unfortunately, it did not go well.

At all.

There were logistical problems. There was a disastrous hotel room situation. There were accessibility challenges. There was the physical reality of trying to do a large, multi-day event as a disabled author. There were rising fuel costs, increased hotel prices, and the emotional strain of realizing that the dream version of these events and the reality of doing them in my body are not the same thing.

I pushed myself beyond my physical limits, and my body made it very clear that this cannot be my model going forward.

Because of that, and under doctor’s orders, I am medically forced to withdraw from upcoming out-of-town events such as Indy Lit Con and RAWR.

This was not an easy decision. I was looking forward to those events. I had already invested money, time, planning, and hope into them. I hate disappointing people. I hate stepping back from opportunities. I hate feeling like my body has drawn a line that my ambition cannot cross.

But it has.

And I have to listen.

To be clear: I am not disappearing. I am not quitting. I am not done showing up.

I will still be participating in local and regional single-day events when I am able. I still want to meet readers. I still want to sign books. I still want to support bookstores, libraries, Pride events, Appalachian literary spaces, LGBTQ+ events, and community gatherings that are manageable for me.

What I cannot do right now is extended out-of-town travel, multi-day convention weekends, expensive hotel stays, long drives, and physically punishing event schedules.

That is the line.

I wish it were different, but wishing does not change the reality of disability, chronic exhaustion, medical limitations, or financial strain. I have spent too much of my life trying to prove I can endure more than I should have to. I am trying, now, to learn the difference between resilience and self-destruction.

So this next season is going to look a little different.

My focus is shifting inward and forward.

I am focusing on the launch of Phoenix Rising. I am focusing on making Book Three the strongest ending possible for this part of Miriam and Ava’s journey. I am focusing on preparing the cover reveal, opening preorders, and giving this book the kind of launch it deserves.

I am also beginning work on Book Four.

Yes, there will be more.

I am not ready to say too much yet, but the world of The Ryder Chronicles is not done with me, and I am not done with it. These characters still have more to say. There are still stories burning at the edges. There are still wounds, victories, consequences, and futures to explore.

But I am going to build that future in a way that does not break me.

That means protecting my mental health. It means protecting my physical health. It means being honest about what I can do. It means saying no to opportunities that look good on paper but cost too much in real life. It means accepting that my career does not have to look like anyone else’s in order to be valid.

I am a disabled, transgender, Appalachian author running a small independent publishing company with limited resources, a fixed income, a family, medical realities, and a body that does not always cooperate with the life I am trying to build.

That is not a weakness.

It is context.

And within that context, I have still written these books. I have still published them. I have still reached readers. I have still won awards. I have still built something real from a life that tried, more than once, to convince me I would never get this far.

So no, I am not stopping.

I am adapting.

Thank you to everyone who has been patient with me during the quiet stretches. Thank you to everyone who has bought the books, reviewed them, shared them, recommended them, or simply believed in this series. Thank you to the readers who understand that behind every book, every post, every signing, and every event table is a human being doing her best with what she has.

I am still here.

Miriam and Ava are still here.

Phoenix Rising is coming.

And after that, we rise into whatever comes next.