Author Announcement Regarding Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight

 

I want to start by thanking everyone who has liked, commented on, or shared my recent Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight posts on social media, and those who read Chapter One and left reviews.

Your support and enthusiasm mean the world to me—and it’s actually because of that support that I’m making this decision.

Earlier this week, while my husband was helping me edit and revise the latest chapter, he asked me a question that really stuck with me:
“Why are you giving this away for free? This is the best thing you’ve written. Why aren’t you querying it?”

So I took some time to sit with that.

There’s something about Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight—and the Briardell world as a whole—that feels different from anything I’ve written before. I’ve loved every project I’ve worked on, but Briardell feels… special. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had writing, and at the same time it feels surprisingly natural and instinctive.

Over the past year, I’ve grown a lot as a writer, especially since learning that I’m AuDHD and giving myself permission to explore the kind of stories I truly want to tell. Through that process, I’ve realised something important: I genuinely believe the Briardell Chronicles could be the story that opens the door to the next stage of my writing career.

Because of that, I’ve made the decision to pause the serialization of Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight while I explore other publishing opportunities for the Briardell series, including querying agents and editors.

I still believe strongly in the power of serialized storytelling, and in pursuing multiple publishing paths as a hybrid author—so there will be some serial-related news coming soon.

In the meantime, thank you again for all the love and encouragement you’ve shown me and the Briardell Chronicles. I’m incredibly excited about where this story might go next.

With love,
Clare

 

An Important Announcement

One year ago today, I launched The Order of the Ancile - Liches, Legends, and Love, with the plan to serialize the book before releasing it on Amazon in ebook and paperback format. I also had ideas for three future books set in the Ancile universe.

Twenty-two chapters later, I put "Liches" on hiatus while I dealt with various issues including burnout and depression.

If you've been reading my blog in the last few months, you'll know I'm doing MUCH better, and I'm ready to start making plans and getting back out into the world.

One of those plans involves The Order of the Ancile, including Liches, Legends, and Love. While I was taking a break, a couple of things changed in my mind about the Order of the Ancile Series.

First, a new idea claimed me and won't let go. Secondly, I thought of some fundamental changes I want to make to Liches, Legends, and Love that will not only improve the story overall but also bring it more in line with what types of books I currently want to write. i.e. Paranormal-Romance instead of Urban-Fantasy.

To that end, I am removing Liches, Legends, and Love from the internet and I will be republishing a new, updated version at a later date. But I wanted to let everyone know what was going on and thank everyone who supported Liches while I was serializing it.

That brings me to the new book. I still LOVE serialized fiction. It works well with my own motivation/work schedule, but I also think it offers readers something unique. The chance to read my books in their earliest forms and offer opinions/ suggestions on how those books can be improved, and even what type of characters and stories they'd like to see from me in the future.

While I was on hiatus, a new subscription-based author platform called REAM launched, and it seems like a perfect fit for me. I can share the first drafts of my stories in serial format, while also sharing behind-the-scenes tidbits, snippets, and plans for future books, and gather valuable feedback while building a community of readers. 

There's also a monetary aspect to it which I hope I will be able to funnel back into the production of future books and other bookish awesomeness, like audiobooks, and maybe merch/swag if there's enough interest. I also want to use it as an opportunity to give back, and I intend to donate a portion of the money I make via Ream to various charities.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in supporting, please head over to Ream and give me a follow. https://reamstories.com/claredugmore

I will be launching the NEW first book in the Order of the Ancile Series on October 6th, with a new chapter every Friday (with breaks for holidays etc.) until the story is complete. When it launches, I will also be revealing the tiers and perks for my Ream Subscription service. 

And to whet your appetite, here's a snippet from the (as yet) untitled story:

---

He came to me in my dreams. Whispering my name.

Madelyne.

The man made of alabaster.

The dreams started at around the same time my abilities manifested -- when I was thirteen -- and I was sure the two were connected in some way. But even after discovering I wasn’t a freak for my ability to sense when people were getting sick or to read other people’s thoughts, I never told anyone about the dreams.

I didn’t know if the figure was a mere effigy or if there was something more to the man I sought.

The only thing I knew for certain was that he was calling out for me to find him, and had been for the past twelve years.

The day my abilities manifested would be a day I’d never forget. The events that followed were seared into my mind as surely as the features of the alabaster man.

It was my thirteenth birthday.

----

I've also decided to unpublish all my other books from Amazon. They're no longer in line with the type of stories I want to write and release. Right now, my focus is on fantasy, with various degrees of romance. As with Liches, I want to thank everyone who supported my contemporary romance novels throughout the years. I wouldn't be where I am today without that support, so from the bottom of my heart -- Thank you. <3. 

You'll be hearing from me again in the coming weeks as I prepare to launch my Ream Subscription Service and the (new) first book in the Ancile series.

Until then; Stay Safe and Write On!

Announcing: Love In The First Degree - an Anthology for The Innocence Project

Happy Monday, everyone!

I hope you're all having a nice Easter weekend, and even if you don't celebrate it, I hope you've had the chance to relax and spend some time with the people you love.

I'm here today to announce the secret project I mentioned in my last entry ...

About a month ago, the wonderful Kyra Lennon asked me if I'd be interested in taking part in an anthology where the proceeds go to The Innocence Project. Having become aware of The Innocence Project through the podcast Serial, I jumped at the chance.

Here's a little background on the Innocence Project...

Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. 

The Innocence Project works with prosecutors or courts to agree on private or public labs to conduct testing on evidence connected to a particular crime. In 82% of cases for which records are available, prosecutors eventually agreed to grant testing. In other cases, access to DNA testing was granted through court orders. 

The few studies that have been done estimate that between 2.3% and 5% of all prisoners in the U.S. are innocent (for context, if just 1% of all prisoners are innocent, that would mean that more than 20,000 innocent people are in prison). 

The Innocence Project works to exonerate the innocent, improve the law, reform the law, and support the exonerated. 

As Kyra noted in her own post about the anthology,  I’m British. Why would I care about injustice in the US? I think her quote from Martin Luther King Jr sums it up perfectly: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

I'm lucky to have never been in trouble with the law, and I can't see that ever changing (touch wood), but what about those who aren't as lucky?

Situations like that in Serial and Making a Murderer, as well as things like the shooting of Michael Brown and other atrocities are happening throughout the world ALL.THE.TIME.

Innocent people are being wrongly imprisoned based on race, religion, social class, gender etc. and often times they can't afford the proper representation to help them clear their name, or the cases are filled with bias. The justice system in the western world is failing.

This is where the Innocence Project steps in, but as a 45% of their funding comes from individuals, they greatly rely on donations. Of course I could just donate to the Innocence Project, and I will be doing so, but I can do more.

I can join Kyra and the seven other authors she's selected to write for The Love In The First Degree anthology; a collection of intense romance short stories, some with an element of crime, with all proceeds from sales going to the Innocence Project.

The release date will be July 8th 2016, and that is just about all the info I have right now - though I will update soon with the blurb for my short-story.

Until then, you can keep up to date with the latest happenings on Facebook page and/or Twitter!