It’s been a long time since I wrote anything on this blog. In a world of AI, questions of authenticity, and widespread loneliness, it makes sense to come back and invest in that human connection we all need like water.
Quick update on the last few years:
2023
I started what I thought would be a small contemporary novella, just to see if I could write romance and write something short. It had been a rough year. I’m not yet ready to talk publicly about why. Sometimes, once you’re really safe, you break down the worst. My partner was amazing, but we were physically alone, far away from friends or family. Since I couldn’t pick up the book I’d been trying to finish, I wrote around twenty-thousand words of a story I called Collin for lack of any better idea and sent it off to a friend.
She loved it. Demanded more. It took me a few months, but I found more and sent that to her as well. She demanded even more. There may have been threats. More became a full serial, fifteen episodes, five books, and my first completed serial. By the time 2023 finished, I was at my desk every day, writing towards deadlines, a full world unfurling around me. The question of whether or not I could write short had been decidedly answered. No. But long was good.
2024
Finished publishing Collin and started work on the sequel serial, Damian & Jun. Each month, one new episode went up for advanced readers on Ream. My partner and I sold our house in Georgia and moved back to Chicago. I discovered Taylor Swift and started paying attention to more media that wasn’t the news. So much good music out there.
2025
Damian & Jun was completed and published. Each new story challenges me in a new way. The content of that story has deep meaning for me. And I was brave enough to write song lyrics and include them in the text.
The plan after Damian & Jun was to go back to the fantasy world of UnChosen. I even wrote about forty thousand new fantasy words in August and September, but my heart was still with the world of The Residency Boys. So were the demands of my readers. The story of Ellisandre, Sevastyan, and Rei would not leave me alone. I started working on their love saga and the words flowed in earnest. In the end, the title became Sanctum (previous Sanctuary), as there was no way I was getting all three of the MC’s names on a book cover. Episodes of Sanctum (under the working title Sanctuary that needs to be updated) have been going up on Ream for several months.
I’m so grateful to all the reviewers, ARC readers, beta readers, my alpha reader, my husband, and friends who have been supportive and encouraging. 2026 will see Sanctum coming out in book form.
Ciara Darren 