From the Writing Cave: Explaining the Unexpected Hiatus... | Author, E. S. Elias

 

Hello, readers! I took an unplanned, year-long hiatus from posting to my blog. In today's post, I am going to share with you why it happened. I try to be as transparent as I can, but there are certain personal things that I keep close to the chest. Because it is my business, and I don't have to share them if I don't want to.

October through December 2022: I believe I shared the fact my family was trying to move and how it was affecting my writing. I was under a lot of stress and I just couldn't bring myself to update the blog. Just thinking about the stressful events brought up a lot of anxiety and I just couldn't do it. I can say that I did my best to upkeep #TheWriMoBlog, but cross-posting on multiple blogs while trying to lower my stress levels was difficult. 

However, 2023 was such a great year. Both for my family and for my writing journey. I did manage to document my journey the entire year, as best as I could, and you can check out all of those posts on #TheWriMoBlog. I did a reflection-style post in December 2023, if you're interested in the achievements. 

Long story short, I didn't actually intend to go on hiatus, but I guess I needed it. Come to think of it, when there is truly a need for an individual author announcement, like a cover reveal or future publications. I think all of my progress updates, unless otherwise deemed necessary, will be on #TheWriMoBlog.

Additionally, The Xiphis Saga has resurfaced in my priorities because it has finally found an audience that is willing to give me the feedback I'm looking for. I have posted the current draft of the book on Inkitt, as well as a new platform called Neobook (not sponsored). I actually joined Neobook because someone commented on my Wattpad asking if I publish there. I freaked out, thinking someone was pretending to be me. However, after doing some research, I created an account to claim my username. I fell into quite a rabbit hole when I noticed a lot of similar books on the platform. 

A decision was made and I uploaded a small selection of chapters from TBBW (Xiphis Saga Book 1) just to see what would happen. Yes, I went back to the original title. My experiment with new ones didn't pan out. Book 2 does have a new title though. It was the epiphany that triggered my desire to go back to the Xiphis world. 

Inkitt recently added a new feature that allows writers to test different covers or blurbs. They show 50% of the people who see the book one of the two in the test and this ► cover performed the best of all the ones I've tested.

I made a post of 2024 Writing Goals and Plans on #TheWriMoBlog, if you're interested in what I hope to accomplish this year. It includes things for my romance pen-name, as well.

That's all I have for now. Don't forget to follow #TheWriMoBlog for my 2024 updates. Big goals and plans are happening. How is your 2024 writing going so far?

Stay safe, and stay awesome. See you in the funny papers!