2023: Year in Review

I had lofty goals for 2023. I wanted to release two Hellacious books, 2-3 Shylyn Ray Books, and about 3 books in my new Elvis Purrsley Mysteries cozy mystery series.

I did not.

But I had other accomplishments.

I pushed through pain left over from my Halloween 2022 trip to the ER, pain that sometimes left me unable to do anything but lie flat and just suffer through. Pain that still persists but is getting more manageable. But I still wrote as much and often as I could so I'm not going to be hard on myself for not getting as many books written as I'd wanted.

I did release the 7th book in the Twice Bitten series, one that had me so emotionally involved and so anxious, I literally made myself sick writing the last chapters and had to take a break from Danni's story, hence the June 2024 release date for book 8. There was no way I was immediately diving back into that world.

I did release the first book in the Hellacious series and reviews have been good. Sales haven't been as impressive as I'd hoped for, but I hope that changes as I release more. I have two more covers ready for books... and I'll see how sales do on those and decide from there if Dulce is going to have a long story or a quick wrap-up.

I did release one Shylyn Ray book, continuing the Cook County series. Thanks to a BookBub featured deal, I've gained many new readers and "Shylyn Ray" is doing very well.

I did release the debut in my Elvis Purrsley series to EXCELLENT reviews. I had more preorders for it than I have ever had for a series debut and thanks to Elvis Purrsley and my Shylyn Ray books, this year marked the first year my sales haven't tanked in November & December which is normally the slowest sales part of the year for me. I've sold more print books for Elvis Purrsley than any other series.

On the personal side, 2023 saw me FINALLY getting my dream vacation: a trip to Walt Disney World for my birthday, thanks to the royalties accrued from you wonderful readers in 2022. I got to see NCT Dream in concert with my youngest. Mr. Man and I finally legalized this thing we've been doing for 25 years by getting married at the Wedding Bell Chapel in Pigeon Forge, TN. And I had my first grandchild.

Had my car stolen, but recovered it.

Big stuff.

I tried new things. I've tried writing 3 books at once which was a cool little experiment. I got a lot done on two and one took the lead and got published. I released a coz mystery, not completely sure I could pull off that genre, but according to reviews, I really did!

So, what's next? Hopefully, publishing and making enough income from writing n 2024 to finally get out of this terrible neighborhood I'm in, buy a new house somewhere nicer, and FINALLY get to do what I love for a LIVING.

I'm going to push myself, keep that dream in focus, and release more books. Writing every day, even if I have to write multiple books at once in order to do it. Due to the toll they take on me, I may only release one Twice Bitten book this year (Sorry, but they really take a lot out of me. I am DRAINED after I finish one of them) but I have plans for:

A new Cook County book

A new series debut from Shylyn Ray (Cupid's Bottom) early in the year and possibly a 2nd book from that so minimum of 3 books total from Shylyn Ray in 2024.

The 2nd book in the Elvis Purrsley Mysteries will release in November. Depending on how many books I get written this year, I may start releasing 2 of those a year in 2025.

1-2 Hellacious books.

Possibly a new series launch. I have SO MANY series waiting to be written.

I have only one trip planned for 2024 and that is to Graceland. The rest of my day job vacation time will probably be writingfests, basically just weeks I take off work to crank out words and get books published faster.

Oh, and I want to build up my newsletter subscriber list so I'm trying to think of what short stories I can write to give away FREE to my subscribers. Maybe some prequel or little side stories from some of your favorite characters.

So, that's my year in review and my plans for 2024!

Happy New Year, Y'all!

Crystal-Rain Love aka Shylyn Ray aka "C. Love" or just plain Rain. ;)