Time for the annual look-back and look-forward game…
2016 was an interesting year for me, writing wise—I feel like I spent so much time editing that I didn’t get as much writing done as I wanted, but in terms of publication:
As Cate Cameron, Hometown Hero came out. It was a bit bittersweet, as it was the second book in a two-book contract and limited sales for the first book made it pretty clear the contract wasn’t going to be extended. So—fun to write for a Big Five publisher, fun to see my books in an actual bookstore, but not the breakthrough I’d been hoping for. Don’t worry, Big Five—I’ll be back!
Cate Cameron also published two YA novels in the Corrigan Falls series—Playing Defense and Winging It. Again, sales weren’t mindblowing, but they were steady, at least, and my agent is currently working with Entangled to sort out a contract for a fourth and maybe fifth book in the series. The fourth is written, and the fifth would be from Oliver’s POV—a gay romance mixed into a straight romance series? Apparently Entangled is cool with it, so that’d be interesting…
Kate Sherwood had a quieter year (I’ve GOT to get better at timing things!). I keep trying to play with self-publishing (as recent events in publishing/retailing make clear, it is NOT good to have all eggs in one basket), but I really don’t like it much. I just want to write stories, I don’t want to do the rest! But, luckily I have good people to help me out with all that—I love the covers AJ Corza did for the Shelter series, I found a great beta/copy editor in Aniko, Taylor Law’s been a hero with the formatting—now if I could just get off my ass and do more promo, maybe I’d sell some copies! Anyway, Lap Dog and Twice Shy, the middle books in the series, came out in 2016.
Which means one more to go! So, looking forward—I’m well covered for the first chunk of 2016. A book-a-month for the Common Law series, starting January 2, going until April, and then surely by May or June I’ll have Pure Bred, the final book in the Shelter series, ready to go. But after that? Kate Sherwood needs to get something planned!
Cate Cameron should be reasonably busy… in addition to the fourth (and maybe fifth) books in the Corrigan Falls series, there’s another Entangled book (and possible series) in the works, this one for an adult romance (m/f).
And I’ve got a couple more manuscripts I want to self-publish, if I can figure out the best way to do it… they’re YA (well, one’s NA if you squint, age-wise) but not romance, so I’m not sure they fit under the Cate Cameron pseudonym. But if I’m struggling to keep up with the publishing demands of two names, do I really want to introduce a third? Maybe…
After that, though, it’s just whatever I write! I’ve been puzzling over this contemporary monster-hunters for years… it’s a story I really want to tell, with an intriguing setup and a fun cast of characters. But again, I’m not sure about how it could be marketed. I’m thinking about switching the MC from androgynous female to androgynous male—I don’t think it would make a big difference in terms of the characterization, at least of the MC, and then I could write it as m/m, although it may not be romantic enough to satisfy all m/m readers… the romance would be a strong sub-plot rather than the main plot. At least as I’m seeing it now.
Other than that? I feel like I have a million ideas, and just need to figure out which ones to write. And then find the damn time to write them…
It’s a pretty fun position to be in. My day job is busy and demanding, but pays quite well, which makes it hard to walk away from. And because it’s demanding, it’s hard to get a whole lot of writing done when I come home, because I’m tired, damn it! But… I have a plan. It depends on the economy, on book sales, on luck, on how disciplined I’m willing to be with my spending… lots of factors. But still nice to at least have something to dream about…
Thanks for reading my babbling, anyone who’s made it this far. Hope you have a great 2017, with lots of great books and wonderful stories.
I really enjoyed you new book “Long Shadows” and look forward to the rest in the series, and have even bought them all in advance from Riptide. You will, I know it, figure out a way to balance the stories you want to tell with the stories that publishers are interested in. I hope the review I left on Goodreads for “Long Shadows” is taken positively, as I intended it that way. Good luck with the new year and hopefully everything works out and you can write the stories in your head.
Dear Kate Sherwood,
Is there any even slight chance for continuation of Dark Horse series? Got all three novels in text and voice and all short stories that I could lay my hands on and forever fell in love with protagonists. Incredibly beautiful, heartbreaking and heartwarming story of three men finding each other. Thank you so much for such great books! Never thought I would stumble upon such fine and engaging plot.
I truly hope that maybe we will see a fourth long novel about Jeff, Evan and Dan.
Many thanks for all your books we can enjoy.
P.S. Loved Sacrati very much too! 🙂
Sorry for the late reply – my notifications are still messed up.
No worries about the Goodreads review – I’m not sure I’ve read it, but I’m sure it was fine!
Have I already replied to this? I’m not sure… sorry for the wait if I haven’t!
But, no, I doubt there’ll be a fourth novel. The boys seem like they’re pretty happy as they are, so I don’t want to mess them up!
Have you read the shorts, though? Some of them are novella length, so you’d get some extra reading out of them!
Too bad you don’t have a Dark Horse/In Too Deep continuation planned after the Christmas crossover from a few years back. I had really hoped to see how the internships played out for Cade & Aidan, but I also appreciate that you want to have a good story and there may not be a compelling one to tell.