So...

Recently a friend of mine POSTED about a growing trend in books today that isn't great. Some trends are, and we look forward to them, but others need to be nipped in the bud as quickly as possible.

Interestingly, it's not just writers of clean fiction who see the trend upsetting. Check THIS post from a literary agent.

Now I'm going to talk about why this is personal for me.

I write clean fiction. I strongly believe a good story does not have to have graphic content in order to be gripping, believable, and a thrilling read. My grandma reads my books, and I would hate to ever have to explain anything like that to her (or, more likely, why I included it).

As challenging as writing is for me, I have CHOSEN to take the high ground--which, to me, means not resorting to graphic content to tell a story or sell a novel. A friend my husband used to work with once said swearing and foul language demonstrated a lack of knowledge. Their theory was that a person who lacked the vocabulary to appropriately express their feelings resorted to swear words. I remember that when I write.

This doesn't mean my novels are all light and fluffy. In my most recent work, a character is brutally tortured and raped. There's no way to make light of that. And characters die. There are ways to have darkness and evil in your novels without compromising who you are and what you stand for. I know dozens of authors who successfully do this with every book. They write compelling, gripping works without describing someone naked or having foul mouthed characters.

This is important to me. Many, many YA novels out in the world are full of profanity, sex, drug use, and violence. My goal is to provide an alternative to readers who may want something different than that. And, I have to answer for my works someday--I don't want to be embarrassed by my own writing.

All of this leads me to one more thing, and that's the GOOD news of the day. The Tyrant King will be released THIS MONTH!

Keep an eye out for the links to purchase books. :)

A Bit of Humble Pie

Today was supposed to be the day I announced the PUBLICATION of my next novel (and sequel to The Peasant Queen)--The Tyrant King. I was going to share with you the purchase links, and show off a picture or two of the kids holding actual, physical copies.

It was going to be great. And it still will be great (say in July, or maybe August).

Alas, (did I just say, alas? oh, man...) it is not YET to be. As a writer, I overestimated the perfection of my manuscript and it has required more work with the editor than I'd thought.

But--that isn't all bad news.

Here's the silver lining--The book, when you end up purchasing it, will be BETTER than anything I've written before. It will be well worth the wait.

To prove that to you, I want you all to look up at the tabs on the top of this page. See the new one? The one that says SNEAK PEEK? Are you excited yet.

Where'd you go? Oh, to read the first chapter of The Tyrant King. It's all good. I'll wait.

I'm also cooking up an awesome blog tour for TTK with my sis in law for September. I will definitely keep you posted about that.

So, bad news--no book yet. Good news--it's still coming. And you get the first chapter to tide you over. Silver linings all around!