Meran Rhodes

I know it has been way too long since I wrote anything and I apologize for that. There is a lot going on in my life at the moment. I am having a hard time settling into my new reality and what it means for me as a writer. Here is a brief rundown of everything that has happened since December. In January I buckled down and hashed out my whole outline for book 2 and ironed out a few things for subsequent books that came up. In February I started writing book 2 and even got to chapter 6! I also enjoyed a wonderful V-Day with The Bearded One who always makes the holiday special without being ridiculous about it. This is the part of the story where things took an unexpected turn and while we are ecstatic, it has put a kink in my writing. In March we found out we were PREGNANT! After 4 years of trying it finally happened! There is only one problem with this, and its only a problem for my writing side, I can now truly and honestly verify that prego-brain is 100% a real thing. I have found it hard to think in any sort of linear fashion, let alone try and write out thoughts, actions and words of other people. So now I am kind of waiting on my brain to get on board with me so that Book 2 can be finished before this baby come because I know better than to think I will get any writing done for at least 6 months ( I know I am being really optimistic) after Peanut arrives.

In other news my bestie and I went to a Christopher Paolini signing in Livingston MT. This is where i admit that I have never gotten into the Inheritance Circle craze but my bestie is a HUGE fan. So we ended up going, her to fan-girl, me to support her, but I ended up having a blast. The room was packed but since it was such a small library there were only about 30ish people so it felt way more close and personal than I was expecting of such a big time author. I can now say that I am a Paolini fan if for nothing else than he proves that even the authors who have “mad it” can still be goofy and real and really encouraging to others. I asked a few questions about self publishing and how to get the word out there and he was very helpful. Such a coo guy and a really fun bestie experience. Yes, we are total weirdos and we’ve embraced it.

Every year The Bearded One and I go in search of a yearly Christmas ornament. This year we didn’t have a chance to look before Christmas (we don’t like to go too early), so the day after Christmas we went to St. Nicks and amazingly they were already low on stock! I was a little worried that we wouldn’t find our special ornament this year, but low and behold we found it! We actually had found a couple others that would do but were not nearly as cute or “us” as this one. I am a huge fan of tradition and this is one the The Bearded One and I agree on that must be repeated every year. There are some others that we both enjoy but I tend to be the driving force behind them. I don’t mind, though it is nice to have a few that he is as gungho about as I am.

Yesterday evening I received this wonderful message. This is the kind of thing that totally makes an authors day and better yet, urges us on to keep writing. For me personally, it pushed me that much farther to believing I actually have something special here. I know, I know, it might seem that if I didn’t believe I had something special I wouldn’t have published, but in my case that’s not exactly how things went. So after going to bed with a huge grin on my face and a renewed sense of wanting to write book 2 I woke up to the second surprise. A stinken author recommendation on Facebook! it might not seem like a big deal but people sharing an indie authors work is huge for us because we don’t have the budget to promote like the big publishing houses do. Reviews, recommendations, shares and all those other little things go a really long way for us. On top of that, what Jamie said in her recommendation completely and totally made my day! I couldn’t hold back my enthusiasm and had to share. I am blessed and honored to be able to write a story that pulls people in like this.

It’s finally here! I know that its 7 days later than I initially announced and I am really sorry, but the ebook is now live! Being the first book I’ve published there were some unexpected technical difficulties that I ran into. Hence, the later date than I advertised. Speaking of technical issues, I had to switch printers, and as a result my paperback books have also been delayed for a little longer. This is a whole new learning experience and I am so grateful for all the patience that you have had with me and this process. I will let you know as soon as the print and audio versions go live, but in the meantime I hope you will enjoy the ebook!

Here is the page where you can see a preview of the book as well as all the stores where you can get it. 

This has been a long road with plenty of unexpected twists and turns but I am happy to say that my first book is going to be published on September 20th! After Bridges Burn is the first installment in the Cassidy Chronicles and I am over the moon to be able to begin to share this amazing story with all of you.

Is forgiveness possible when the truth finally comes out?

When Summer returns, after disappearing with nothing more than a note telling her family not to look for her, will she be able to rebuild the relationships she broke or will her secrets destroy everything that’s left?