IT IS DONE.
I started my blog post of July 13, 2022, with that same exact sentence. (Yes, I actually looked something up!) A smidge over a year ago, I had finished up the actual writing of the Searching the Skies series and sent it off. Now, after editing and cover design and whatnot, the entire series has now been published. PHEW.
I'll get to the blurbs in a moment, but since this feels like a pretty big achievement, I'm going to take this opportunity to recap the history of this series, especially since I've picked up some new readers along the way. If we're going allllll the way back to the beginning, I might as well start in late 2010, which is when I got laid off from my then-job and got back into writing fanfic.
Fanfic was fun enough, but in time, I wanted to see if I could write something 100% original. E-readers and indie publishers were on the rise, and I thought I had a halfway decent shot at getting something published. By this point, I don't even remember where the original idea for Geneva's space adventures with her two doting men came from, but I wrote it in the fall of 2011. I submitted it to a publisher I had in mind...and was rejected. Not terribly surprising, actually. But I kept at it and eventually got a "yes."
And then I started learning how much I really didn't know, and I will forever be grateful to that first kind editor who started gently whipping me into shape.
The first edition of Searching the Skies released in 2012. I'd started working on my next book by then, since everything I'd read said the best way to sell your first book is to write a second. Even though I was focusing on other projects, my mind kept wandering back to Geneva & Co. When I plotted out the first book, one of my big concerns was how to make it realistic that Ash and Marcus would be willing to engage in this threesome. I had some ideas for a dramatic rescue mission, but since Searching the Skies was my very first book, I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew, so I abandoned that plot line and kept it simple.
Then I thought about revisiting the characters and making the throuple more "equal" - as in instead of Geneva always being in the middle, the two men engaging in intimate activities with each other. I combined that with the aforementioned plans for a dramatic rescue mission, and Defying the Skies was born. I admit that when I wrote my very first book, I had zero plans for a sequel, yet once I had the plot fleshed out in my head, I wanted to write it. The first edition of Defying the Skies released in 2013.
Back then, I did sort of have a rough outline for a third book, but a lot of other things were going on. First, I had other shiny new book ideas that I wanted to write. Second, I finished up my coursework for my career change and went back to work, leaving me with a lot less free time. Lastly, while the original publisher I was working with wouldn't shut down for another few years, by that time, I kind of saw the writing on the wall and had concerns about its future even then. I sent one more sequel to them (The Fall of the Midnight Scorpions, the sequel to Disintegration) and decided that would be it.
Time passed. I wrote other things. I had two kids! (At the same time, but still!) As the years went by, somewhere in the back of my head, I vaguely remembered the rights reversion clauses in the contracts and knew I was approaching the point where I could request that. Again, though, I was working on other books, and while it was an interesting idea, it wasn't a priority.
Then...the decision was made for me. The publisher was shutting down/being absorbed by another company, and unless we wanted our books relisted with the new company, all rights reverted back to us. Well, that turned out to be easier than expected, I guess. I was glad to have my books back with me, but I needed to figure out what to actually *do* with them.
I focused on rereleasing the Disintegration series first before revisiting Searching the Skies. And what I found...oof. OOF. Don't get me wrong, there was still a lot of good stuff going on in there, and I guess it's nice to see how much you've grown as a writer, but I was cringing all over the place. Like, a tiny part of me wanted to reach out to everyone who read the first version and apologize to them. It was painful. But, I sat down and got out the electronic red pen. It was tough at times, and I did consider giving up once or twice, but I wound up with a better version of my original book baby. Thankfully, Defying the Skies didn't need *as* much work.
The rest of this saga has already been documented more recently, but to wrap up this recap: I did write that third book, decided it wasn't a satisfying ending to an entire series, plotted out two more books, and offered the whole thing to Decadent Publishing, who I'd always enjoyed working with. (Really, they're great! I highly recommend them to anyone who's looking for a smaller romance publisher.) They accepted it, contracts were signed, and my first book and its sequel found a new home.
So, here we are. This has been a journey of almost twelve years. That's older than my kids. That's older than this website! It's kind of crazy and surreal to think about, but anyone who knows me will tell you I rarely give up on projects and I like to finish what I start. And today, the Searching the Skies series is officially finished.
Thank you for indulging me in that bit of rambling. As promised, here are the short blurbs for the last two books in the series!
Geneva’s new job as a private investigator leads Marcus to contact her when Adele witnesses some potential illegal activity at her office. She reluctantly agrees to look into the matter, all while fighting her lingering attraction to him and missing Ash, who has been deployed on a dangerous mission with the military. Can she keep her loved ones safe while navigating her new roles?
Big changes threaten to disrupt Geneva’s comfortable routines, forcing her to make significant decisions about the future she wants. Throughout weddings, new jobs, and travels to distant planets, will she finally find a place in the galaxy to call home?
All five books of the Searching the Skies series are now available on Kindle Unlimited!
