Happy 2022, everyone! Where the Clouds Catch Fire celebrated its third birthday on Amazon on New Year’s Day, Alynn’s birthday was yesterday, and today, my bedroom is so darn cold that I’m writing this under a blanket. It’s fairly difficult to type under a blanket–I should probably invest in a space heater. Also, December was a surprisingly good month for sales. Three books sold on New Year’s Eve, bringing my monthly profit to $13.74. That’s about half a tank of gas, and I’m grateful.
Anyway, a new year brings new ideas, and I suppose I should be talking a bit about my plans for the future as far as my writing is concerned. I should clarify that Book 3 in the Clouds Aflame series is still underway. While I have been taking a break from it recently, it’s actually going to be my capstone project for my final semester at college. My goal was to get it on Amazon this fall, and I don’t know if I’m on schedule or not. I will say, however, that the second draft is surprisingly good and I might need fewer editing rounds than my first two books. If it’s not out by November, it’ll probably be released in early spring of 2023. You might want to start re-reading Where the Clouds Catch Fire and Where I Stand in preparation!
Now, onto the new stuff.
One of the reasons our blog switched from Clouds Aflame to M.J. Piazza is because I wanted to branch out. I’ve been working with Alynn and friends since I was thirteen years old. It’s been a great experience, and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done. But it’s time for me to pursue new ideas. And, if you’ve been following me on Twitter (at MJPiazza2), you’ll know some of what these ideas are.
Way back in 2020, I was planning on sticking with historical fiction and simply switching time periods. I had planned a delightful murder mystery set in a fictionalized version of the Illinois town in which I grew up. However, I was having some issues with pacing and the point-of-view. This, combined with my depression diagnosis, caused me to scrap the project–not entirely, mind you. I have an entire collage on my wall dedicated to this historical murder mystery, and I’ll be getting around to it eventually. But God seems to be leading me in a different direction.
That direction is epic fantasy. And it took a small miracle to get me to admit this.
Now, if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that most of my Tweets are lucky to get ten likes and maybe a couple of comments. But my post asking if I was ready to write an epic fantasy novel? It wound up getting almost 1,700 comments, 700 comments, and 85 retweets. I also gained around a hundred followers. That, combined with the fact that I can’t get these characters out of my head, is leading me to start planning this epic fantasy.
I’m not ready to release details yet. I’ll tell you that the main character is a human named Maywin, the main dwarf is named Coriamund but goes by Cory, and the main elf is Vataris. I’m still trying to work out all the dynamics so that they’re believable without looking like a parody of current U.S. politics. Which is the last thing I want, frankly.
What would you like to see in a fantasy book? Let me know in the comments below! God bless you, dear readers, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!