Well, that’s been a pretty good break from the (publishing) rat race. :) I disappeared from the ‘net for a few days – or more like reduced my online time to an occasional tweet or simply reading blogs I subscribe to. This is a new month, and this week marks the beginning of the next writing project I have on my plate, which is Helleville.

I mentioned before that I decided against turning this into a series, and the main reason why is because sustaining a series really depends on how much of a loyal audience you win from the first book. I don’t know to what extent the numbers over at Goodreads are any indication of readers’ ongoing interest in the Masks series, but it’s pretty understandable (and logical as far as I’m concerned) if numbers taper as the series goes on.

Then again, maybe I’m just shooting myself in the foot by letting reader responses dictate the series. One argument against that runs along these lines: what if I get inspired with more stories in the same universe, with the same characters? Then I should go ahead and write them, yeah? Yeah.

The long and short of this is “I don’t know. Maybe I should just play it by ear and not fret over it so much.” That sounds reasonable enough. Fretting is in my blood, though, so as far as that’s concerned, it’s way, way easier said than done.

As for historical fantasy, I haven’t decided yet on how to publish future stories. I continue to vacillate between novels and novelettes (ideal length would be 15,000 words), the latter also leading to single author anthologies that are themed, but I find myself leaning more and more toward novels. I’m just more used to that length even though I started out publishing short stories. The good thing is that at least I don’t plan to get started on that French fairy tale till after I’m done with Helleville, and that’s largely because I find the holiday season very, very conducive to inspiration for historical fantasies. :D Yeah, I know, I’m bizarre that way. But at least that’ll give me enough time to mull things over some more.

At any rate, I’m back and refreshed and ready to tackle something new. I’m pretty excited about the new book even though I’ve yet to name the characters. That’s because when I take a break from writing, I really take a break from writing. Now it’s panic time.