Down the Homestretch (a Ballroom Scene and Calendar Updates)

This video is worth a repost because reasons.

Actually, no. I just wrote the chapter that involves the ball scene meant to celebrate the union of the Bluebeard character and one of the heroes though the sequence is switched compared to the fairy tale. In the Perrault version, the ball is held to assuage the would-be bride's fear of Bluebeard and convince her to accept his proposal. In my book, the ball is a celebration after the union. 

I also had to use this video for visual references of the overall look I was aiming for (setting, dancers, and fashion). Alas, no swords are involved in the book, however hot as hell the male dancers look waving those things around.

I'm now down to under 20K words left to write, which is nail-biting, but since I'm also on the actual fairy tale part of the story, it's going to wind down a hell of a lot faster than I expected. I'm looking at sometime mid-July for the first draft to be done, and as far as edits and revisions go, there won't be much to do since I've been rereading and polishing whenever I open the file before diving into a new chapter. 

And even though the book will be finished and ready to go way before November 1 (the planned release date), any changes to the publication date will be no more than one month (October 1 if I decide to move the release forward). I've talked non-stop about this wave of energy and motivation I'm currently riding, and I've got every intention of taking full advantage of it. 

That means I'll be writing and completing every book following Voices in the Briars earlier and earlier until I likely have half a year at least between the final edits and the actual publication date, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth and take a break (or at least not longer than a week). These surges of inspiration are very rare, and if I end up working on a book a year sooner than planned, so be it. I'll keep on keeping on until I run out of steam, which I hope won't be for a good long while.

I should be getting started on The Perfect Rochester in August then even though the release date isn't until March 1 of 2025. That's what I mean by my rambling nonsense above. And speaking of calendars and release dates, I'm still on a three-book-a-year turnaround -- at least through to next year. And while I've got The Bells of St. Mark's Eve, Doppelgänger, and The Shadow Groom currently earmarked for 2026, that calendar is still pretty open and may change if my energy levels flag.