Your Personal Savior, Doing Your Heart a Personal Favor

August sucked—it really did. I mean, can we talk about it? I don’t know if it was that way for everyone. Even though I’m a summer baby (July Cancer, I know and I apologize for existing), summer is one of my least favorite times of year. It’s historically when I have the least inspiration and motivation, and also the most financially difficult. It’s not as bad as when I was doing drag, because for some reason, 3/4ths of summertime gigs are unpaid tip spots. Maybe it’s because everyone is hot and bothered and we’re all getting extra little treats to give us a will to live, or maybe it’s because our AC is running every hour, every minute, of every day (because if it doesn’t, we will perish. Temps were in the 90’s and it was like walking around the bottom of a bowl of a soup) and so our bills are sky high. I’m really looking forward to Autumn being here officially, hoping it brings a bit of a reprieve. (It was a breezy seventy degrees this morning and I’ve been in a good mood all day long. It really doesn’t take much).

And, maybe, yes—my AC did break. Maybe my washing machine is also dying and maybe my dryer also broke. Maybe I deserve it (on account of the blasphemy) but also, maybe a bitch could catch a break. My biggest win for the entire month was figuring out a formula for my own iced coffee that I actually like (instant coffee, condensed milk, and chocolate syrup shaken up in a reformed spaghetti sauce jar). No more shelling out $5 or more for the premixed half gallons for me. And a caffeinated reverend makes for a happier congregation.

A lot of the past few months has been centered around me pleading with the universe to let sales pick up. Across the board, everything has been abysmal no matter how much I grind, but I’ve been trying not to let that get me down (although I have definitely had my moments). I’ve been trying to keep my focus on moving forward and working on the stories that give me joy. It’s hard to believe that when I toggle something as a “release date” on my 2026 calendar, it can also be read as only five months away. That’s absolutely wild.

Disinherited is coming out next year. I am so glad that Uncrowned readers were happy to see that one announced. I don’t know what happened, but my original draft of Disinherited just was not wanting to cooperate. And, in all fairness, 2024 was a really difficult year with many emotional (and physical) hurdles, so taking a little step back was probably for the best. That being said, there is the obligatory I hope that readers still love it or I hope that it doesn’t suck stack of emotions. It’s been months since I really dug my hands into that universe and I really hope that I’ve ‘still got it’.

I’ve been toying around with the idea of writing Purify Your Blood, the third book in the Gentleman Demon series. Originally, Purify Your Blood was already written, but I combined it with Sever Your Spine to make one cohesive book that made more sense as a whole than in two parts. Originally I had planned six books for that series, but when I revisited the original continuation I had written it was actually so, embarrassingly bad. And I mean it, I’m so serious, I’m not being coy. It was so bad. And now I’m faced with, do I scrap it and write a fresh concept, or do I try to hammer out all those really ugly really rusty dents and see what comes of that? I’ve already got my schedule stacked for Dread South releases in 2026, so Purify Your Blood probably wouldn’t see the light of day until 2027 or 2028 depending on my publisher’s schedule if I started a fresh draft like, right now. Planning out that far makes it hard for me to personally motivate myself and light a fire under my ass to get something done. But I have been particularly good at burying myself in my work lately so it may move up my priority scale if I can find some inspiration. I’m finding it’s not as hard as it used to be to go between period pieces and more ‘modern’ stories (although I think at a certain point, DS counts as historical…sobs.) Usually the hardest part is going back to using contractions.

I’ve got Aungel Quille sitting in my ‘to-draft’ trunk. I don’t know what I plan to do with that one, whether I want to put it on-sub or if I want to publish it through LMH. I love crafting my work from start to finish and I am very picky about finished products, but I also don’t like having all my eggs in one basket and I want to expand my horizons. So, I’m batting that around and I’m going to see how I feel—ultimately I guess it depends on how long it ends up being.

What else for the Dread South? I know I mentioned that already. 2026 is going to be a full year and I haven’t quite figured out all my ideal placements. I’ve moved dates around at least twelve times, and I’m only 100% locked-in on one. So far, for 2026 we’ve got (in no particular order yet…)

Writing this out, it doesn’t look like I’ve got another Jessie and Bee release slated for the upcoming year. I wonder if Bee is going to allow for that to stay the case (but with House of Sinners and Hell’s Belles releasing in a single year, surely, the Bee lovers find themselves well-satiated?)

The problem with trying to give myself a reasonable and realistic schedule is that I can’t touch on all my favorites every single time or nearly as much as I would like to. I would love to write more for Casper, and I plan to, but I’m not sure exactly where his next adventure fits. I would also love to revisit Dallas in some capacity, even if it’s more in passing rather than another book of his own. I think Beauregard needs some more page time, and so it goes. I have so much for and about The Dread South that I love to write. Where in the world am I going to find the time?

‘Maybe if you stop rambling in your newsletter, Rev, and get cracking.’ Point taken. I’ll do just that.

In my next newsletter I will talk more about how I’m developing The Devil Owns Primetime into a short film and what that process is looking like so far. I’ll also talk about plans for my next tabletop RPG. Plus, if I had my own church building, what would it be like?

Hopefully by then I’ll have some new cover art sketches to share with you, too!