Hey y’all! Lately I’ve been working a lot on prepping for the next books in the Alice and Ivy series (and spinoff serieses) as well as doing some edits of The Dressmaker’s Secret.
Since I’ve been working on them, obviously they’re on my mind, and obviously I want to write a blog post about them! I actually meant to do this Saturday, but … eh. Didn’t work out.
Lately I’ve been having some serious focus problems when it comes to blogging. But … I’m back! And I have a post lined up for Wednesday. So hopefully I’ll stick to it. *firm nod*
What is the Alice and Ivy series?
Well, I’m not renaming The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy, if that’s what you’re wondering. That stays. However, I refer to a whole lot more books than the ones in TCOAAI as “the Alice and Ivy series.”
The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy includes my already published works in the series as well as A Prayer Unanswered and Love Once Lost (scroll down quite a bit).
But I call a bunch of books “the Alice and Ivy series.”
So there ya go. 😅
But basically, I do have a lot of book ideas. The Alice and Ivy series is going to be pretty big! I foresee about 21 books, really, though we’ll see how it goes.
But what’s next?
Well, after I get the entire Kees & Colliers series out, I haven’t really thought about what my next self-publishing project is. I have a lot of non-Alice-and-Ivy projects in the work (in particular a fantasy novel, Caught in a Spell, which I’m writing this April, and Alone in Berlin).
But, really, my main project for the series is to freshen up The Dressmaker’s Secret and Ivy Introspective. I know, again, but I can’t move forward as a novelist with the mistakes in past novels making my first series always impossible to get through.
I won’t be making any changes in At Her Fingertips or Beyond Her Calling – well, I’m fixing three typos so far, haha, but otherwise – but I will be updating the covers!
New Covers AGAIN!?
I’ve decided I want to go in a different direction with the covers for the series. My reasoning behind this is that I’m not currently hitting the genre expectations – and KDP’s cover requirements have changed, too, so it’s kind of necessary one way or another.
There are a lot of elements of my current covers I hope to keep – especially of At Her Fingertips – but I’m excited for these new ones, too.
When are we getting book 5, though?
I know, it’s been a while. Especially for those you who read that teaser at the end of Beyond Her Calling. (Now posted on my WIP page!)
A Prayer Unanswered is going to be a painful book to read, and of course it’s an even more painful book to write. I honestly struggle with every writing something so sad, especially given that I’m rather attached to Alice and Peter.
But in the end, this book is about how God is faithful even through the hard times and how joy and contentment is a choice we make in our day to day life.
Book 6 isn’t going to be any easier, FYI. Though it’s Ivy, so. Hopefully she’ll pull me through it.
I’m hoping A Prayer Unanswered (formerly Alice Unanswered) will come out in early 2020. I’d love to finish up the first draft this summer.
Right now I’ve written just shy of 40K of an earlier version, revised about 20K of that, and am working on an outline based on some revision notes I made (actually just started yesterday because I was trying not to write this post) (SOMEONE SEND ME THE JOY OF BLOGGING FOR MY CUP RUNNETH LOW). Slow but steady wins the race?
Overall Plan?
I always said I wanted to be finished with Alice and Ivy by 2020, but that’s not happening.
I’m now hoping to be completely done with at least the rough drafts of the novels listed above by twenty-five-ish (e.g. 2026).
So books 5 and 6 of The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy in 2020, then move on to books like Sail Away, All Made New, and Before a Fall in 2021 and 2022. Then I can do the McAllen Brothers in 2022/2023, the Alice and Ivy novelettes somewhere in there, then Before Alice and Ivy and the Knights of Pearlbelle Park.
Or something like that. I might switch things around.
But priority #1, despite all my messing around, really needs to be finishing up the main series … and moving on. *weeps* But it’s gotta happen.
And … that’s about it!
This is just a short, fun little post to allow me to ramble and update. And you know what? That’s fine. I needed badly to recover from this blogger’s block.
TTFN!
~Kellyn Roth~
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p.s.
What are you working on? Did you miss me on my accidental mini hiatus? 😉 What kind of posts would you like to see on Reveries next? Do any of these books some exciting to you? ALSO comment the title of a book in the Alice and Ivy series below, and I’ll give you one random fact about it. 😅
26 Responses
Ivy Introspective
Hmmmm … let me think. What’s a fun fact? How about this: Ivy was never supposed to have her own book, but I ended up being so curious about her that I had to explore her further, and now she’s one of my favorites!
Wow, you have a lot of books planned! Good luck with that! 😃 You’ve got this!
Thanks, Julia! It’s not going to happen overnight, for sure, but, slowly and steadily, I’m writing!
I’m not too familiar with your books yet (I read all the titles in the “Before Alice and Ivy” section as one sentence 😂), but it sounds like you have great plans for them! It’s so hard to move on from stories sometimes…I can only imagine with series!
Haha! Wow, that would be a crazy book. 😉 Thanks! I’m so excited to work on it. I have some other books I’m working on, but this series is my baby!
Awesome plan, girl!
Thanks, Ang!
YAAASSSS….I love super long series, so I’m so excited you’re planning so many books.
Thanks, Amie! I knowwww, same! I love long series!
Ok so wow. One, you’re really ambitious, kudos to you!!! Two, I love how enormous your world is – the characters, the stories you have. Gah it reminds me so much of myself – how in my head I’ve been chronicling the life stories of four generations of one family since I was nine years old. Such fun!!! Can’t wait to see where all your writing takes us!!
Ooh, how fun! I’ve not been working on this series quite since I was nine – more like ten or eleven! But I’m so excited about all the depth of it and whatnot! 😀 <3 It's just fun!
How. can. you. write. all. those. books. I can’t even finish a book in a month. XD Can’t wait for the series to come out! It’s gonna be great! 😀
Haha! It’ll take me years to finish them, for sure, but slow but steady! 😉 Thanks so much! I’m so excited to share them.
😵
The furthest I’d ever go with a series is 6 books…maybe 8.
That’s what happens when you fall in love with your characters. 😉
Yeppers. I think most of my WIPs are series…*checks*nope, more standalone novels/novellas. But to be fair, I might scrap a few of those. 🙁
Nooo, don’t scrap the pretttiiiess… 😉 Yeah, I used to have more series, but now I have a couple WIPs who are going the standalone way … we’ll see what happens!
Just wondering, do you intend on keeping Willowy as your cover designer? I think she’s SO GOOD (and also if KDP’s requirements weren’t changing I would 100% stay with the current covers but you do you!). 😀 Great goals, Kelly!
Thanks, Lilian! I loved Willowy’s covers, but I’m moving in a different direction now, so I won’t use her. I also need to work with someone who can do spines (as per KDP’s new requirement) and has a few more resources, too! 🙂
My first reaction: :-O That is a lot of books, girl! How did you ever come up with them all? And they all sound so fascinating!
Also… The Debutante’s Holiday. I must know a random fact about this one!
Thanks, Arwen! <3 🙂 I don't really know ... years of daydreaming, I suppose? 😉
Well, let me see. I never intended to write THAT book for sure! Well, I did, but I had a totally different plot in mind. But then one needy character, Posy, from another novel, popped up and said, "Pick me, pick me!" So now that book's about her. 😉
Gotta love it when characters take over! XD
Right!? So much fun!
Wow, big plans! But that’s all the better. 😀 I’m so happy that I’m not the only person in existence who seems to have a habit of heaping large amounts of stories into one storyworld 😉 😛
You’ll do great! No pressure though, seriously… xD
Haha! Yepp, definitely not alone! Seems like I can’t let go of this series. 😉