books by s.r.

Hi, friends! I hope those of you that celebrate it had a fantastic Christmas! I haven’t done one of these in a while even though a lot has happened with my writing recently, and I wanted to share with all of you since this will probably be my last writing update before Baby Roberts arrives. 🙂

Recent Releases

In case you happened to miss it last month, book 2 in my Tales of Nottingham trilogy was published! Merry Men follows all of the characters you’ve grown to love from Thief and spins the tale into one with even more political intrigue and danger as Robin Hood and Marion realize the Sheriff of Nottingham will never let them live in peace while they still pose a potential threat.

You can find the official synopsis on my Shop Page, where I have signed paperbacks and $1.99 e-book copies available for purchase!

Current Work-in-Progress

While I’ve been marketing and celebrating the release of Merry Men, I’ve been hard at work writing Tales of Nottingham book 3! This will be the final installment in the series, so it’s been bittersweet to work on it.

I went on a writing retreat to Washington State with my sister-in-law and new friend Sarah back in October and churned out about 22,000 words in the story. Then, once getting back home, writing fell off the wagon a bit as baby preparations, the Thanksgiving holiday, and some last-minute editing work took precedence. Still, while it wasn’t like I was writing 5-6,000 words a day like I was on the writing retreat, I continued making great progress!

In fact, I only have three more chapters left to write before the rough draft of book 3 is finished and ready to hand off to my editor!!! *bounces* I’m slotted to give it to her by the first or second week of January at the absolute latest, so I definitely have my work cut out for me, but I’m pretty confident I can make the deadline!

There’s a lotttt that will have to be edited to say the least, as is the case with all rough drafts. I have to admit that I’m pretty nervous about that, more so than usual, because this is the final book in the trilogy. I want to make sure it not only works well with the other books but that it’s a satisfying conclusion for all of you who have read and enjoyed the other books. It’s been easy to get in my head about this, and I’ve constantly had to remind myself that the rough draft is for me and not for readers yet. I have to get the story on the page and the polishing/editing is what’s going to make it great. 🙂

Luckily for me, my editor Alyse and my alpha reader Hubby are here to help me make the story the best it can be while also making sure I don’t get in my head over every minor detail. So grateful to have these two in my corner! ❤

There’s not a ton I can say about this book yet, what with being so early on in the writing/editing process, but I can tell you that some of your favorite side characters from both Thief and Merry Men (such as Jon, Ambrosia, Jose, Gisborne, and even Peter Pan) have roles to play. And because it’s a fairy tale retelling, no matter the story events and the costs the characters will have to pay to round out their journey, there WILL be a happy ending. Do with that what you will. *winks*

So, if I’m nearly done writing it and plan on giving it to my editor in early January, what does that mean for book 3’s publication? Well…

Plans for 2021

I’m incredibly reluctant to set or announce any writing goals for 2021 at this moment just because I know life’s going to change a LOT once Baby Roberts arrives. I struggled this year with setting too many goals and then not being flexible enough with myself when plans needed to change, and we’ll just say I learned my lesson through weeks of overwhelm. I don’t want to make the same mistake going into the New Year, but I also want to be sure that I’m not neglecting my business. Yeah…attempting to find a balance has been tricky and I’m not even close to managing it, ha!

So what can I tell you?

1. Tales of Nottingham Book 3 will be published in 2021! My hope is to have it ready for publication sometime in the spring, but to be completely honest, I’m not sure how realistic a goal that is. Rest assured that the series will be completed soon, but I’m having to play my editing free-time and publication dates by ear. There will definitely be further updates when I have concrete plans, though!
2. I will still be writing! I’m not quite sure what my plan is for when I finish Tales of Nottingham, as this series has been pretty much all I’ve worked on for the past year/year and a half. However, I have plenty of ideas to sort through that I can’t wait to pick and choose between. There’s the spin-off series set in the same world as Tales of Nottingham but with different characters that I could start on… If I do this, book 1 is actually a Peter Pan and Tinker Bell retelling. Pretty excited about it but not sure if I’ll want to take a break and try something else! If I do want to take a break from the Tales of Nottingham universe, I have a New Adult Contemporary idea involving a ragtag bunch of friends living in a beach town who have to go through hell and back when their summer plans take a turn for the worst. Said contemporary idea has been burning in the back of my mind for a couple years now, and it has a KILLER playlist on Spotify if I do say so myself. *winks* I’m just not sure if now is the time to write it or if another story will catch my eye first. As you can see, I definitely have options available, and I look forward to sharing which one I pick with all of you!

So there you have it, friends! Thanks for sticking with me despite my craziness. 🙂 I can’t wait to see what writing adventures I go on in the New Year!