Skyla Dawn Cameron

My characters kill people so I don't have to.

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Next Year’s Release Schedule

This is part proof-of-life post (although another will be coming on Sunday for Shawn’s birthday, theoretically), part actual update.

This week has been marginally better in that I don’t seem to be having the panic attacks and frequent tachycardia–last week was bad enough I very, very nearly considered an ambulance when even medication couldn’t get my heartrate down after an hour–but that might also be due to the lack of human contact. I did spend basically all of last Sunday and most of Monday just crying nonstop for no reason except that it was a taper day for my meds and that’s what happens when I come down, which was not my favourite thing. But Tuesday was unexpectedly a semi-normal workday, as was today, and hopefully that means the end is in sight. I also only had one episode of internal bleeding so SCORE. And my biopsies are all cancer and pre-cancer free.

A couple of bedrest days have lead to binge-watching The Vampire Diaries because apparently I am still making bad decisions. My Platonic Murder Wife checks in regularly and keeps me company when I need it–it’s that weird spot where I absolutely should not be alone, but it also might be safest if I am–and as usual, she and Shawn are probably why I’m not dead yet.

I’m more than halfway through Soul Spell, which is Elis #3…which was supposed to be called Hell Fire, but it’s taking longer to get to the reason WHY the book was supposed to be called Hell Fire, and I just decided to bump that to Elis #4. Confused? Me too! But the end result is that yes, Elis will be back this summer (#2 concluded at Patreon last week) with her third book, now called Soul Spell, and the fourth one that will serialize next year will be called Hell Fire.

I’ve tried my best to keep my Wednesday writing days, along with the Saturday night write-ins, though that’s sometimes challenging as well. I did not have any new words in me yesterday, but I pulled out Watcher of the Woods and…made some more decisions.

Watcher in the Woods–standalone, but set in the same world as Dweller on the Threshold–is going to release next year ON VALENTINE’S DAY (February 14 2023) because either I have terrible timing or I expect other people would rather read a horror book on a romance day like I would. (Why not both?)

A big reason I pulled it out is because Dweller on the Threshold actually has four times the preorder numbers Livi #6 does. And to be honest…that’s still a pretty low number, but it’s not insignificant, so I thought having another standalone hauntings book for preorder when this one comes out in April would be a good idea. I’ve assigned it some ISBNs, set up preorder pages, and given it a dedicated page on my site so…I guess we’re doing this!

As a result of that, I’ve decided to keep Waverly #1 in spring but just bump it later, so The Killing Beach is officially set for May 30 2023.

Most stores won’t list preorders earlier than a year before the release date, except for Kobo, so both are live there now and the books pages here will update as other stores come up (Kindle for Watcher will be next week).

Here’s what that all looks like:

I literally had just redone the graphic to replace Hell Fire with Soul Spell and then redid it again, but here we are.

The UPCOMING page also has everything listed in one handy place.

Still speaking of Dweller: the hardcovers arrived on Monday and they came out lovely. At this point, I’m only doing standalones in hardback (maybe Waverly, we’ll see) because the trim sizes are limited so I have to redo my interiors from 5×8 to 5.5×8.5 and I am not putting that energy into a format no one will buy lol but if that’s your thing, you’ll find Dweller and The Silent Places for sale in hardcover on Amazon. I’ll have a Dweller signed gift box and that in my shop probably by the end of the month.

Hopefully I’ll have a cute post here on Sunday for Shawn’s third (THIRD!!!) birthday–he’s got a bunch of presents from me and his aunties, which is basically already a day ending in y for him, but he’s very special.

Decisions Were Made

I am a little…compromised right now.

It’s a consequence of the brief high dose of corticosteroids we’re hitting my immune system with: I have pretty significant psychiatric side effects. At least they’re mostly being managed right now, but atop the mania, once a week when the dosage changes I lose a few days. Sometimes I spend a couple of hours on the treadmill. Sometimes I obsessively clean out the fridge. Other times I have a breakdown because I suddenly think what if Shawn died? Many other times I just lie in bed trying to sleep off my fuck-up brain.

Other times decisions are made. Late at night.

But like, last time I had way worse intrusive thoughts, so I don’t think this one is that bad.

Everyone has a drawer full of various hair colours in case they need to change their identity and go on the run like in the movies because you’ve met a spy and suddenly you’re tangled in something, right?

Right?

Anyway, after I cut three or four inches off my hair and bleached it, I found it too brassy so I opened that drawer.

Behold my new hair, seen and appreciated by…no one but me and my cats because there’s a deadly pandemic, I’m on multiple immunosuppressants, and I work from home.

But I dig it.

The back and underneath is the deeper violet and the top/front is more pink. I’d go a little shorter but this is the shortest I can do on my own (and despite the messiness, yes, it’s pretty even–just trying to show the different colours here).

Shawn managed to avoid a dye job of his own, but it was tricky since my bathroom door doesn’t latch.

Back at the beginning of the pandemic, I talked a few friends into cutting their own hair, and now that we’re in year three when things are often just as dangerous, again, I encourage: just cut your own fucking hair. Dye it. There are YouTube videos and how-to articles all over the place. It’s just hair. It grows back.

Still working from home? Fuck it. Pick a random colour and dye it. Have fun with your glamourous hair while sitting in your pajamas. YOLO motherfuckers.

Here’s my artsy shot.

Yeah, my scalp’s a little dyed, but no one but me and the cats here to mock it, and it’ll fade in a few days. Hopefully the colour sticks for a while.

(If it doesn’t, I also have light blue, pink, deep raspberry, teal, lavender…)

Two weeks down, six weeks to go…

Health Update & Sales

Last week’s long-awaited specialist visit turned into “how about a trip to the day surgery department on Friday?”, thus having me lose an entire week–but better that than push some procedures off, which would’ve given me weeks to build up anxiety instead.

Good news is that I should be on the mend.

Bad news is that the next month is going to be pretty rough.

I’m on a couple of immunosuppressants at the moment, one of which is temporary but that I have pretty severe side effects from. At least I can predict what will happen this time because I’ve been through this before, so I’m building my schedule the next few weeks around all this bullshit (human bodies are so stupid).

My working hours will be cut down every week for about a month. As such, I can’t take on many freelance projects so I’m asking clients to book early with a down payment here.

If anyone needs a cover in a hurry, premades are on sale for 25% off until February 28 with the coupon code NEWYEARSAMEBS.

I’ll still need about a week to turn around customization. My freelance days starting the week of Jan 24 will be Thursdays and Fridays.

The other good news is that no releases will be delayed.

Dweller on the Threshold (now out in print and shipping!) will still release in April as planned. Charon’s Gold will still release in the fall as I’ve factored in the revisions I’m currently doing into my schedule and it should still go to the content editor at the end of the month.

eBooks bought through me will also be on sale to help with bills during this time.

All books bought through Payhip are 25% off, same coupon code of NEWYEARSAMEBS. If you’ve had enough of my murder shenanigans and want some size-positive contemp romance, the same code works for Aunt Judy’s eBooks as well.

As disappointed as I am that I didn’t fully knock myself into remission last year with my DIY apocalypse medicine, I would’ve been in much worse shape if I hadn’t done anything, and at least I know now that the pain I get hit with several times a day is not my new normal but perhaps something that will go away when fully treated.

I’m dreading the next couple of weeks but I’m absolutely looking forward to resuming some semblance of normal the coming months. I have stories to tell and books to release.

If I can give an important reminder to anyone “tired” of the pandemic or struggling right now: please, please, remember that being bored or frustrated in not being able to do the things you used to pre-2020 is so much better than the risk of becoming disabled–possibly permanently–by something like long covid. If I could go back in time nearly eight years ago and stop the innocuous thing I did that we suspect triggered the extreme immune response and led to my current disease, I would do so in a heartbeat. And now all I see are people thinking nothing of a similar risk, putting themselves and their loved ones–as well as total strangers–in danger because they’re “tired”.

I get it. Everyone’s tired.

But right now, with covid running rampant, you have the opportunity to avoid becoming disabled by something. You can go from active and healthy to chronically ill so fucking easily. Nothing is worth disabling yourself. Nothing. Not a haircut, not a movie, not a night out to eat. Nothing is worth disabling your loved ones. Nothing is worth disabling a stranger you might encounter on the street.

Your health is so precarious and no one is immune. I don’t want you, a year or two from now, to be looking at this pandemic time thinking “I wish I’d just stayed inside a little longer” as you struggle to get answers from a medical community that doesn’t fully understand what’s wrong with you, unable to work, unable to live the life you used to.

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My thanks as always to patrons, who are why I was able to just drop a chunk of change on medications without worry. Join 60+ other folks right here.

And my thanks to all readers who buy the books and offer their support. Last year was horrible, this year is not off to a great start, but I’m so excited to have new stories to share with y’all.

“When’s That Book Coming?” Winter 2022 Edition

A book out in paperback, a new preorder–let’s dive in!

What’s New

No official releases, and this is six months after Yampellec’s Idol came out–believe me, I am feeling the hit (I’ve not sold a single ebook yet in January on Kindle lol). But I don’t like to rush things, and if I bumped up the new book to now, I’d then have that big gap until Charon’s Gold comes out (which definitely won’t move up), so I’ll take the hit now rather than later.

That being said…actually the new book is out early for print readers!

Meet Norah and her cats in paperback or hardcover now!

Amidst the 2020 pandemic, Norah Sloane has been sheltering in place with her ex-boyfriend—the equivalent of three toddlers in a trench coat pretending to be an adult—who abruptly informs her he thinks she needs to move out. Coincidentally, her estranged father has just died and left his family’s home to her, and in a fit of defiant frustration, she packs her bags, her cats, and all the toilet paper, and drives five hours north to the tiny village of Hope Falls to claim her inheritance.

Selling the big, partially renovated old house during a global pandemic is out of the question, but the bills are paid for a few months to give her time to get on her feet. It’s the best solution, all things considered.

So what if it’s haunted?

What’s Upcoming

Dweller on the Threshold is out in ebook on April 5 and you can preorder everywhere: Kindle – Kobo – iBooks – Nook

Charon’s Gold, Livi #6, is also up for preorder, coming October 25: Kindle  –  Kobo  –  iBooks  –  Nook 

Livi Talbot is no longer the woman she once was.

She has suffered great loss. She has been betrayed.

And after failing to stop the greatest villain she has ever faced, she’s determined to never be blindsided again.

Her first priority is to rescue a suffering soul from the underworld itself. Though fellow adventurer Iluka Grantham is at her side to hunt down the gold coins that will allow her to cross the river Styx, entering the underworld through the deadly Pluto’s Gate in Turkey remans solely on her shoulders. Survival in the world of the dead isn’t guaranteed, even for Livi Talbot, and this journey will bring her face to face with her greatest failures, her biggest losses, and her inability to save those she loves.

And if she survives? The next goal is to go after every person responsible for the death that caused magic to bleed back into the human realm.

Even if they’re family.

Summer should see Witch Hunt get a paperback wide release and Hell Fire will start at Patreon. Elis gets arrested for one murder she didn’t commit, there’s some dimension-hopping with her growing misandrist girl gang, and shenanigans ensue.

March 2023 will also see the launch of Waverly Jones Mysteries with The Killing Beach! No preorder yet–those can’t be more than a year in advance–but it’s coming.

What I’m Working On

Hell Fire has to be my priority right now, though I also am working on the third Waverly Jones book, and a bunch of West POV stuff I’m readying for Patreon. I did manage to take most of December off after so many months of crazy productivity and I’m still pretty tired, though sticking to my Wednesdays and Saturday nights is a good way to ease into things.

Because the process of writing a book and publishing it takes so long–generally whatever you read from me I’ve written one to four years in advance–writers constantly have to be looking ahead. Even if a series end is three or more years away, there comes the question of what next? What should be in the pipeline?

So with Livi planning to end, and Elis ending right around the corner after that, I’m looking at what to fill my time with. Release-wise, I can then start scheduling Elis’s novels for ebook release (I decided I won’t consider doing so until the series is totally written), but writing-wise?

Waverly’s series will probably be six or seven books, and I need to stagger releases to have one every six months so I’ll need something to alternate with it. I’ve got a zombie apocalypse novel I want to write, and I might be good enough now to write the Nairobi Spy Trilogy that’s been in my head for several years though it’s also like a futuristic UF. And another post-apocalyptic dystopia thing circling my brain without landing yet.

But also…I kind of want to get out of writing UF?

I’ve spent so much time with the genre and I truly love it but, as a writer, it’s getting really frustrating how urban fantasy is conflated with paranormal romance. I have no problem with PNR! But it’s not what I write and I do not follow the genre conventions. I never will. Especially writing female protagonists and having a girly name like Skyla, I get put in that box no matter how careful I am to never label my books as that.

Some people sometimes getting involved and kissing does not equal genre Romance and HEAs. I want the freedom to write women who date but end up single. I want to kill off love interests. And I get tired of accusations and hatemail that I’ve misled romance readers when I’ve never advertised to them in the first place.

Tack onto that the issue with readers of self-pub books expecting all series to be swiftly churned out back to back and the amount of pressure that places on me–even knowing I can never be that kind of writer with the books I write–and I really don’t feel like this is the genre for me anymore.

I refuse to use a pen name (because fuck misogyny, that’s why). So I’m left wondering how things might go moving into other genres. I love domestic thrillers, mysteries, and horror–these are all things I’d enjoy writing more of. I’m curious how Waverly’s books will do and what the reception will be, and what genre expectations mystery readers will bring to the books. More standalones like The Silent Places or mysteries might definitely be in my future. And horror. Lots of horror.

I haven’t decided anything yet, but that’s where my thoughts are right now!

I hope y’all are staying safe and taking care out there.

This little monster is recovering nicely after having nine teeth removed two weeks ago! The surgery cost a little less than expected so there’s a chunk of money ready for his next emergency in “his” bank account. We have to stay on top of the dental stuff and he might need more out next year or the year after. Still got those big fangs, though, which he’s happy to bite me with.

2021 In Review

What a surprising year for productivity.

Second in isolation for me and I was sicker this year than I have been in seven years with an autoimmune disease flare-up and falling through the cracks of healthcare. Wild to me that I then got so much done the past six months, but I cobbled together some duct tape for my body, so the equation seemed to be:

One part expired corticosteroids plus two parts isolation plus two parts Patreon support equals…a bunch of books written.

But first, let’s start with what released this year.

What Released:

The long-awaited fifth Livi Talbot novel, Yampellec’s Idol, kicked my ass hard to revise this year, but I got it out in the world at last and I’m super proud of it. I started this book in 2018, got a chunk done in 2019, “finished” it in 2020, but 2021 I took several months trying to revise and fix it. I know it was divisive but I am tremendously proud of it and thank everyone who got this far on the journey with Livi and me.

I also finished what started as a fun short story for patrons and became a prequel novella about Elis O’Connor, Season of the Bitch, which is now out in paperback (ebook is up for patrons only). I’m really excited about this one because it unexpectedly filled in some backstory pieces involving Zara and involved Elis murdering people.

I also was invited to a boxset anthology of female fantasy writers, so Solomon’s Seal reached some new readers in the Magic & Mystery boxset.

What Was Written:

  • Supernatural Horror – Coming 2022

SIX WHOLE BOOKS.

Okay, three were already in progress, but still!

So many books!

Every time I updated the little word count ticker for something, I got a little more excited, and I’ve left them there in the sidebar because it pleases me to see some tangible things I’ve done.

LOOK AT ALL THE WORDS!

Additional stories were produced for Patreon–specifically two West POV ones set during Yampellec’s Idol, one of which gave me an idea of a West story to write and serialize next year.

On the Blog…

My top posts were:

Closing Out the Year

I’ve also started the third Waverly Jones Mystery, Alone at Night, as you can see here–amazing that I spent nearly four years trying to write the first book and now suddenly all I want to do is play in this world day and night.

All this is definitely not going to continue on into the new year–I might get some writing done in the next couple of weeks but nowhere near that. I’m off the last of the meds I had to temporarily keep my immune system in check and everything is…getting very unpleasant and painful again, interrupting me every forty minutes or so. But I am so glad I had, at least temporarily, a productive time writing.

Shawnie is presently recovering from his dental surgery yesterday–they took NINE teeth!–and I’m pretty exhausted from the stress, but I have a bunch of presents wrapped under the tree I got myself and I’m closing out the year as Lady Skyla Dawn Cameron, having bought a plot of land in Scotland which gives me the title of ladyship per historical Scottish tradition (okay so it actually planted a tree, but it makes me giggle to be called Lady Skyla). Year two of the pandemic, but it could be–and has been–worse, so I’m grateful for what I have.

Happiest of holidays and I hope you’ll join me for what I’ve got in store in 2022!

*Optimistic of me to think I’ll be alive in 2024 lol.

MEET SKYLA DAWN

Writer of horror, mysteries/thrillers, and urban fantasy.
Fifth-generation crazy cat lady. Bitchy feminist.
So tired all the goddamn time.

My characters kill people so I don’t have to.

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What I’m Working On:

Re-proofing/formatting Livi Talbot 5-6 with the new covers.
Writing Waverly 9, an upcoming standalone horror,
and extras for the tenth-anniversary edition of Solomon’s Seal.
Revising The Tree of Life for Patreon.