Skyla Dawn Cameron

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

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“When’s That Book Coming?” Fall 2020 Edition

How I’ve managed to finish ANYTHING this year is a mystery to me, but here we are, a quarterly state of the union with actual THINGS!

What’s New

Before I get to the book stuff, a note I mentioned last time I was looking at what stressful things I could start cutting out. I’ve archived the Alchemy Red Facebook group, which doesn’t mean it’s deleted or that it won’t come back later, but even as my readership expands, it doesn’t get used any more (and perhaps even less) than it used to. That is entirely my own fault because I don’t start conversations or remember to post much (I hate Facebook), but it’s just become One More Thing That Gives Me Anxiety, so it’s archived for now. If suddenly readership explodes or Facebook stops being a nightmare for me to navigate and deal with, I’ll un-archive it. I’m sorry, it’s just where I’m at right now.

I’ve left my Facebook page up for now, even though I never use it. There are a fraction of readers who still use it for updates, so I’ll keep posting there periodically. I’ve also left up my newsletter although it remains a lot of work for very few returns at this point (and stress! more below).

Anyway, releases!

There was a short story out this summer for Patrons of Snark who get the West POV stories, called Asset’s Protocol.

It’s set partially during Emperor’s Tomb (and explains what West did to find Livi), which will come back to bite him and you’ll learn some of it later in Yampellec’s Idol. The other part of it is set well before Solomon’s Seal, though, with some things I suspected but didn’t know for sure. He has insisted to me that he’s going to preemptively tell Livi the truth about that little detail before she figures it out secondhand, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

What’s Upcoming

Two things up for preorder!

What will likely be DECEMBER, though I have an emergency buffer of Feb 2021, is my first domestic thriller The Silent Places.

It’s been nearly a year since Imogen Sharp’s husband Nick went missing—and a year of everyone in the Yukon village of Red Fox Lake whispering that she killed him.

With interest in the case rising again as the anniversary of his disappearance approaches, a journalist comes to town and sparks new rumours. Did Nick take his own life without leaving a note? Did he leave of his own volition? Or did his would-be widow have something to do with it as everyone believes?

When the story reaches national news and Imogen’s photo is plastered everywhere, something darker than local rumours comes to her door. Because five years ago Imogen Sharp didn’t exist, and now even the most remote place in Canada can no longer be her refuge.

I am SUPER super excited. Like you have no idea. It bloomed fully formed in my head earlier this year complete with the ending, and since I’m so close to it–and it’s so different from what I usually write–I was very worried. But early feedback has been extremely positive so I’m a little more confident now that I stuck the landing (and expecting a cover quote from someone very special; I’ll update the cover when that comes in).

It’s a brutal book, to be sure, but it’s unflinching and unapologetic and (I hope) a catharsis.

You can preorder it now and I’ll be updating the release date in the coming weeks to the firmer one when I’ve got the next revision pass done.

Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook

Also, look, this one is up too!

This book.

This fucking book.

The more I love something, the more insecure I get, apparently.

It’s already bringing out all my worst fears–mainly that it’s not going to sell at all and readers will have forgotten about the series. I put out my newsletter all excited–folks have been hitting the site for a year and asking me about updates, so I was like here! Here’s the preorder! Know that the date will move up by a few months!–and…like I kid you not, the same people who’ve been checking for updates for months literally unsubscribed from my newsletter with the preorder announcement as “no longer interested”.

(“How do you know this, Skyla?” you ask? Because IP addresses and email addresses and folks selecting why they’re unsubscribing–believe me, everything is built for writers to track and analyze, unfortunately.)

Not bringing this up for sympathy (and by god, please, yes, go and unsubscribe if you’re no longer interested!), just if I’m extra pessimistic, this is why:

I am terrified of letting people down.

When I worry about the financial viability of the series, that’s not about me (although I like being able to eat)–it’s because I don’t want to have to cancel it and let people down. When I freak out about piracy, yes, a massive part of that is about consent violation, but the end result is that it makes it harder to work on things thereby delaying releases and I don’t want to let people down. I feel like I’ve already let people down.

The amount of pressure on all writers (but I think particularly self-pub ones) to churn out books rapidly is staggering, there are constant reminders everywhere that readers will move on and forget about your series–if you’re wondering why I don’t network and I act oblivious to all traditional marketing advice, that’s why. It’s just too much extra stress and pressure. I have a lot of anxiety with the state of Livi’s series in general and I already know all I can do is put out the best book I’m capable of and let things lie where they fall out of my control but…fuuuuck.

Anyway.

Betrayal and sacrifice follow Livi Talbot on her darkest adventure yet.

Still reeling from the ultimate betrayal that has set her entire world off-kilter, the hits keep coming when Livi’s estranged mother—who abandoned the Talbot family twenty years ago—shows up without warning. She’s looking for a pre-Incan stone idol in the ruins of an abandoned Spanish mission that has escaped looters for centuries, and she wants Livi to find it.

Livi wants to be anywhere but home, and a trip with her family to Peru is just what she needs to clear her head—even if it involves reconnecting with her mom. But a heartbroken adventurer is a distracted one, making Livi the perfect target for supernatural guardians in the jungle…and more danger from those closest to her that she might not see until it’s too late.

Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook

If you’ve been eagerly waiting on this one and preorder, my god I love you, and don’t ever let my pessimism make you think I’m not grateful. I am nervous and excited for this one because I put about half my cards on the table and flip things in a new direction–I want so badly for regular readers to get this one and see where we’re headed next.

This book is coming SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU and my god I hope I don’t let you down. <3

I’m also doing a fun thing this month!

I was trying to write a short Halloween story for patrons and, well, you know how that goes for me. So now it’s a novella about Elis set five years before Blood Ties (which, you may recall, is about the time she got the tattoo of Ashur’s mark…). The first chunk will go up later this week, and more next month (and probably the rest in December).

Teenage witch—and budding serial killer—Elis O’Connor has been suspended from her elite private high school after rumours arise that she nearly killed a fellow student.

She figures this serves her right for failing to kill him and decides not to make that mistake with her next target: a sexist bully who has driven another classmate to suicide with revenge porn. Subsequent digging into the past reveals a years-long pattern of abuse she knows she has to stop–at any cost. Killing has never been a problem for Elis and there is no one else to hold the wealthy young cis men of Ridgeview Academy accountable for their actions, but getting to her next victim before he harms someone at the upcoming Halloween dance proves a challenge with her being banned from school property.

Overcoming suspension and grounding is the least of her troubles, however. Someone at Ridgeview has figured out her game and a trap has been set—and her only way out might mean accepting help from the very last creature she wants on her side.

ALL patrons will get access to this one, and you can join for a buck a month! (You can ALSO pay a year in advance if you prefer when you sign up and save 10%!)

What I’m Working On

Season of the Bitch kind of came out of nowhere, but I’m having a lot of fun with it right now–it’s a break after the intensity of working on revisions for The Silent Places. Elis has some scenes with her older brother Dev that have been a lot of fun to write, Nate is back being very frustrated with his teen daughter (I know so many of you adored Love Interest!Nate but I am 100% here for Exhausted Dad!Nate), and I am thrilled at the prospect of bringing in Ashur for a bit (this is his song, particularly when it comes up to the 4min mark, I see him ripping a hole in reality and I get chills). This is also back when Dev was dating Callie, who is a significant character in Witch Hunt so I’m hoping to bring her in here.

I’ll be working on Witch Hunt for next year’s big Patreon serial, and my second domestic thriller–Little Sadie–is percolating though I don’t think I’ll get to it until next year. I won’t be switching away from paranormal/UF by any means, but thrillers were my first love well before I’d even read fantasy (that and horror) and what I’d always assumed I’d be writing before life took me in another direction. I enjoy the standalone aspect as well and it’s been a wonderful break for my brain.

A reminder of my current Livi book policy: I won’t announce the next one until it’s ready for preorder going forward. Just because there isn’t a landing page on the site or I’m not talking about it doesn’t mean I’m not working on it, but I need to keep it to myself for anxiety reasons (patrons do get updates as part of their monthly support, however).

I’ll see you back here in the next few months when The Silent Places goes live and otherwise the next state of the union will be in January!

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Soundtrack Sunday: “Girl Into Devil”

Haven’t done one of these in a while!

Last week I finished the zero of my new domestic thriller (now up for preorder) so today we’ll do a song from that playlist.

Imogen Sharp, as you can tell from the jacket copy, is not all she seems. This is a book about how we’re shaped by trauma, what we become to survive, and rescuing yourself in ways that defy the expectations placed on women.

So one of her songs is SJ Tucker’s “Girl Into Devil (I Belong To Me)”, which seems fitting because in another life Imogen could’ve been a fairytale girl. But prince charming is not always that, and real fairytales–not the Disney version–tend to come with blood.

Shouldering a rifle, more to prove with every breath,
stolen fairytale girls make the difference between life and death.
It all comes down to choices, but you've only the hard ones left,
and so, all you can say is
"I belong to me. Even now, even here."

As Tucker’s guitar begins, I can clearly see the silent snowy woods of Imogen’s home in Red Fox Lake, Yukon, the trees seeming to march forever, and I can feel the temperature as it drops and a storm approaches.

"Who do you belong to, little girl? 
Why do you wander in the deep, dark wood?" 
It's not an easy answer, I'm afraid. 
I may fit the story, but I'm up to no good.

Meet Imogen this winter and uncover some of her secrets–The Silent Places is up for preorder now! Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook 

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Back at Work…and a New Preorder!

I told you I can’t vacation very well.

My birthday was last week, bookended by Shawn emergencies–the first, on the weekend, was an upset stomach, which typically doesn’t seem like a big deal but he gets into everything and I have to constantly monitor him for blockages. We got over that hurdle and then he decided to knock the Scentsy warmer tray and covered himself in melted wax–chest, neck, face, front legs and paws.

Image

The biggest concern with something like that is actually burns, and Scentsy wax has a low melting point so isn’t generally the issue. Then, of course, there was me trying to cut the wax out so he didn’t ingest it all grooming, and subsequently watching for gastro upsets.

So that’s been fun.

There’s also a mattress and boxspring in my living room that I don’t have the energy to arrange pickup and disposal of, and a new bedframe I don’t have the energy to put together and put the new mattress on. My apartment’s a mess, I’ve given up on that adulting, and today I’m back to freelance work.

But I did finish a WIP while I was off and it’s now up for preorder!

The Silent Places is a domestic thriller. Standalone, non-paranormal. It’s still similar to what I usually write–it’s a book about monsters, who we become to survive trauma, and violence against women–and I’m really happy with it. It was one of those books conceived when I was antsy and wanted to read a very specific kind of thing I couldn’t find (running away to the Yukon, murder, etc), and it bloomed fully formed in my head complete with the ending. That doesn’t happen often and I’m excited–and nervous–to get to share it with people at last.

I’ve checked in with my copyeditor’s schedule ahead of my second draft here, and I’m looking at releasing it later in December but the preorder date is February just to have a buffer in case of emergency.

It’s been nearly a year since Imogen Sharp’s husband Nick went missing—and a year of everyone in the Yukon village of Red Fox Lake whispering that she killed him.

With interest in the case rising again as the anniversary of his disappearance approaches, a journalist comes to town and sparks new rumours. Did Nick take his own life without leaving a note? Did he leave of his own volition? Or did his would-be widow have something to do with it as everyone believes?

When the story reaches national news and Imogen’s photo is plastered everywhere, something darker than local rumours comes to her door. Because five years ago Imogen Sharp didn’t exist, and now even the most remote place in Canada can no longer be her refuge.

Preorder: Kindle | Kobo | iBooks

I have a couple of other domestic thrillers I’d like to write–it’s been really good for my brain to switch gears to something completely different–so hopefully this’ll become a new thing I juggle between other projects.

More updates coming with next month’s State of the Union!

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Staycation Station

I am…on holidays?

My brain isn’t wired for this.

I spent last week starting a big purge, particularly in my bedroom because I’m in dire need of a new mattress and I need space to bring one in. Then I had to shift gears mid-week to more of a surface clean, and I’m expecting some repairs in my unit in the next few weeks that I want to be prepared for. I was exhausted all weekend and got up yesterday morning prepared to work, though I ultimately decided to give myself a few more days before resuming the deep cleaning.

I sat at the laptop and…stared for a while yesterday morning. I was having trouble working on zero drafts so switched to revisions on something else. Did that for my usual work day. Then decided to lie down and watch Golden Girls on Prime (just added, finally!). Which I did for three hours.

Oh my god, there was so much of the day left…?

And with a sudden realization, it occurred to me that…I could read! For pleasure! Between my own work and editing, I very rarely get to just sit and read a book with my brain otherwise shut off from critiquing. So then I read a book.

And it still wasn’t bedtime yet?

I don’t consider myself one of those people who can’t remain idle; I can. I’m very used to being by myself and keeping myself entertained–I don’t need to (and prefer not to) socialize or go out.

But the push of working all the time without more than a weekend in between, and working the kind of job where I’m never really “done” but have projects hanging over me, has wired my brain into something where a few hours into vacation proper I’m like, “Okay, what NOW?”

Which is not to say I’m not grateful to be off work; I am very happy to have a much needed break. I’m back to tackling my room as well, and realistically if I didn’t have this time to jump on some cleaning, it would be months more before I could get a new mattress (and, with a new mattress, I’ll go back to regular insomnia, instead of insomnia-with-constant-joint-and-muscle-pain). The only thing better is if I could vacation in a cabin somewhere with no internet and no people, just utter silence and my laptop.

I have that buzzing anxiety of knowing I need to get some projects done and released; this month is looking to be the worst sales month since I’ve been publishing myself, which I will pay for when I see that money in December. And before you chide me for stressing when everyone should be setting lower expectations on themselves during a pandemic, a reminder that I pay bills with book sales, and my finances will be in serious danger if I go a long period selling nothing. While I’m not berating myself, it’s impossible to not be aware of the precariousness of my situation, and know that I do need to have something out soonish.

That will not be Livi #5. I will update formally in next month’s quarterly state of the union, but it won’t be ready for Nov/Dec as I’d very vaguely hoped. It’s a messy year with a lot going on, the book is huge, and I’m not even on revisions yet. Realistically we’re probably looking at a February or March release.

That leaves me with a couple of zero drafts that aren’t done yet.

I think about how I used to write, the endurance I used to have–my record was 90K words in seventeen days. I don’t have that now; my birthday is in less than a week and I will officially be in my late thirties. I can’t do those long hours without pain now, and I’ve never entirely recovered to where I was six years ago before I got sick. I tell myself part of that is also writing bigger, more complex work, but I do mourn for the time I could work ten to twelve hours a day, write another five or six, sleep a couple of hours (if at all) and do it all over again.

I’d rather write better books than faster books, even if I know it goes contrary to most advice for contemporary writers…but I do wish it didn’t feel so mutually exclusive.

Anyway.

I’ve read three books thus far for vacation time and I seem to be on another thriller/mystery kick.

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole–it was fantastic, my god that woman can write. Also put me on the list for wanting this adapted by Jordan Peele.

One by One by Ruth Ware–there’s this thing where I figure out Ware’s books within the first ten pages, and this one was no exception, but I finished it as I always do because I enjoy her writing.

Dead in Dublin by Catie Murphy–the sequel is out in a couple of weeks, which is great because I am eager for her next Irish cozy mystery. It was very funny and also Catie is a lovely human being; buy her books.

I have hundreds of books to go between iBooks and Kindle, plus some paperbacks, but most are SF/F, which I need a bit of a break from. I’ll check in later this month with the rest of my reads, and if you have any recs (particularly thrillers, domestic or otherwise–I like murder), leave me a comment!

(Don’t be offended if I don’t comment back for a while–I’m very tired after last week and I’m still dredging up the energy to talk to humans again.)

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At Least Fall Is Almost Here

I hate summer. I have always hated summer. The heat is too much for me and I break into hives in the sun.

Summer in 2020, This Year of Our Collective Demise, especially is unpleasant, even with the shades down and a/c on. I’ve had two back-to-back veterinary emergencies (three, technically, although the third was an injury that has not yet called for a vet). I slept a combined ten hours last week as Shawn required eye drops every 2-3 hours round the clock–which is a lot like hand-raising him was, except without the constant terror he was about to die. Still, it meant I was useless for work, losing a week just as I was getting caught up.

At least I didn’t fracture any more bones?

I’m not as in as bad shape as I was a few months ago, but it’s still a lot of added pressure. But regardless, I’m taking a couple of weeks off next month–actual planned time off, instead of enforced by illness or injury–with no expectations on myself except to get some house cleaning/purging done. I would love to get some writing done–and prior to the last couple of weeks I was super productive as well–but at this point any kind of plan for anything sends me into a panic attack.

Speaking of, I hope to have some news about projects in the fall. I have three zero drafts in progress, and one of them is a standalone–I keep wondering if somehow I can shift my brain to something like that over series.

My brain is not wired for standalone–even if only one book comes out, like Soulless, there are still more in my head–but it might be the best way to continue. I constantly feel like I’m disappointing people when I have series in progress but long periods of time between releases, which makes it even harder to write. Add onto that the piracy and, well…

Yeah, the piracy. So I talked about Dawning and the one person who preordered who then uploaded the file the day of release. That book has been illegally downloaded more than three times the number that has been bought.

Then last week Blood Ties went up. Blood Ties, btw, has been out for two and a half months, and I’ve made less than two hundred dollars* on it.

I was actually pleased with that because it’s a new series and something I wrote for fun, so I wasn’t anticipating anyone buying it…but it’s hard to be pleased with it when it goes weeks without selling and then is being pirated. I spent a year on that book, between multiple drafts and editors, bought boutique stock for it, and…yeah.

Witch Hunt is coming because it’s already started and I already paid for the stock, but at this point I’m only planning to have it serialize on Patreon and then come out publicly in paperback for die-hard fans. If there’s an ebook release, it’ll be far down the road–like a year after initial release. I am truly sorry for that, but it’s the only way I can work on the sequel–I have to close the door to it ever being stolen, otherwise it’ll never get written.

So for all intents and purposes, that series (projected 4-6 books) is dead in the water.

I’m really disappointed. I didn’t get to finish the Demons of Oblivion series for the same reason, so Witch Hunt was going to have some flashbacks with Elis’s mother and you would’ve found out how she died. There was so much I wanted to do there, and I’ll still try to do it as a Patreon serial, but I’m heartbroken.

Which is why I’m back to wondering how I can possibly write standalones. If it didn’t take so goddamn long, I’d write two to three in a series first before publishing them, but taking the time to do that while paying the bills gets…challenging.

Anyway, who knows if we’re going to survive the rest of the year, so it might all be a moot point!

I hope the summer has been kinder to you than it has to me, but then again there’s a global pandemic and many of you are in the US so…gonna guess probably not.

We’re not all in the same boat, but we’re in the same storm, and I hope you’re weathering it.

* I hate even bringing up such a number, but that’s the reality of a new book in a new series–readers rarely carry from series to series–as well as the reality of independent publishing when you have no resources to advertise. I did the math on the Livi series recently: Solomon’s Seal has been out for four years and it has sold the best of all the books…and in that time I have made enough to cover six weeks of living expenses.

I spent four years on that book.

If you stumble across this page looking for pirated copies of any of these books, please understand that this is the reality of my income as a writer. I live below the poverty level and I suffer financially to publish these books–that is why I cancel series when you steal them.

MEET SKYLA DAWN

Urban fantasy writer. Fifth-generation crazy cat lady. Bitchy feminist. Cranky designer.

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

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