I’ve been this lull, right? The lull after you finish a big project. I’ve been working on The Witch Queen on and off since 2020, I’ve been eyeball deep in the Witch Queen series since roughly June or July of 2025, and I’ve recently finished. I’m currently doing a read-through for typos and awkward phrasings, like a pre-line edit. But the books are done.
Whispers, my romantic horror, is also done and currently riding the anxiety of the query trenches.
So for the past three weeks, I haven’t had a project. I haven’t had any WIP speak to me. I’m in the lull, and it’s a strange emptiness and I don’t like it.
It’s essentially burnout, I realize. I pushed myself to get the Witch Queen done, and I did. I used all my creative points to do so, and my creative muscle is exhausted. It’s spent. It needs a nap.
In my last post, I talked about the lull. I was fully in it. Entrenched. Waiting for the rejections of the query trenches. Waiting for a project to call to me.
I also went over a very messy outline for another horror novel and straightened into a less messy outline. I’m not really feeling it, though.
I also, more recently, outlined yet another horror novel with some characters from the one I’m querying.
I also made notes for another horror novel where the MC takes a job as a winter keeper for a big old house.
I also have an idea for a monster horror book.
I’ve gotten ideas. Several ideas. I’m in my horror era, I guess.
I’m also attempting to write the sequel to the Blood Enchantress, which isn’t a direct sequel as much as a standalone story in the same universe. It follows a different character. I’ve outlined the story, and I like it, but I’m not feeling the romantasy vibes right now. I’ve been burned out on romantasy for a while.
I started reading a new fantasy book though, and it’s more classic fantasy rather than the romantasy. I’m hoping it kickstarts that love of fantasy and helps me get back into the high fantasy vibe.
I also looked at the notes for my Cinderella retelling but she’s an assassin; I have notes to make it and three other half-baked WIPs into a series, and it has potential, but again, I need the drive to get into another series. I don’t know if I have it right now. I still feel the loss of The Witch Queen series. That sense of loss needs to fade before I can jump back in. It’s like dating. You shouldn’t date if you’re not over your ex.
I’m still feeling the attachment to the Witch Queen and all the characters, so I wouldn’t be able to put my entire being into the next series.
I also wanted to mention that I sat down to write on Wraith (codename for this WIP), despite not feeling the spark. I sat down to get words on the page during my Saturday AM session. I put my butt in the chair. I got words out. I put in the work. Because I have the outline and I know the story beats, I can get out a rough draft. It’s very rough in some places too. But that is how the rough draft is supposed to go. I will fix all the things in my drafting process, which is where the magic happens. I just have to get the rough draft out first, then make the story pretty.
I’ve had to remind myself of this every time I open the rough draft. This is the process I go through every single time. I forget how to write a book, then I slowly remember. then I do it again.
