You can find the epilogue of Loyalty Fallen Book 2: The Desert Crossing here. Say goodbye to Kathryn, Ren, Brenin, and Chance for the next few months, because the series is going on hiatus until I have a larger portion of the third book finished and ready to see the sun. This blog, however, is not going on hiatus. So this is the perfect time to talk about what comes next.

New publishing time and upcoming topics

Currently, my blogs go live at 8 PM EST on Tuesdays. The reason for this is because that was my busiest time on the blog as far as visitors when I first started out. However, it hasn’t really helped me grow the blog, and there have been several times that I’ve published and had no readers at all, so I’m experimenting a bit.

For this reason, I’ll be changing the day from Tuesday’s to Saturdays to see if that’s more effective. I’ll also be publishing earlier in the day.

As it has previously, the content will continue to be a combination of character and worldbuilding profiles, listicles, and advice articles, but you will see a much heavier leaning towards advice in the near future. This is mainly because I’ve already been working as a professional writer for over five years, with published works across various blogs and industries, and I want to make sure that I use that expertise to help support my fellow writers who may be struggling.

To that end, you’ll see upcoming blog posts that contribute to my series on top mistakes writers make (and how to avoid them), as well as reviews for writing tools and suggestions for improving your writing in other ways. I’ll also give updates on my own progress as I continue to try to advance my fantasy writing goals.

I’m toying with the idea of writing a couple blog posts purely as advertisements for Loyalty Fallen as well, which would simply include some excerpts from the book and an encouragement to read it. I think this could help me get some new readers, but I’m somewhat concerned that it could also lead to some of my current readers getting frustrated by the number of posts.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments if you have a preference as to whether I publish weekly or twice weekly with half of those posts being ads. Or I could just do an ad every other week instead to keep from overwhelming anyone and make sure that the blog stays focused on what I really want to do: give advice to other writers.

What’s next for Loyalty Fallen?

While originally intended to be a trilogy, Loyalty Fallen has expanded beyond that and will likely take up a total of four books.

Book Three: The King’s Champion will cover Kathryn’s journey to save Ren from the clutches of King Tarik and his top advisor, Vesper. Additionally, you’ll get to see the relationship between Chance and Zafiyah come to a head as he desperately tries to hide a secret that could keep them apart forever. And Lenore tries to adjust to a world without Trista, in which her brother is rapidly beginning to overstep his authority as king.

While I’m in the progress of writing book three, however, I still have some more plans for the first book. It will soon be released as an eBook through Amazon, hopefully by June 1st, plus I’m looking into publishing it on some other sites like Royal Road, Wattpad, and Inkitt. I’ve tried Tapas before without success, but I figure it can’t hurt to expand it to some other audiences even if I don’t get that many readers. As part of this effort, I’m commissioning a new book cover from one of my favorite artists to better fit the theme of The Sapphire Prince. I’ll be revealing that soon!

Plans beyond Loyalty Fallen

In the past, I’ve described some of the other books that I’ve been working on, as well as the fact that I’ve sent short stories to various competitions. I don’t plan on slowing down any of these efforts. In fact, I’m about to send in one of my short stories to a contest for probably the fourth or fifth time, and I’ll also be writing another short story next month for a different competition.

I’ve currently set aside plans to try to get traditionally published, as I want to build my audience up a bit more first and improve my craft before I try to find an agent or publisher. Instead, I’m going to focus on publishing eBooks, writing short stories, and expanding the lore and reach of the stories I’ve already created.

With all my endeavors, the goal is to expand the reach, grow my readership over time, and become a recognizable voice in fantasy. For that purpose, I’ve also created a pen name that I’ll be publishing under across sites: Casey West.

In addition to Loyalty Fallen, I’m currently focused on two others series: Ashbranded and the Morpher’s Gate. Since this website is focused on Loyalty Fallen, you’ll only be seeing some previews and brief excerpts for these books here, but they will be published for free on other platforms. In the interest of generating attention for these works ahead of publication, I’m sharing more info below.

Ashbranded

How hard could it be to incinerate a future carved in stone?

“Dare has been chosen to inherit the High Volcaryn’s iron rule as leader of his people. Verel is a powerless bondsman. But while Dare flees the heavy chains of fate, Verel strives to break them. As rebellion brews and the fate of their homeland teeters on the edge, both brothers must decide what they’re willing to risk for a future that may already be lost.”

Ashbranded, which I’ve mentioned here before, is a dual-POV fantasy adventure.

I’m currently in the prcoess of editing Book 1, which finished at about 80,000 words back during NaNoWriMo, and writing Book 2, which is currently at around 24,000 words. The third book is already in the planning stages as well.

The Morpher’s Gate

How do you stay hidden when all you want is to be seen?

Morphers are monstrous predators who steal bodies and unleash destruction. At least, that is what the stories say. But when his savior is cursed, Elander will do anything to heal him, including stealing his face and assuming his identity. What he doesn’t expect is the clever and relentless bride-to-be who could expose his secret at any moment… or worse, make him fall for her completely.

Like most of my stories, the Morpher’s Gate is planned to be a three-book series. I’ve currently reached over 25k words for the first book. I’ll be sharing a great deal more about it in the near future.

Final thoughts

My next blog post will be all about Koala Quill, my experience with this site that attempts to motivate consistent writing through monetary compensation (yep, you can get paid!) and how you can get started there.

In the meantime, please take a look at the previous chapters of Loyalty Fallen and get ready for the eBook launch!