While most love the series, I have some that are not happy with the length of the books. I would like to address this. First, they are not short stories - they are novellas. A novella is a work with a wordcount of between 17, 500 and 40,000 words. The novellas in the Jerry McNeal series are all 14 chapters and are written to be quick, easy reads. The first Jerry book (Always Faithful) is just over 28,000 words and comes in at 119 pages. The rest of the series are all over 33, 000 words and come in between 165 and 172 pages. All are fourteen chapters and I let the story tell me when it is finished. Which brings me to my next point.
That Feeling: Always Faithful- the original title for book one- was first published with a different cover, on November 21, 2016. At the time, I had planned on making it a series about a psychic police officer and Gunter was ONLY to be in the first book. I released the book during an ugly time in our lives when my husband was extremely ill and I had taken on the role of caregiver. Had I of not released the book, I would not have had a release that year. In the writing industry, not releasing is not good. So, I released this small novella to help me stay afloat in the writing world. It was a single novella and while it had a few good reviews, it never really went anywhere.
Fast forward to last November when I had just finished writing my latest Orphan Train novel. The books in my Orphan Train Saga are meaty- Loyal came in at over 112k words. They are rich in history and dramatic and tend to take a lot out of me, so I usually take a break between writing them. During this hiatus I decided to revisit my Jerry book. The plan -add two books to the series. Taking my late mother’s advice, I decided to keep the dog in the storyline and picked up right where I left off- with Jerry reading the letter from Max. *Side note, had I continued the series with my original plan, book two would have been a single book with Max over and done. Aren’t you glad life made me wait? I know I am!
I began this current journey only planning to write two Jerry books then return to my Orphan Train Saga. That was before I saw the response to this series. I have been published since 2012, NEVER have I had a rection even close to what I’ve had with this little series. So, I kept writing and publishing a book a month for 2022. My new plan was to give you a 12 book novella series. At first it was easy but then the pressure to meet my self-imposed deadlines became a bit much. I found myself canceling signings, telling my family I couldn’t participate in family gatherings and staying in the writing chair until well past midnight some days just to finish. I did not celebrate my birthday this year as I had a deadline. I sat at my computer at the beginning of November already stressed about a deadline I wasn’t sure I could meet. My writing voices felt the pressure and stopped talking for about a week. For the first time in ages, I realized I wasn’t having fun. While I was able to meet November’s release schedule, I decided I was not going to face December with the same stress.
I love Christmas. The last thing I wanted was to drain my holiday cheer by trying to pressure my writing voices to keep up. So, I made the decision to push the release back a month to give me and my team time to enjoy the holiday season. The new deadline is January 29th. We may release early, but it will not be any later as Amazon only allows me to push back once and only for a maximum of 30 days.
So now I know you wish to know what comes next. As I already mentioned, I had only planned on writing two - which morphed into eleven for a total of twelve. Because I have had people begging for longer books, I’ve decided to add a full-length Jerry McNeal novel- Spirit of Deadwood. Currently Spirit of Deadwood is due to be released on March 20, 2023, but I still have to write the book. So far I think I will be able to make the schedule providing the writing voices work with me. I will let you know if that changes.
After I finish Spirit of Deadwood my plan is to return to my Orphan Train Saga and write the book those readers were expecting this year.
Moving forward, I hope to juggle both series at a much more reasonable pace. There will be other Jerry books, spaced out every three months or so.
Facebook can be finicky. My page got deleted once this year and I had a bear of a time getting it reinstated. Please make sure to follow my author page on Amazon, and sign up for my newsletter (which I hope to get better at releasing), and follow this blog to be alerted to new releases.
I am grateful for each and every reader and give thanks for my many blessings daily. Thank you for taking a chance on this indie author I hope you’ll hang around as I promise there will be more Jerry and Gunter books in the future.
Ps, for those who enjoy longer books, the Jerry McNeal Series is now available in three book sets. These are the clean and cozy editions and are much larger books both in size and page count. :)
That Feeling: Always Faithful- the original title for book one- was first published with a different cover, on November 21, 2016. At the time, I had planned on making it a series about a psychic police officer and Gunter was ONLY to be in the first book. I released the book during an ugly time in our lives when my husband was extremely ill and I had taken on the role of caregiver. Had I of not released the book, I would not have had a release that year. In the writing industry, not releasing is not good. So, I released this small novella to help me stay afloat in the writing world. It was a single novella and while it had a few good reviews, it never really went anywhere.
Fast forward to last November when I had just finished writing my latest Orphan Train novel. The books in my Orphan Train Saga are meaty- Loyal came in at over 112k words. They are rich in history and dramatic and tend to take a lot out of me, so I usually take a break between writing them. During this hiatus I decided to revisit my Jerry book. The plan -add two books to the series. Taking my late mother’s advice, I decided to keep the dog in the storyline and picked up right where I left off- with Jerry reading the letter from Max. *Side note, had I continued the series with my original plan, book two would have been a single book with Max over and done. Aren’t you glad life made me wait? I know I am!
I began this current journey only planning to write two Jerry books then return to my Orphan Train Saga. That was before I saw the response to this series. I have been published since 2012, NEVER have I had a rection even close to what I’ve had with this little series. So, I kept writing and publishing a book a month for 2022. My new plan was to give you a 12 book novella series. At first it was easy but then the pressure to meet my self-imposed deadlines became a bit much. I found myself canceling signings, telling my family I couldn’t participate in family gatherings and staying in the writing chair until well past midnight some days just to finish. I did not celebrate my birthday this year as I had a deadline. I sat at my computer at the beginning of November already stressed about a deadline I wasn’t sure I could meet. My writing voices felt the pressure and stopped talking for about a week. For the first time in ages, I realized I wasn’t having fun. While I was able to meet November’s release schedule, I decided I was not going to face December with the same stress.
I love Christmas. The last thing I wanted was to drain my holiday cheer by trying to pressure my writing voices to keep up. So, I made the decision to push the release back a month to give me and my team time to enjoy the holiday season. The new deadline is January 29th. We may release early, but it will not be any later as Amazon only allows me to push back once and only for a maximum of 30 days.
So now I know you wish to know what comes next. As I already mentioned, I had only planned on writing two - which morphed into eleven for a total of twelve. Because I have had people begging for longer books, I’ve decided to add a full-length Jerry McNeal novel- Spirit of Deadwood. Currently Spirit of Deadwood is due to be released on March 20, 2023, but I still have to write the book. So far I think I will be able to make the schedule providing the writing voices work with me. I will let you know if that changes.
After I finish Spirit of Deadwood my plan is to return to my Orphan Train Saga and write the book those readers were expecting this year.
Moving forward, I hope to juggle both series at a much more reasonable pace. There will be other Jerry books, spaced out every three months or so.
Facebook can be finicky. My page got deleted once this year and I had a bear of a time getting it reinstated. Please make sure to follow my author page on Amazon, and sign up for my newsletter (which I hope to get better at releasing), and follow this blog to be alerted to new releases.
I am grateful for each and every reader and give thanks for my many blessings daily. Thank you for taking a chance on this indie author I hope you’ll hang around as I promise there will be more Jerry and Gunter books in the future.
Ps, for those who enjoy longer books, the Jerry McNeal Series is now available in three book sets. These are the clean and cozy editions and are much larger books both in size and page count. :)
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