BAD MOON LAUNCH! + I didn't think I'd 'make it' to here

some more personal life BTS on a surreal launch day...

Hey friend!

BAD MOON, The Cursed Chronicles #1, is out now. That’s pretty exciting, but this release is even more ‘wild’ for me, and I want to talk about why.

I wrote The Cursed Chronicles a couple of years ago. I wrote them quickly, one after another, using them as an outlet to get by, to survive, to try and do something so I didn’t sink. See, what I decided to finally write a book in the story world I’ve had since I was about thirteen, I had a billion ideas and a lot of zeal.

Then, life happened. Things outside of my control. Things that kicked me backward, mentally and physically. As I’ve mentioned before, I have some chronic illness issues — Lyme, EDS, Hashimoto’s, etc. Sometimes, when something big or stressful happens, my body very quickly kicks into survival mode, and my adrenals are ruined for a while. That’s pretty much what happened at the start of writing TCC — only, I couldn’t stop writing. It was the only thing keeping me ‘sane.’

So, I wrote. I wrote the trilogy and agonized over character’s decisions and tried to figure out the ‘right way’ to end the books…

And I couldn’t.

Truthfully, I don’t think any book I’ve completed thus far has given me as many ‘issues’ as TCC did, and it’s for good reason. I was missing the key theme while I tried to write the story’s ending with ribbons and bows…

Life isn’t like that, though.

I refused to come to terms with it, though, at first.

So did my characters. Some of them, anyway. And others were ten steps ahead of me, coaxing (well, dragging) me to the finish line of… we can’t fix everything, we can’t be ‘good enough’ for things to go well, and we’ll be okay, anyway.

I still fought them, though. Which is something I also rarely do… usually, whatever the characters say, goes. But this time, I couldn’t wrap my head around it, so I fought it, and that’s where the issues were rooted, haha. Along the process, though, Irene continued to reassure me that no, I hadn’t messed up the plot, and yes, my characters made sense, and she reiterated that if I was trying to force the story to end one way because I thought that was ‘the right way to do it,’ then I should still listen to the characters and do the ending that was true.

But I put the books aside, and Irene and I started writing in the same story world together. Late Hours Saga is launching its third installment later this year, and we’re writing book 8 now… But somewhere along 2025, I finally figured it out with The Cursed Chronicles…

I was holding the books back because I wasn’t sure if I wanted anyone to see those broken pieces, either. I can’t even tell you what they are, you know. If you read TCC, maybe you’ll see them. Maybe you won’t.

But then, a few days before BAD MOON launched, I attended an author/illustrator meet and greet at the Lawrence County Public Library. I sold books, made new friends, and had a great time — and during the event, one woman asked me my favorite book I’d written. We laughed and joked that I could do a top three, so I explained my ‘top three’ — Winter of the Bees, for helping me through a childhood of thinking I would lose my mom. Death Bargain, because writing the series with Irene was unlike any other story I’d done, and it was living and breathing. And lastly, Among the Crimson Snow, for helping me through who I am today, and showing me that my worth and identity are not dependent on what I can do. The lady grabbed a copy of Among the Crimson Snow — but she came back, too, after she had left with her friend, to tell me that she knew it took a lot of courage to write a book like that and put it out there for the world… and she told me to keep going.

I’m always incredibly grateful for my readers — both new and returning, because you are why I share these stories. I write because it is like breathing. But I share these stories because I want to help as many people as I can before my final breath. And maybe that sounds dramatic, but life is fleeting, and beautiful, and all I have to offer is what I have while I’m here.

So… here we are. I’m sharing BAD MOON with you, after years of hiding it away as if that would make my reality a little less raw.

I hope you pick up a copy of BAD MOON. If you like it, the Late Hours Saga books 1-2 are also currently available, and it’s another wild ride. (The series share the same world, but you can read them all in any order!)

Grab a copy here!

Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy. (If you do, please drop a review on the Zon!)

See you soon. Stay bold.

Angela