2022 was a year. I think most of us can agree that anything since 2019 can be described as the same. We've struggled with so much change and upheaval in our lives since the onset of the pandemic and it just seems to keep coming. I know that my life has changed greatly since 2019. My career in healthcare changed as I started and completed a bachelor's degree in 8 months (yes! crazy, I know) and accepted a promotion that put a lot of extra weight on my shoulders in the day-to-day. Leadership is not an easy road to decide to walk down. People are complex and complicated and infuriating and wonderful all at once and leaders must look past all the complicated parts to make the wonderful parts shine. Leadership in healthcare is doubly difficult, because we're caring for our patients and the people caring for them as well. But, like I said, it's a road I chose to walk down, no matter how bumpy it feels sometimes. It's still so amazing to me to think that I have the degree I really wanted and I'm planning to pursue my Master's in 2023.
What does all that mean for me as a writer? While I was in school, I put my writing aside. Most of my readers know that I'm a hobbyist writer, I don't plan on making a career of it, but I do love publishing work for readers. It was a very difficult choice to stop writing and focus on school, and I did feel that it put me back ten steps in terms of visibility as an author after I finished and came back to the writing scene. It was tough to find my groove again, and I thought that maybe writing was over for me. Then, a friend suggested Kindle Vella. If you're not aware, Kindle Vella is a serial reading platform ran by Amazon. Writers publish stories in a serial format and readers pay tokens to unlock new episodes. It's much like Radish or other similar apps. Kindle Vella has been a game-changer for me. I was able to publish stories for readers and work around my very hectic lifestyle and work schedule. It's truly been an amazing experience. Once my stories are complete on Kindle Vella, I will publish them as e-books for my regular novel readers.
As time went on, I found a nice rhythm to publishing again. I look forward to continuing it into 2023. I have plans to complete my first Vella, The Case Files of Adelaide Kent, a Lovecraftian cosmic horror tale, and continue the others. I've also joined with a group of wonderful romance writers to work on a K-pop romance series. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of BTS and the K-scene. I can't wait for readers to get into this series. My book will be the last of the series, book 6, and will publish in September 2023. CHUL is up for preorder now on Amazon.
If you're a long-time reader of AR DeClerck, you may have noticed that my logo and tagline have changed. I'm no longer an adventure romance novelist, but now I'm a multi-genre author. My tagline used to be "love is the greatest adventure" and now it's "life is the greatest adventure". This stems from my desire to write whatever kind of story suits me at the moment.
To all my readers, I hope you continue to follow my stories and look for my memes and support me like you always have. I'll keep writing in the meantime.
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