September Update – What’s Coming Next?

BySarra Cannon

Hi, everyone!! You may have noticed that I’ve been awfully quiet most of the summer. I made a post where I got super excited about everything I was working on back in June, and then I promptly hit a major wall. Basically, everything I said back then has needed to be completely revamped and reworked, but this is the way it goes when you are living a creative life. Sometimes it’s just not easy to create, and you have to learn to roll with the punches and try to keep your head up.

I don’t want to give you guys some laundry list of excuses. I’m feeling very good and positive and ready to move forward, so I don’t want to seem negative at all. But then again, I feel responsible to my readers, and I want you guys to know that I’m always trying my best to gets books done as quickly and efficiently as possible, even when life doesn’t cooperate. Long story short, 2016 has been a tough year for me for a number of reasons. I’ve been in the hospital twice, had emergency surgery that was tough to bounce back from, had to deal with chronic pain, and been blessed with a few ear infections and sinus infections throughout the year. For me, it’s really tough to be creative when I don’t feel well, so this has put a few kinks in the chain for me this year.

Secondly, I’ve been going through a lot of deep soul searching this year. I think I really felt it coming on some last year, but after a few important events and realizations this year, I just knew I needed some time to be quiet and to focus inward for a little while. Maybe it sounds a bit cheesy, but the truth is that this kind of time for me is entirely necessary. My books are all fiction, but they also each carry a large part of myself inside them. In order for me to write them to the best of my ability, I sometimes need to spend some time on myself and figure out again who I am and what I really want out of life. It’s been like this for me this summer, and it’s been difficult and heart breaking, but also incredibly empowering and affirming.

If you are at all creative, you probably understand this, but writing can sometimes be an emptying-out process where I put everything I have inside the characters and the story. When I’m totally empty, there’s nothing to do but refill and reflect and take whatever time I need to feel ready to dive back in and begin creating again. I’m ready to get back to creating now, but it’s felt like a long road to get back here, honestly.

The other kink is that I’ve never been the kind of writer who can force a story to come when it just doesn’t want to. I’m not talking about discipline, exactly. I’m able to have bad days where everything is slow and crappy, but I come back again and again and slowly the story comes together. I’m talking about this feeling deep inside that tells me, “Okay, this is supposed to be my next release, but this story isn’t ready. It’s just not there. Write something else.”

I hate it when that voice pops up, because I know there are those of you waiting for a certain story to come next. Maybe you’ve been waiting years already, and the last thing in the world I ever want to do is disappoint my readers. But at the same time, I know deep in my heart that if I force a book that isn’t ready, you’re going to be disappointed anyway, because the book will be terrible. So instead, I have to do the best thing I can do, which is set it aside until it’s ready and write something else.

Which is what I’m going to do. I intended to write both Sacrifice Me, Season 2 and The Trouble With I Do over the summer, but even thought I worked on SM for months, the story just wasn’t coming together. It needs more time. I’m beginning to think that since Sacrifice Me is set in the same world as the Shadow Demons Saga, I just won’t be able to write SM until I get to a different point in the war against the Order. So it just needs to wait. I know this will be disappointing to many of you who have already waited so long, but I hope you will be patient and understanding. I’m pushing it back indefinitely, but not abandoning it. I’ll write the second season as soon as it feels like the right time for that story.

In the meantime, I do have a brand new cover for Sacrifice Me, Season 1 that I’ve been dying to show you!!

Sacrifice Me, Season One

This cover was created by Ravven, the artist who also just did all the brand new covers for the Shadow Demons Saga. Isn’t it fantastic??? She’s also put together amazing covers for Sacrifice Me Season 2, but those will wait until next year.

As for The Trouble With I Do, I’ve made the decision to write this final Fairhope book as a novella rather than a full-length novel. I tried working on it for a while and realized that really, this story is more of a wrap-up of the series. A bookend, so to speak. It’s going to be wonderfully emotional and will give an update on all the Fairhope characters you’ve come to love, but it will be shorter, sort of like A Season For Hope. The Trouble With I Do is slated now for a November 7th release date, but it’s possible it could be as late as early December.

Right now, however, the book I really want to be working on is Beyond The Darkness. Now that I’m really ready to be writing again, this is the story that keeps coming up over and over, and I’m excited to continue the series. I don’t have a release date set as of yet, but I promise I will show you the amazing new cover and give you an expected release date as soon as I know for sure when it will be ready. It should definitely be this year or early 2017, and hopefully sooner rather than later, but it will simply take as long as it takes.

Another thing I’ve realized during this time of soul-searching is that I really miss the excitement of writing something brand new. Coming up with a new set of characters and creating a new world is part of why I love writing so much. That being said, I haven’t had a chance to do this in a very long time. My Eternal Sorrows series is based on a book I started back in 2009. The Shadow Demons Saga was started back in 2010 (and even though Sacrifice Me didn’t start until 2014, it’s still based on this world and magic system). Fairhope is my most recent “new” series starting in 2013, and since it’s contemporary, there is no new magic system or world to build in the same way I do with the fantasy books.

I miss the world building and writing something new, but I’ve held myself back from it because I know I have several series ongoing and didn’t want to upset anyone by pushing something back. In the end, though, I have to follow my heart and just pray that you guys will still love me and read whatever comes next :). What I’ve realized is that in order to get back to writing the final books in Sacrifice Me and Eternal Sorrows, I really need some freedom to write something new that’s just totally fun and free and creative. I need to get back to the task of writing simply for the joy of it, rather than feeling like there’s a deadline and a bunch of expectations.

So as well as writing the next Darkness book, I’ll also be working on a brand new set of 4 books about witches who are sisters. I don’t even have a title for this series yet, but I can tell you that I’m crazy excited about it!! They will be pure fun, have a little bit of mystery in them, some good romances woven in, and a brand new magic system. I’ll post more news on these sisters as it comes up, I promise.

So that’s my update for now!! Thanks to those of you who have read this far and are still with me. And especially thank you to my true fans who understand and embrace my crazy. I know it can be a rollercoaster and that I don’t always deliver books as quickly or on schedule as many other authors, but in the end we all have to be true to ourselves. I just want you to know I sincerely appreciate that you are still here with me, still reading what I write, even when it’s not coming on time or on the perfect schedule.

To sum up, in case I was too wordy before, here’s the current status of each of my series:

  • Sacrifice Me, Season 2 is getting pushed back to next year.
  • Beyond The Darkness is my current work-in-progress, and I will give an update and release date as soon as I can.
  • The Trouble With I Do novella will be released in November or December of this year and will close out the Fairhope series.
  • Fate’s Surrender, what I anticipate to be the final book in the Eternal Sorrows series, will likely also be out sometime next year.
  • And finally, there will be a new series about 4 witch sisters coming potentially sometime next year, but more news soon!

Thanks for understanding, you guys. You know I love and appreciate you!!! <3 <3

P.S. OH!!!! I wanted to also tell you that I have a new logo from the incredible Sarah Hansen (the artist who created the Eternal Sorrows and Fairhope covers). I’ll be unveiling it all with a brand new website at the end of this month. I know this site is currently a bit of a mess, but the new one is going to be INCREDIBLE. Can’t wait to show you all the new pretties!

29 Comments

  1. So glad you’re feeling better. Your health is most important and your books are worth the wait. You have a special talent and your books are AWESOME !!!!

  2. Aloha!

    I am a very new fan of yours, to be honest I am not a big reader. Reading, to me, has always been a chore, takes at least a month for me to finish a novel, but within the last year or so I have kinda forced my self to do a little reading here and there. My co-worker suggested bookbub and I took her advice finding a story here and there that got me reeding. Every day I get an email with suggestions and sometimes I download a book and sometimes I don’t. In June of this year (2016) I decided it was time to find a new book/series so I checked out the “Beautiful Demons Box Set, books 1-3”. Sarra, I am soo hooked on your writing that I have completed the Beautiful Demons saga thus far. I was so drawn to your writing that I needed more so I completed “Sacrifice Me” ( in two days). Now I’m on to Fairhope. At first I thought maybe it’s the world you created for the Beautiful Demons and Sacrifice Me that had me wanting more, but no! Fairhope is so different and yet here I am still reeding! I am now about to start “A Life With No Regrets” and I have already pre-ordered “The Trouble With I Do”. I cannot seem to put your books down. I have a feeling that when I Compleat the Fairhope books you have out that I will move on to Eternal Sorrows lol. As a new fan who has spent the last three months scrounging up and reeding every book on iTunes that you have, I want to say Thank You!!!!! Please Take as much time as you need to keep the creative mojo flowing, for your books I am a fiend, but I will be patient and I will always come back! Thank you for giving me enjoyment of reeding!!

    1. Stephanie, this message brought tears to my eyes. It means more than you can know. Thank you so much for taking a chance on my books!

  3. I love your books, the imagination of your thoughts and minds eye is amazing.The moment I pick one of your stories up I find it hard to leave the world of Shadow Demons Saga & Sacrifice Me Series I get so caught up in the world that you create it takes me too, my imagination explodes with the words that you write…
    I can understand that in our lives it takes time to processes all you have. What is going on in your day to day life does need processes and time out and breaks.We all have our moments where we need to get things in our lives sorted out to keep moving forward.You Sarra Cannon are a very talented writer and I enjoy all of the books you put out…
    I will always be a avid follower and reader of all you put out. Thank you for sharing your talented, imaginative world with us for you certainly make me forget about my reality for a couple hours a day…

  4. I want my beautiful demon back! >_< *cry* you should reaaaaaaly push for this to be a series. It would be better than Witches of Eastend or whatever the name is.

  5. No matter how much time you need…we will always be ready to flip the next page in anything you release. I love that you put so much love and thought into your books. You care for each character,every detail and make us all crazy for the next book. What you do is purely amazing! I can say that I am SO happy on the current project
    I am sorry to hear of the health issues and wish you nothing but a speedy recovery and glad everything is okay. Truly hope you were able to enjoy some of the summer with your family. Thanks for the update…look forward to the new book covers….release dates…new series…oh my I am beyond excited!! Thank you so much and until the next turn of the page…

  6. So glad you are feeling better, sometimes we just have to recharge after illness. Continue taking care of yourself, the rest will come together.

  7. Hi Sarra, Bonjour!….First of all, I am so proud of you for being true to yourself…..I respect that for 2 reasons; for one, because you allowed yourself to be a living human being with pains and aches, fears and doubts, insecurities and anxiety, & two because you decided to listen to your body, if it got to that braking point it’s because you put it aside and ignored it for too long, it was a wake up call, and you finally listened!

    We, your fans are still here…..and if we have follow all your stories book after book, it’s cause we truly like and enjoy the way you write, but “you” Sarra, the healthy, happy, and free creative writer, and we actually got spoiled by you in that way, which is great! and you are so right when you say if you had continue to pressure yourself with the idea of pleasing your readers instead of being true to your readers, it would have being worse than just waiting for you amazing creations.

    We all need that rewind time, time to relax, time to think, time to re-invent oneself, and time to grow……I am so glad you decided to continue with your evolution, instead of regression, and even though it will sound selfish, I know I also will benefit from it, because of the pleasure I receive when I read your amazing stories…….

    Welcome you healed Sarra, and I hope you never again feel the need to apologize for a being human being like every one else, I hope you will give yourself the right to a one or two afternoons of nothing, and I hope you will take care of yourself first, so I/We can have you for many more books & stories to come …..and never again apologize for writing a long update on your blog, you are a writer!, that’s what you do!……..you do it well, and we love you because of it! so we’ll love anything and everything you write…………………Many Blessings!

    With warm wishes for peace profound,

    Irene

  8. Sarra,

    I absolutely love all your books and have bought each and every one as you release them. While the only real writing I have ever done is my college term papers, if those drained me then I can just imagine what multiple books would do to me. As someone who has health problems as well this is just an added stress that you have to deal with on top of everything else. I am happy that you are starting to feel better and look forward to what ever books you put out next for the simple reason that if I am going to be able to continue reading your wonderful writings then you have to be healthy and happy to do so.

  9. Glad you’re feeling better. I’m a big fan of your books. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us.

  10. Sarra I am sooooo happy to hear you are well and so thankful that you would take the time to give us an up dat on your projects. I am supper excited about them all. Reading your books have created an short escape from small life stressor and it is definitely worth the wait I just started reading your books this year and am already cought up with all your series I especially love your Beautiful Demons series and can’t wait for Beyond The Darkness . I understand that sometimes when life gets hectic all you can do is take what you have and work with it and I’m sure that no matter how long it take you it will be great. So far you have not dissapointed! Good luck and I wish you the best of luck and the care of yourself!

  11. I love your books thank you, they are my escape from my everyday life….Thank you,
    Beautiful Demons is my favorite. Can’t wait for the new books to cone out.

  12. We love ur books so much, that we would wait forever! Though some of us have but like we’ve said before take care of yourself first because when u do that then books always turn out better!! Glad ur doin better n hope u stay that way for a while. Ur family needs u more then we need/want the next book out! Xoxo

  13. So exciting!! The timing will be perfect for when you are ready, as they say, all good things come to those who wait. ♡

  14. I was just introduced to you as a writer at the beginning of October. I have bought and read everything i could find by you. Im looking foward to reading future books by you!

    1. Thank you, Amelia! That’s so exciting to hear! I can’t wait to get more out for you to read! 🙂

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