Let’s Play the Good News / Bad News Game!

It’s my favorite.

I’m pretty honest and up front about all the things going on in my life, so… let’s play the good news and bad news game. Stick around for juicy details about what books I’m working on, what changes are being made to my tentative schedule, why I haven’t had a 150 Days to 100K post in a hot minute, and so on!

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Good news: Grave Intentions will be the length I want, which is approximately 125-130,000 words.

Bad news: I will not be finishing at least one arc I wished to complete, but thanks to a related thread I had opened, leaving myself to do another duet with Kinsley and Erik and the carbunclo and hummingbird gang, I have enough material for one really beefy book or two smaller (but still beefy) books.

The Really Bad News: Lilith Daniels is a passion project, and her books are not currently paying their bills let alone my bills. I will be working on the future installments of this as I have time, I will not be answering questions on when they’re coming, and I will not be doing so until the books are paying their bills at a minimum.

I’m going to be particularly generous and bill these books at a lesser-than-normal rate, so the math will look like this:

For Affairs & Intentions:

Production Expenses: $24,000

Cover art: $2,500

Taxes: $16,000

Me getting paid: $10,000 (5k per book, aka just above a single month’s rent each.)

Total: $52,500.

Grave Affairs, on its own, would cost $47,000 if I were paying myself a proper rate for doing it. But, since I’m going to fully slate this as a passion project, once both Grave Affairs and Grave Intentions reach $52,500, I’ll slide the next book in as a more serious pursuit. (Books are not free to write. Those production expenses are NOT something I can dodge/skip; editing and all the other expenses are mandatory for producing even a DECENT book let alone a good one.)

Also, while I fully respect people who do not wish to start a series until it is finished, if you don’t buy it before it’s done, you get exactly zero say in anything regarding said series. I don’t want to hear jack shit from those who haven’t helped pay for the series, be it through reading through a library (yes, legitimate libraries pay the authors for the books) or through a service like Kobo Plus.

I don’t read unfinished series either as a general rule. But I sure as hell DO buy the book if I want to read it, and I hoard them until I can go through the entire finished series. (I usually read the first chapter to see if I will like the writing style, check the reviews to see if the vibe is what I want, or ask friends who have read the book if they think it’ll be good for me.)

I also don’t complain if the author chooses not to finish. I either read what’s there or I don’t, as I see fit. I’ve wasted money on far worse things than books I won’t read because the series was never finished.

I guess that can go into the bad news category, I suppose.

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Good news: Yes, I will be working on Sandra and Jonas’s second book after I am done Dragon Her Heels.

Bad news: I will be detouring to do a Mag Rom Com Anthology before I do another Mag Rom Com after Sandra/Jonas and Dragon Her Heels are completed.

Good news: That does mean Serial Killer Princess 2 and Leashed I Could Do will be done in the anthology.

Bad news: I will be dedicating 2-3 days a month to crafting a few shorts for the anthology, and when I have time around the regular publication schedule, I will be doing the novellas / short novels (Which both SKP2 and LICD will be.)

Extra Bad News: Anthologies typically do not pay the bills well, as most people just don’t want the novellas/short novels/short stories. That means Dragon Her Heels will have to fully clear its investments before I even think about the next Mag Rom Com because I can’t rely on the anthology to pay bills/rent/provide me with tacos.

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Good news: I have started Edge of Midnight.

Bad news: It is the slowest book to have ever booked. Between the research (which is lethal, driving me insane, absolutely difficult, WHY did I set these books in Russia and China) and the actual writing, which is ALSO being difficult, I’ve dumped at least twenty-five hours into this book so far with approximately 2,000 words of book to show for it.

I’d say send morale support tacos, but I’m afraid y’all might…

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Jesse Alexander

Bad news: I haven’t started it yet.

Good news: I’m contemplating starting it during my research trip to Miami for shits and giggles.

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Good News: I have started this book!

Bad News: It’s Sci-fi, and it’s NOT part of the Vixens in Space novels (with the hybrids), so I might have a “people getting confused about which universe these books are in” issue again.

At current, Crystal Rains is planned to be a standalone. If it does not end up being a standalone, I’m screwed. That is all.

Good news: This will be in the 2026 production cycle.

Bad news: It’s part of the 2026 production cycle because I bought a Windows gaming laptop for myself and one for my spouse so we could play computer games during the evenings during the research trip. (Note: I fully acknowledge this is bad news only for me and is probably very good news for you.)

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Good news: I will be visiting Lost Sea Adventure in Tennessee (Sweetwater) on October 2, 2025 for the 10 AM tour. If you happen to show up and get a ticket, and you happen to figure out which human is me at the tour, you will basically get to witness me absolutely the fuck melt down with joy over revisiting one of the happiest pieces of my childhood.

Bad news: I can’t stick around after the tour because we have three days to drive many, many hours to get home in an epic blitz. The limited sticking around I will be doing is raiding the gift shop and continuing my joyous melting down as we resume our road trip.

More Bad News: tours are limited in number, and I’m absolutely not responsible for anything regarding tickets, showing up at the tour, or even figuring out which human I am. (Spoiler alert: just look for the California plates, chances are, it’ll be the only vehicle with California plates there.)

I will not be giving reminders, etc, about this tour; you’re on your ownsies! I’m just letting you know where and when I will be, and because I love this specific landmark so much, tipping you off. (I LOVE Lost Sea. Love it, love it!)

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Okay, there is technically more good news / bad news on my plate, but I’ll do another episode of this maybe next week before I leave on my trip.

Happy whatever-the-hell day it is!