As many longtime readers know, I am not exactly a social media butterfly. You will never see me lip-syncing to ‘80s power ballads on Facebook or posting to Instagram with photos of my cats dressed as ghosts (however, hang onto that cat thought for later).
In this age of high-speed optical connections, my bandwidth for social media feels a lot like a dial-up connection—think a 56k modem trying to stream 4K Netflix movies. Thouigh I’m not wanting to date myself too much, I still recall the days of 300 baud modems on my Commodore 64.
When I look at some authors with their dizzying amount of daily videos, endless promo posts, Facebook lives, and TikTok flash videos, I’m honestly amazed. Those people are absolute rock stars, and I don’t know how they do it. Meanwhile, I feel like a mere mortal in their presence, just doing what I can to get my next novel out the door and focusing on what matters most: making the best thriller stories I can.
But it has been a challenge, to be sure. Due to everything that has happened over the last eight months or so, there’s been a lot on my plate. But I’m still plugging away, doing as much writing as I can. And I am getting more and more done each day.
I’m finally getting my groove back, and I’m pulling off three, sometimes four hours of writing a day. That’s real quality work time, not just squeezing in a few words between probate emails and bouts of existential dread. I’m feeling more like a writer again, and loving it.
Progress on CLAW Resurrection has been happening at a rapid pace. And I believe I can finally give you a release date! It should be out by the end of September. In fact, I am so confident of this, I will send out a separate email in the next little while with a preorder link for those of you wanting the ebook or paperback as soon as it’s released. It might even be a bit earlier than September 30th. I’ll keep you posted, as always. If you place a preorder, you will be able to download the ebook on the day it releases or have the paperback mailed to you right away. For those of you who are curious, the audiobook won’t be released for several months after the physical release, unfortunately, as it needs to be narrated by the amazing Alex Knox. I really appreciate your sticking with me through all these delays; it means a lot. Trust me, I am as excited for you to read Resurrection as you are!
After CLAW Resurrection launches, as I’ve mentioned previously, I’ll finally be starting work on the next Lively Deadmarsh novel, BESIEGED. My plan is this: I’ll take a month off to refill my creative tank, work on my short stories, organise my notes and get a bunch of stuff done around the house. Then, I’ll dive into it just after Halloween.
At this point, I thought I should talk briefly about life’s unpredictability, something you’ve all experienced at some point, I’m sure. While I’d love to give you a hard release date for BESIEGED sometime next year, I’m officially going with a TBD (to be determined) for it and all my future releases. No more arbitrary deadlines that keep slipping and disappointing you. The next time you hear “Katie’s got a new book coming out!”, I want it to be an honest-to-goodness pleasant surprise and something you can buy right away, not a case of “Well, maybe it’ll be out next month, or the month after, or the month after that…”
Speaking of surprises, I’ve got a new short story in the works called The Jacket. I won’t spoil too much, but let’s just say this isn’t your average outerwear. If you like creepy, mysterious tales with a dash of the unexpected, keep your eyes peeled—this one’s going to be a lot of fun.
This month, I’m including a little something extra I made. Yes, I am still making movie parodies because it amuses me, so please bear with me. As usual, it features the real stars of my household: Nibbler and Fry, AKA the Cuddle Boys, in their latest adventure, Boxbusters! If you want to see more of the Cuddle Boys and their cinematic adventures, or you’ve got a wild idea for their next poster, drop me an email.
And this brings us to the end of the newsletter and our monthly prize draw! This month, the free audiobook goes to: powell.spinks@XXXXXX.com. And the free autographed paperback delivered to their doorstep goes to: katie_hotham@XXXXXX.com. Congratulations to you both!
Thanks again for reading and being a Katie Berry Books Insider Subscriber. If you aren’t, and want to have a chance to win one of the two great prizes I give away every month, you can join up here: https://katieberry.ca/become-a-katie-berry-books-insider-and-win/
Good health and great reads to you all,
-Katie B