There's this funny thing about deadlines when you're in charge of everything. They don't really mean anything (other than the meaning the royal you give them) and they're frustrating as all get out.
"ZUTTO.", the third and final installment of the JIAI JOUWA series, and the final RR related book for a good while, was originally meant to come out in December. I didn't think it actually would, but it was a good goal. Naturally, it didn't make the cut. Mostly because it ended up being about 40k words more than I anticipated. (Funny how that happens with me.)
Then I had hoped for January. But a family emergency over the holidays meant it still wasn't ready for the final edits yet. It wasn't ready until a couple of weeks ago, with the hope that maybe February would bring some JJ love. Oops. Turns out everyone in the chain of production is busy this time of year, and with a monster novel like Zutto, well...
This is not an excuse post. But in this business roadblocks happen. In this case those roadblocks are people doing people things and Hildred writing a huge novel because why the hell not. This means that Zutto will probably not see a February release, but as soon as I have a good idea of when it will be out you all will be the first to know.
There is some good news! Production of my next planned book (a standalone lesbian romance) is well underway, will be considerably shorter (HAHA JINXED IT) and thus should be out fairly soon after Zutto. My goal is to still get three full length novels out this year and a short novella series at least deep into development by the end of the year.
And then fantasy time!
Thank you all for your patience. If you have some time and some extra love, share it with my amazing editor who is the one who has to sit down and slog through RR edits every time going, "Damnit, Hildred, one of these days i am going to torch your long-ass novels and take away everything you love. Just as soon as I get done howling at your ridiculous typos." Without her, Aiko would have turned into a bear halfway through one of the RR novels, apparently. (It's not a shifter novel, I swear!)
