Wisteria Witches series update from the author

I previously blogged that I had an ending in mind for the series after book 15. Well, it may not end just yet, but I will be wrapping up a major series arc in book 15.

When the series continues, book 16 will take everything in a new direction.

A bit of an explanation:

Last year, the pandemic may have been getting me down (not that it isn't still getting me down now), and I thought that ending the series and capping it off with a bow might be the way to go. I thought maybe I'd be a more relaxed person if my biggest series was done and finished, all wrapped up.

But who are we kidding? I'd just find something else to worry about. Or I'd start a new series that also wasn't finished yet... because that is the normal state of most things--unfinished!

I'm fortunate that I have a lot of options... but maybe too many options. I have the freedom to choose my own projects, and I have a lot of ideas. And yet, I am just one person. Writing is a deep-focus task, and I am only capable of a set number of hours per day in this deep-focus zone. I'm in the top physical condition of my life, and my mind works about as well as it ever will, but it won't get any better from here. I've crested the peak of the midlife hill, folks! I do not have the folly of youth... I am not the girl who started two businesses at once. (The retail business I started in 2002 is having its 20th anniversary this fall. My husband runs it now, with the help of great staff, while I focus on writing and publishing.)

But I digress.

My point is this: The ideas are infinite; my ability to produce those ideas is finite.

I don't want to reach the end of my week (life?) having spent those finite hours on the wrong thing. But how am I to know which was the right thing? It only becomes clear years in the future, when looking back, and even then, we can't trust our memories. We tend to remember things that were unproductive as being more fun than they actually were at the time--one of those weird human cognitive biases.

So perhaps my struggle with this series is just the struggle we all feel in trying to determine how to spend our finite number of conscious hours the best. As we come up to the 2-year anniversary of this P-word, well... you probably feel how I feel, even if you don't write a long-running book series about a family of witches in a small town.

The good news: Lately, I've seen huge interest from fans who definitely haven't had enough Wisteria yet. I've also gotten some sparkling (yes, sparkling!) ideas about where things can go from here.

So, I'm going to try to have it all! The big prophecy arc is going to be wrapped up by book 15, and then there will be more adventures for the Riddles and friends. I will be finished, but also not finished.

I will still be working on some projects in other genres, including some more stand-alone novels and shorts. Perhaps I will surprise all of us. :-)

Thanks for your support!
Angela

Wisteria Wedding, book 13, is available now!
Book 14, Wayward Wisteria is up for preorder.
Book 15, Wisteria Wildcard is coming soon.