Better Late Than Never

Once upon a time, I had a cast of characters that wouldn't stop chatting in my head. They lived rent-free in my headspace, telling me the details of their stories, allowing me to bring them to life and introduce them to the world. I even had a few that jumped in the pages ahead of schedule, and completely compromised the timeline of storytelling. It was as if the chapters wrote themselves, bringing out characters that were not meant to show themselves just yet, and that was how the writer's block began. I couldn't just hit the backspace button and delete those chapters. They were good chapters, and the writing was absolutely outstanding, but the original content that was supposed to go in its place no longer fit the storyline. And that just fucked everything up. 

Many moons ago, back in 2012, I published the first book in The Draven Witch Series. Blood Magic was written just as it should have been, sticking to the timeline, and those characters just wouldn't shut up. Originally, Blood Magic was supposed to be a standalone, much longer in length, with everything condensed to fit in the one book. But those damn characters just wouldn't shut the fuck up. As I wrote down notes and created an outline, I realized Blood Magic would be the first book in a series. It was the only way to give these characters and their stories the full attention needed.

  Then, while writing book two, Blood Vengeance, the backstory of certain characters came to life, allowing the Draven Dynasty Novelette Series to be born and the Blood Destiny to fully come to life on its pages. This only led me to wanting to give other characters their own backstory in the novelette series. The ideas were coming left and right. Then, while writing book three, Blood Wrath, I completely fucked myself. Characters that were not supposed to come to life until book four decided, let's jump the gun and reveal ourselves now. And because the chapters that I feel as if they wrote themselves were so good, I couldn't just delete them. Putting me in a predicament. I couldn't move forward with what I initially wanted to write; it just wouldn't work. I had to completely rethink everything and map out a completely different story timeline for book four.

Eventually, I decided to pull the books from publication and, with a heavy heart, said goodbye to being Zoey Sweete. But that part of me still lingered, and still put pen to paper, but the words were not something I wanted to share with the world. Then, something in me changed. I decided to share those words with the world, bringing to life the wreckednwicked blog, but it only seemed right to do so as Zoey Sweete. And I was hot and heavy for a while, and then life happened, throwing this and that at me. I put myself on the back burner and prioritized everything else. 

Finally, I was given the ultimate wake-up call, giving me no other choice but to start putting myself first. In March of 2025, I was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure, with my blood pressure at 261/140. If I had waited any longer than I did, I would have had a heart attack. I began thinking of all the things I had left unfinished because I never made time for myself. It was about that time a Facebook memory popped up. It was a dear friend/fan sharing a Draven Witch Series memory, tagging me in it, and saying how much they missed the series. It was the pivotal moment that I needed. Even though it had been years since the last publication and the third book was written, there were still those hoping for a finale. Their hope gave me the motivation to finally find the faith I had lost in myself, and after all this time, finish what I started so long ago. It was time to finish the series and bring Blood Fury to life. But those chatty cathy characters still had nothing to say. 

So, I began the process of rebooting and republishing Blood Magic. I found a series of stock images from Adobe and purchased them. If I was going to do this, I was doing everything myself, covers and all. Then, KDP cock blocked me, deactivating my account until I was able to prove I was the author Zoey Sweete and owned all the publishing rights. But after a long uphill battle and thorough investigation, KDP found I was the author Zoey Sweete and held all the publishing rights. My account was reactivated, and Blood Magic was brought back to life. Soon after, Blood Vengeance followed.

 Although I soon found that any content for book four had been lost, and all my original notes and story timelines had not been saved on any of my flash drives. I would have to start from scratch, and that absolutely sucked, until I began reading through Blood Wrath. Those chatty Cathy characters started being chatty once more, and the brainstorming for Blood Fury began. And not just the content for book four, but piecing the Draven bloodline together from the beginning. 

Now, I have to take all those brainstorming ideas and put them in an outline, or the bones of the story. Then, I'll have to add meat to those bones and fill in all the details. And in those details, I want to expand on some things that were left open-ended in the previous books. It will be the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the Draven lineage and put everything in perspective. Do I have an ending for Blood Fury? Yes. Will it be the one everyone wants or wishes for? No. But it will be the ending needed, and Renee Draven deserves. I also plan on finishing the Draven Dynasty novelette series, too. There are back stories that still need their finale, too. So, hang in there, we're almost to the finish line. Better late than never....