It’s been a whirlwind month and a half, making final revisions to REVENGE, Book 2 in the Steel Goddesses trilogy. Last week, without much fanfare, the book was published on Amazon (the paperback via CreateSpace and the ebook via Kindle Direct Publishing).

The experience of writing Revenge was different than when I wrote the first Steel Goddesses novel. I started writing Book 1 in 2004 while recovering from a car accident. After many trials and errors, I published it in 2009 through CreateSpace. I rewrote it, adding more of a backstory for one of the characters, and re-published through CreateSpace in 2016. I did this on the advice of a production company who optioned the book and is in the process of turning it into a film. Being able to rewrite, reformat and redesign the cover was a relief.

I began writing Revenge in 2010, then put it aside for several years because I couldn’t seem to get my mojo going. One of the most significant challenges to my creativity is the fact that I have ADD. My brain flits from thought to thought as quickly as a butterfly flits from flower to flower. I have a thousand, make that a million great ideas throughout the course of a day. If I don’t stop to write those thoughts down or record them, they vanish, and I can never quite remember them later.

I picked up the thread and started writing again in 2016, only to walk away from the novel a couple of months in. I sat down again in 2017 and cobbled out a first draft, then spent the next year fleshing it out. This time, I had help from a wonderful group of friends who volunteered to read various incarnations and offer feedback. Five revisions later, I proclaimed Revenge ready for publication. In truth, I probably could have written several more revisions. I have a feeling other authors feel the same about their work.

Formatting Revenge for paperback and ebook was a bitch because I’m still new to this self-publishing thing. I shed many tears and uttered many curse words in several languages during this process. As I had commandeered the kitchen table for this project, my husband and son tiptoed around me during this time.

Magically, the book was finally finished and ready to present to the world. Its official publishing date is listed as June 27, 2018, the date it went live on Amazon.

My next step is to market Revenge and Book 1 while launching into researching and writing Book 3, which takes place in LA in 1987. Marketing has always been a challenge. I am rubbish at promoting myself and am considering trying to find the funds to hire someone to help with PR. We shall see.

To whet your appetite for Steel Goddesses: Revenge, here’s the back cover blurb. If you haven’t read Steel Goddesses (Book 1), check out the blurb for that book below this one.

STEEL GODDESSES: REVENGE (Book 2 in the Steel Goddesses Trilogy)

New York City. 1986
Rusty is the most powerful woman in New York City’s heavy metal scene. She runs The Company, an exclusive service offering the City’s most beautiful and exotic women to cater to the needs of rock bands and high-profile businessmen. Rusty should be happy, but she’s too focused on revenge against Toni, The Company’s former star, who crushed Rusty’s naive dreams of life as a rock star’s girlfriend.

Natascha is The Company’s newest girl, a fiery redhead with a fake Russian accent and a mission to uncover a potentially deadly secret.

Rusty finds an ally in her second-in-command. Rafe is a hunky drummer on his own mission: to melt the ice around Rusty’s heart and reignite her passion for life.

An unthinkable crime sends Rusty, Rafe, Natascha, and Natascha’s metal journalist friend Andy on a collision course with one of The Company’s most heartbreaking and deadly secrets.

STEEL GODDESSES (Book 1 in the Steel Goddesses Trilogy):

New York City. 1985

Toni has her pick of any rocker who plays at L’Amour. But the man she wants, hunky guitarist Don Lyden, remains out of reach. In order to get one night with him, Toni must help recruit groupies for an aging rocker/party planner.

She finds naive Kris, a wanna-be rock journalist, and Rusty, a desperate dreamer who longs to live the rock and roll life. As Toni schemes and abuses their trust, she ends up changing both women, one for the better, the other for the worse.

Along the way, Toni makes a shocking discovery about her dream man, finds love in an unlikely place and finds redemption… through murder.