I didn’t intend on writing Bound by Ink this year. I mostly did it out of spite and the need to get this sapphic novella out into the world before queer stories were banned by the current administration.
I thought it would be an easy project. Take Sara’s journal entries in Roots in Ink and write them like they were being experienced in real time. I’d just have to fill in the gaps and flesh out Sara and Bethany’s romance.
Simple right?
No. Not simple.
The events of Bound by Ink take place 400 years earlier, roughly the equivalent to 1620 in a contemporary timeline. So all the little details that I left out in Sara’s journals (because they’re journal entries) now had to be dealt with.
I love research. Truly.
But spring of 2025 was mentally and physically exhausting. I didn’t have the bandwidth to do deep dives on the difference between tunics and bodices, and modes of transportation, and what material cups were made of.
In an ironic twist, the title of the book also became a metaphor for writing the book. I was bound to the events and facts that I established in Roots in Ink. Sara and Bethany’s story would have been much different if I didn’t have to work within the confines of an already published story. It was a bigger creative challenge than I anticipated.
Sara and Bethany’s voices also needed to be of the time and that’s a style I’m much less comfortable writing than I realized. It felt inauthentic and unnatural.
I was writing this book while swimming through a fog and constantly felt stuck. I legitimately wondered if this was my new normal and every book would be this hard to write. In hindsight I probably should have set it aside, but I knew that it would provide helpful context for the next novel.
And I had an epic post credit scene in mind.
And I’m stubborn as hell.
It got easier after beta reader feedback. Revisions are always overwhelming at first, but it’s where the pieces always start coming together. It’s like filling an empty house with your favorite things.
As I write this post, the book is being reviewed by my sensitivity reader and I should be getting her feedback soon. I had a proof made to start working on line edits in the meantime. A lot of the same frustrations persist, and I think they’ll continue to until I get more comfortable writing in this style.
Lessons Learned
*This list is just for me and shouldn’t be considered general advice for authors.
- No more prequels this tightly connected to the next book. The story needs room to go where it needs to.
- Read a lot more high fantasy before even attempting another project in this timeline.
- Spite-writing is fine, but give myself an out if the project requires more creative bandwidth than I have.
- Writing in a contemporary setting is more fun for me and this should be fun. Stick with low fantasy for a while.
Bound by Ink is slated for wide release in eBook and paperback on January 24, 2026.
Readers attending the Frostbound Ball in Jacksonville, NC on January 17 will have an opportunity to purchase copies a week early.
