Quinn Coleman

Today, I dropped the newest cover for my next project:
Book V ‘POINT OF VIEW’ in The Masc Narrative.

I’ll share it below, along with the synopsis…

Behold!! What might be one of my favorite covers yet!

As an author, a fiancé, and now a dad, Russell Matthews is leagues away from where he thought he’d be in life. If you asked him two years ago if he saw himself changing diapers while on the phone with his agent, he’d laugh in your face.

Every day with an infant is a new adventure; don’t ask him how many manuscripts have been ruined and ignore how half his office is baby supplies.

Despite all that stress, things are looking up. Russell’s next book is about to publish, and his and Jay’s wedding is just a couple months away. With each corner full of loved ones, their house is almost splitting at the seams, exactly how they like it.

And yet, as they both know, life has a way of going off the rails, and no amount of preparation can make you ready for what lies around the next loop in the rollercoaster.

~Adorable baby, check!
~A wedding in the future, check!
~Some…twists and turns no one sees coming…? *insert wincing face*

I just recently finished the first draft of the book, and to say it’s a chonker is an understatement; a big lad; a goliath; a colossus of a book. (Actually hit the page limit for my KDP printing…didn’t know that even existed.)

And while I thought sharing that fact online might get some laughs, what I got instead was…doubt.
What?!
Really?!
Sharing personal things online can end in unsolicited comments?
Shocker!

Some folks were telling me to cut the book way down; that the typical page length for a novel is 60-90k (of which it’s…not? That’s absurd.)

One person said, “Oh, you must be indie published,” and because I’m me, I read a tone in that faster than I read a menu at Cracker Barrel looking for the dang soda brownie.

Another said, “Find a good place to cut it in half, and make yourself a duology.”
There is no way I am turning an already previously 6 book series into eight books. Let alone slicing a book in the middle where there’s no good spot to do that.

Now, one thing about me is…
When I receive unsolicited advice from strangers?
I tend to do the opposite.

So what I did instead was, I found tiny places to cut the words down, removing pages where there were only a few sentences or paragraphs there, and I by some magic, INCLUDING the chapter sneak peek for book 6, made THIS MONSTROSITY fit within the page limit of KDP.

F yeah, I did that.

I was mid-typing just now about how there hasn’t been much traction on this book; that I may be proud of all the work I’ve put into this series, but it doesn’t feel great just how slow it’s moving.

There’s been a lot of ‘should’ves’ popping up lately.

Should’ve written a one-off first, rather than leap into a series (though I did that with What About After)

Should’ve kept it short, no one likes big books (except for the people that do)

Should’ve gone for strictly romance, the trauma and heartache is too heavy for readers to enjoy (but there’s people who’ve been impacted by these books)

So, every should’ve, I’ve found a way to push it aside. It’s not helpful.

The title of this post is from a character’s Physical Therapist in ‘POINT OF VIEW’.

He is no nonsense, doesn’t smile unless it’s in his job description, and he’s the one to say, “STAY STUBBORN.”

I am in this marathon for one person and one person only; there are runners who have joined me, but I am not doing it for them. I never was.

The moment I start to look around and wish and regret and ‘should’ all over myself, is the moment I lose.

Let’s go, book number five.