Veronica King

Tag: traditional publishing

  • the pressures of author-hood

    the pressures of author-hood

    As of drafting this blog post, let me just say as someone who has written and had a book ready to go to pub. within five months, to have a year ahead with no releases but somehow more work on my plate, I had to figure out quickly how to cope with the demands of being an author. Especially, in what I am calling the year of being an engaged author. I like to think my background makes me adaptable and resilient when facing external stresses. But for any aspiring author out there I wanted to share how I get through career pressure, deadlines, and stresses.

    I try my best as a neurospicey individual to have a loose time frame of what work hours are. Currently I work from 9am to about 2pm, and another thing that is helpful is that I let these hours change when needed. I am also not writing for the duration of the five hours. There’s blog posts to be drafted, graphics to be made, social media to interact with, and of course that’s not including the items to do in my personal life. So, one of the best tools in my arsenal is maximizing work time. This means working on my phone in the pick up/drop off  line at school, or when the family is asleep, so I can focus on tasks in front of me. While I can’t quite sacrifice sleep like I used to, fitting in little blips of time for tasks helps a great deal. 

    The other tool I like to utilize is setting myself up for success by setting goals that are specific, and achievable. For example while drafting this blog I have a manuscript to finish drafting and another manuscript to revise; however, today I needed to have some wins under my belt so it’s a batch drafting blog posts kinda day. The power of this tool is that you can be adaptable in your approach to the work. 

    Speaking of adaptability, that is a trait that is much needed when pursuing a creative field. Something else that helps is effective and open communication with those in your working circle. Depending on your publishing route the people in your working circles may change, but that doesnt mean its any less important. Now, this was something early in my career that I prided myself on not needing. I have a lot of qualities I like about myself but when needed I am a work horse and I do well under pressure, but that mindset I prided myself in was also the reason that I was feeling a slump and potentially on the edge of burn out.

    For me, at this moment I needed some extra time. Some help. So, I reached out to Zara to have a discussion about needing an extension. Luckily, I was timely about voicing this need so it wasn’t an issue. I could now breathe easy knowing I had more time to turn in a product that I was not only happy with but also proud of. 

    Speaking of breathing easy, the last tool that really helps me manage the stress and pressure is having a nightly routine with my wife of a relaxing cozy game. Lately, we’ve been playing Cult of Lamb together, but an old and favorite is Stardew Valley. So, find yourself something that brings you joy that has no connection to your creative work.

  • Silver Lined Reflections

    Silver Lined Reflections

    2025 was a year of everything not going according to plan, and I am glad the plans didn’t work out. 

    Now during the time that the changes were happening it felt like I was in the trenches, between career expectations, and personal life goals things were not all falling in place for me like I thought they would. This translated to feelings of failure and really affected my self-esteem, but I am dangerously optimistic and these are the silver linings I found in the darkness.

    While the manuscripts I thought I’d be focusing on were shuffled around, I’m really happy with the work I’ve done this year. And that sentence alone is momentous for someone who, for her whole adult life, had tied her value to her work output.

    Have I written more books in years before? 

    yes. 

    Do I need to meet that level of production every year?

    No. 

    I have actively in past years downplayed any accomplishment I have made because the thought of well i’ve done it so how hard could it actually have been? And it took awhile but I’m happy to say regardless of if it’s my first pixel art piece or the release of my fourth official work I am going on record to say I will be celebrating every victory, small, big, even those schmedium wins.

    The overall  take away is that it’s okay to be happy with the work you do and not have to focus on output. I feel like that’s a pretty cliche take but if it gets more folks talking about it, I will happily yap. 

    Because my plans went awry I had the opportunity to dive into a new genre, and write a story with someone I consider one of my closest friends. The novel is feminine rage converging with a deconstruction story, and a wlw romance. This is a story I hope to share more details with you sooner rather than later. It’s gritty, and graphic, but the themes are important to talk about and I’m so proud of Chandra and I for carefully stitching such a tale together. I also had another contract signed with my publisher, Inimitable Books, so that was exciting. I feel like the line up we have in store will really expand upon the Veronica King’dom’ in a crafty way. That again, I look forward to elaborating on in the new year. 

    To my small readership I hope you have enjoyed the books that came out this year, and while I’m hard at work, I am happy to say I have a bit of a break as there are no planned book releases for me in 2026. So I guess follow along for the little updates, as I do have big(albeit more realistic) goals in the new year.

    While right now everything that’s behind us can be looked at with clear perspective and the future is foggy, but in view. I look forward to navigating the waters of 2026, and sharing my voyage on the career front, because I’m very fortunate to have such a supportive crew working alongside me. So thank you 2025, because of you I found myself saying often that there’s always a secret third option, and every setback can be an opportunity if looked at with enough creativity.