So...I Don't Normally Do This...

Warning: This blog post is a rambling mess of thoughts, typos, and spelling & grammatical errors. Apologies. A lot has happened in the past...God, 9 months? Is that right? I don't know. Whatever. The point is, I've been quiet due to a personal heartbreak I'm trying to keep to myself. But during that time I've had a lot of writing updates and none of which I've shared on the website, or on Facebook, just with the the Courcy Camp newsletter subscribers. This is because my creativity seems to be so closely tied to my heart that this trauma is all tangled up with my writing, and I can't talk about one without at least hinting at the other. And I wasn't ready to be public about it...and I'm still not, but whatever. Anways! I don't normally do this, and honestly I never wanted to, but in the interest of not going back into painful memories, I'm going to share parts of the updates from the emails sent to subscribers...minus a few details and sneak peeks...

Please remember...if you want to be updated most regularly...please subscribe to the newsletter. That's where I put things out first...and share extra stuff. Free books. Early (free) access to some stories. And all the juicy gossip goes through the newsletter. Trust me. Subscribe.

Okay...deep breath...here we go...

October 7th : "As you know, this year of my life has not been the easiest...actually it's been arguably one of the hardest I've ever experienced. And in the interest of keeping private lives private, I will not be expounding upon it—just suffice it to say: the trauma of this life change completely drained my creativity along with a lot of my soul. Throughout it all, I was still trying so hard to work on book three of the Grey Sisters Saga, but it simply was not coming to me.

I was truly desponded...BUT! Then I remembered how much Dark Reflections helped me unblock my storytelling when I was working on Summons a Demon & I realized that's something I could try again:write a short(er) story, with love for all of you as my focus; side-step into a completely new character and see if that helps.

So! I grabbed an incredible cover. I plotted the whole thing...and I've started writing it!

And the words are coming!

A Little About the New Book...​Like Dark Reflections, it is another Nile Ghost Story...with a brand new main character we've never seen.​Some characters I expect to make an appearance are:​ Lacey McGregor Rosalind (Zan) Grunberg A surprise fan favorite character from Blood Farm...​Just to name a few...😉

Now, I make no promises on when this book will be finished 😅 but by working on this book, I'm hopeful I'll be successful in sparking my storytelling.

And again, rest assured book three is next on my list of writing priorities, but this book will be key in not only unblocking my creativity, but also saving my sanity and healing my broken heart in the process.

I don't know if this experiment will work...but so far, it's looking good. And I'm so grateful to each of you for making the hard days worth it 🥰"

October 29th: "An update...

I wanted to give a writing update and a sneak peek at the new (heart-healing & creativity-recharging) book project... Has it helped? Thus far...it has helped tremendously. And I'm feeling really confident that once this book is finished, I'll be able to fully immerse myself back into book three of the Grey Sisters Saga. I'm so excited for that. What's it about? As you know, I have many stories sitting in my head and waiting to be written, but this one was completely new. Like Dark Reflections, I started with the cover and used it to create a brand new story in a handful of days. And like Dark Reflections, it is closely tied to my Nile Universe and will feature in a series I'd planned previously of spooky Nile fairytale retellings (which are my favorite!) starring some of the Nile girls (Lacey, Rachel, Courtney, etc.)...

This story is a Red Riding Hood-inspired ghost story and stars a completely new character named Jacqueline Charlebois."

Anyways, that's the jist. Send me love. And leave reviews.

Current Status:

Writing - Seraphina Grey and the Carnival of Nightmares

Release - May 22nd

Editing - Scarlet Hunger

Release - TBD

Dark Reflections...

Gosh. I love this book. So beautiful. So much fun to write. The paperback was released the other day (# 1 New Release for Teen & Young Adult Ghost Stories on Amazon!!)...and the eBook is available for pre-order...to be released June 8th. That way the Courcy Camp subscribers get the (free) early release access to the eBook as a special gift 💜 If you are interested in grabbing a copy click here for all the links.

But I have to say—I'm so excited for people to get into this story!! And I'm honestly really pumped for Hannah's new series...which will tie into the Grey Sisters Saga quite nicely. (no spoilers, but let's just say the last book of Hannah's trilogy will collide with Book Four of the Grey Sisters Saga...💫)

I'm going to be posting a lot of behind the scenes stuff on Ream, so if you are interested in all the juicy, spoilery gossip, consider subscribing.

A (long) Short Story & A Secret

The (long) Short Story of How a Little Liar Beame a Brave Writer *Feel free to skip the story & scroll down to the secret ✨ This is a rambling mess and probably full of grammatical errors...apologies in advance 😇

So—once upon a time, there was this little girl who liked to lie. She'd make up ridiculous stories about her life on an island and tell all her friends on the mainland. They weren't sneaky lies, of course. They were clearly all made-up nonsense due to an over-active imagination. (Believe me, everybody in her kindergarten class knew that the reason my her dad was gone was not because he was Aladdin hiding from the government...)

Then...one day her grandmother told her that she should be a writer. She told her to write the stories down and share them that way.

So, like all writers...she wrote story after story after story. Never finishing any of them. Because, while writer's write, they also don't-write. (It's a whole thing)

But then, finally, in sixth grade...she had a new teacher. And this teacher inspired the little girl to finally finish a short story—about a shark and a surfer with red hair named Cheryl...(please tell me you smiled at that Grey Sisters Saga wink*wink) Then in seventh grade...she got a REALLY cool teacher. And this time...the girl really wanted to impress him with her writing. She wanted to write something depressing and edgy and trendy—packed with adult themes that her entire class of thirteen-year-olds would love.

And she tried...and tried...to write it...but she couldn't get it out.

She didn't like it.

Because it wasn't what she loved to write. She loved fantasy and history and romance and adventure.

So...the night before it was due...she stayed up way past midnight and rewrote the entire story. A The Patriot inspired romance. And she loved it.

And her teacher did, too. The teacher was so impressed by the story, he pulled her aside to make sure she didn't have help. She didn't. She had the eye-bags to prove it.

And the teacher gave her such praise and such confidence, he asked if she'd written anything else...heh. Well, she'd started a ton of things...

Then he said, if she ever had any other work she wanted him to look at, he was there.

So, now she had to finish something. Something important to her! So, she pulled out her favorite story, the one she'd been not-writing and daydreaming about all summer—a dark fantasy Snow White retelling—and started to finish it. And she finished a whole chapter...and a half...maybe? Hmm.. I have She has it somewhere, she'll have to check...anyway—the only other person who'd read it was her grandmother...it was a huge deal to give anyone else something so important to her.

And she gave it to him...

But he never read it.

Or he did...and decided it wasn't worth pulling me her aside over.

That hurt her.

And then...a lot of other things hurt her.

And she went to high school…and a lot more things hurt her.

And she struggled to finish any of her stories. She didn't feel like they'd ever be good enough.

It took her decades before she ever wrote a story all the way through to the final draft.

And yes…okay…that girl was me.

But thankfully, I never stopped trying. (I still am working on that Snow White retelling 20+ years later 😉)

And back in 2022, I finished the (10th) first draft of Summons a Demon...but I was still too insecure and riddled with self-hate to finish it, feeling completely unworthy of asking people to pay for my words. So, I wrote another book with the complete intention of giving it away for free...which lifted the pressure...and set me free.

And I finally finished a book.

From first draft to final.

Finally.

It was a side story...a Nile ghost story...starring Hannah Green. And her story?...oh my gosh. I love it so much. Hah! And not only is it technically the first book I've written start to finish...it is the book that helped me see that my words, my stories, are good enough.

And Hannah's story helped me finish Seraphina's.

So, I'd have to say—just because of that—Hannah's story will always be my favorite. 🤣 The end.

Now...the secret—

Because the story turned out twice as long as I'd intended (it was supposed to be a novella) and because I loved the characters so much: Hannah needed her own series. A trilogy to follow this prequel book.

But I didn't—and still don't—have the time available to write her series along side the Grey Sisters Saga (which will always be my priority)...so I was going to hold her book back until maybe next year...buttttt...last night I made the mistake of reading it for the first time in almost two years...and I just have to release it now.

So—I'm working on the final edits on Hannah's book—and hope to have it out very soon! This book will be a Courcy Camp exclusive early release, so if you want a free eBook copy of this book before it is available for purchase by the public, don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter! cristinecourcy.com/newsletter

How the story relates to the Grey Sisters Saga:

The Nile Universe timeline places Hannah's story a month prior to the start of Seraphina Grey Summons a Demon.

A few of the Summons a Demon Nile Universe characters (either seen or referenced) that will make at least a cameo in Hannah's story are:

Lacey McGregor

Elijah Grunvald

Zan (Nile historian)

Peter and Courtney Blanchard

Charlotte Grey

Aubrey LaMothe

Maddison Rose

Desiree

Kaitlyn

Morgan

Rachel and Cole St. Claire

Cheryl

Damien Barrow

Michael Barrow

Edwin and Catherine Martin

Mrs. Molley (the librarian) and her daughter Portia (pig-faced girl on the bus)