Oh wow. I’m tearing up a little. You are so kind and your words of support mean a great deal. I was having a pretty rubbish day but you’ve brought a real smile to my face. Thank you!

I’m going to be honest here – fandom is a toxic place sometimes. I know that seems like a non-sequitur but bear with me. I’ve been researching indie pub for a while and so I’ve been hanging around on the fringes of that community and I’ve heard tales of drama. One author has a fight with another and then their books get spammed with a ton of 1* reviews. It’s very hard to prove so the reviews usually stay in place and it has a huge negative impact.

Is it paranoia? Almost certainly. I have a phobia of conflict and I don’t believe I’ve ever upset anyone in the fandom. If I have then I unreservedly apologise but still my point remains. If I linked fandom and publishing it’s possible for someone to do real damage if they felt like it.

Maybe one day somebody decides they don’t like that I ship Swanfire, or I say something they disagree with, or I reblog something and it’s bad for some reason etc. I’m being protective I guess because publishing is huge and scary. Like I said I know it’s paranoid but I’m risk-adverse I’m sorry.

So TLDR I’m not willing to post updates publicly I’m too much of a paranoid coward. However if someone like yourself – a person whom I’ve interacted with, respect and trust (as much as you can trust strangers on the internet) were to talk to me privately I would be willing to share details then. Sort of an open secret I guess. I hope that makes sense and that you understand.