As Otis Redding once crooned, “It’s a long time coming, a change is gonna come…” That’s how I’ve felt with Gathering of Corvids. The fourth book, Declaration of Crows was released in 2021. At that time, I was struggling with whether to continue with the series or not. Social media bans were just beginning and I was running into one brick wall after another trying to get my series out there.
During this time of muzzlement, I went through a lot of emotional roller coastering, angry and frustrated that my voice was being silenced, my art being held back and beginning to doubt myself as a writer. In September of 2022, I was notified of winning the gold medal at the Reader’s Favorite International Book Awards. Attending that awards ceremony was magical and gave me resolve to push forward and extend the series to eight books.
The only problem was I had to get a 9-5 job to pay my bills since my royalties dried up with the social media silence. I had to pay my bills, which left me little time to write. Each award that came in for the series encouraged and drove me, but each month of few to zero sales counteracted that encouragement. I finally decided that I would end the series with the fifth book, Gathering of Corvids.
I’ve picked up the quill, so to speak, several times on Corvids, only to put it back down again. I knew I had to tie up all of the loose ends and expose the Easter Eggs I left in the previous 4 books but instead of having it revealed over 4 books, it was now to be condensed into one. I also knew I wanted this book to be better than Declaration of Crows. I wrote that book during a time when I was struggling with anger at our government and the studies I uncovered doing the medical research for Declaration. The final result was a book I was not exactly proud of. To be honest, it’s my least favorite book of the series. I set the pen down with Corvids, because I wanted the last book of Willow’s saga to be as amazing as the first three.
Fast forward to 2025. I renamed my series from the Small Sacrifices Series to the Order & Chaos Series. I have combined the first three books into one large hardback called Order of Corvidae and the last two books will be combined and called Chaos of Crows, hence the Order & Chaos Series. I have finally found the peace I needed to pick up the pen again and continue on with Willow’s saga. I’m more than halfway done with the book, right on schedule for the estimated release in September and I won’t lie, this is turning out to be my favorite book. My characters are telling their story, their desires guiding my fingers as the story flows through me.
While I will be sad that this series that I have lived, breathed, encompassed my life since the fall of 2018 will end, I’m excited for the new story lines that have taken over my imagination and ran with. My crimeantasy series will be the next, premiering in October, with a new book released every month. I’ll also dust off my sweet romance hat under my married name, RaeAnne Hadley, and bring back some of the sweeter stories, albeit they will have a paranormal twist to them instead of western. I’m so excited for what the future holds and reconnecting with my readers.
