Xalir: Blog

I read my email regularly through the day and reply back as much and as often as I can. Sometimes I open an email and it makes my day in a way that surprises me. Normally, I email that person back, thank them and talk a little about the parts of the story that they loved enough to comment on.

This time, the email was anonymous, so I wanted to post it and thank the sender publicly.

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I was devastated when Book 1 ended the way it did.
I was furious. With you as the author for leaving
me the reader so lost and confused as to what
brought about such a sudden change of heart in the
women. With your characters for leaving him with
no explanation as to how or why they did this.

At the same time, it made me come back for more.
Made me wait and check daily for an update. Now
I'm checking multiple times a day for an update so
I can see this story develop. I can't wait to see
what Matt will do and how he will deal with the
people around him.

Really well done.

Chapter 3 is in the pipeline now. I hope you all love it.

A quick note on the tone of book 3 overall. I'm going to be removing some tags that I included when I first posted it, like the RAPE tag. No rapes are detailed in the story, but an assault IS discussed extensively, which is why I initially thought it was prudent to put up the warning. Book 2 overall goes to some dark places and plays on some very powerful emotions. There IS light, but also darkness this time around. Not to worry though. The clouds DO part for Matt. I promise.

Again, thanks to all the people who send me feedback, good and bad. I understand the story really isn't for everyone and there were some very emotionally charged responses to the first two chapters. I was reminded last night that I wouldn't be getting such intense responses if people didn't care about the characters and the story, so a renewed thank you to everyone, even the ones that raged at me.

I just posted the second chapter of Exile to the queue. I must say that there have been a LOT of people upset with me over the end of Book 1 and the lack of quick resolution in chapter 1 of Exile. I'd like to take a quick minute to explain.

The story is told from Matt's point of view. The breakup came out of nowhere for him. He had no idea it was coming and no idea what caused it. Chapter 1 of Exile happens six weeks after that day and n one's talking. He's a virtual outcast. We all remember high school. When the rumor's about you, people stop talking when you come down the hall. They turn and stare, but no one wants to be the one to tell you what everyone's saying about you. This is what's been going on in Matt's life. I didn't detail those six weeks, because you guys would literally have come to my house and beaten me with pipes for boring the shit out of you (rightly so). As of Chapter 1, he's still been unsuccessful in getting anyone to talk. Chapter 2 gives some answers, but like I wrote to someone today, Book 2 is very much about figuring out what went wrong, picking up the pieces and moving on.

As always, thanks to everyone who sent me feedback, positive and negative. If you didn't get a reply back, it was sent anonymously. There were a couple of those that I would have replied to because they had some valid points.

Be patient, take deep breaths, trust me. All will be revealed.

Prologue and Chapter 1 are submitted for posting. It's been sort of a whirlwind week. The response from people wanting the pre-release copy of Book 2 has been overwhelming. I'm deeply humbled at how much support there's been for the book already and how much interest there is in Book 3. Heh.

Chapter 1 picks up exactly 6 weeks after the cliff-hanger at the end of Book 1. I did this because it's the next hugely significant day in Matt's life. You get brief glimpses of what life had been like for him in the intervening time, but I don't think anyone wanted to read about weeks of him wandering between home, school, tests and Victoria.

As always, send me feedback. I love this tale and I love talking to other people that love it. Whether you have questions or just want to go over conversations that resonate with you, it makes my day to hear from everyone.

I've just posted the last chapter of Book 1. For those of you who are wondering when Book 2 will start to post, I'm shooting for next week or the week after. I want to do a complete read of Book 1 and 2, tackle a few grammatical errors and move on to book 3.

Anyone interested in advanced copies of Book 2, send me a fresh email with your contact info for more details. Thanks.

Huge thanks to all the readers, critics and just for all the feedback. Anyone with feedback, critique, suggestions for the future or just a desire to talk about their favorite parts, send me a line and I'll be happy to chat with you.