On Sunday, I tried moving a large bookcase, and ended up severely hurting my back. I’ve been to the chiropractor three times since, but in the meantime, I find myself unable to sit, stand, or move, and have been more or less laid up in bed for the past four days. At first, I spent most of the time sleeping, trying to ignore the pain in my lower spine, but as the days wore on I found myself getting progressively bored, and in need of something to distract myself from the agony I’m currently in.

Back in March I published the second of my contemporary YA novels, The Broken, and found myself wanting to turn back to the stuff that started it all: fantasy, and The Redemption of Erâth. Although I have three books completed in the series, there are still four to go, and it’s taken me ten years to get this far, so if I don’t hurry up and keep writing, it might never get finished.

I’ve been working on and off on the fourth book for a while, actually – I’m about eight chapters in at the moment – but progress has overall been fairly slow. I have the basic outline and plot laid out, and really at this point it’s just a question of getting words down on paper (I really could have used NaNoWriMo as an excuse to get this done, but really I find excuses to not get things done if we’re being totally honest). But since I have the rest of this week on my back, and next week off from work (a short vacation that didn’t pan out, so I’ll be staying home), I feel like I have an opportunity to actually get some of this writing done.

Alongside writing the continuation of The Redemption of Erâth, I’ve started to give some thought to who I want to be as an author. As Satis, I write Lord of the Rings-inspired high fantasy, and have done for the past 10 years. In that time, I’ve really garnered no true readership, a smattering of reviews, and I can count on one hand the people who’ve told me they actually really like the story. (This isn’t to say I don’t believe in the story, but really has more to do with my inability to market it well.) On the other hand, I’ve done reasonably well with my contemporary YA, written under my real name – particular my first novel, 22 Scars.

This has led me to wonder what the best way to gain readership for The Redemption of Erâth is. I’m not having much success selling the books, or even with giveaways, and given the serial nature of the story (it’s really one huge story that takes place over the course of seven novels), I’ve started to think that I might want to return to the original idea behind the story: posting bits of it each day or week online for people to read for free. After all, I’m not in this for the money, and really would simply like to know people are out there, reading my work.

To that end, I’ve decided I will publish the entirety of The Redemption of Erâth online, for free, through Wattpad, Inkitt, and here on WordPress. I will start by uploading the first five chapters of Book One, Consolation, later today, and the remaining chapters will be uploaded on a semi-regular basis (every few days, I think at the moment). Once we get caught up to where Book Four is so far, I’ll start posting completed draft chapters as they come.

I’m excited to see if people are interested in this story again, as they were back in 2012 when I first started writing and publishing drafts of the first volume! I’ve learned a lot about writing since then, and I hope that my skill as an author has improved, but most of all I just want people to be able to read my writing as easily and accessibly as possible. The books will remain on Apple Books and Amazon to purchase, both digitally and in print, but for those of you wanting a free fantasy story, it will be here for you as well.

Once the first chapters hit, feel free to let me know what you think – I always value criticism and feedback!