What direction this blog should take and how I can use it as an interactive experience for fans of Gateway?
The solution:
I stop trying to do that with this blog.
Lemme s'plain:
I'm a bit of non-linear thinker. I know a little bit about a lot of things and a lot about a few things. But the things I already know about, (say, being vegan) isn't really something I feel called to blog about, nor does it have anything to do with my writing career which happens to be my primary focus. But blogging about my writing process is only interesting to fellow writers, and quite frankly, there are plenty of others out there already doing a fine job of it.
When I ask myself what I really want to write about, the answer is:
I want to write about the world inhabited by the characters of The Gateway Series. I had always planned that the main story would be told in a trilogy, leaving open the possibility to write additional volumes focusing on Callie and/or Kat. Many of you have responded to those characters and have asked if you'll be reading more about them in the coming volumes. The answer is a definite yes, but why wait?
My initial intention was that their side novels would take place at the conclusion of The Gateway Series, or possibly running parallel (depending on how much of their stories make it to the final versions of the trilogy.) But when trying to make characters that come off the page as though living, breathing entities, authors write all sorts of backstories, creating histories that never appear in the novel but make the story so much richer overall. I figure, why not start a new blog dedicated solely to revealing things like: Callie's life before Windsor, Kat's first mission as a Guardian, and Taren's point of view of the first time he met Ember.
So.
I'll maintain this blog as sporadically as ever, and in the meantime, I'll be starting another blog dedicated solely to The Gateway Series. And that one, I promise I will update regularly.
I'll be announcing the new site soon, and look forward to peeling back the curtain and giving you a glimpse of the Gateway world through the eyes of some of your favorite characters.