Co-Writing With My Husband

Two years ago, my husband, Nick, and I went on vacation to Montana. Long story short, we nearly set a gas station on fire, trashed a hotel room, rode a dinosaur, desecrated a grave, and created the brain-child that is Wraith of the Plains (WOTP).

While that sounds entirely unhinged and unbelievable, I can promise that at least 60% of that story is real. The other portion is best analyzed with a grain of salt, but neither Nick nor I will tell you which details are false.

Wraith of the Plains is, of course, written by me - Madison Uram DeStefano, if you've managed to forget where you are. Nicholas, my adoring husband, helped me come up with the idea, the hair-brained schemes that make WOTP the ridiculous book it is, and he ensured my cover design wasn't kindergartener-with-crayons level bad. If the man ever stops working full-time, going to school, and excelling at raising our adorable little girl, I imagine he'll be editing alongside me, too.

Wraith of the Plains has been around for nearly two years but has taken a backseat due to my inability to type a single word whilst pregnant, and the success of Citrus and Spirits (the sequel is set to be released May 27th, if you haven't heard...). While this novel is shorter than any of my previous publications, it holds a special place in my heart due to the future imagined for it.

Nick and I tentatively plan for at least three books. There's no visible end in sight for this fast-paced adult romance series.

The one thing about writing that has always bothered me is the expectation a series presents. After writing Lost in Lake Anthony, many readers told me I'd set up the ending to suit a sequel. As I was unaware I'd done such a thing, a sequel was never born. Of course I have plots in mind for both a Lost in Lake Anthony and Trigger Warning sequel, but they're low on the totem pole below the Citrus and Spirits series, a new dystopian duo-logy slotted for publication this winter, and whatever novel comes to mind next.

While I love writing sequels and trilogies, there's nothing more restricting than knowing you have to write another novel because you'd promised an ending you no longer want to give. With the Wraith of the Plains series, each novel could technically be read as a stand-alone novel. For the reader, this means you can accidentally grab one and not be entirely lost by the plot. For me, this means I can choose the frequency in which a new novel arrives without expectations built by the previous novel's metaphorical cliffs (Cliffhangers are both my friend and enemy in this sense.)

All that being said, I think the easily distracted, fluff loving, inconsistent reader will have just as much fun reading the Wraith of the Plains series as die-hard readers enjoyed the 700 page books like Trigger Warning (my printing costs hate me as much as my editors hated preparing that one).

So, without further ado, I'd like to release the first glimpse of Wraith of the Plains. While I'll be shifting gears in the upcoming month to publish Lace and Luster, you can still look forward to updates, a synopsis, and, eventually, a release date for Wraith of the Plains.