Lyra Parish's Blog

Hi! My brand new website is now live! I’m so excited about it, too!
After switching hosting platforms and trying to clean up my old site, I decided to just build a new one.

I hope to keep this updated with things that I’m currently working on and will be launching a few new pages over the next couple of months, so stay tuned. Right now, I am planning a lot and will have some exciting announcements coming very soon.

But anyway, welcome to my humble home on the internet. Have a cup of coffee and stay a while!

💋Lyra

Wow. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written a blog post and I feel like it’s time to get back to this, don’t you?

 HAPPY MONDAY!

A lot has happened in my world since I wrote something over here and considering my site has a shiny new look, I thought maybe we could make this a weekly thing? Maybe once a month? Just pencil me in. The website needed a refresh. I’ve pretty much had the same layout since I started publishing in 2013. I noticed I was starting to get hits  on the site and realized how delapated it had really become, embarrassing almost. So I took a few hours and cleaned her up and I’m actually pretty happy with the results. What do you think?

So it’s 2019 already and we’re actually 25% through the year, which kinda shocks me. It seems like time is moving by so quickly and the next thing I know we’ll be in 2020. They say time flies when you’re having fun, I believe it. This year there’s a lot of stuff planned for Lyra Parish and Kennedy Fox. It’s going to take lots of scheduling and time blocking to make it all happen, but I’m ready for it. You all know how I love a good challenge.

I restarted my youtube channel last year and was updating pretty regularly. (CLICK HERE IF YOU HAD NO IDEA!) Last month I didn’t update because I was so busy trying to prep for work stuff, traveling to a signing (Holidays with the Belles), and then I went to NYC the next week to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway with some friends and the hubs. It was an amazing weekend and I’m so glad I took the time to travel for pleasure for a bit. That weekend is one I’ll never forget. Oh, I also was invited to take part in a YouTube show called Publishable. It’s an open conversation about self-publishing and traditional publishing between me, Meg Latorre, and Kaitlyn Johnson. We talk about the differences and similarities between the two publishing routes. If you search the #publishable on twitter, you’ll find more about it! This month the show will be hosted on my channel and I’m pretty excited about it! So yeah, all of that plus writing and trying to finish a book for Kennedy Fox. Not sure how I’m awake right now. lol. Typing that all out made me tired.

Oooh and the big news I’ve been wanting to share: I’m officially rebranding my backlist! It’s something I’ve been wanting to do since I went to the Romance Mastermind Conference held by Skye Warren. I’ve been talking about it since October 2018 and I decided at the beginning of 2019 I was going to start implementing my ideas, because time IS passing by so quickly. I plan to redo all of my covers, do rewrites on the Weakness Trilogy, and also give the Single Serial a complete makeover (retitle, recover, rewrite). I decided that I was going to share this journey with everyone over on my youtube to give people insight as to what I’m doing for my rebrand. As far as rewrites, after I’m done implrementing changes I see fit, I’m sending my books to a few professional beta readers and allowing them to mark up the document and going from there. I actually have three different ones in mind right now. After I use them, and if they’re a great resource, I’ll be more than willing to share all their information. Back in the day I had a handful of beta’s but since I’ve stopped publishing under LP, my beta’s have pretty much stopped reading. So instead of begging someone, who may or may not give me real feedback, I found a few people who offers this as a service! I’ve already started getting an idea of my re-publishing schedule and I’m thinking Single (New Title TBA Soon) will be ready for re-released with new additions by December 2019. I’m being realistic with my goals here. I could say summer, but I don’t want to rush anything with all the stuff I have going on with Kennedy Fox.

Many people have asked me several questions in messages after I made a post on Facebook about rebranding. Here are a few that I seem to get a lot so I thought I’d just make them a thing!

Why did you decided to do this? It’s simple, actually. At one point in my life, I was overjoyed and super proud of my books. They were my babies. It took countless hours, sleepless nights, and blood/sweat/tears to publish those books. I wanted the world to read them. As I’ve improved as an author, I’ve realize some things I wrote aren’t that great (to me). There are paragraphs and chapters I’d change to make the book stronger. And I deserve to be proud of my old work if new readers were to find them today, tomorrow, or a year from now. So this is absolutely neccessary to me.

How do you have time? I’m using my lunch breaks at work to do rewrites. Spending that thirty minutes per day is really adding up to big changes. It’s proof that if you’re determined to make time for something when you’re already crunched, that you’ll find it. I’m able to write around 1000 words in a thirty minute time period with my writing hack, so within a week I’ll have 5000 new words of rewrites if it calls for it. Considering I’m cutting full chapters and replacing them with new words, lol, it does call for it.

Are you going to start releasing under Lyra Parish again? The answer to that question is yes. I’ve been saying this for awhile, but I haven’t known when. I’m still not sure when exactly or in what capacity but it will be happening at some point in the near future, and I’m sure if you’re following me on social media you’ll see the announcements. I’m thinking it will be sometime in 2020. It could be 1 book, hell it could be 4. I just don’t have that information right now. And I will not announce anything until a book is finished. I’ve got too much going on to put that kind of stress on me. With that being said, I think updating my backlist is a good start and whatever happens after that happens. I have a few passion projects I started and never finished that I want to write. One involves a landlord. Another involves a photographer. And another involves a movie producer. lol. I’ve got these stories sitting on my google drive with dust covering them and they’re just not a part of KF brand, or I’m sure we would’ve written them. Some of these ideas have 15,000+ words written and I just abandoned them, but they were never forgotten. It’s no secret that eventually I want to write full-time. I want this to be my career and I don’t want to have to go to a place that takes up 8-10 hours of my day Monday – Friday. And when that happens, I want to be able to work on all my passion projects I’ve put on the backburner, and nothing is going to stop that. So I’m preparing for that right now. I’m not rushing to get this all taken care of though you know I’m not a patient person. I’m taking my time and I’m being extremely realistic, something I didn’t do when I first started writing.

My goal is to have every book in my backlist redone by Jan 1, 2020.

And in 2020, I’m thinking about releasing new books, but I’m taking everything one day at a time.

Five years ago, I had a dream of waking up and writing every day, and I didn’t meet my five year goal, and that’s okay. Because I’ve made a promise to myself that it will happen within the next five years. I’m more than determined to create the life I want, and doing this only puts me one step closer. And let me tell you, I’m so happy you’re here for it!

I know this post was long and if you’re still here reading, thank you! I’m going to try to keep you updated more than once a year going forward. I mean, my website is pretttttyyyy now so why not?

 

 

Lately, I’ve had people ask me how I can do all this stuff while holding down a full-time job. It’s called work ethic. That’s right. But it’s not hard to be motivated when you do the things you love. You can control what you do, how much time you spend on tasks, so in a round about way, you have control of your work ethic. If you have shitty work ethic or aren’t motivated, you’re not going to get the things done that you want. Sure, there are outliers to everything, reasons why something can’t happen, but I’m a firm believer that if you want something in life, YOU have to go out there and get it. No one gives two shits about your dreams or goals. Because if you don’t make your dreams or goals come true, it doesn’t affect them, and that’s the reality of it. No one is going to make them happen for you. You can’t rely on someone else when it comes to the things that YOU want in your life.

YOU ARE THE ONLY ADVOCATE FOR YOUR DREAMS. YOU. THAT’S IT.

YOU ARE YOUR #1 SUPPORTER.

So believe in yourself, dammit! I believe in you. 

Over the last few years, I have lived the hustle. I have lived it on vacation. I’ve lived on the weekends. I’ve lived it almost every single day since I decided I wanted to write full-time (though I’m not yet). But I knew this was what I wanted to wake up every single day and do. To have the freedom to live the life that I want, travel, sleep in, stay up late, it sounds like heaven to me. And I just think of all these people who are living the life I want, the dream that I want, and they are bullshitting their way through things, complaining the whole time. It’s seriously annoying. What some are complaining about now are the problems they wished they had four years ago.

You can bullshit a loser, but not someone who is deep in the process making it happen. Just remember that. 

I’ve had people say….but Court, what’s your secret to keep going? My husband can vow for me… I’m addicted to the process. If I get started doing something, I will not stop until it’s complete. I can close out every single thing around me and just focus for six hours straight at a time. I’m also one of those people who runs head first to something and fully commit. I did this with biking, writing, and even getting healthy.

Don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of things I’m not good at. But I can tell you that if I make up my mind at something, I will work my ass off to make it happen. Too many times I see people complaining about how things didn’t go the way they want, or they didn’t sell X amount of books, or they __________. Just fill in the blank. I want to ask that person to look at themselves in the mirror.

1. What are you doing to make sure that your goals are being met?

2. How hard did you really work?

3. Did you rely on other people to make things happen for YOU?

Because remember, no one gives two shits about your goals or dreams. And don’t lie to yourself. Stop doing that. You’re not fooling me or yourself. Whats a few things you would have changed to make the outcome of X, Y, Z different? What could you have done better? What are your weaknesses? Once you recognize your weaknesses and accept them, then you can grow as a human being but in the meanwhile quit complaining and turning a blind eye and trying to blame everyone else for your failures. Take responsibility for you.

Put on your big girl panties and go out there and make a difference in your life and career.

GET FIRED UP. GET EXCITED. GO AFTER THE LIFE YOU WANT! YOU CAN DO THIS! LOVE WHAT YOU DO!

Trust me, I would love to take a real vacation every once in awhile. One where I can completely disconnect from everything. I would love to be home with my husband every day (he works from home already!) and wake up, drink coffee with him, then write every single day. And I know it will happen because I’m not stopping this hustle, this grind, anytime soon. (Hope you’re ready for all the books that will be happening when that happens!)

Some people say… OMFG, I haaaaaatttteeeeeeeee it when people say they are hustling. And? That’s my question. That’s what this is… a hustle. Me working for my dreams without apology and I’m NOT sorry if you hate that. Honestly, that’s you’re problem, not mine. It’s good to take time to yourself and not work all the time, which I try to sleep in on the weekends, but this is what I love doing. I can’t help that I have a hustling heart, what can I say? Not apologizing for that. And I’m not setting unrealistic expectations for other people, these are my personal expectations for myself. And I promised myself a long time ago that I would always be who I am, online, offline, in person, on the phone, I’m me. This is me. You do you, boo. Be yourself! BE YOU!

COMPARISON IS THE THEIF OF JOY!

Just in case you needed a reminder of that.

I understand that not everyone can successfully pull off the things I do while working a full-time corporate job. But I love being busy. I love having so much stuff to do and getting it all done. It keeps me going. And I’ve been working like this since I was in college, in my twenties. It’s just who I am. I was born to be a CEO, seriously. I want to be at the top, smiling, being kind, and helping people along the way. That’s my nature. I might have a hustling heart, but I have a helping one too.

I’m addicted to this. When I don’t have anything going on, I don’t know what to do and it’s almost depressing so I stay busy. But that’s me. Not everyone is programmed to be this way, I get that. But don’t hate on me because I am and am working my ass of to try to create a life that I’m excited to waking up to each and every day.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my life now. These are the moments that I’ll look back on and think wow, those were the good ole days. I try to be grateful for every single day that I get to live and love and be with my husband. I love the things I do. I love my accomplishments.

But what that being said, I LOVE my failures, because they make me work harder.

They make learn.

They keep me humble.

They keep me grounded and I know that what I did wasn’t good enough, that next time I need to do better, try new things, step outside of the box. The journey is the most important part of the process, because there really is no end game.

There will always be a goal, a new tasks to knock off the list, and more books to write.

And that makes me so happy.

We should be so grateful to be alive RIGHT NOW. Social media, the internet, technology, life is so damn good. We have so many opportunities that other people before us didn’t have. And guess what, we have the same amount of hours in a day as they had, but we have a much larger reach in general.

We have the same amount of hours as Beyonce, Oprah, Gary Vee. And they’re using their time wisely, making it happen.

So my question to you is, what are you doing?

Bullshit aside. What are you doing to make your dreams come true?

I searched through my blog from the beginning to end to find a post that I had written about my bucket list items. Unfortunately, I can’t find the post, but I wanted to go back and see what was in my head during that time of my life. I’ve kept this blog since September of 2013 when I decided to write romance under Lyra Parish. That’s 4 years, guys. I cannot believe it’s been that long. Anyway, I remember writing out all of my literary goals and dreams and at some point, I crossed things off said list when they were accomplished. Now I have no idea where it was posted, which is a bummer. I’ve searched high and low, but can’t find it. Oh well, I guess.

This past year has been absolutely crazy. Almost a week ago to the year, Brooke Cumberland and I took a major risk and released Checkmate: This is War under the secret duo pen name Kennedy Fox. It was risky because we didn’t tell our previous contacts who we were so they could help us. We started from the bottom, just like everyone else, except we had the experience of publishing behind us. I’m so happy Brooke and I found each other. Seriously. Sometimes you just meet that person who completes you and just gets you, and she totally does. We’re best friends and business partners and will be until we’re 95 and wrinkly and can’t see or type. She’ll still write the dirty sex scenes though. LOL.

During the past year, I rarely updated anything concerning LP. My website went to shambles (which it’s updated now, do you like it?), my Facebook page was rarely updated, and I even stopped signing into my personal LP profile. After my last signing in 2016, I kind of just hung my hypothetical hat and worked on KF stuff. Randomly I’d update everyone to let you know I was okay, but busy and I wasn’t lying! When we came out to the world, many people were happy for me, but many people were shocked. Lyra Parish? WHO? lol. It’s like Kathy Griffin starring in Fifty Shades as Anastasia Steele. Okay, maybe not that extreme (the visual of it had me laughing) but some people had no idea who I was. Those who knew of me and who had read my previous books were shocked too. People who’ve supported me and been my friend since the beginning were thrilled because I did what I said I would do for the last three years. Honestly, if I’m being truthful, I was scared when we released who we were that people would be disappointed that I wasn’t some much loved A-Lister. Sorry to disappoint guys, I’m not Colleen Hoover.

Over the last few months, I’ve had the same conversation with handfuls of people about being KF. Many people knew I was working on something else, but no one really knew what, until they did. And now things are…different.

I can’t explain it.

I’m still the same person as I was before. I’ve always been passionate and had a fire lit under me about publishing and that hasn’t changed. Go back to any of my previous blog posts and read them. My thoughts about publishing has stayed the straight and narrow. People who’ve never spoken a word to me before now want to chat with me. I’ve been invited to signings I was once not good enough to attend. Now, some see me as the “competition”, which is weird considering there are millions of readers out there who don’t stop at just one book, trust me, they devour 100s. BTW: compete with yourself. We’ve been straight up mocked and stalked to the point where people had to be blocked. There have been countless secret duos message and ask for our “secret”. (Here’s the secret: go all in, keep your head down and focus on yourself, and work your ass off. That’s it.)

This is all verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry strange to me.

I’m still the same person I was three years ago and I still feel like the same person. I’m afraid that when we go to signings next year no one will be at our table or even care that we’re there. I still get anxious and nervous when we press publish, even though together we have well over 30 books published. I think sometimes that maybe all this could be a crazy dream or something, and I’m waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out and say I was being punked for all of 2017. At least that’s how I treat it. That’s why every day when I get home from the day job, I work on my literary career like it’s a Monday morning at 8am. Because there are no guarantees in this industry. I show up every single day for this and will for the rest of my life. If you do something you love, it doesn’t feel like work, and I can attest to that.

YOU HAVE TO STAY HUNGRY EVERY DAY.

COMPLACENCY KILLS CAREERS.

2017 has been insane. I know I’ve marked off a large amount of those things on my personal goal list from making USA Today and contracting an agent for Subrights. I’m not bragging, please don’t take it that way. It’s just unbelievable to me. I’m in a perpetual state of shock and so humbled by everyone comments that I’m waiting for the pigs blood. Seriously. None of it feels real.

Sometimes I just sit and think about all the work that went into accomplishing so much in such a short amount of time, but really this has been years in the making. Kennedy Fox isn’t an overnight success. Nothing was handed to us with a pretty pink bow. It was tons of late nights, early mornings, experience, and hard work. There were countless events that should have stopped our progress: sickness, surgery, and even deaths. But, those things are a part of life. And they’re hard to deal with, especially when you lose someone you love very dearly. It derailed my creativity. Somehow I found the pieces of my heart and found comfort in writing about love when everything seemed so dark. There’s been a lot that’s happened, some of it I haven’t even talked about. But the reason I’m saying something now is because I want those out there who are struggling, who are ready to just give up, I want you to know this isn’t the end of your story, unless you want it to be. The only person who can decide that is you. You have to keep pushing and fighting for the things you want. You have to believe in yourself even when no one else does. Be respectful. Work hard. Keep your head down. FOCUS. Be a goal chaser because you’ve got this. You do. But it’s going to take time. As long as you compete with yourself, and you’re better tomorrow than you were today, that’s all that matters. Eventually all those little things add up to big things, the big dreams, big goals, and you’ll look back one day and realize that.

It was never that one book, it was everything that lead up to that book. It was you showing up and getting it done regardless of (fill in the blank).

I’ve had SO many ups and many downs since 2011. I’ve almost quit a few times, honestly. I’ve made friends and lost them. I’ve watched people publish and completely stop writing. Though I’ve grown older wiser, though people may have changed, there has always been one constant in my career. My dream.

I want to become a full-time writer. I want to wake up every single day and do this.

Ask anyone who really knows me and they’ll tell you, hand on heart, that it’s the truth. I’ve always known what I’ve wanted and I won’t stop until that happens. And when it does, I’m going to keep on going because then I’ll be living my dream and I’m going to bust ass to keep it alive.

As I’ve said before, I’ve had some pretty terrible years and some really great ones, but the point is, if you want something bad enough, you have to keep going. This is all about the journey, because we never really find our destination. There will always be more words, more books to be written, edited, and published. There is no end game with a passion like this.

When I was ready to take a long sabbatical from writing (which I practically did when I joined LuLaRoe), I was reading tons of motivational posts about people who almost gave up when they were on the brink of something amazing. It was what kept me going. I held on to that dream that my next project would be “the one”. Every book I said it, and I truthfully believed it. And it didn’t happen. But I kept going regardless. Kept writing. Kept adapting. Kept giving it my all. Kept showing up.

Because I know and truly believe that dreams come true, but in their own time.



If you work hard enough and if you want something bad enough, dreams do come true. I know many people who would’ve walked away after 6 years. I know many people who have walked away. And trust me when I say I don’t have all the answers. I don’t claim to. I’m just now finding my bearings in this strange, crazy, ever changing publishing world. But you have to keep growing. Things will happen in their own time, not when you want them to. Repeat it. Remember it.

You never now what you’re on the brink of…

If I would have given up, I wouldn’t have met my writing partner. Brooke and I work so well together and play off each others strengths. We are literally a literary power couple. LOL. When you work with someone who has the same interest in your career as yourself, you just click. When it’s time to work and make sh*t happen, it happens. We don’t have to micromanage each other or give each other task lists. There is a trust between us, and we know what needs to be done and do it. It also helps that we’re both pretty basic and like Starbucks and stickers.

I have zero regrets and I wouldn’t change this past year and a half for the world. The good news is, I’m so close to making my #1 dream come true. So close. All I have to say is in less than a year, I will be a full-time writer and I will be waking up and doing this every single day. And honestly, I can’t wait. I’m looking forward to it.

The point is, if you have a dream, chase after, capture it, and never let it go, but you better be willing to work for it.

 

p.s. My Week with the Bad Boy is coming November 2nd! Mark your calendars!

So everyone who’s subscribed to this blog just received an email of our cover reveal. Well…. it doesn’t reveal until Friday, October 6th. Wordpress hates me for some reason and though the post was scheduled, it for some reason hit my email too, which means I know it’s in all of yours!

Pretty, pretty please do not share it until October 6.

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

If you’re starting your blog hop here, or just hopping over from Jenna Da Sie’s blog, hello and welcome!!! Each week I look forwarding to sharing a little piece of me with everyone! 

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

If you’re starting your blog hop here, or just hopping over from Brenda Margriet’s blog, hi there welcome to my little corner on the interwebs!!! Each week I share a little piece of me with everyone! 

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

If you’re starting your blog hop here, or just hopping over from Leslie Hachtel’s blog, hello and welcome!!! Each week I look forwarding to sharing a little piece of me with everyone! 

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

If you’re starting your blog hop here, or just hopping over from Jenna Da Sie’s blog, heeeey-o!!! Each week I look forwarding to sharing a little piece of my self with everyone! 

Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

If you’re starting your blog hop here, or just hopping over from Brenda Margriet’s blog, hey there!!! Each week I look forwarding to sharing a little piece of my self with everyone!