I need a break.

(but don't worry, I'll be back!)

Dearest Readers,

Next Thursday, October 9th, marks TWO YEARS since I launched this blog.

Back then, I didn’t have a name or a clear vision for what is now Daughter of the King. I simply wanted to build an online home for my writing, so, at the urging of my friend

Lara d'Entremont

, I published my debut essay, “HERE GOES NOTHING!”.

If you’ve been following my journey at all since that first step, Thank you.

Thank you for reading my essays.

Thank you for commenting on my posts.

Thank you for sharing bits and pieces of your story with me.

Writing is lonely work, and I am a very small fish in Substack’s crowded pond, so every single positive comment and encouraging message you’ve sent me along the way has warmed my heart and kept me from quitting.

And to those of you who have blessed me with your patronage: THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

Not only is writing lonely work, it’s also rarely lucrative, so your generous financial support means more to me than words can say (and that’s coming from a writer!).

Why am I stepping away from Daughter of the King?

I’m not.

I promise.

It’s just that, in the words of Orual of Till We Have Faces,

I hid all the things I was feeling—and indeed I did not know what they were. . . . I could never be at peace again till I had written my [story]. It burned me from within. It quickened; I was with book, as a woman is with child.¹

In other words, “I wrote a novel!”

[Correction: I’ve been writing a novel for *ahem* the past five years.]

And the perfectionist in me probably would have elongated the writing process for another fifty years if God hadn’t introduced me to a local publisher this July.

That’s right: I met a publisher.

And not just any publisher. I met a lovely independent book publisher from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who specializes in novels and children’s chapter books written in Scottish Gaelic—which felt like a divine set-up, seeing as my novel features Scottish and Irish Gaelic throughout the dialogue.

(For the record: No, I am not fluent in Scottish Gaelic. I’m just enamoured with the language and tried to teach it to myself five years ago.)

In a moment of uncharacteristic boldness, I pitched my story to this publisher, and she graciously agreed to read my manuscript.

Naturally, I was thrilled!

Except I had one tiny, little problem: I hadn’t finished revising the manuscript yet.

So, all through August, I worked overtime to revise my second and third acts, and then I sent the new, fresh-from-the-oven manuscript to a handful of beta readers.

Now that I’ve started to receive feedback from my beta readers (who are, praise God, fellow novelists themselves!), I’m devoting the next two months to a third round of revisions before I submit the book to my *prospective* publisher at the end of November.

What does this mean for Daughter of the King?

I had planned to keep this project top secret unless I landed a book deal, but the truth is, if I am to give my novel the extra revisions it needs before my deadline (while still managing my editorial responsibilities for Calla Press Publishing), Daughter of the King needs to take a back seat this fall.

And I didn’t want to disappear without telling you all why.

Lord willing, I’ll resume blogging in January 2026, when I’ll have either a book contract to announce or a really good rejection story to share!

A word to my paid subscribers:

I truly cannot thank you enough for your generosity. The fact that you would invest not only your time but also your money into this blog is so humbling.

I want every post you read to be well-researched, well-written, and carefully polished, which is why I’m taking a hiatus until I can produce the quality of work your readership deserves.

In the meantime, I have paused all paid subscriptions so that my hiatus will not affect your subscriptions.

Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for all your support. I look forward to writing for you again in the new year.

Sincerely,

Allana Lynn

Cape Breton Island | August 2021

1. C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces: A Novel of Cupid and Psyche (New York: Mariner Books, 2012), 247.