I’ve been thinking about how to word this for a while now, even before I knew I wanted to quit writing romance.

That’s right–after a lot of soul searching and brutal honesty, I have decided to quit writing romance altogether and return to my roots, what got me into writing in the first place… epic fantasy and science fiction.

So I’m not quitting writing, you see. I just won’t be publishing any further books under the pen name Lola Taylor… or anymore romance in the foreseeable future. Yes, this also means Mercenary Moon will never be published. I’m sorry for getting your hopes up about it. If I’m honest, it became harder and harder to sit down and write that book because my heart was no longer in it.

For a long time now, cranking out a romance novel has been about as enjoyable as a trip to the dentist’s office. Writing romance was fun at first. Then it became more about just making money. My writing suffered, and I didn’t want to charge readers for subpar work. I want my words to shine, to mean something. I want to be proud of what I write. Creative efforts should recharge your soul, not suck the life from you.

So I’m returning to the genre that got me writing in the first place. My first love has always been retold fairy tales… stories about knights and princesses and castles and magic. About faraway lands and happily ever afters. It may not be the “hottest selling” genre, but that doesn’t matter to me anymore. I’m getting older, with less and less time available to me. And the market’s gotten a lot tougher over the years as more and more authors choose indie. If I’m going to keep writing and publishing, I might as well do it with something that makes me 100% happy. Otherwise, what’s the point? Might as well go do something else, or, if I’m just in it for the money, sign up for more overtime at work or get another job.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this pen name over the past three years. You’re some of the sweetest readers I’ve had, and your support has meant the world to me.

I’ll be leaving this site up, but I will no longer be updating it (except to post links to the rest of my books in paperback). No more blog posts, no more social media. No more newsletters.

And if you’re wondering, I do already have an epic fantasy pen name, from long ago when I first started. And I’m choosing to keep it a secret, because I want to keep the two genres (romance and fantasy) as separated as possible because they are VASTLY different. Please don’t needle me about it.

A word of closing… if you’re a writer, the last bit of advice I could give you is write what you love. It’s the only path to true creative happiness.

With love,

Lola