I have always wanted to be a writer. I used to tell people I wanted to be an author, singer, dancer, model, actress (not necessarily in that order). But aside from the short period of time around the age of seven when I wanted to be a veterinarian and live in a haunted mansion with at least a hundred rescued animals, writing has always been my passion. (I’d still like to live in a haunted mansion, though, so there’s that.)

I published my first book, Every Day is Like Doomsday, in 2013. It’s a fish out of water novel about a “Norm” teenager who is mistaken for a Villain and shipped off to a Villain school. Of course, shenanigans ensue, putting a twist on the idea of a school for “supernatural” beings. Book Two of the Doomsday series, Doomsday Strikes Again, was published in 2017, and there we saw the hero, Elliot, and heroine, Innya, and their friends, navigating the world of adult Villainy with moderate success.

I just finished the second draft of the third and final Doomsday book, Doomsday Changes Everything, where Elliot and Innya face their biggest enemies yet and have to decide for the last time whether they want to be Leaders or Lackeys. (I’d insert a pic of the cover it’s still in process.)

The day that I finished the draft a little over a week ago, I also found a box containing this:

Back in the day, when I had a booth at San Diego Comic-Con, and I had just released Book 2, I invested in a button maker so I could make promo buttons and give them away. The faces match artwork at the front of the books, Elliot and Innya, designed by my cover and interior artist, Ana Lyzer, of Mint in Box Press. The “Doomsday” pin was created simply because it was the most interesting way to fit the word on a one-inch round pin. I ended up giving away a fair amount of them but clearly I made far too many cut outs and never got around to actually making the rest of the pins. I wonder if there’s a stranger still walking around with one on a jacket or a bag somewhere . . . That’s a fun thought.

As this story comes to a close I find myself wondering if I did alright by my characters, these beings I brought into existence on the page, who I’ve come to care for deeply. I’m going to miss them. It will be weird moving on to other projects (There are so many other projects in the works-check out the other things I’ve written in between the Doomsday books here), knowing I won’t be returning to my Villains to see them through another tribulation. At the same time I am content because I feel like I gave them a proper send off that would meet their approval.

So, Doomsday Changes everything is expected to come out by the end of the year, and with it, I will say goodbye to characters I’ve had living rent free in my head for over a decade. The whole series will be for sale at San Diego Comic-Con in 2025. I’ll probably have some pins to give away, as well. So, who wants one?