Trying To Build An Empire Is Exhausting

There’s this quiet moment lately, right before everything starts moving again. Not silence. Not peace. Just… that pause. Like the inhale before a fire catches.

That’s where I’ve been. I’ve been working on Veil of A Fractured Oath, and it feels different than anything I’ve written before. Heavier. Sharper. More intentional. This isn’t just a continuation of a story. It’s consequences. It’s what happens after the love, after the betrayal, after the moment you thought was the worst thing that could happen… wasn’t the end.

Honestly? Writing it has been a little like holding a blade by the wrong end. But I can’t stop, nor do I want to. At the same time, real life doesn’t exactly pause so I can go full tortured author in a candlelit corner. I’ve got events coming up. Tables to plan. Merch to design. Books to stack. A whole little world I’m trying to bring off the page and into real life. There’s something terrifying about that. Like… people are going to walk up to my table and see everything I’ve built and decide, in a split second, if it matters.

But there’s also something kind of electric about it too. Because this isn’t just writing anymore.

This is:

• the stories

• the aesthetic

• the rebellion energy

• the pieces people take home with them

It’s all of it. Together. And then there’s just… me. Existing. Trying to balance being creative, being exhausted, being hopeful, being overwhelmed, being proud, being unsure, being all of it at once. Some days I feel like I’m building something incredible. Some days I feel like I’m duct-taping a dream together and hoping it holds.

Both are true. But here’s what I keep coming back to: I didn’t start this to be comfortable. I didn’t start this to be safe. I started this because I had something in me that wouldn’t stay quiet.

So right now, I’m in the in-between. Writing. Planning. Dreaming. Stressing. Creating. Lighting little fires everywhere and trusting that eventually…one of them is going to become something unstoppable.

If you’ve been here for any part of this journey, just know this: You’re watching something being built in real time. Messy. Emotional. A little chaotic. But real.

And I’m not done yet...not even close.

Much Love,

Marissa S. Adams