I need to be better about these updates, but you know how it is. Life just builds up. I’ve finally gotten back on a writing routine that works for me, and I am making some headway on my long-standing WIP that I’ve been writing for six years. Currently sitting at 92k words.

This is going to be a thick boy.

Where It Began…(*I just can’t seem to notice….SWEEET CAROLINE BUM BUM BUM…sorry ADHD)

This all started back in college when I worked part-time at a PetSmart in Flagstaff while I attended Northern Arizona University. some dude cat-called me in the parking lot. Saying something along the lines of ‘wanting to adopt me’ or something – yeah, it was fucking creepy.

So you can imagine what my writer-brain did with that.

I was taking a creative writing course at the time and wrote the initial rough draft for an assignment based on this idea, but it wasn’t received well. Looking back at it now, I can understand why.

It was rough. Really rough. But I knew that there was something here. And I also learned in this moment that my audience wasn’t going to be traditional readers. This was before I discovered Dark romance, but I had at least read Fifty Shades of grey followed by a lot of nineteenth century literature.

This piece had meaning, but I just hadn’t found it yet. I moved to the Phoenix valley after graduation (2018) and was working another dead-end job. My writing career was an afterthought at this point. I was focused on just finding a steady gig to pay bills and pursue a legal career I wasn’t sure I wanted. I wrote while I worked at a vape shop and wrote the second book of this series before I wrote the first. By hand. Like a psycho.

Lo and behold, the pandemic hit, and life changed for everyone, including me.

What I am working on now is book one. Book two is handwritten, just needs to be polished and typed. Book three- it’s in my head. Originally, books one and two were the same, but I decided to separate them. Maybe some of y’all can sit through a 1000-page book, but my carpal tunnel thanks me for not doing this to myself. And possibly my publisher.

So what is this book about?

Well…

Title: The Masks We Wear

By K.L Rasmussen

Pandemic, Serial Killer/Stalker, Psychological Dark Romance

Triggers: SA, Kidnapping/Abduction, Stalking, COVID-19, Grief of a victim of a violent crime, Domestic Violence, Narcissistic Abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Bondage, and more… I think?

The 2020 global lockdown didn’t fare well for anyone, least of all for Allyson Langston, who is desperate to escape her grief-driven solitude and her overbearing boyfriend as soon as the Lockdown is lifted, even if that means taking an essential job at the local grocery store.

Little does Ally know she is entering the hunting ground of an active love-starved serial killer who is shopping for a new wife. And Ally is just his type.

This book is very dark. It explores attachment theory and personality disorders, as well as some generational traumas. I doubt it will have much spice if at all, compared to Cosa Nosferatis, as SA is not something I condone sexualizing. So, rather, it will be inferred and explored on a psychological basis.

This was supposed to be book one, but you know I got distracted by vampires ( I mean, how can you not?) But this book is near and dear to my heart, and I feel as if it will resonate with a lot of readers.

It has taken a lot of generational trauma and unspoken grief, personally.

My family has been affected by violent crime on both sides. Both women were alone in their homes. This is for Flora Light and Elizabeth Livingston, my great-grandmother and my aunt. Both were women who were influential to the family and whom I never got to meet, except for in passing on the other side of, whatever we call this thing, life. And they left me with one clear message: Let no one destroy you.

That is ultimately the message of the book.

It is seldom talked about how victims’ families are affected later on. How does that affect the next generation if it isn’t discussed? How does that play into our day-to-day reactions and relationships with others? Can anyone walk through their life completely unaffected by the ghosts of their past?

That’s what The Masks We Wear explores.

I hope you are ready. I look forward to sharing this with you.

Best,

K.L Rasmussen