Challenging the writer vs Challenging the reader

I must mention right now, at the beginning, that this isn't really a problem. It's a thing, one of those situations that I am fortunate to ever even encounter. If this post could fit into a tweet, the hashtag would be #somewhatprolificwriterproblems. Which aren't really problems.

But anyway. When my fiction writing career started, I was doing Chick Lit and Contemporary Romance. I wrote five books in that category/genre. Then I thought, I should push myself a bit and experiment -- I'll do a YA-style Fantasy series. And ended up writing the Interim Goddess of Love trilogy for two years.

While that was fun, and rewarding, I realized that not everyone was going to be into that. It's one thing to start writing YA and then grow into older categories over the years, as my readers grow too, but another thing to go from this age to a younger bracket. And then not come up with anything for my main audience for two years, something I was made aware of when someone told me to "write about twenty-somethings again."

So I'm sharing this now, if you're a writer who wound up on this blog. It's something you might hear from your readers too. Do you write the things you want to write that might take you away from your comfort zone (and risk having your readers go "no thanks I'm not into that!")? Do you stay within that comfort zone, when it might mean that your readership never grows beyond what it is now?

Ha! I don't have the answer to that yet. What I do know is that this is what will happen soon:

- At the end of this month, I will release a short story on Amazon (Young and Scambitious), through KDP Select, so it will be free on its first week. I wanted this story to be free because it's yet another experiment, something I did for myself actually, something that appeals to me as a reader.
- Next month (or whenever the cover design and editing powers see fit), I will release Welcome to Envy Park, my new novella. It's contemporary, and chick lit, about twenty-somethings. Again! But I've done it in a slightly different way, and maybe only people who've read all my other stuff will notice the difference. It's something we can talk about when it's finally out. Oh, and this book will be offered FREE to people who are currently in Singapore. Comment or email minavesguerra at gmail if you want it!

Busy year I'm having! It's fun, probably the most fun I've had at work since, well, ever. You should all try it. :)