Lila Bloom

Beloved readers!

Tomorrow, I'll be posting the first chapter of the revised edition of Promise!

It seemed fitting, considering November 11th was the day I posted the final chapter of the original novel.

For those of you who read the final author's note of the first draft, you know I started writing this story somewhere in the middle, with absolutely no intention of ever publishing it.

I'm not a writer, lol. At least, I certainly wasn't when I started.

The grammar was bad. The spelling was worse. I didn't know what a dialogue tag was, and I continuously flipped between past and present tense. The plot didn't matter nearly as much to me as the themes beneath it, and looking back, I found a tremendous amount of redundancy that likely slowed the story rather than strengthened it.

So, when I started editing, my intention was relatively simple: clean things up.

Except... that's not quite what happened.

The more I worked through the manuscript, the more I began to recognize issues that went beyond grammar and pacing. Plotlines that needed reworking. Characters who were more explained than experienced. Backstories that hadn't been sufficiently developed. Characters I'd created for one purpose who ended up serving another—or never quite found their place at all.

And so, I went back to the beginning.

I spent more time developing the characters, their histories, their motivations, and the world they inhabit. I reconsidered how the story unfolded, what needed to change, and what deserved more room to breathe.

By Chapter 2, those of you familiar with the original will notice a pretty significant deviation from the first version.

And when I tell you I rewrote the first six chapters of this book a dozen times, that is NOT an exaggeration. I probably have 500,000 words of discarded writing behind the few thousand you'll actually read.

One of my other goals was to reduce the word count a little.

Full transparency: I'm still editing the final third of the novel, and the total chapter count will likely end up being higher than the original. HOWEVER, the individual chapters are generally shorter (with a few exceptions), and I believe there's considerably more story within them.

If that doesn't make sense now, I hope it will by the time you're finished reading.

For those returning to Promise, there are several significant changes to the original plot, but the heart of the story remains exactly the same.

Promise is still a dark, slow-burn romantasy that prioritizes interiority over fast-paced action.

It explores survivor's guilt, moral injury, sexual assault, suicide, and PTSD. Not to glorify trauma, but to acknowledge the difficult realities that shape who we become.

And while the narrative spends considerable time in grief, anger, and betrayal, those things have never been the point of the story.

At its heart, Promise is about resilience, courage, conviction, hope, and the transformative power of selfless love.

It's about the human spirit, and what remains possible even after everything seems to have been lost.

And that brings me to one last thing.

To be honest, I don't feel entirely ready to share it. I'm still finding some of the basic editing errors I initially set out to correct. I'm still wrestling with what to cut, what to expand, and what genuinely contributes to the meaning beneath the story.

There are still sentences I want to rewrite. Scenes I wonder if I could make stronger. Things I'm certain I'll look back on and wish I'd done differently.

But there's a quote from Voltaire that I've been reminding myself of lately:

"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien."

"The best is the enemy of the good."

And I think, somewhere along the way, I have to accept that this story may never feel entirely finished to me.

There will probably always be something I could make better.

But I've poured an extraordinary amount of time, thought, and heart into trying to tell this story the way I believe it deserves to be told. And while it may not be perfect, I'm ready to open my heart again.

So, here we go!

To those of you returning, thank you for all your love and support, and for sticking with me to the bitter end of the first draft. Having you along for that journey was more healing than I could ever adequately explain, and I don't think I would have approached these revisions with nearly as much care or intention if it hadn't been for you my loves: @godDesZoLyT3 @aslhan8 @Book_reader11 @sharonaantony @AlittleTulip @bernardine @Sunnylt @SlayerGirl @maureen391 @tulipMJ @okafor65 @blazi Should you choose to read again, thank you for giving this story another chance—and for doing this whole thing with me all over again!

And to those reading for the first time, welcome.

I hope you all find something in Promise worth carrying with you long after you've finished reading.

"Night lay over the city, but even the stars couldn’t convince it to sleep. Not fully.

I glanced overhead, finding Orion without thinking.

The three steady stars of his belt cut clean across the dark.

There had been a time when I believed the world was held together with that same steadiness. That beneath the chaos, there was some sort of order. That people were good. That justice was real and truth mattered. That suffering led somewhere worth going.

When the illusion shattered, so did I. None of the pieces ever fit back together."




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Beloved readers!

It's almost time, and I am SO excited.

Love always,
Lila

Is promise back soon? Hope u R doing well ☺️

I see from the comments that Promise is coming back. Thank you. I noticed it was gone when I went to reread it a few months ago. Looking forward to the new version!

Since there's no other way of contacting you I just wanted to say THANK YOU! Your long message to me was so wonderful and you are the sweetest! Hope to chat with you more!

Hi, is Promise soon available to read again on inkitt? Love your writing style!

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I just unlocked the Page Master badge! 🚀

Thank you for reading The Ones That Hurt Us! 💜

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