Newsletter - July 5th, 2022

We took a family trip to Destin, Florida last week to participate in a dance competition for my middle daughter. Sadly, I still had to work, just taking a half day off for a boating trip to crab island. In its peculiar way, the stress was higher than a "normal" week. But we still had fun on the trip, and on the way home, we got to stay at the haunted mansion on Myrtles Plantation. Sadly, nothing went bump in the night except our drunken and boisterous neighbors.

Last week was exciting! Kicking Book 4 out the door. A friend sent me about four items that slipped through all the editing which I'll need to go back and resolve. (Thanks, friend. 😁). I have to admit, I've recognized that there's a tough realization after a the grand launch of a book release, when crickets chirp. But I was more prepared for it this time.

I’m in a slow stage of writing. I don’t know how other fantasy writers operate, but in my early stages for an idea, I swap back and forth between writing and world building, with the writing being a mix of direction-setting (planning ahead) in a form that looks something like I’ve coughed up mental fur balls, and straight linear writing of chapters, along with world building that so far defies my ability to format in any reasonable way. I sometimes think I need a wall like they show on detective movies, with strings thumb-tacked in to connect various components.

My most productive thinking happens when I'm running or driving, though I mostly need to be alone and not listening to anything that requires concentration. But then I lack some place to glue the idea when I get back home. Or rather, I have no way to save them in any coherent form. And yes, I'm claiming the crazy detective wall is MORE coherent than what I have.

Finding Your Authors

I've done something like this before -- enabling audience exchanges with other authors. Allow me to introduce you to author Haley Walden. Her web site is https://www.authorhaleywalden.com, and her newsletter signup is toward the bottom. Below is her Amazon blurb for Book 1 of the The Witness Tree Chronicles, Defender of Histories. Please poke around and give her writing a try... and a review.

A young historian. A hidden power. And a dark history poised to repeat itself...

Introverted bookworm Silira Mór is the most promising historian to serve the city-state of Iathium in centuries. When Lira is selected to inherit the city’s archive as the next Defender of Histories, she can hardly believe her good fortune.

Lira has more than she could have ever dreamed possible: true friends, meaningful work, and even a budding romance with Iathium’s young ruler, Rí Eremon. In a cruel twist of fate, Lira learns her beloved histories have been falsified—and that a forgotten, long-suppressed magic is surging across the continent.

With the help of Eremon and her childhood friend, Aidryn Tarlach, Lira sets out to learn the real truth about her world. But when tragedy strikes, she finds herself completely alone, with enemies at every turn.

If you love epic fantasy with strong friendships, tragic romance elements, and a friends-to-lovers slow burn, you will love Defender of Histories.

o To-Do list for writing last week: