Category: Uncategorized

Fall Fon du Lac Spirit Fair Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, I’ll be packing up my books and heading to The Hive, W4786 County Highway 23, Fon du Lac, Wisconsin for the Fall Spirit Fair! Admission is one non-perishable food item or cash donation to the Sheboygan County Food Bank. The market opens at 10AM, but you should come at 9 if you want to book an appointment with a reader. For more information, here’s Spyral Events’ website, and here’s the Facebook event.

I am plugging along on Journey to the Water, and I’m currently rewriting what was Chapter LIX in the serial version (now chapter XXVII). Current word count is 112,850.

Milwaukee ParaCon (+quick Journey update)

I completely forgot about an event! Brooke and I will be heading to the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference on Saturday, October 19. This will take place at the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center in downtown Milwaukee, and opens at 10AM. Thanks to American Ghost Walks, tickets are free, but you do have to register. You can do that and find more information on their website here.

In other news, I’m plugging along on Journey to the Water. I’m about the start the arc that begins with Chapter LIV: The Ring-Fort (though it will be chapter XXIV in the new draft). I like this arc, but I wasn’t happy with how it turned out in the serial version, so I’m looking forward to making it better. I think right now we’re looking at a mid- to late-November release. I should be able to finish this draft by the end of the month, and after that comes formatting, designing the cover, and a few minor revisions (there’s still one arc I’m not pleased with). I appreciate your patience!

Journey to the Water Update, plus some other things

Pages: 152 Words 92,362

I’d say I’m close to three-quarters of the way through my rewrites. I appreciate your patience as I’m working to get them done! I know it’s taken me forever and a half to come up with a release date, but I should be able to give you one soon.

I’ll be absent from the blog and my social media for a week, as I’m going on vacation. I will return Monday, October 7, and get back to regular posting as well as finishing this book.

The Figuratively Speaking Mermaid Tarot Kickstarter has reached ALL its stretch goals! There are still a couple of days left to back: it will close at the end of the day (midnight) on Monday, September 30. Thank you so much to everyone who has pledged so far and made this beautiful project a reality.

The newsletter will be going out tomorrow at noon my time (CDT), so if you haven’t yet and would like to, put your email address in the box at this link to sign up. You’ll then need to check your inbox for a confirmation.

I’ll see you on October 7. Until then, take care!

Journey to the Water Update

Pages: 145 Words: 88548

I am happy to report that the new draft of Journey to the Water is now 88,548 words long. I’m reworking the arc that was roughly chapters XLIV-LI in the original version. You can see some of the new chapter headings on the left of the image.

Also, don’t forget, I’ll be at the Awkward Nerd Book Fair this Sunday in downtown Milwaukee! Come say hi and enjoy a nostalgic throwback to the Scholastic Book Fairs of the 90s.

There are still 10 more days to back the Figuratively Speaking Mermaid Tarot Kickstarter. Three stretch goals have been reached, and there are four more remaining.

That’s it for today. Thanks for stopping by!

A few quick updates + The Tarot of the Gates

First: I’ve cracked 100 pages and 75,000 words in my new draft of Journey to the Water! I just finished the Svilsara arc, which was roughly chapters XXIX-XXXVIII in the serial version. For now, I’m keeping it where it is (after Nagara and before meeting the sorcerer).

Second: the Figuratively Speaking Mermaid Tarot Kickstarter has met its fundraising goal! It’s on its way to its first stretch goal. If you haven’t supported it yet, now’s a good a time as any, and with the project funded you’ll be guaranteed to get all your rewards. There’s still time to decide, though; the Kickstarter runs until the end of the month.

Third: I wanted to write you something new for today, but I ended up not having time, so here is a good place to send you way back in the blog to check out Chapter One of The Tarot of the Gates, an Arcana-themed space opera. This and The Well Below the Valley will be among your choices for my next serial project.

That’s all for today! Take care and enjoy your weekend.

Quick Journey update + Horror Book Fair tomorrow!

Hello!

I am 58,261 words into the new draft of Journey to the Water, and have rewritten through Chapter XXVIII. Almost halfway done! I’m currently debating whether to put the Svilsara arc where it sits now, or move it later, making it a quest that the sorcerer sends Eske to complete.

Tomorrow, I’ll be at Spooky Frog’s Horrifying Book Fair, Part Two, at X-Ray Arcade in Cudahy, WI, along with some other cool indie & local horror authors and spooky artists & craftspeople! Admission is free, unless you want to skip the line and get in an hour early for $5. The event runs from noon until 4, but VIPs get in at 11.

Hope to see you there!

Some more notes on editing

This rant is brought to you by some writers in the fantasy book groups I’m in complaining that editing is too expensive, so they just…don’t do it? I neither recall their names nor wish to share them even if I did, so this is just sort of a general rant.

Editing is hard. Editing your own work is harder. As writers, we all have to learn how to do it, whether it’s to keep our manuscripts out of the slush pile, give our editors fewer headaches, or avoid annoying our beloved readers.

Continue reading “Some more notes on editing” →

Event Tomorrow: Feast of the Goat Queen

Tomorrow, Brooke and I are headed down to Rabid Brewing Co for the Feast of the Goat Queen! There will be live music, wrestling, burlesque and fire dance, and BABY GOATS YOU CAN PET. The event runs from noon until 11PM, but the market will close at 7 (which is good, because 11 is past my bedtime). Tickets and more information are available here. The address is 17759 Bretz Dr Homewood, IL (south of Chicago). Costumes are encouraged.

I’ll be handing out my shiny new Journey to the Water bookmarks, and I’ll have plenty of copies of Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea and The Book of the New Moon Door! Brooke has her new, delightfully spooky Macabre tarot set, as well as hundreds of other cards in all the combinations you could want. Hope to see you there!

Some notes on editing

I’ve finished my reread of Journey to the Water! Next step to get it into shape is a new outline, and then the Great Rewrite begins. In the meantime, I thought I’d share a little bit about my editing process, in the hopes that it will be helpful, of interest, or both. I’ve mentioned a few of the steps of my process before, but it will be good to have it all in one place.

Here are three things about me:

  1. I cannot afford to pay a good editor at the rates that they deserve.
  2. I have a Master’s degree in English literature. (Points 1 and 2 may be related.)
  3. I do my own editing, but I always, always have at least one other person whose taste and advice I trust read through my manuscripts before they go to publication.

In order to edit my own work, I need to first distance myself from it.

(This got long, so the rest is behind the cut:)

Continue reading “Some notes on editing” →

Events this weekend!

Tomorrow, May 24th, I’ll be featured in a Meet the Author event at Studio Moonfall, 5031 7th Ave, Kenosha, WI! I’ll be there from 4pm until 7pm if you want to hang out with me, talk about books, and check out the shop. It’s a lovely place and I’m so excited to be there. Here’s a link to the Facebook event if you’d like more information.

Then on Saturday, May 25th, I’ll be at Graveyard Gallery’s AniMAYhem outside of Faklandia Brewing, 3807 S Packard Ave., St. Francis, WI. The market runs from noon until 5, and there’s a cosplay contest afterward at 6! Here’s a link for more information.

It’ll be a busy weekend to conclude a busy month. I hope to see you at one or both of these events! Then I’m going to take a break for a month or so.