I took the above screenshot yesterday, returning to base from some exploring. It fits my progress report (and well, the world right now), I believe. You see, the Black Forest is a place with some big danger (trolls and bears) and not where I usually build. And yet, the image is sunny, peaceful and hopeful. It is how I feel about my writing.
Book of the Month Offer
This month’s book is Terragon’s Fate, and you can get it for free through my store, if you use a coupon (until the end of the month).
Terragon’s Fate is a short story/novella with the fast-paced action you expect from me. It has dragon shifters, demons and a little baby, plus a heroic and dramatic rescue. The ending is satisfying but doesn’t include a HEA. (It is not a romance, more of a prequel.)
Go to my store with this link, read about the story and grab the coupon code: Terragon’s Fate.
Writing Progress Report
My writing still isn’t much or even reliable. But I am making slow progress with Moon, mostly. Also a bit with the Wolves, I’m switching stories depending on where the muse points me.
Fun fact: One of the writing games on Mastodon had a prompt about making up something on the spot. I made up a character, and now a part of me would love to know the story about her.
Ndraw Vestvin is short, wiry and amazing with throwing knives. Nobody suspects that, she’s very capable of looking utterly naive and innocent, with her large glasses and her blonde hair up in a ponytail.
She has fooled many, which is why she’s a master spy for her queen, and her latest task is locating a stolen magical artifact.
For her, I’m leaning towards Science Fantasy, but really, I don’t have a clue. And no brain power to pursue her – and yet, I am intrigued. I’m sure she’ll show up somewhere, eventually.
Winds & Pillars Progress Report
Well, Moon is finally on board a ship that’ll take her out of the Holy Empire. She managed to stow away on it (not for long, though, there’s a lot of fun stuff coming her way). In between, she made an interesting connection to a Priest, one that I don’t want to lose in the story, so we’ll see how that goes.
But aside from Moon, there is even more good news from the Winds & Pillars! The first short story of the entire series is now out, in an anthology called “Horses are Magic”.
Main characters are West and Jeko (definitely readers’ favorites!) starring in a cute short story where they have to save the life of a side character of the series. They run into unexpected trouble on the way, and there is only one, drastic solution. (No mules were harmed in this story, I promise.) Speed Run is definitely as fast-paced as all my stories, and it was great fun to write. I hope it’s just as much fun to read it.
Interested? Follow this link: Horses are Magic
Wolves Progress Report
Timothy’s story is on hold, but I added a little bit to the second bonus story for the boxed set. (Which I took off the market last year because the launch was a catastrophic failure.) Once I have three bonus stories (one each for Ben, Liz and Nessa), I’ll relaunch. Hopefully for the summer reading craze (is that still a thing?).
Indie Author Progress Report
I haven’t heard much about great developments in the indie world, alas. However, you may have noticed there is now a tiny ad in my sidebar for a book by another author. That is part of the new indie community, a little place called Author Help that does ads for indies through other indie websites.
It’s still very small, but the guy running it is on Mastodon and a nice chap. In exchange for putting up the widget, my book will be shown on the websites of other participating authors. For free.
This is the kind of thing that will – over time – create a completely new environment for indie authors. I truly hope we can become independent from big tech just as we became independent from trad publishing.
In addition, you can check out my Buy Direct Directory, which is just a list of indie author stores where you can look and buy directly from a writer. No, I’m not charging money for it, either.
We indies are in this together, no other writer is my enemy. There are plenty of readers in the world, too.
Pockets of Happiness Progress Report
I actually have good news to report here.
You see, I went back to something from my days as an EFT therapist. (Yes, I used to run my own therapist practice. The pandemic killed it.) I’ve been tapping a lot with affirmations, and right now, they are having an effect.
I feel calmer, happier and less dependent on outside praise. I’m not yet writing more, but I’m shifting my affirmations to include that. It is really funny to see how the mind works – and I’m telling it good things about myself. It takes some time for that to actually land and stick, but once it does, things change.
I love getting back to that kind of mental work for myself.
(Want to know more about how that works? Write a comment or contact me on Mastodon.)
The Ember Tale Report
If you’re reading my blog regularly, you already know that I don’t believe in pop-ups. In fact, I hate them so much that I refuse to use them on my blog. (Yes, you can thank my for that.)
So instead of a pop-up, you get this little section where I talk about my newsletter. The bare facts are that my newsletter:
- Arrives in your inbox once a month, on the 13th. (Exceptions may apply in case of a new release.)
- Contains writing news and book bargains, including my Book of the Month offer
- Has the Ember Tale, a cute little story about my tiny dragon familiar called Ember. I don’t share these anywhere else.
Sounds good? Sign up below!
