appearances

Jan

2025

Phantom Bagpipes

I’m currently listening to K-pop and electrosynth because I’m attempting to drown out the phantom bagpipes that I’ll be hearing for the rest of the week. Why?

I’m not sure which group this was, but I took this video yesterday at the Central Florida Highland Games. This was our… eleventh year, I think? When we started, College Boy was in kindergarten, and we missed two years — 2021 (if I remember correctly, there were no Games in 2021 due to Covid) and 2022. It’s the twelfth or thirteenth year for Bairn Care, the baby care facility that we run, and the Central Florida Highland Games are the only games that offer this kind of facility (thanks to a group of which I am a part.)

Brief interruption because one of the electrosynth songs in my playlist has BAGPIPES! Time to go listen to Epic.

I love the Games, even though I think I’ve gone to watch the actual Games part maybe twice in eleven years. It’s a chance to reconnect with friends who I don’t see nearly often enough. There’s excellent music and shopping, and if you don’t have a special diet, there is a food vendor that offers the best Fish and Chips — pieces of fish so large that our first year, we dubbed it Moby Dick and Chips (and that name has stuck!) If you’re in the Orlando area on Martin Luther King Jr weekend, it’s a great day out. Just get there early, because parking is… challenging. We had some weather move through on Sunday, which meant that it was less crowded, but it was still a good day.

Eight years ago, on a quiet Sunday morning at the Games, I wrote the synopsis for The White Raven books. The memory just came up in my Facebook, and I find it amusing that the first of those books will be out sometime in the next month or so. I’m just waiting on page proofs of Morrigan’s Heir, and a final cover to start promoting.

This year, there wasn’t any work done at the Games because there were no quiet parts to the morning. Saturday, families started coming to the tent almost as soon as the games started, and we had a steady flow all day. Sunday, we knew there was weather coming in, so we spent the quiet parts of the morning prepping the site and the tents for the storm. I think I maybe got a few small pages in a Field Notes notebook, but that’s maybe a hundred words written. Time to catch up on work.

Thankfully, this week is quiet, and once we get caught up on chores, I don’t have to leave the house until Friday. I can really focus on writing and getting the words on the page. I need to get my edits done from the sensitivity reading of The Sea Prince, but the read through of Dead Man’s Hand can wait until after ICFA. (Or I might take it to ICFA and work on it in my downtime.) And I need to start getting ready for my first event of the year (details listed below and on my Appearances page.)

Time to get back to work!

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

9495 / 90000 (10.55%)

The Coral Throne
(The Sea Prince, book 2)

3280 / 90000 (3.64%)

Promotions

It’s Bookmas! Every day for the rest of the month, you can get free ebooks and free tools for writers, with a new book or tool every day! Check out today’s offerings here!

Appearances

6th Annual Love is in the Air
February 8th, 2025
Lakeside Community Center
Port Orange, FL

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Enchanted Knights: Myths and Legends
March 8th, 2025
Oviedo Mall
Oviedo, FL

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ICFA
March 19 – 22nd, 2025
Orlando, FL

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3rd Annual Spring is in the Air
April 13th, 2025
Venetian Center,
Leesburg, FL

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6th Annual Mother’s Day Bazaar
May 10th, 2025
Ormond Beach Elks Lodge
Ormond Beach, FL

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3rd Annual Summer Artisan Market
June 29th, 2025
Brannon Center
New Smyrna Beach, FL

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Smut Lovers: The Conference
September 17th – 21st, 2025
Orlando, FL

Dec

2024

Cookies Called on Account of Pain.

I’ve had to delay the start of Cookiepocalypse. With my incredible sense of comedic timing, on Day 2 of Cook All the Things, I pulled a muscle in my back badly enough that standing is mind-numbingly painful. Cookies called on account of pain. I should be up to baking later this week or early next week, and I have a list of four cookies so far (there might be one or two more before I’m done. I’ve been challenged to make a coquito shortbread to go with the coquito poundcake….)

There wasn’t a lot of writing last week, because cooking and pain medication don’t add up to a lot of words. Granted, they’re words I’m starting to wonder if I really need, but I think I’m just going to keep going the way I’m going and see how the story falls out. If it needs to be cut, then I’ll cut it in post. If I second-guess myself, I’ll never get done.

The Sea Prince is going to be off to a sensitivity reader today or tomorrow. Writing a character who is a double amputee was more than a little challenging, and I want to be certain that I’ve done it right. If I haven’t, then I need to know what to fix. I’m hoping to have this book out in early 2025, but that will depend on how much work needs to be done when I get it back. Once it’s done and out in the world, I’ll need to start The Coral Throne.

The other thing I need to start is planning for 2025. I know I’ll be at ICFA in March. I’m considering a mall show in May, and that’s about all I have written in warm Jello at the moment. I’ll update the list of appearances as soon as I know where I’ll be.

That’s all for this week. Make sure you check out the books on sale with Stuff with Fantasy!

Special Offer!

Stuff With Fantasy is hosting the December Dash promotion, where you can buy signed books and book bundles directly from indie authors (like me!) I’m already set up with a 25% off coupon on my signed book site for those dates. Use code DECDASH to get the discount, and your books will arrive wrapped, with a gift tag for you to personalize, and with a couple of goodies added for good measure. (Please note: anything purchased this week will be shipping on Monday the 9th, because I’m not up to running to the post office every day this week.)