baking

Mar

2025

PACK ALL THE THINGS!

I have basically a day of writing before I have to PACK ALL THE THINGS and head to ICFA — aka geeky-academic wonderland. I have an entire checklist of things that have to be done between now and midday Wednesday. Yes, writing is on that list. So is making scones, making hard-boiled eggs (in this economy?) and making overnight oats. I need to go to the store tomorrow and pick up a couple of things for breakfasts in my room, and packing will happen tomorrow and Wednesday morning.

My schedule for this year is:
Wednesday:
3:30PM Opening Session: Horror Storytelling to Understand Reality (Ballroom)
Thursday
8:30AM Reading (Vista A)
Friday
4:15PM Reimagining the Night (Magnolia)
6:00PM Lord Ruthven Assembly Meeting (Captiva A)
Saturday
6:00PM BIPOC Caucus Networking Event (Cove)
7:00PM Reception (Ballroom Foyer)
8:00PM Awards Banquet (Ballroom)

In and around those, you’ll either find me at panels, volunteering at the Registration desk (I’ll have scones!), or somewhere working on edits for Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand (I’m thinking outside near the pool.) Unfortunately, the copies of Raven’s Fall that I hoped would be here in time to have at the book room were… well, I was told that they couldn’t deliver the package. And then the post office said that they gave the package back to Amazon (after only one attempt?) So I’m thinking that the books were damaged in shipping, and a new order has been placed. Which means that there will be copies on the table at my show in April. I hope.

(I really want them here! There are hardcovers in that package and one of them is for ME!)

Today I had my first “When is the next one coming out?” interaction, and that never, ever is going to get old. I love hearing that people have enjoyed my work. Writing is an interesting job — you’re there with the voices inside your head, taking down the incident report for whatever shenanigans they’ve been up to. Then you polish it up, put a cover on it, and send it off into the world, and most of the time? You never hear anything about it. But those few times when a reader reaches out to you to tell you that your words meant something to them?

BLISS.

Now Available!

Kidnapped from his home and sold as a slave in Rome, Raven-Prince Lorcan must survive in a world where entertainment is murder, diplomacy is betrayal, and love is a commodity. And where a raven who is only supposed to ever have one mate will somehow find two…

Work in Progress

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

22670 / 90000 (25.19%)

The Coral Throne
(The Sea Prince, book 2)

25166 / 90000 (27.96%)

Appearances

ICFA
March 19 – 22nd, 2025
Orlando, FL

***

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

***

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

***

Enchanted Knights: Summer Solstice
June 21st, 2025
Oviedo Mall
Oviedo, FL

***

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

***

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

***

Necronomicon
September 26th – 28th, 2025
Tampa, FL

***

Page and Pen Festival
October 4th, 2025
Oviedo Mall
Oviedo, FL

Dec

2024

Cookies!

Today starts the annual Cookiepocalypse! Pictures of cookies incoming! If you want to follow along with the baking this year, be sure to follow my Instagram. There will be five or six types of cookies this year, starting with the non-negotiable, it-isn’t-the-holidays-without-them Three Color Cookies. I’ve written about these cookies, including the recipe if you want to give them a try. They are tradition, and we do not mess with traditions.

The rhythms of the holidays are comforting. We set up the tree yesterday. Baking starts today. Darling Editor will be taking time off, and we’ll do our usual holiday things. Go down to Disney Springs and do the Christmas Tree scavenger hunt and have lunch and shop and maybe go get gluten free beignets. We’ll have far too much fish for Christmas Eve. We’ll watch the Disney parade on Christmas Day, then light the candles for Hanukkah. Usually, by this time of the year, I’m done with writing and taking the time to reset and plan for the new year before I start over in January. Now… well, I’m not done, but I may still take those two weeks off to read and reset and make my plans.

King of Swords is hitting the hinge point in the next chapter, and I’ll need to decide if it’s going to be one book or two. I think I’m just going to keep writing and decide once it’s done, because I already pulled one full chapter out as cool, but you don’t advance the story at all. That, and it revealed something I decided shouldn’t be revealed just yet. I have a feeling there are other scenes in this monster that fall into this category, so once it’s done, I’ll be going back through with a machete and cutting hard.

But that will happen sometime in the new year. For now, I wish all of you Happy Holidays! See you in 2025

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

100628 / 150000 (67.09%)

Promotions

It’s time for Smashwords End of the year sale, and everything in my catalog will be 25% off! The sale starts Thursday the 12th and runs until January 1st.

And because my accounts still haven’t been merged yet, I have two Smashwords accounts. If you want the Heir to the Firstborn books 1 through 6, you can go here. If you want Valley of Shadows (Heir to the Firstborn 7) or any other of my books, go here.

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.)

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

100602 / 150000 (67.07%)

Appearances

All done for 2024!

Nov

2024

Day One of COOK ALL THE THINGS!

It’s Monday of Thanksgiving week, aka Day One of cook ALL THE THINGS! It takes me four days to prepare everything. Today was desserts, and there are now a pumpkin pie and apple pie bars in my refrigerator, and cashew milk ice cream in my freezer. Tomorrow will be mulled cranberry sauce and the sweet potatoes. Wednesday is going to be a DAY — I start out with a dentist appointment. When I get home, it’ll be time to prep the brine for one turkey breast, and the chili rub for the other. I’ll get the brussel sprouts prepped (roast them. Trust me on this. If you roast them, they’re SO GOOD!) And on Thursday, while the turkey is in the oven, I’ll make the salt potatoes and the stuffing (box mix from Katz.)

Too much food? Nah….

And in the meantime, I’ll be working on King of Swords. I’m writing in reverse at the moment — I don’t like the scene I was working on. The timing is off, so I need to backtrack and figure out where it went off the rails and fix it. It’s not a big deal, really. It’s all part of the process. Sometimes, your daily wordcount is in the negative, and that’s fine.

I’m also prepping for a special Holiday sale. From December 2 to the 7th, Stuff With Fantasy is doing a December Dash promotion, where you can buy signed books directly from indie authors (like me!) I’m already set up with a 25% off coupon on my signed book site for those dates. I’ll post the coupon code to my socials over the weekend.

Back to writing backwards.

Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone!

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

98825 / 150000 (65.88%)

Appearances

All done for 2024!

Nov

2024

Now Entering The Holiday Zone

Alternate title — There Are Cookies In That Nebula.

Yes, we have entered the Holiday Zone. Thanksgiving is next week, and then… well, if you’ve been around for a while, you know what comes after Thanksgiving.

COOKIEPOCALYPSE!

(Image of three layer cookies on a clear plate. The cookies are green, yellow and red, with a white chocolate coating.)

Oddly enough, I still have no idea what sorts of cookies I’m going to make this year, other than three color to start and struffuli to end. Those are non-negotiable. Other than that? I’m going to take a poll at Thanksgiving dinner, because everyone who will be eating those cookies will be sitting at that table.

I sincerely doubt that there will be a draft before the Solstice, which is my usual rallying cry at this time of the year. King of Swords will continue until I finally hit the end, and I can no longer say how long that will take. Editing this beast is going to be all kinds of fun — how many of these too-many-words are going to end up on the cutting room floor? Find out sometime next year!

If you follow me on Tiktok, you saw that last week, I dropped off copies of Written in Water at the newest bookstore in Orlando, the romance bookstore The New Romantics. It’s SUPER cute (and, I didn’t realize, Taylor Swift themed!) They’re doing soft-openings on the weekends, with the grand opening on December 7th. If you’re in the area, check them out!

I’m starting to wind down for the end of the year. I may not blog next week because there will be cooking practically every day. I have no more shows (and resisted the urge to add one). If there are no last minute sales through my website, then I can close the book on what was a very good year.

Now I just need to finish this book….

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

95866 / 150000 (63.91%)

Appearances

All done for 2024!

Oct

2024

Once More Into the Beach… errr…Breach…

It’s a show week! Ready for Wizards, Witches and the Weird in Daytona Beach! Once more into the beach… errr… breach, dear friends…

Since we’re on show three of four, everything is still stacked in the living room, waiting to be loaded into the car on Saturday for a “what time did you say we have to leave???” departure on Sunday. I’m in space 38, which is along the left wall as you come in to the Ocean Center, and three from the end. Remember, if you mention you saw this post or that you follow me on social media when you come to the table, you get a discount on purchases!

I’m really looking forward to this show — it looks like it’s going to be a fun day, and the vendors look fantastic! (There’s a list if you go to the event link above.)

I’m also looking forward to the show in two weeks, which will be two days at Maker Faire Orlando. I don’t know where I’ll be setting up yet, but as soon as I know, you’ll know.

Before all of that? Early voting just opened today in Central Florida. We’ll be voting tomorrow. GO VOTE!

And then? What’s after Maker Faire?

A long rest before I start cooking for Thanksgiving. Cleaning my house. Finishing King of Swords. Edits on Morrigan’s Heir (and possible Morrigan’s Wrath.) And seeing what I’ll be writing for my first original piece for THEO. I’ll be starting with them with reprints, to give myself some time to get things planned and get started, but it’s looking like this is where my serial writing will be heading, and my serial writing is going to be a bit more spicy in the future! Since they take all heat levels, my work there may be starting with rerunning the Heir to the Firstborn serial, starting with Written in Water. As soon as my work on THEO starts going live, I’ll let you all know. And if you’re an author interested in taking a closer look? Click the blog button at the bottom of the THEO page. There’s more information there.

And remember… Cookiepocalypse is coming…

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

84098 / 120000 (70.08%)

Promotions

Kobo is doing a Free First in Series promotion for the entire month of October, so you can grab a copy of Hidden Things for free! (You can find it free where ever ebooks are sold — not just Kobo.)

I’m also a part of Enchanted Realms, and this promotion also runs for the entire month of October — sign up for newsletters, get free books and enter to win a $30 gift card!

Appearances

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Dec

2023

That’s a Draft!

And at 2AM on Sunday morning, I posted the final wordcount of Valley of Shadows (after increasing it by 3000 words the day before.) That’s a draft, folks.

The Patreon is scheduled out until late January, so I’m projecting a release in early February, but possibly sooner. Once I see how edits go, I’ll have a better idea. I will say that I think the ending is a little weak and fluffy, and it might change. 2AM writing isn’t necessarily quality writing, after all.

Edits will start tonight — I already have my printout and two general notes on things to change. Cookiepocalypse, however… that starts tomorrow, and will continue for the rest of the week.

Last week, I said that I was considering taking the rest of the year off, and I’m going to do that. So this will be the last blog post until the New Year. I’ll still be active on social media — cookie pictures must be shared, after all. But there is one exception — I will no longer be found on Twitter/X. My account will be there, but all that you’ll find there after this week will be a redirect to my other socials. (For the record, Blusky, Mastodon, Facebook and Instagram.) The only reason I’m not deleting entirely is that I don’t want anyone to hijack my name there.

What will I be doing for the next three weeks? Other than baking? Edits. I have to write a blurb. Finalizing the book cover (which you’ll see when the blog comes back.) Business planning, and getting back to my research. And catching up on both reading and TV — I still haven’t seen Loki season 2, and I have to watch the New Who episodes. Basically? I’m refilling my tanks and resting my creative brain.

So, this will be the last message until 2024. Here’s hoping that you have a happy whatever you celebrate, that you hold your loved ones close, and that we all come back together in this virtual space in the New Year.

Love you all.

Works in Progress

Valley of Shadows
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

78617 / 78000 (100.79%)

Now on to edits!

Promotions!

The Smashwords End of the Year sale is coming up December 15th. My ENTIRE self-published catalog will be on sale for 25% off ONLY on Smashwords!

Now, because of the Draft2Digital/Smashwords merger, I have TWO author pages on Smashwords (actually, I have four, but two of them are from publishers and I have no control over those.) The two that I maintain will be combined at some point, but until then, the catalogs that will be on sale are here and here.

Dec

2023

Lofty Goals

Lofty goals, I have them. I have perhaps three chapters left to finish in Valley of Shadows (which drops my wordcount from 90K to 75K.) I am saying this to the public at large, and with my WHOLE chest!

This week I am going to finish this book!!!

As I said, lofty goals. Doable lofty goals, but lofty goals. I’ll be posting my daily wordcounts on Mastodon and Blusky, so you can follow along as I race to finish.

Then… COOKIES!!!

I’m honestly looking forward to the break this year. Although getting me to actually stop doing ANYTHING will be… challenging. I’ve been going at a fever pitch since I started Written in Water in 2018, and I’m not sure I know how to do downtime anymore. Even my vacations are high energy (I vacation at Disney…which means I have fun, but I don’t necessarily relax.) So I’ve decided that once Valley of Shadows is done, I’m taking time away from the laptop. I’m not going to get back to The Sea Prince until January, and I might not even blog! (We’ll see if I hold true to that!)

So what are my plans for the break? Because it’s me and of course there have to be plans? Reading. I have multiple stacks of books to catch up on, and I just added more. There is SO MUCH TV to catch up on — I still haven’t watched season 2 of Loki, and there are about a half-dozen Star Wars shows I need to binge. I want to go down to Disney to see the holiday decorations and do the gingerbread crawl (I’m not sure when that will happen — our park passes black out the 19th.) And I have knitting projects I want to finish.

So, knitting and reading and bingewatching and cookies? Sounds like a plan.

Cookiepocalypse will start next week, so you can keep an eye on Instagram for that. So far, I know I’m making three color cookies to start, and struffuli (which Owyn makes in Wings of Air) to finish. In the middle? I haven’t decided, although I did have a request for oatmeal carob chip. (Hrm… I haven’t made molasses cookies in ages. Maybe I’ll make those, too.)

Follow the Instagram for the cookies — it’ll be a surprise!

In other, other news, my publisher said the most fascinating words to be the other day. Foreign rights. As in, they’ll be shopping them around, so they needed some info from me to put into the pitch. 2024 is promising to be very interesting indeed!

Works in Progress

Valley of Shadows
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

66861 / 75000 (89.15%)

This book will be done this week! I have said it!

Promotions!

The Smashwords End of the Year sale is coming up December 15th. My ENTIRE catalog will be on sale for 25% off ONLY on Smashwords!

Now, because of the Draft2Digital/Smashwords merger, I have TWO author pages on Smashwords (actually, I have four, but two of them are from publishers.) The two that I maintain will be combined at some point, but until then, the catalogs that will be on sale are here and here.

Nov

2023

Back to Work

It’s the first Monday after Thanksgiving, and it’s time for me to get back to work. This book won’t write itself. Valley of Shadows has three, maybe four chapters left. And my incentive to get this done quickly is that December starts Friday, and that means…

COOKIEPOCALYPSE IS COMING!!!

I need to sit down and decide what cookies I’m making this year. There will definitely be three color cookies — there have to be three color cookies or it’s not Christmas. There will be struffuli on Christmas Eve (and if you want that recipe, check out Love at First Bite, which is a collection of recipes available as a free download from the Cavalcade of Authors.) But in between? I’m not sure yet. I need to ask the family what they want. As always, there will be pictures posted to my Instagram — I know there are some of you who wait for those pictures every year!

As I bake, I’m also going to get back to my research for Imaginative Anthropology. I’ve been putting that off because I had too much on my plate, but baking and reading seem to go hand in hand. There will also be the planning for next year, revisiting my business plans and setting up my annual goals for 2024. The end of the year is a busy time for the small business.

At some point, we have to put up the tree, and Hanukah starts next week (blended household, in case you didn’t know.) Fall semester is over next week, and we’re all very much looking forward to Winter Break. We found out last week that Teen Boy has been accepted to his top college, but we haven’t committed yet — we want to hear from the last two and see what they’re offering. But top school has started the process of evaluating the college credits he already has, so we’ll see what they come back with.

Spring semester will be all kinds of interesting and exciting — here’s hoping that senioritis holds off until the first week of May, though!

So much happening in 2024! But I need to finish 2023 first, so back to work!

Works in Progress

Valley of Shadows
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

62071 / 90000 (68.97%)

New Release!

Snowbound dropped today! You can get it anywhere you find ebooks!

Snowbound — because brown paper packages aren’t the only things getting tied up…

Promotions!

Cyber Monday Sale is Live!!!! You can find the first three Heir to the Firstborn books for $0.99 cents each! In addition, Hidden Things and Counsel of the Wicked are also still $0.99!

Nov

2023

The Prep Begins

T-minus-10 days until Thanksgiving. The prep begins. I started today with the baking of the pumpkin pie. Why start so early? Because I want to enjoy my Thanksgiving, thank you very much. I started today with cleaning a room, and baking a pie. Tomorrow, I have to get my ~~head~~ eyes examined, so I’m not cleaning, but I am going to get all the shopping done, and I’ll be making candied ginger because I need it for the cranberries and for the turkey, and I can’t find candied ginger without a wheat warning anywhere. I’m also starting sourdough rolls (technically I started today because I fed the starter, but I make the actual dough tomorrow.)

I actually sat down to make a schedule of what gets cleaned and/or cooked on what day covering every day between now and Thanksgiving. Every day has a room to clean or shopping to be done, and a dish to prepare. This early, things will head to the freezer, which will leave room in the refrigerator to defrost the turkey that I’ll be brining next week (I use Alton Brown’s turkey brine from Good Eats.)

My plan is that by the time Thanksgiving comes, all I have to do is get up, have breakfast, watch the parade, and put the bird in the oven. Everything else (with the exception of whatever fresh vegetables I make) will be done and just need to be warmed. That way, I can have a relaxing time with my house full of people. It’s a plan that’s worked very well for a very long time now.

I haven’t given much thought yet to Cookiepocalypse. One holiday at a time, right? But Cookiepocalypse is coming, and I’ll be taking requests from the young people in my life as to what cookies they want. And from the older people in my life, too. Once I know what I’m making, I’ll make a schedule for baking that allows me to also keep working on Balance of Power.

I’m starting to think that Balance of Power may need a new title. I’ve gone far enough away from the original outline that Balance of Power no longer quite fits the story. The current front runner in my head is Valley of Shadows. I think it fits better. We shall see what the Patrons think.

In other news, I found out the other day that Morrigan’s Heir has been pushed back to early 2024. As soon as I have a date, I’ll share it.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print. It’s much later in the day than I usually post to the blog, but it’s been a busy day! And there’s another busy day tomorrow.

Catch you all next week.

Works in Progress

Balance of Power
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

55575 / 90000 (61.75%)

Promotions!

First in Series Friday is Coming! Friday, November 24th (Black Friday in the US), the first books in Heir to the Firstborn, Rebel Mage, and Swords of Charlemagne will be on sale everywhere for 99 cents.

Then, on Cyber Monday, the sale continues! The Cavalcade of Authors will be holding a huge Cyber Monday sale, and for that sale, I’ll be adding in Forged in Fire AND Bones of Earth! To know when the link goes live for this one, you need to sign up for my newsletter. (I usually only put out one newsletter a month, although if there’s a new release or a big event, there might be a special edition.)

Now Available!

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