Yearly Archives: 2023

22 posts
The book cover for Cast a Shadow of Doubt next to a small white birthday cake with a candle and the text "Happy First Kook Birthday!"

A Book Birthday for CASOD!

Cast A Shadow Of Doubt

A year ago my second book in the Stories of the Eleriannan, Cast a Shadow of Doubt [aka CASOD], was released to the world. It centers on Lucee Fearney, a character who surprised me while I was writing In Sleep You Know with just how important and loveable she is – and I knew the second book needed to center on her.

The thing about Lucee is that she cares deeply. She’s a good friend, willing to put herself out to help the people she cares about, even to risk her life if she has to. She wants to do good in the world, and she’s willing to give people a second chance, no matter how large their mistakes are. She struggles with impostor syndrome, though everyone respects her and thinks she does an amazing job – especially as a once-mortal leading a complicated group of Fae. Her experiences as a young Black woman who grew up in a difficult home situation with only her best friend Merrick for support are why she loves and protects her found family so fiercely.

In CASOD I also tease out some of the connections that surround Lucee, especially her friendship with Sousa and her relationship dynamics with Cullen. I always think about how difficult it must be for the long-lived Fae, with their perspective over extended timelines, to watch their mortal beloveds struggle through growth and change. Especially for Cullen, who had kept away from love for a very long time – his coping mechanisms definitely involve pampering those he cares for. [I’d love a Cullen in my life; he’d definitely fill the house with flowers and my belly with delicious food!]
Sousa’s story to Cullen about how he and Lucee met is one of my favorite parts of the book. I actually wrote that very early on while working on CASOD, but the story’s been in my head since the beginning.

Trufax – I wasn’t sure how that guitar was going to show up later. Just like so many things with The Drawback, it all resolved seamlessly when the time came.

You know, there’s so many things I’d love to talk about when it comes to the books, but I am a firm believer in not spoilering, so I hold myself back. Maybe I need a secondary mailing list to discuss these things? 🤷🏻‍♀️

What a cast, eh? I love all of them so much.

If you haven’t read Cast a Shadow of Doubt yet, it’s available from me directly via my Ko-fi, or if you’re short on cash and like paperbacks, right now Amazon has it and In Sleep You Know selling for under $10 each. There’s no knowing how long that’ll last, so I’d jump on it now if you’re interested. [I still make my full royalty, no worries!]

Thanks for coming along on this Fae-tastic ride with me. I will be posting later this week about some of the themes I write about and why, and what’s coming next. Make sure to follow along to get all the background info!

[Some of these links are affiliate links. What that means is that I am referring you because I like and use this item, and I’ll get a little bit of cash for recommending it, which supports me and my work. Everyone wins!]
Sculpture of tall poles that taper at the top like hair against blue sky and pink clouds. Text says "reach for the sky"

2023: Reach For The Sky

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Goals On Creating Personal

First and foremost, Happy New Year to you, my readers and supporters – without you, I’d just be yelling into the void and listening to these voices in my head instead of writing their stories down to share! You are the reason for everything and I hope your year to come is filled with everything good and fulfilling. 💜

Even before this time of the year – the annual musing on endings/beginnings days – got here, I’ve been thinking about what I want to change about how I’m living. It’s reflected in my Word of the Year, which is Embrace. I’ve been living a life with many restrictions since before the pandemic started, when I had my first emergency surgery and subsequently had my diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease. Basically, I was out of commission from the end of August 2019, then when started to get healed to the point where I was able to live a life again, everything went into lockdown. Surprise! Then my health began to spiral downwards again, so I wasn’t interested in doing much anyway.

Ironically, during this time I did write and publish two books, the first ones in the Eleriannan series. So despite being restricted, I continued to create and grow. However, 2022 has been the most challenging for me since the end of 2019. I was sick and miserable, unable to do much or feel safe in leaving the house for anything but short errands. In fact, the last time I did anything fun or challenging was when I was a vendor at the Baltimore Faerie Faire back in April. That was a blast, and I’m so glad I did it, because not long after my body went into a Crohn’s flare and there I stayed until my eventual surgery in September. Then there was the second surgery in November, and a recovery that’s felt like an uphill climb.

Finally, finally, I feel like myself again. Well, mostly? It’ll take time to regain stamina and strength, but I’m feeling re-energized and more alive than I have in ages. That bodes well for you as a reader, because I’m back to writing daily, making steady progress on Stories of the Eleriannan #3, which I’ll be talking about more in coming days! My writing schedule has been kinder and more in sync with my current abilities and energy levels.

Image of Min Yoongi aka SUGA of BTS dressed in white in front of a grey wall. Text/caption reads "I think I'm also gonna try something really big this year"
I’m following your lead, Yoongi.

Back in August, I wrote a list of Reach For the Sky Big Achievements that I want to happen in my writing career. These are goals that the parts of my mind that are rational and nay-saying look at and just bust a gut laughing at my audacity. But you know what? I’m a huge believer that if you don’t put it out there, it won’t happen.
I think I’ve written about these goals somewhere in public before, but again, it hurts nothing to put them out there again. I mean, I’m sure some people will read this and also laugh at my audacity. It’s cool, go ahead! It is audacious, and that’s the point. If you don’t dream about a seemingly unreachable future, how can you even get halfway there?

So in no particular order, here is my List of Future Achievements:

  • published short stories that I’m paid for
  • several bestsellers [by some unidentified metric]
  • to be a panelist at cons [ult goals are Balticon, Nebula Conference, World Fantasy Con, Worldcon]
  • to be a Guest of Honor at any of the above
  • to win a Nebula and/or Hugo
  • to run a writer’s class and be paid fairly for it
  • to get 50+ positive ratings on each of my books
  • to have created a body of work

Reminder: I said these were reach for the sky. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t out of reach. The important thing, in my opinion, is to create goals that are HUGE and RIDICULOUS. Aim for things that seem impossible, then structure your plans so that every step in that direction brings growth. Even if you never make the big goals, you’ll have an amazing outcome.

And let me say this, because it’s important: this is what works for me. You don’t have to have goals like these, or goals at all! I am a very goal-driven person and I use manifestation energy to great success, but I know not everyone works like that. For every method there’s a bunch of people who do it differently, and it’s important to use what works for you.

So how do I plan to work toward these goals? I’ll be sharing my steps with lots of personal detail and insight over on my Ko-fi, in the Writer’s Life and Craft tier. Successes and failures included! I hope you’ll join me over there. Even the free tier often gets updates that I don’t post over here!

Do you have any “Impossible” goals? I’d love it if you’d share in the comments!