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What Am I Working On?

Untitled Book: I’ve put this one to the side for the moment. With some big changes coming my way in just a few weeks, I decided I needed to focus on another series first. I’m hoping to get back to it in a few months.

The Blackbriar Coven: Last month I had just passed the 11,000-word mark. As of today, I’m written just under 25,000 words on this book. I’m really excited about how it’s shaping up. I had originally aimed to finish the first draft in December, but I’m not sure I’ll make that. I’m definitely on track to finish in January, though.

The Dark House at the Crossing of the Worlds: Still waiting to hear back from beta readers on this one.

What Have I Been Reading?

I finally finished Naomi Novik’s Scholomance trilogy. It was definitely a wild ride, and one I could see myself returning to in the future. I wrote more about it on my Patreon, if you’re interested.

With that trilogy finished, I’m back to focusing on The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. It’s a cozy fantasy, and has been amusing so far.

What Have I Been Watching?

Phill suggested we watch the documentary series Ancient Apocalypse, and I’m glad he did. It’s been really intriguing so far. Here’s the show description:

“Journalist Graham Hancock travels the globe hunting for evidence of mysterious, lost civilizations dating back to the last Ice Age.”

Phill has already gotten a book idea from watching it, and it’s been stirring my imagination as well.

Wildwood Minstrels

We’re so excited to announce we have a new member, Elizabeth Anne! Elizabeth and I have been friends for a few years now, and met through the Tolkien community. I’m beyond excited to play music with her.

Future Bestseller Podcast

On Future Bestseller Podcast, we talk about the craft and business of writing and feature various guests.

We’re still on hiatus. This could change in January, but we’ll see.

Spreadsheet Fun

Those who know me are probably not surprised to learn that I like to track my data and I plan far in advance. My financial spreadsheet projects finances ten years into the future, which allows me to plan purchases and see how changes in circumstances will affect me years from now.

Since I’m guessing you guys care more about my writing than talking about finances, I won’t bore you with my excitement over my transition from my self-created spreadsheet that I’ve been using for a decade to a new spreadsheet that comes with awesome graphs and new ways of looking at my budget.

However, I will share my excitement about finally creating the word count tracker of my dreams.

A lot of the word count trackers I’ve come across either track a single project from its creation to its finish, or it tracks all your writing for a single month or year. I’ve only come across one that tries to do both in a single spreadsheet, allowing you to zoom out to see all your writing across the year, along with monthly and yearly goals, then zoom in to see your individual project goals. However, I haven’t been completely happy with it because of the way it displays the individual projects. The month and year views involve graphs and percentages, but the individual projects are downplayed, the information easily lost amidst all the other data on the page.

ANYWAY, I’ve finally figured out the Excel formulas I need to create the tracker myself. I’ve purchased trackers from Svenja Gosen in the past, and because I love her art and the colors she uses, I’m using her trackers as templates and merging them with other trackers she’s created, adding the formulas and a few extra sheets so that I can have a single tracker that does everything I want.

If you’ve read to the end of this, thank you for your patience. I’m one of those strange people who can get excited about spreadsheets (depending on the data it’s tracking), and this is something I’ve been wanting for a really long time. I’m still working on getting everything set up and am excited to use it in the new year.

Language Corner

In this section I like to share words from languages I’m learning. This month is more Irish words!

Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone! Can’t wait to see you all again in the new year!

Patreon & Ko-fi

I post once a week on Patreon about all sorts of things: writing, books I’m reading, things going on in life. Once a month I also share sneak peeks at whatever book I’m working on. Now that I’ve started the new book, the next few months will be snippets of that. It would mean the world to me if you considered joining.

I am also on Ko-fi, which is sort of like Patreon, but with one key difference: you’re not locked into a subscription. Ko-fi allows readers to donate however often they’d like to creators they follow. No subscriptions if you don’t want them, no commitments, and you have control over when and how you donate. I don’t post quite as often on Ko-fi, but I’ve been having fun sharing little micro-stories there, if you’re interested.

Get in Touch

Thanks for reading!