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Spirits of Salt and Sea: I changed the title (again), though I’m sure none of you are surprised. Sometimes it takes a while for a book’s title to come to me. I like this one a lot, so we’ll see if it sticks. Anyway, I’m creeping up on the halfway point of this book. My goal is to have the first draft finished by the end of December.

The Blackbriar Coven: I just got this one back from my editor, so I’ll go through his edits and comments, then do a final read-aloud draft.

The Bed and Breakfast Between Worlds: I’ve sent this one to beta readers and am waiting on feedback. Now that I have The Blackbriar Coven back, this one will be going to my editor.

I recently got back from a family girls’ trip, which included several Christmas movies. They were mostly on in the background while we did other things, but included some of my favorites: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Home Alone, and Home Alone 2.

I’m still playing Little Witch in the Woods, though I think I’m coming up on the final third of the game.

This has been a fun one, but I’m definitely starting to feel the pull of LotRO again. Once I finish this game, I’ll probably spend the rest of the month exploring Dunland. There’s also a Yule festival this month, which is usually fun.

To get in the holiday spirit, I’ve decided to share one of my favorite Christmas songs: “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”

Below are my three favorite versions of the song.

This first one appears on Charlotte Church’s Christmas album, Dream a Dream.

I wanted to include the version from Josienne Clarke’s and Ben Walker’s Christmas album, Midwinter, but wasn’t able to find it online. Most of the music they made together has sadly been taken down. If you can find a copy of it, though, I highly recommend it.

This final one might be my favorite of all, and appears on Loreena McKennit’s Christmas album, A Midwinter Night’s Dream.

We’re basically going into hermit mode this month, at least as far as book events go. We’ll have lots of family events, reading, and writing. Probably video games, too, if I’m honest.

I hope you all have a lovely holiday season and a happy new year!

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

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 of whatever book I’m working on. 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 patrons 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. At this point my Ko-fi page exists solely to allow one-off donations.

I decided to try Substack, since I’ve seen so many people join it recently. I’m curious to see if I like it, if it’s any better than some of the other platforms out there, or if maybe it will be worthwhile long-term. Time will tell.