Which is exactly what I did this New Year’s Day. I spent some time in the garden and some time straightening up the house and doing some cooking. I also spent a little time drawing. But more importantly, to my mind at least, I was able to daydream a bit and get some words down on paper. Here’s to hoping this year continues as it began. How did you spend your New Year’s day?
Cover concept art for The White Hind. The morning sun was distracting me a little bit! 🙂
My plan for this year, writing-wise, is to finish the third book in the Stolen Away series, post more episodes for The Lightkeeper and start to post the WIP for book one in the Exile’s Dreams series on Ream, and make serious inroads into Where Her Bones Lie, the second book in my An Affinity for the Dead series. Writing it out as I just did makes it seem a little ambitious (and just a touch daunting), but that is my plan all the same. Here’s to hoping the new year is a joyous and prosperous one for all.
I feel it’s safe to say that this has been a bit of a rollercoaster year, complete with ups, downs, and loop-the-loops.
It started off with a lot of uncertainty and frustration. My mom had just begun chemo, everything around the house was breaking, and the people we brought in charged us huge amounts of money, and the stuff still isn’t fixed. My husband had a job opportunity that he was excited about – slight problem, it was on the other side of the country.
The job was back and forth. At first it didn’t seem like it was going to happen – then it did… then it didn’t, then it did… This went on for so long I jokingly called it the pet cemetery job. Every time we thought, “That’s it. It is not happening,” my husband would get a call and the whole process would start again. (If you have read Stephen King’s book by the same name, then you’ll get the reference. Though I hope our ending is better than the book’s 😀 )
On the upside, we were able to travel and go to more shows this year than we ever have before: plays, Cirque du Soleil, family vacations, and such. Which has been a big challenge for my daughter in the past.
Lots of ups and downs, as I said.
No surprise that my creativity suffered. I was able to work some on the third book in the Stolen Away series, and start a new project – posting stories and such on Ream. But finding the words was a struggle.
So now, at the end of the year, as the river of time seems intent on rushing us into the new one, everything has changed. My mother has successfully (fingers crossed) finished her chemo. My daughter has taken the next steps in her life towards being an employed member of society (for someone on the spectrum, this is often a long process). And my husband is in Wisconsin, starting his new job. From South Florida to Wisconsin, that is a BIG change!
Funny enough, I am not one for changes, especially big changes, but as this year draws to a close, everything feels oddly… hopeful.
My husband is off on a new adventure, and vicariously, so am I. Don’t get me wrong, all of us here miss him, but it has been kind of exciting to share with him all the new things that he has been experiencing – like snow! And these last two weeks, I’ve had a chance to breathe, and my muse has been peeking through the window to see if I’m ready yet for her to come back.
Next year feels like it will be one filled with excitement and hope, a sloughing off of the old as we race forward into the new year. It may not live up to all my expectations, but I feel like we have started out on the right foot.
Wishing all of you, everywhere, a joyous and prosperous new year.
Come with me to the Ascher family cemetery, where the dead do not rest as quietly as they should. Free to read, October 24th through the 31st, on Ream Raid. Click here or here.
If you have been reading my blog for a while then you know that I rarely have only one WIP at a time. I usually have a main project (currently the third book in my Stolen Away series), a secondary project (the second book in my An Affinity for the Dead series), and a “fun” project – or projects – that serve as a sort of palette cleanser for the other two. All of that was just so I could tell you about another new venture.
I have been working on an epic fantasy for a while now (*cough* thirty years *cough*). Out of all of my works, it is probably the best example of hard worldbuilding. It takes place on an entirely different world with no ties to the one we live in, it has its own mythos, its own creatures and peoples, its own seasons, its own language (not to the level of Tolkien, but certainly there are things there that do not exist here, so they have their own names and words associated with them). As with all worldbuilding, so much of it will never appear on paper, save for a word here or a reference there. But good worldbuilding adds depth to a story, like lemon in a recipe. You might not always taste it, but just having it in there wakes up all the other flavors.
Still, it is a shame that all that information will never see the light of day outside of my notebooks – then again, maybe it could. At least that is the idea that came to me. Not too long ago, I started following the Outrageous Crew on Ream, and I thought, Hmm, this has potential.
Now, I do share some of my worldbuilding on this blog, but I thought wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could share more! And what if I could share it in a format that allowed people to easily be a part of it? And then there it was – Ream Stories – a place to share my stories, and all of what goes into them, plus serials, short stories – a wonderful writing repository!
So about that epic fantasy I’ve been writing… Usually, when a story comes to me, it comes to me in a rush, near fully formed, like a movie playing through my head, and I scramble to commit as much to memory as I can before it fades. But not too long ago, something a little different happened. I don’t know if it was my desire for something peaceful and uncomplicated or what, but I had a picture pop up in my head of a lone woman sitting on the stoop of a stone hut, looking out across an endless ocean at the setting sun.
That picture stuck with me. It reminded me of a place I had built while playing Minecraft years ago, and I kept thinking about the novel Island of the Blue Dolphin. Scenes would present themselves from time to time, but there was no real plot behind them, just little slice-of-life moments. This was a nice change, a palate cleanser between my other WIPs. So I continued to daydream about this lone woman tending an ancient lighthouse on an archipelago in the middle of an endless sea; the creatures she would interact with, the peculiarities of the lighthouse she tended. Where had it come from? What were its secrets? Was there a race of beings that lived in the sea around her? Was there a creature sleeping in the caverns below the lighthouse? Where had it come from?
As time went on, I started to notice some parallels to another world, one that I had been writing in for some time. The more I thought about it, the more my Muse whispered in my ear that it was a good idea. But the lone woman and her lighthouse had no bearing on the story I was already writing in that world! Another whispering from my Muse, “This could be a way to share that little splash of lemon!” A place where the bones of that world could be seen.
To that end, I will be releasing the first episode of The Lightkeeper in September. I hope you all enjoy it, and I am looking forward to hearing what you think!
My husband’s parents used to tell him that, and sadly, it’s 100% true. No matter how much we want to do it all, most times it’s just not possible. I have been feeling that more and more lately.
I love to do so many things, gardening, writing, cooking, art… not to mention those things I only dabble in, like pottery and knitting. But recently, I have found that even those things that I love most have lost their shine, or in some cases have even become onerous. Apparently, I have been stretching myself too thin. My garden, which has always been a place of wonder and imagination, has become an unmanageable chore – especially in the intense heat of the Florida summer. And my kitchen – that place of alchemical delight where separate ingredients come together to create happiness (food is, to my mind, magic) – well, let’s just say I have had a severe case of the “I don’t wannas” when it comes to cooking lately. To anyone who has known me for a while, this might seem like a herald to the end of days.
Probably the most frustrating has been my writing. My muse has been whispering all sorts of interesting things in my ear, but stress and obligations keep stealing them away before they can make it down on paper.
A choice had to be made, and I decided writing was the one I wanted to make.
So instead of the plans I had to expand my garden, it will now become a little smaller and hopefully more manageable. And I have already made cooking and shopping easier by using services like HelloFresh and Hungry Root. Mine has always been a “from scratch” kitchen, so I had expected the change to be something of a disappointment. But so far, I have been pleasantly surprised. Dinners are much easier and faster to make, but still tasty.
I still love doing all the things I have always loved to do, I just had to be willing to compromise, to be okay with making things simpler. I can’t do everything, but I don’t have to give it all up either.
A.J. Lancaster’s books never fail to delight! If you have ever read any of my reviews (or any of my own books for that matter) then you know I am a sucker for stories with beautiful imagery, interesting worlds and endearing characters. Her books have all of these! So you can see why I am excited to read her upcoming book, How To Find A Nameless Fae. It is scheduled for release June 26th, 2025. But if you are like me and can’t wait that long to read it, fear not! You can request an advanced reader’s copy here: link.
If you are new to A.J. Lancaster’s books, check out my posts A series worth rereading and A series worth rereading – again. If you have read any of these books or end up receiving an ARC of How To Find A Nameless Fae, let me know what you think in the comments!
When I was growing up, I often explored the land around where I lived, usually on horseback. I would pack some snacks or a lunch and go out riding through the pine woods and along the white sandy roads.
Sadly, many of those woods and wild places are gone, but thankfully not all of them. Here are a few pictures of the places that filled my childhood and stoked my imagination.
Riverbend and Loxahatchee Battlefield Parks
I included links at the bottom for those who are curious.
You can still see evidence of the people who used to live in this seemingly wild place. If you like history or are just a little curious, here are some links for you to check out.
Idyll Dreams & Nonsensical Things 