.png)
Life Updates and Kitten Madness
So you may have noticed I've been a bit quiet of late. I wish I could say that it's because I've been writing, but that would have required the free time and mental capacity. It be like that sometimes. And with the Arizona summer seasonal depression about ready to kick in, I'm hoping that I won't disappear altogether. But it turns out, there's actually been a lot of change happening behind the scenes. And all in all, it's good stuff.
For one, I've moved! Not too far, just about an hour away from my old house--which my ex and I accepted an offer on last night only five days after listing it. The new place is very much more a home for me than my previous living situation, as I'm in with my girlfriend and editor, Vanessa Redmon. It's been a long time coming and we're looking forward to actually being able to see each other and be together every day.
Additionally, the assortment of cats that dominates has grown as we're currently taking care of four kittens until they are old enough to be adopted. Vanessa found them in our shed and couldn't help but take them in. I mean, can you blame her? They're adorable. They started off pretty scared of us, but the last couple weeks of socialization has done wonders with them all.
From left to right, that's April, Greyson, Charli, and Mason. Two boys and two girls. April--the calico--is staying with us. She's progressing faster than the other three, but they've made great strides in just the last few days. They are going to need good homes in a few weeks when they're old enough. It's going to be tough because we've already fallen in love with them. Merlin included, which was certainly reassuring when we took them in. Sadly, we can only afford so many cats.
But look at them. He's big brothering so well.
We had been considering getting Merlin a new brother or sister at some point since we lost Jasper back in September, but the time never felt right. We didn't want to feel like we were replacing Jasper. Clearly fate and feral kitten season have intervened.
And of course, I spent the last week preparing and adding products to my new merch shop. I posted a blog about that the other day. Here's the link in case you missed it.
Along with some other personal challenges (the nature of which I won't go into here), these things have taken up a lot of my time. And as one would expect, moving was an exceptionally stressful process.
Unfortunately, it has meant that I haven't made as much progress on The Shadow Sisters as I would like. I am, however, sitting at just under 80,000 words so far. So it's fair to say that it's progressing nicely. Still, this feels like it's going to end up being longer than any of my other books to date, so I may end up moving the expected release window into next year. That would mean that 2023 would be the first year since I published The Stairs in the Woods that I won't have a book out, so I'm hoping that's not the case.
I did just do a read through of what I have so far, and did some slight revisions while I was at it. The plan is to let my aforementioned editor take a look at what I have so far before I keep going just to make sure I'm on the right path. I'm feeling good about what I have, but it never hurts to get that outside perspective. And since it's been a couple of months since I've made any real progress on it, I'm hoping the fresh perspective with help get the juices flowing once more. In the meantime, here's the book trailer for The Shadow Sisters to get you hyped up for it:
Yes! Book trailers! I unlocked a new skill on my character sheet recently. I actually went to school for video editing back when video was called film, so I already understood the basics. So a couple months ago I made trailers for all of my books! They've been up on TikTok and Youtube for a while, but they're also on the front page of this website! They can be found right next to the newsletter signup--so, ya know, sign up while you're checking them out.
As for me, hopefully I'll be writing again soon. And I'm going to try and be more consistent about the whole blog and newsletter thing. As goes my mental health, so goes my productivity. So with all these changes, I believe we're heading to more good things ahead. Let's find out together...