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Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! With the Christmas holidays over, I'm home again and ready to get started into the new year. I have many goals for 2024, including a focus on spending my time more productively and intentionally, incorporating more healthy habits into my daily routine, and an increased priority on my writing goals! This newsletter will be structured a bit differently in honour of the new year, but I'll return to the usual format next month. As always, previous newsletters and other extras can be found here at my website's exclusive email archive. Stick around until the end for a bonus kitty picture! |
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Going through my writing logbook, I was shocked by how much I accomplished in 2023. In a single year, I finished the cover art process for When Shadows Fall, did additional formatting, editing, and proofreading for it, self-published it (my first published book!), completed most of a revision of book 2, and wrote an entire first draft for book 3. Not to mention the many hours spent marketing When Shadows Fall after its release!In total, I spent over 735 hours pursuing my writing career last year. That included approximately:- 70 hours of additional editing/proofreading of When Shadows Fall
- 165 hours spent working on book 2
- 76 hours working on book 3 (and about 150,000 words!)
- 72 hours of brainstorming for the series
- over 340 hours of miscellaneous self-publishing and marketing work
Over all, I'm pleased I had such a productive year. I'd love to see if I can invest 800 hours into my writing in 2024, but we'll see how things go!
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Plans for the Year ~ 2024
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Many people have been inquiring about a release date for Shadows of the Vale: Book Two, and I figured this would be a good time and place to give an update on that!
While I would love to say a 2024 release is in the cards, it is highly unlikely the book will be ready in time. In addition to more revisions, book two will need lots of editing before it's done, not to mention formatting, cover art, proof-reading, and various preparations for release. It is also important that I do more work on book 3 before publishing book 2 to ensure the story is consistent between the two of them!
My hope is that book 2 will be ready for release by June, 2025, at the latest (with a possible late winter or spring release if things go well this year), with book 3 releasing in 2026 if possible.
Things are likely to change as the year progresses, but for now, my rough outline for 2024 looks like this:
January: Finish book 2 revisions, find beta-readers.
February/March: Work on book 3 while beta-readers read book 2.
April/May: Book 2 revisions based on beta-reader feedback.
June: Possible third round of beta-readers.
July/August: Book 2 first major edit.
September/October: Give book 2 to readers/editors. Work on book 3.
November/December: Book 2 second edit.
Additionally, I hope to take steps towards more efficient marketing of book 1 this year, as well as getting the ball rolling with cover art for book 2 and 3.
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Indie Ink Awards and Other News
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Voting has closed for the Indie Ink Awards, though they haven't announced which books made the top ten in each category yet. I don't know if When Shadows Fall will move on or not, but I want to thank everyone who took the time to vote for my book! I will be sure to update you all when I know more.
In other news, I will be sending out an email this week looking for potential beta-readers for the When Shadows Fall sequel, so keep an eye on your inbox if you're interested!
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I still don't have anything new for my Redbubble shop, though I did enjoy some colouring in my new colouring book this Christmas! (Pictures below.)For 2024, I would like to add one new design to my Redbubble shop each month, but with the shop not gaining much traction and with wanting to make writing my main priority, we'll have to see if that's a goal I can keep or not!
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Reading: My parents gave me "The Enclave" by Karen Hancock for Christmas, and I decided to jump right into it. I really like Hancock's "Legends of the Guardian-King" series, so I'm excited to read another book by her!
Playing: I've started a campaign of Dorf Romantik (yet another Christmas present!), a cooperative/solo legacy board game based on the video game of the same name. It's a lot of fun, and the many unlockable achievements/new tiles always leave me wanting to give it another go!
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When Shadows Fall is a YA fantasy novel about an anxious teenager who must go on a perilous quest to save her sister. It is available on Amazon in eBook and print and in the Kindle Unlimited library.
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Afflicted with debilitating panic attacks and constant anxiety, Ara Holstenner is the last person who would ever oppose the tyrant lord who subjugates her people. But when her sister is taken by shadow creatures, Ara must defy The Lord's edicts and brave the forbidden night world to save her.
Can Ara overcome the fears that have defined her since childhood, or will she doom her sister—and herself—to a lifetime of torment?
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If you've already read When Shadows Fall, don't forget to leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. I appreciate every single review and rating I get!
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Thank You and Happy New Year!
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It may be a bit late, but I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year! I hope 2024 proves to be a wonderful year, and that you find success with whatever goals you've set for yourself!
There's no better way to start a new year than with a kitty picture. On the car ride home, Kaylee kept smooshing her face against the carrier door, and it made such an unintentionally evil expression I just had to snap a picture!
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My poor kitty does not love travelling! |
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#11 1305 23rd Avenue, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 3S4, Canada |
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