Back in the old days of the internet, we had blogs instead of social media. Most of our general life updates went on our own blogs. Some of the old blog platforms are still around and in use, but most people have migrated to social media for general updates because it’s faster. Sometimes I wonder why that is. There are no rules to how blogs have to be used. I’ve seen some people use it just like they might use Facebook, sharing a two- to three-sentence general comment on things each day. Sometimes that sounds nice. Sometimes, though, it sounds more like an overload.
But it’s also nice to blog general updates of things, and I haven’t done a lot of that this year, so I figured it would be good to do one now since I’m beginning work on my next big project.
Paragon of Light is being written now; I started at the beginning of the month. I’d originally wanted to start in February, but I had so much work left over from January that I wasn’t able to. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get Paragon of Light out in May like I wanted, but perhaps in June. There’s still a chance I can get 4 books out this year (like I planned) but 3 won’t be a letdown! My cover artist and I are working on developing the cover and I absolutely love the direction it’s going thus far. I’ll share the first peek with my newsletter as soon as it’s ready, though I’m not quite sure when that will be! I guess it doesn’t matter too much, since I’m not done writing the book.
I’d planned to do two Spectrum Legacy releases this year and two Artisan Magic releases, but I am not sure if that will still be the case. Ideally, I’d want the third Artisan Magic title out in the fall–but I still anticipate not being able to get any writing done over the summer, which makes that seem a little out of reach. My focus may be on trying to wrap up the Spectrum Legacy books, because there are two more left after Paragon of Light and I think it may be possible for me to write the ending of the series before the end of the year. Doing so would push the third Artisan Magic book back to early 2024, but I admit that series feels a little less urgent since both books currently in the series tell a story on their own and make a perfectly reasonable stopping point. Even if The Spymaster’s Prize includes a small teaser at the end. 😉
A few other things have kept me busy lately, too. While I’m still working slowly and at a reduced capacity due to my health, I’ve finally moved on to the process of casting the doll I sculpted for Tahl, which I shared all the way back in the summer of 2021. I have my own home casting studio to produce pro quality dolls now, which means he’ll be going up for preorder soon. My first doll in production! I’ll probably blog a bit about the process once I get things underway, because there are a lot of moving parts to it.
I haven’t done as good a job of making videos as I’d like. I film vlogs but have trouble finding time to edit them, and haven’t been able to do as much work on doll things for the aforementioned health reasons. So my projects have been a little slower in coming together and there’s not much to share. I’d love to get to a point where I can stream or something, because I miss the social aspect of video sharing online, but not until a few things settle, I guess. I’ve got several doctor appointments across the next week, more tests to try and figure out what’s going on with me and how I can improve my health, and maybe I’ll have more answers after that.
In the meantime, the biggest thing that eats up my free time and makes it hard to work is the addition of a new furry family member, who I shared a photo of in my newsletter last month. After our sweet white husky reached the end of her days last summer, I knew my husband would miss having a dog, and our daughter did, too. It was right around Christmas that he said he wanted another dog. I’m not much of a dog person, mostly due to bad experiences, but I told him if we could find a husky so I’d know what we were getting into, I was okay with bringing one home. Now we have Tozi, and she is a handful.
Don’t let the sweet sleepy photo fool you; she’s a ceaseless fountain of energy with needle-sharp teeth.
I’m not sure how I’ll work out filming and streaming with a very vocal puppy around, but I know she’ll settle as she ages, and it’s fun to watch her play in the remnants of the fall’s leaves out back. It’s a nice excuse to do my writing outside in the sunshine and pleasant early spring weather, too, whenever it’s not raining. She can’t be trusted out there on her own. Huskies love to dig, you know…