Events

I’m sure every single person who is publishing adjacent, whether reader, author, or industry pro, has a sufficient number of tote bags, but did that stop me from ordering custom totes for my Buns & Roses table?

No, no it did not. 😂 Behold!

Turns out, they’ll let just anyone design and print custom totes, and this is a power I did not need to know existed, because CUSTOM! TOTES!! 😍 If you’d like one of these lovelies, there are still a few tickets left for my table.

I had a chat with my agent this morning about edits for the romantic fantasy. Overall, she loved it, but it needs some tweaks to make it even stronger (as all my drafts do), then we’ll take it out on submission and see if anyone is interested in buying it. Cross your fingers for me!

I’ll be in the editing cave for the foreseeable future, which means my current WIP—which was supposed to be a quick little short story and is instead 13k words and growing—will have to be put on hold for a bit. Or maybe I’ll try to stab it to death this week, but my brain is already in edit mode, so we’ll see what happens.

In fun news, Mr. M and I started playing Baldur’s Gate 3 last week, and then immediately spent all weekend in a gaming haze. We’re some ridiculous number of hours in and just finished the first act. The writing is incredibly good. Coming from Diablo IV, it’s just leagues better. (Sorry, Diablo, I love you, but we both know there was some questionable story telling in the second half.)

I’ve played D&D, and I know sort of top-level kinds of information, but I’m not exactly deep in the lore. So when the first weekend’s stats came out and Githyanki was the least-chosen character race, I decided to choose it for my kind, upstanding druid who loves everyone and just wants to stab bad guys in the face with a sword.

Hoo boy.

Apparently the Githyanki are kind of jerks. And by “kind of” I mean, definitely, absolutely are. But I’m being the change I want to see in the world!

Mr. M is playing a half-elf wizard who is tending toward the darker side of wizardry. He picked up a necromancy book, and I was like “we’re totally destroying that evil thing, right?” and he was like “oh yeah, for sure, let me just put in my pack, nothing to see here.”

I have a feeling that maybe the book wasn’t destroyed. 😂

I recently leveled up enough to turn into an owlbear, so now I can stab people in the face or smash them into itty bitty pieces with my giant claws. Best of both!

Are you playing? If so, tell me your about your character! Just please don’t spoil the story. :)

And finally, UK readers, if you were waiting for the paperback version of Capture the Sun, your wait is over! The book came out last week, so you can order it from your shop of choice. Happy reading!

Five years ago today, I was at my first ever author signing. Seems like forever and no time at all, in part thanks to all the time-warping the pandemic did. Look at this little baby author, so excited and so nervous:

Those of you who are good with numbers (or memory) will realize this was actually more than six months before Polaris came out. My publisher printed up a bunch of ARCs for the RWA conference, and I was in a room with a ton of authors I admired, desperately trying to pretend I was a professional and not a screaming fangirl. 🙈

Then last month, I got to sign my tenth (!!!!) book! Granted, there were a couple of novellas and a novelette in there, but even if we just count the traditionally published novels, it’s my sixth. Not bad for five years. :)

My hair certainly looks better, even if it’s a lot more gray now. And I no longer have the deer in the headlights stare (as much, lol). And look at all of those books on the table! 😍

I get to keep doing this job I love because all of you, so thank you so much!

And speaking of author events, if you’d like to see my smiling face in person, I’m going to be at ArmadilloCon here in Austin on August 4 – 6, along with a host of other SF/F peeps. I’ve seen an early panel schedule, and it looks like it’s going to be a fun conference, so come hang out with me!

On the writing front, I’m still waiting to hear back from my agent on the fantasy romance, so I’m poking at a couple of shorter things. I’ve written 7k of a second Books & Broadswords-universe story. It was supposed to wrap up around 9-10k, since I wanted it to be short, but it looks like it may go a bit longer. I’ll probably publish it as a serial once it’s done, but I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet, so plans may change, etc, etc.

Really, I’m just enjoying writing without a deadline or contract. It’s a little scary, too, not going to lie, but I needed the break.

Otherwise, we’re just hanging out inside and avoiding the broiler that is central Texas right now. Yesterday was our tenth day in a row of 105°F (40.5°C) or above. Do not want, please return to sender. Mr. M has started semi-seriously looking at real estate in another state, lol. It’s that bad. 😭

I hope that your weather is more pleasant, wherever you are!