"A word after a word after a word is power." -Margaret Atwood

Plus a special BOGO sale on writing sessions!

As my kid—now six and in first grade—is learning to read, he has delighted in this shirt designed by Out of Print featuring a Margaret Atwood quote:

It’s gotten to the point that, when I sit down for a writing session, he watches me type and mumbles, “a word after a word after a word.” Although, to be fair, I am pretty sure he thinks that the “power” part of this equation means that my books are going to turn into TNT and blow things up or something.

Regardless, it’s kind of an awesome quote for him to memorize. And I definitely feel powerful when he watches me work.

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Word Lab Can Help You Meet Your Writing Goals:

Do you have a resolution to get your novel written? It’s not too late to join me for January’s Word Lab, and kickstart your writing goals! Consider it online writing office hours, a sacred time to join the community and focus on your work. Twice a week— Sundays from 2-4 and Wednesdays 8-10—join a group of focused writers for sprints and on-the-spot encouragement and guidance.

As an added bonus! Everyone who signs up for January Word Lab is going to get a free month of February Word Lab as well! All you have to do is sign up for January, and we’ll send you the codes for February’s Word Lab 100% free. It’s our first BOGO sale ever!

Not ready to join the community? Don’t forget that I have an entire series of online writing courses available here. Each one comes with a downloadable worksheet and build you up from initial idea to final draft strategies.

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A Brand-New Magical Book, developing before your eyes

December saw the end of my first serialized novel, Blood and Feathers. It’s going to be converted to print and traditional e-book soon (although you can still read it as a serial). I also immediately dove into my next venture: The Museum of Magic.

It’s basically Brendan Frasier’s The Mummy but with English witches. The first chapter opens with a crash, a mostly-naked and mostly-fae boy, and a witch hunter who doesn’t follow the rules.

What happens next?

I have no idea.

See, this book is going to be truly interactive. Every major choice, fight, romance, and decision is going to be dictated by a pretty unique combination of:

• tarot card pulls

• dice rolls

• reader votes

• sheer dumb luck

Want to see how that works? You can see how Chapter 1 develops by clicking this public and free post on my Patreon. I video taped my initial tarot card pull and dice rolls, then turned it over to the readers, allowing them to use a dice roll to determine what secret information THEY got to know that the main character didn’t.

I loved the interaction with voting on Blood and Feathers, but realized that I waited too late in the game to get it, and didn’t have as many options as I wanted. So I’m developing The Museum of Magic as a TOTAL choose-your-own-adventure style experience, with each and every chapter.

Episodes will be written after each video—I’m currently wrapping up the Prologue and Chapter 1 for publication based on the first video linked above—and every chapter will have a combo of chance and votes to determine the fate of the charcaters. Soon, I hope to be doing the videos live, with immediate feedback and votes as the story develops.

Once written, the chapters will be posted on Kindle Vella—probably starting in February—but you can get them early and interact with the choices and votes by joining my Patreon.

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What else is new? I’ve recently accepted a position as an adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University, and start my first class next week!

What I’m working on now…

• Museum of Magic, a YA fantasy with witches and witch bottles: Prologue and Chapter 1 publishing soon. Follow me on social media and Patreon for behind-the-scenes.

• Secret adult science fiction project 1: currently drafting: 81,000 words written, hoping to finish by mid-January (projected to be 90-100k words)

• Secret adult science fiction project 2: currently drafting: 35,000 words written, hoping to finish by January/February, but may be March

• Adult historical novel: probably not going to sell, so I’ll take it out of the list next time. It was totally done, got lovely rejections, but is set in an unpopular time period and doesn’t include romance, so it’s a hard sell.

• YA historical co-written fantasy: 🤐

• New story idea (paranormal with ghosts): outline done, planning to start it in the new year, but not until March or so

As always--thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m happiest when I’m working, and all I really want to do is tell stories. Thank you for listening. <3