My wife and I had a nice little long-weekend trip in the middle of what is otherwise a very hectic and stressful juncture of our lives. I spent one amazing day fishing with my buddy, Bobby off of Anna Marie Island, FL.

Me with a snook (she went back to the ocean) and a goofy look on my face (I kept that)

Bobby with a permit (that one was a fight and a miracle... wrong line, wrong hook, wrong bait)

Other than quick, and much needed, breaks, we’ve been tackling family medical issues, helping with hurricane recovery, and prodding our oldest (often kicking and screaming) toward all the college application stuffs. Bit of a madhouse these days.

I'm expecting the structural feedback on Bones of Cenaedth any time now. I don’t have it as of writing this newsletter, but I bet I get the feedback before the newsletter actually gets sent. Bottom line, I plan to switch back to working on Book 2 in August. Ironically, my fishing adventure was a nice but unintentional immersion technique for the reality of being out in the ocean with the sun beating down. 🤣 (Yes, we take to the seas with the Salts in Book 3).

There was a freebie on Amazon Ad school since my last newsletter, and I spent time learning a little more about marketing/advertising my books (and slightly less time writing). If you’re interested in what I’m taking away from the Ad School lessons, I’ll have that in a separate email for writers. Send me a note if you’d like to be added to that and don’t already receive it.

My wife has a comfort movie, You've Got Mail. When things get too rough, that's often her go to. When I hear it playing in the background, I know she needs a break. (Incidentally, Red's mother did the same in Book 1 of The Guardian League). I have a go to book -- Mirror of Her Dreams. I started reading it last night when I couldn't sleep because I was too worried about all the things. Do you have a go to book or movie that helps you de-stress?

To de-stress, I prefer to ...

read my go-to book or watch my go-to movie

scroll endlessly on social media

shop

drink copious amounts of alcohol

convince my significant other to act out that spicy scene I just read

clean (it only lets me have six options, so pick your favorite)

Okay, I am hesitantly slipping a short story into this newsletter. I'm pretty overwhelmed right now, but I sometimes turn to writing as a release. As I drove down to Houston, I was thinking about short story ideas for the Thaumatropic Roots series. I wrote something quickly over the last couple of days that I am calling (for now) "Blood Bound." It's the origin story for a character named Trentius, who you met briefly in Mother of Trees (bonus points to anyone that remembers who Trentius is and what "his thing" is... before reading the short story). What, you may ask, will those bonus points get me? Street cred. Massive street cred. Trentius continues on in Book 2 (unless the structural editor cuts him, and I don't think she's going to), and this story ties in nicely. Cut me some slack -- I didn't so much as run it through a spell-checker, must less the more advanced proofing tools I use. I'll clean it up when I get more time.

Blood Bound.epub <-- On an iphone, if you have kindle, you can get this to your kindle by downloading it, then clicking it from whatever tools you use to look at downloads on your iphone and share it to kindle. It takes a few minutes, as I think it uploads the file, sanity checks it, then pulls it back into your kindle.

Blood Bound - Trentius and his older sister, Elowen

Indie Author Showcase

Click here for books with strong female leads.

Click Here for a collection of books you can get free in exchange for a reivew

https://storyoriginapp.com/swaps/1d060dc2-42fc-11ef-a505-ffd19be18c8f

Welcome to CanEdania

by Natasja Eby

The evil lurking in the shadows has found its way to Canada…

When a new branch of the Edania Organization opens in Toronto, no one is more surprised to be recruited as an agent than Winter. Introverted and antisocial, Win has no desire to be a superhero, let alone be the leader of her team! But she can’t say no to her outgoing and energetic cousin Ben; her sassy and smart frenemy Savannah; or the cute new guy at school, Micah.

Together they embark on a journey to discover their new abilities…and an enemy threatening their home. But they’ll have to battle through clashing personalities and powers they don’t understand before they can save anyone. How can Win ever inspire her team when she barely believes in herself?