I’m wracking my brain, trying to think of anything interesting that happened since the last newsletter. I bought a new (to me) car. A truck, actually. Four days in, the check engine light came on. I lost that roll of the dice. They were probably loaded dice, but I can’t prove it. I need a do-over week for all the people I snapped at that probably didn’t deserve it. 😬

my youngest had a sleepover with… I dunno, 10 friends? On the trampoline!

I spent creative juices on a non-writing topic that I enjoyed learning about: Artificial Intelligence. Specifically, Graph Neural Networks (GNNs). I now understand that the basics are very much like the Machine Learning language models, using node proximity like language models use word proximity. That got me thinking about netlists in chip design (my day job) and how you might use a GNN to notice certain problems in design. I frittered away time recreating software models from folks waist deep in the muck, because fiddling with things makes them more real (for me). I really enjoyed that. I'm only on Chapter 3 of 18, but the slowness is entirely my doing - I reread Chapters 2 & 3 several times to get them lodged in my brain more tightly.

Anyone heard of Fredrik Haren, The Creativity Explorer? I don’t know if Shahara, his Ops Manager, will actually read my newsletter, but she signed up! He’s going to interview me at the end of March—cool, right? Coincidentally, I’m on calls with Sweden for work more days than not of late. Funny little world, innit?

I finally circled back and updated my web site to reflect my latest book release. I also worked on fairly complicated connections for the mailing list--how to fix the situation when people's email readers decide my email sign-up confirmation is spam. I have a really weird problem on Amazon - the paperback description for Mother of Trees, and the picture for the cover, are both right in their database, but wrong when you bring up the book on Amazon.

Writing for Bones of Cenaedth reeeeeally slogged for the last couple of weeks. It's not so much writer's block as it is life forcing me to change my writing habits, and me resisting. OR, possibly I'm not pushing back hard enough. I ought to have more writing time, now that my oldest daughter has her license. Instead, I'm realizing how I do a lot of thinking while driving, and waiting in a parking lot for a kid was the perfect time to jot down those ideas. Jogging/running was another good time for new ideas, but I don't run as much because of arthritis--I try to balance running with other exercise that isn't as bad for my particular body. I haven't yet mastered the art of drifting away to another world while on a bike, or while doing a class. But this is life, and one adjusts.

I'm going to fire off another glimpse into the next book--this particular snippet has no spoilers. Again, it could all be gone by the time the book goes out the door. This small section of world-building took a long time, for reasons not obvious from the text. Certain things have to fit together, like one of those blacksmith puzzles where you have to separate the metal parts by turning them just so. The magic, the geography, even the morals of the different elf cultures (not to mention the trolls and dragons and their cultural values) have to work together, especially when there's dissonance.

As we cleared the twisted trees, the land sloped down, and I got my first look, and smell, of Theopolis, the city built on the edge of Fael Themar, also known as the Faelian Swamps.

Either the land had stretched fingers into the murky water, knuckle islands protruding without connection, or the water had attempted to swallow the land and bit off more than it could handle. Every meandering shoreline hosted knobby trees that interconnected at their roots, like one giant organism held the land and water in place. The smell was musty and earthy, but a sweet overtone drew my eyes to the white and purple flowers that peeked through the trees. Stone and wood buildings dotted the shore closest to the grasslands, stretching in a line rather than sprawling out into the swamp islands. To the north, a river spilled water from the grasslands, cascading off the hill we stood upon and tumbling in a series of waterfalls down to the town, where an elf-made barrier collected the water in a pond, and the swamp swallowed the spillover like it was nothing. Buildings hugged that pond the same way they embraced the shore. Empty pools dotted the strip of land between the hill and the swamp, pockmarks on the scar that defined the elf toehold.

“I… don’t understand what I’m seeing,” I said to my mother, waving vaguely toward the empty pools.

“Remember what I told you: the river shifts. Sometimes it comes through where you see it, sometimes where we are standing now. There are other openings farther north.” I looked behind us to be sure a wall of water hadn’t snuck up. My mother smiled. “The shifts can be quite sudden.” That explained the smooth passway; it wasn’t the work of elves, but of water.

If there's things you'd like to see in my newsletter that I'm not doing, please let me know. I've settled on a bit of non-writing, a bit of writing, and connections to other authors and their books. I'll try adding some recommendations for other newsletters. Here's my first, for my fellow writers.

Rebel Writing Courses

by Libby Copa

I help writers strengthen their writing and creative practice, navigate the publishing world, and turn their art into an act of rebellion.

Indie Author Showcase

Opportunities to find your next favorite author...

Kat Drummond

Ten Book Box Set

by Nicholas Woode-Smith

Action-packed Urban Fantasy, alcoholic pixies, and monsters galore in this now-complete series.

Okay, 99 cents for a ten-book set... seems like a good deal for a #1 Best Seller in Teen & Young Adult Werewolf & Shifter Fiction. Looks like the box set is a new release, and Nicholas would likely appreciate some ratings/reviews for the set. (Show your authors some love.)

Agent Down

by Janet Walden-West

Monsters are evolving. Their happy ending is imploding. And now they’re in a race to outlive a deadly bargain with the enemy…

Vee Ramirez is used to making sacrifices. So she takes it in her stride when a routine trip reveals strange behavior among the cryptids she was born and bred to fight. But after she stakes a rogue vampire, she’s shocked to discover her handlers have been toying with using the bloodsucker’s virus on their own agents.

Bruce Kantor doesn’t trust easily. But since he’s wildly loyal to those he lets in, the abrasive chef reluctantly agrees to his kickass fiancée’s request to see a doctor about his nagging cough. And when he receives a devastating diagnosis, he’s determined to wring every drop of joy out of his remaining days with the brilliant beauty.

Diving deep into forbidden research, Vee exposes herself to the fanged undead in the hopes of discovering a new treatment. But while Bruce scorns her blind faith in her superiors, he fears she’s about to violate everything she believes in and do a deal with the devil.

With mutations and blood flowing through the streets, will their passion survive?

Agent Down is the tension-filled second book in the Region Two urban fantasy series. If you like fierce characters, dark romance, and touches of snark, then you’ll love Janet Walden-West’s steamy suspense.

Buy Agent Down to keep evil at bay today!

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May you get lost this week in another world.