My biggest non-writing news is that my wife and I celebrated our 17th anniversary last week! We went out to a fancy dinner (with really dim lighting), and enjoyed fine food while straining our eyes.
I have to share my youngest daughter's latest foray into art - crocheting. This is all within the last week. She asked me to pick up crocheting needles from Michaels, and I like to encourage her different styles of art. For about a day, I heard massive complaining about how hard it is to crochet. Then on the 2nd or third day, she made these scarves.
Day 4 or 5 she makes a first attempt at an animal, and it doesn't turn out great, and before my eyes she pulls the whole thing apart in about one minute, saying she can start over. I was appalled that she tore apart her work so casually, but she didn't seem to mind. The next morning, she shows me the rebuilt frog. Now she has two, and I don't know if we are even a week into this hobby. [She started selling them to her friends now, and there's been several frogs that have gone out!] Anyway, I just love watching her try, get frustrated, work through it, and succeed. Life lessons we all need.
My wordle coopetition partner nailed three wordles on her second try for three days in a row this week, and another this morning. Will this mastermind ever be overthrown from her reign of terror? We play this in hopes of warding off dementia, but if she keeps smacking me around this like this... well I've already researched risk factors that increase dementia... don’t force me to use them. 👿
Our local B&N in Sunset Valley has autographed copies of Book 1 of The Guardian League displayed prominently on their shelves. Now I’m nervous about how long they will wait without a sale before they give up on me. 😬
I signed the contract with the artist for the next book - he's reading through the early copy of Mother of Trees*. I’m glad to be past that hurdle. (*The title might change if I split the story into multiple books.) I'm super excited about seeing his early thoughts--he really is fantastic, and I hope I can share with you soon. (Though he still has a heavy amount of school work which has to come first.)
Editing is still going slowly. Writing forward crawls at a snails pace as well. They're both moving though.
I'm supposed to record an episode on Fiction Fans Podcast this week. On the 29th... EEP, I just realized I have a conflict with the change in my oldest girl's basketball schedule. I better straighten that out pronto. Being on the podcast is not an opportunity I want to miss. (And I must remind my wife that she said she'll pick up our middle from dance... M/W are crazy lately!)
o To-Do list for writing last week:
o To-Do list for writing this week:
| Immerse Yourself... |
Previous Newsletters
May you get lost this week in another world.
If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humor—I write that. One urban fantasy series, one epic fantasy series, both set in the Fractured Arcana universe, with more coming. My newsletter takes you deeper into the worlds, the characters, and what's next.
I promise I’ve made progress on Father of Stones (FoS). Here's a screenshot to prove it: click the photo to get to the live data showing progress But... I have put a little time elsewhere. I want to invite you to try this web-game I’ve been building out. It was meant to be a role-playing game around Thaumatropic Fractures, but ended up being focused on Thaumatropic Roots. https://tfrpg.sjmorriswrites.com https://tfrpg.sjmorriswrites.com The game will ask you to use your email to associate...
I built a tracking page for Father of Stones (FoS) this week. I did not, notably, write very much of said book this week. There's a joke in there about creative avoidance and I'm not going to pretend I don't see it. Anyway — here's what I made instead. Word Count Over Time A live chart of Father of Stones' progress since late June. I'm not smoothing over the slow weeks. There's a very flat stretch from June 'til August where I worked on the Eigenthrope story, then another flat stretch through...
Yesterday I needed to remember exactly how a character destroyed a dragon artifact three books ago. I didn't dig through my own novels to find it—I asked an AI I built to search them for me. It's called the Grimoire: a mini-AI system I put together with Pinecone that I can ask questions about my own books—hair color in a different epoch, a side character I want to bring back, a detail I'd otherwise lose momentum digging for. It keeps me writing instead of hunting. That's the quiet way AI has...