September Newsletter

Hello, hello friends!

Another month is coming to an end, and Halloween is soon upon us! The superior holiday imho. I love Christmas, too, because I am a sucker for lights and getting people dumb presents. I am the friend that gets gag gifts more often than not, but Halloween has my aesthetic. As I told my dad while Halloween shopping, all these decorations are simply my day-to-day decor lol I am working on expanding our Halloween decorations, so it’s always a blast to search for the next weird addition for our yard.

As for life events, my kittens got spayed/neutered and today is the day we can reintroduce them. They had to be separated for a minimum of ten days, mostly to make sure they weren’t playing too rough. Our little Queenie has stitches so we were told to wait and keep an eye on her, but both have healed up great and my anxiety can finally take a breather because I have been a wreck. The paper said no running or jumping, but they’re kittens, and they will do as they please.

As for writing, I don’t think I will be getting another book out this year under this penname. Verdant is practically finished, but I need to edit and save up for a cover/any interior work. My finances are pretty tight, so I don’t want to promise any releases, but if that changes, obviously I will inform you all here.

However, if you follow me on the tapas app, I have a story called Serving the Undying King that will be free of its contract in January. I will be publishing that around the end of January/beginning of February (and it will still be on tapas, for those of you who already purchased there.) That needs to be edited half to hell because I wrote it for tapas and webnovels simply have a different vibe, so there will likely be changes from the tapas version.

Reminder, you can read Verdant for free on tapas or wattpad. It’s updating weekly, sometimes twice a week, so it’s a fun way to read through the draft. (There are also other books that aren’t published, so feel free to read those, too.) I won’t be posting the other one-shots in this universe online but that doesn’t mean I won’t one day post another free novel somewhere. Sometimes I really miss the interactions and posting on tapas or wattpad are great ways to interact with readers when I’m in the need of a pick me up. Some y’all make me laugh and, considering the times we’re on, oh, we all really need that…

Admittedly, I am in the middle of one of my worst writer’s blocks ever. I don’t know what it is that’s making me so numb, other than burn out, although I think that has more to do with marketing more than anything. I have barely done any writing these last few weeks, which stresses me out more, and as much as I’ve tried playing video games or watching TV, nothing has really settled me. I’ve even read some great books, such as the Memento Mori series by C.S. Poe. If you like murder mysteries, complex relationships, and it’s gay, then give them a read. They rewired my brain, and I started the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, which is beyond phenomenal. This is the kind of fantasy that’s right up my alley.

I’m hoping I get out of this rut soon, that I might be hit by a wave of motivation like I was when I initially started Verdant. I wrote 80k words in six days and I need that burst of inspiration right now lol

There’s also a 50% off sale for the audiobook of Volume Two of Save the Demon King.

This is work done under tapas and they got the audiobooks done, so while I am still searching for ways to have my remaining books done in audio format, unfortunately, I don’t have any updates to give there. Keep your fingers crossed that it may happen one day.

And as a last reminder, my cozy slow burn romantasy inspired by Howl’s Moving Castle, The Curse of Indy Moore, is releasing September 29th under my second pen name, Sarah Barlowe. If you’re interested, mark your calendars or pre-order the ebook now! It will also be available on KU.

Anyway, that’s all the updates I have for now. Stay safe out there.