September was an exciting month this year because of my latest milestone as an author: selling my book at my first book fair! I participated as a vendor in Queen Takes Book’s Local Author Fair in Columbia, MD, a relaxed, two-hour event I used as a trial run to (1) gauge if I even like vending at bookish events, and (2) test my table setup and sales pitching skills. I sold six copies of The Devouring that night, out of the ten we were told to bring, which I consider a huge success. If you’re reading this newsletter now because you signed up that night, thank you again and welcome!
News & announcements
Following the success of the Local Author Fair, I’ll be selling at FrightReads Book Festival at the Howard County Fairgrounds in Maryland on October 24-25. Come check it out!
The Devouring will also be in two Itch.io bundles in October:
- Chills, Thrills, and Kills, an enormous bundle of 93 eBooks for $69
- LGBTQ+ Gothic, Fantasy, and Horror Bundle, a smaller bundle of 32 eBooks for $10 (link pending)
I encourage you to peruse the titles and make a purchase if a bunch of them catch your eye!
Writing update
Revisions to The Heart Is a Weapon continue at a slow but steady pace. This third draft is at 12,000 words and near the midpoint. I think I’m still on track for finishing by the end of the year.
Slowing down in August and September was really good for my mental and physical health, but now I’m struggling with an existential, creative discontentment stemming from writing so infrequently. In the past, the discipline I developed to write at a near-daily cadence conveyed how important writing was to me as my art, because I was prioritizing it above other activities and hobbies. Reducing my writing to 2-3 times per week feels like saying it’s not that important anymore. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
I’m starting to think this slowdown was meant to be temporary, an immediate response to a threat to my health, and I can start picking up the pace again. Not to the same extent as July, but something that’s still manageable. To start, I want to try writing for 30 minutes every day without expecting to hit any specific word count. It will take some experimenting—not to mention lowering my expectations—but I think I’m better equipped for that now.
Recent delights
- This month, I read Jade City by Fonda Lee, a masterpiece of epic fantasy that expertly weaves worldbuilding, characters, and plot into an incredible story. I highly recommend it despite its slow beginning—not only for the reason I mentioned, but because it’s a great study on novel-craft, too. I learned a lot about how I want to write What the Iron Gave Us while reading it, which means lots of changes to its worldbuilding and plot when I finally refocus on it.
- Like many others, I was obsessed with Dressmaker, a new sewing game that came out on Steam this month. Two days after buying it, I’d already logged 15 hours of gameplay. 😅 I finished it earlier this week, so that’s one less thing occupying my time now.
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