Take a Wild Guess... Day
In this issue: good, better, best, putting my planning to the test, where we’ll go- nobody knows!
Newsletter Send Date: Friday, March 29th, 2024
Hey Dragonlings!
Anyone wanna take a wild guess how life in general is going?
If you guessed busy, you’re absolutely correct!
Spring has come, but I’m still dealing with snow.
On the life-side: we’re in crunch time for 4H projects, trying to finish up some in prep for the fair while starting others that will wrap-up right around the time fair hits us in the face. 4H wears me out more than anything because it’s a long game of red light, green light and I don’t appreciate it.
We’ve had a little bit of a break from sports, but already the youngest is bringing two to the table that she wants to do, and the summer is coming soon, so the oldest will be starting swim soon. whines Why couldn’t I have homebodies for children?
With spring comes larger projects on the homestead that couldn’t be handled during the colder months as well.
We want to…
- completely empty the tool room and bring everything back in after cleaning/re-organize everything
- tear down the “quad” shed (where the mowing gear is kept) due to a leaking room that likes to pool with water
- build some chicken coops and start raising chickens
- and the youngest wants to start a flower garden.
It’s already time to start taking the allergy meds so I can be outside more often. Woof!
All the while I have my author pursuits, and they take not just time, but also mental energy. I was talking with Da Hubz about my changing plans, projects, projections, programs and *problems* (lol😅) and by the time it was time to do this newsletter my honest feelings on what is to be done in these pursuits was “Your guess is a good as mine!”
So when I discovered April 15th is “Take a Wild Guess” Day I nearly did a spit take. The holiday’s description is about trusting your gut and using your intuition in matters large and small and not taking these kinds of things so seriously that they take away from life… Fitting, and I’m doing my best, still most days I swear I roll out of bed like this….
2024 Armature—Project Projections
Did you think my personal life was the only busy portion of my life?
Guess again!
More time outside in the next few months means less time inside to write, so I’ve had to re-think my entire plan for the year, which has been another WOOF! moment. I’ve had a few “Come to Jeebus” meetings with myself, and realized that I should probably quit planning my years so heavily.
Yes, I know I did a “good, better, best” plan following the HB90 method, but this isn’t the first time I’ve had to think about completely pivoting my plans like this.
So, what is my plan moving forward?
🔮+🦊+🌳
Shifters & Mages
I’m moving forward with this series more than anything else.
Puck’s Choice is going to get one final read-through before I format it for paperback and ebook. It’s actually already in the formatting files. I just have to double-check that everything is as it should be. I have a cover that I had designed a few years ago that I completely forgot about, and I’m going to contact the artist once I have it formatted about getting the paperback cover so I can go ahead and work on getting a pre-order up.
Jenna’s Story, the sequel, is with my editor. I need to check in with her and see how that’s going. Depending on where we’re at with that, I’ll contact my cover artist and see if she can go ahead and start on a cover for that one as well.
Hunter’s Betrayal was the story I couldn’t decide if it was book 1 or 3. I’ve officially decided to make it book 3. It’s going to be more of a “let’s not let history repeat itself” book that explains how the war started and will lead into the events of the fourth and final book in the series, Mages’ Sacrifice. I am currently working on a re-write of this novel based on notes from my editor, and as soon as I have it complete, I’ll shoot it her way again.
This might be my last time working with this particular editor. She’s amazing and I love working with her. She and I jive on many thoughts where my stories are concerned, but due to health issues, she does not work fast, and I would like to start producing work faster moving forward (probably after this series is complete). I’m also not quick on editing myself, but maybe switching editors will be the kick in the pants I need to do so. If you know of someone who is good at editing, I’d love to hear about them.
👹+🪦+👻
Damned and Dangerous Quartet
I’m putting this series on hold for the moment. I was hoping to knock out book 3 during Q1 so that I could publish it by the end of Q2, but I haven’t even looked at it, and I don’t know if I will with everything happening. I think this will be a project I return to after I complete the Shifters & Mages series, which sucks, but that’s life.
🌕+❤️🔥+🫦
Sultry Solstices
This idea morphed from a single short story that I wanted to republish this year to three stories and now it’s seven. I’m not mad about it, but I also realize that, with everything else I want to get done this year, I probably won’t finish them. That doesn’t mean I won’t be working on them, but they’ll be more side, fun projects rather than front-and-center focus work or maybe the next projects I work on for the 7-Day Book Challenge. Oooh! That’s an idea I hadn’t thought of until now… Hmmm…
😈+💘+💋
Monstrous Mates
Like Sultry Solstices, this started off as a short story in an anthology, which will be out of print in August, and has since morphed into five short stories, each featuring a different monster from the Darkside. I was going to treat it the same way as the Sultry Solstices stories, but now it’s going to become a side project with an aim to focus on them more in 2025 (hopefully).
🪄+🚨+👀
Spell Gone Wrong
This was the story that was chosen for the March 2024 7-Day Book Challenge, and while I got a lot of work done on it, I didn’t finish it. I didn’t even get halfway. There were a lot of factors involved in that, which I go over in more detail in this video, but the main one was that the quick and cozy fantasy I thought it would be, just a short, fun romp across the kingdom decided it wanted to add a threat of betrayal and political upheaval.
I don’t hate it, but that meant it added another layer to the story, and that layer added another good 10K words I wasn’t prepared for during the writing challenge, which ultimately made me miss the deadline in the long run. I will continue working on it here and there, so I’m OK not completing it.
⚔+🐉+📚
Jesse Saint George, Teenage Dragon Slayer
If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you get to read this story for free as I write it. I wrote the first eight chapters during a 7-Day Book Challenge last September, and while I didn’t complete it (since it decided it wanted to be a novel instead of a novella just like Spell Gone Wrong), I did get quite a bit done. I’m halfway through chapter 9, and my goal is to write at least one chapter a month until it’s complete so that newsletter subscribers can continue reading along with it.
Once the first draft of this is complete, I will be setting it aside to finish another fantasy that will become my next newsletter read along before I start a self-edit/re-write and get it to an editor.
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What started as a 7-Day Book Writing Challenge is now a newsletter subscriber exclusive!
Stay tuned to read more!
Skye’s Craft Symposium
I had this idea this year to do a craft book workshop that was supposed to be a cross between Tamara Woods’s Writers Workshop as well as Kate Cavenaugh’s writing semester courses experiment. I was going to treat craft books like a class where I read the book (usually for a second time) and talk about my thoughts of them, put their advice to the test, and then talk about my results…
This idea didn’t come to fruition. My first problem was that I picked a book I just wasn’t jiving with, and it felt more like work than fun, so I tried to switch books, but the same thing kept happening.
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Skye TBR
Because of how much more outside events will be happening now that it’s warming up, I don’t know how much reading will get done. I read quite a few books in Q1, well over my good, better, and best goals, and while I hope to keep the momentum going, I realize that may not happen as much.
BUT..
That won’t stop me from trying!
BLURB:
A human, a dwarf and an elf walk into a bake-off…
In the heart of Adenashire, where elfish enchantments and dwarven delights rule, Arleta Starstone, a human confectionist works twice as hard perfecting her unique blend of baking and apothecary herbs.
So when an orc neighbor secretly enters her creations into the prestigious Elven Baking Battle, Arleta faces a dilemma.
Being magicless, her participation in the competition could draw more scowls than smiles. And if Arleta wants to prove her talent and establish her culinary reputation, this human will need more than just her pastry craft to sweeten the odds.
While competing, she’ll set off on a journey of mouthwatering pastries, self-discovery, heartwarming friendships and romance, while questioning whether winning the Baking Battle is the true prize.
Escape to for a delightful cozy fantasy where every twist is a treat and every turn a step closer to home.
BLURB:
A busy witch. An enamored count. An enchanted villa filled with nosy sisters.
Alessia has more to worry about than the handsome new count everyone is fawning over. Mama’s health is declining, the villa needs repairs, and then there are her four sisters who always seem to be either in trouble or causing it.
With his Fae blood, Massimo never expected to inherit the title of count, nor the lands that accompanied it, and he certainly never expected to fall for the town’s quirky witch—especially when she clearly wants nothing to do with him.
It will take more than magic to bring them together.
Welcome to Zamerra where cozy fantasy intertwines with Italian cottage core and fairy core vibes. Within this gaslamp fantasy realm, you’ll find witches, fae, warlocks, house elves, and much more! Each standalone book features a sweet romance and heart-warming tale of family that readers can explore in any order.
With the weather warming up, and spending more time outside, I want to go ahead and plan ahead and par down my plans… A LOT!!!
That doesn’t mean I’m dropping everything. I just need to make a hard decision on what’s more important, and I’m going to take each day one at a time moving forward without worrying too much about what I may or may not accomplish.
Any guesses what next month might be like when I update you next? Let me know what your plans have been like and whether everything’s worked out in your favor or not. In the meant time, remember to…
Bye Dragonlings!
~Skye
🎉READER EXCLUSIVE ALERT!🎉
The story of Jesse St. George continues!
I have for you my friends and subscribers the latest chapter of my growing heroine the dragon slayer is available to ONLY MY SUBSCRIBERS! If you’re new to the newsletter and want to start this dragon slaying story from the beginning, check out the Jessie St George page! ( Password = JESSE )
💡Please note this is an unedited chapter of Jessie Saint George, Teenage Dragon Slayer (Title subject to change), an urban fantasy, and may contain typos. Please be aware some parts of the story may change between now and publication as well.
Chapter 7
By the time Jessie returned home with her treasures, it was nearly dinnertime, and there was an extra vehicle parked behind her sister’s squad car. Her nose and mouth wrinkled in disgust. She knew that car. She knew that car better than any other.
“Why is he here?” she muttered to herself. She grabbed her purse and the two books she’d chosen, and started to open her door, but then she hesitated, looking down at the books in her hand.
She pulled her father’s journal from the top of the stack and shoved it in her purse. She didn’t want to share the journal with anyone yet. She wanted a chance to read through her father’s thoughts and words at her own pace before anyone else saw and started asking her questions she wasn’t ready to answer.
Satisfied, Jessie went inside. “I’m home!” she called as she hung her keys on the hook next to the door. Then, without waiting for an answer, she went up to her room to drop her book and purse off in her room.
“So,” her sister said, dipping into the doorway. “How’d it go?”
“I think it went well,” she said and gestured for Bobbie to come inside and close the door.
Once her sister had, Jessie asked in a whisper, “What’s Jonathan doing here?”
Bobbie didn’t look pleased, but she crossed her arms over her chest and said, “His whole family is here for dinner. Mom invited them for the monthly get-together.”
“We’ve started that again?” When their father had been alive, the Saint Georges would host dinner for a different family of the DSS a month, but since he’d died, they hadn’t. Why were they again now?
“I think something’s going on,” Bobbie said, and her mouth twisted into a snarl. “I just don’t know what.”
“I thought you liked the Lambs.” Jessie’s confusion must have been evident on her face.
Bobbie shook her head. “This isn’t about the Lambs, and I do. This is about whatever they’re up to. Mom’s planning something. I just don’t know what it is, and I don’t like it either.”
Jessie agreed. “You don’t think she’s going to marry me off to Jonathan, do you?”
Bobbie shook her head. “No.”
“You don’t want me to marry Jonathan?” Again, a flood of confusion washed through her.
“Not if you don’t want to marry him. Don’t think I don’t notice how you look at him. You don’t like him, do you?”
Jessie shook her head, but she wasn’t willing to elaborate on her answer. She hoped Bobbie wouldn’t ask. She didn’t want to lie, but she wasn’t willing to tell the truth either. Not about Jonathan.
“If you don’t like him, and you have no desire to marry him, that’s fine, Jessie.” Bobbie’s brow furrowed. “Did you think we would make you marry him just because he’s a DSS member?”
Jessie hesitated before she answered. That was exactly what she’d thought. Finally, she nodded.
“Oh, honey,” Bobbie said and stepped forward to wrap Jessie in a hug. “No. Never. Mom would never do that. I might.” She grinned at her to show she was teasing. “But Mom never would. Whoever you decide to marry—if you decide to marry—should be someone you love and trust. It should be someone you’re excited to spend your life with.”
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