Talena Winters's Blog, page 7

Winding Ways, Dark Secrets, and Dwarf Duels, Oh My!

Happy New Year! Time to start fresh, energized, and, um, unload dark secrets?

In Part Seven of the Rise of the Grigori Beneath-the-Surface series I’ve got my most favourite author interview I’ve ever done in my life. Mary from Kit’n’Kabookle came up with some seriously fun questions—including a behind-the-scenes moment from Calandra’s past that’s not in the series itself.

Read on for a real treat!

A mermaid at rest. Image by Abhijeet Gourav, courtesy of Unsplash.

What inspired you to become a writer?

“I took a hard look at my goals and realized I no longer dreamed of being a songwriter. I wanted to tell stories another way—through fiction.”

— Talena Winters

In one sense, I’ve been writing my whole life. However, even though I wrote a few stories while I was in school, my passion was songwriting. I went to college for composition and jazz piano. While there, I became besties with my roommate, a vocalist and fellow composer, and we wrote most of a full-length musical which we finished over the decade after college (between marriage and little kids and moving, etc.).

It wasn’t until after my kids were old enough that I could consider firing up my career again that I took a hard look at my goals and realized I no longer dreamed of being a songwriter, but that I wanted to tell stories another way—through fiction. There were many steps along the way to get to that point, and it took five years after getting the idea that made me want to learn to write fiction for me to publish anything. Four years after that, I published The Undine’s Tear, my third novel, which was the fruition of that idea that started it all. By then, I was all-in as an author.

Never say never as far as future career shifts, but I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out what I want to be when I grow up.

If you could visit your book’s world for a day, what one thing would you do?

Go sight-seeing! The undines live on a gorgeous island filled with interesting architecture and scenery. While the landscape is based loosely on the island of Kauai (which I’d also like to visit), the architecture is mostly ancient Greek-inspired. I’d especially love to get a tour of the Opal Palace. In my head, it’s breathtaking.

It’s two in the morning. What does your protagonist reveal in confidence? (Don’t worry, we won’t tell.)

My protagonist, Calandra, doesn’t have too many deep, dark secrets, at least at the beginning of the series. (To find out which ones she collects as she goes through, you’ll have to read the book. ;-D) She’s always striven to do her best and meet the expectations that have been placed on her. (A real goody two-shoes!) But she does have a certain rebellious streak, stemming in part from having insomnia and being a super-powerful healer (mage) from a young age, which means she’s developed a knack for tricking the palace guards so she can sneak by them and wander around the palace in the middle of the night. And yes, this does occasionally get her in trouble.

After the opening incident in the book, she repents of her troublesome ways for many years. But before that, she would usually rope her best friend, a siren cadet named Tanni, into her nighttime adventures. Since Calandra’s Tear (the broken opal pendant left behind for her by her mother) has a shielding effect against the siren guard’s sensate abilities, which they tend to depend on, she got away with a lot.

Once when she was twelve, she and Tanni, who was thirteen, sneaked into the douloi’s quarters (douloi are enslaved human men-servants) to hide from a passing palace guard. One of the douloi woke up—a boy of about fourteen who worked in the palace kitchens, and who had only been mind-enslaved (aka “Redeemed”) for two years.

“Most men that young were born on Sirenia, but this young man had been brought in on a ship during the Harvest.”

Tanni wanted to just tell him to go back to sleep and never tell anyone they were there, then sneak back to their dormitories. Unless his bondmistress had questioned him directly, this would have been enough to ensure his silence. But Calandra, ever the curious one and looking for a little excitement, started asking him questions about his upbringing. Most men that young were born on Sirenia, but this young man had been brought in on a ship during the Harvest, and she wanted to know all about where he was from.

She and Tanni kept the doulos up talking for two hours before a very sleepy Tanni finally dragged Calandra away. They ordered the boy not to tell anyone about them being there. The next day, Calandra went to the kitchens to check on him and saw the boy stumbling over his sandals in the kitchen, he was so tired. The cook—a human woman—got annoyed, but when she questioned him, of course, he couldn’t tell her why he was slow and clumsy. Calandra told the cook that he was ill, she could sense it. So the cook sent him to the physic, who couldn’t sense anything wrong with him. He was prescribed an afternoon nap and nothing more came of it.

But even though Calandra and Tanni shared a good giggle over it later, she always felt bad that she’d done that. It didn’t seem right to hurt someone who couldn’t do anything about it and wasn’t responsible for his own choices just because she could. And she promised herself she’d never do it again.

Which of your characters would you go out for drinks with?

Many of the characters in this book are children or teenagers, so… yeah. But I would definitely love to have a conversation with Thea, the panacea healer and mentor who raised Calandra. She’s got a quiet strength that I admire, she doesn’t feel the need to flaunt her wisdom—though she’s wise enough to know when to speak up—and she quietly rebelled against her society’s highest taboo for forty-five years before anyone cottoned on, just because she knew it was the right thing to do.

Not only was she an amazing character to write, she’s the kind of woman I love to learn from in real life. I hope to be a tenth that wise someday.

You’re in a tavern, and a dwarf challenges you to a duel. What do you do?

Start questioning my life choices. :-)

Then I’d probably offer to buy him a drink so we could talk it out. I’m a lover, not a fighter. (At the bottom of my homepage, I’ve had this saying for many years, which sums up my conflict philosophy: Make tea, not war.)

Is there a genre you could never write? Which and why?

There aren’t many, as I love exploring and writing in new genres. (I’ve already got four under my belt, and counting.) However, while I’ve come to have a certain appreciation for why people like slasher horror, I couldn’t write it. I hate gore for gore’s sake, and I have enough bad dreams as it is. I abstain to protect my sleep, essentially.

Check Out the Books In this series:

Part One: Introducing the Rise of the Grigori series

Part Two: Where the idea for this series came from

Part Three: Author Interview and a peek beneath Calandra’s bed

Part Four: Narcissa gives us the low-down on Calandra’s true colours

Part Five: The Seed Ideas that became the fantasy world for Rise of the Grigori

Part Six: The Story Behind the Name (What’s an Undine’s Tear?)

What’s an Undine’s Tear?

Welcome to Part Six of the Rise of the Grigori Beneath-the-Surface series, and the last post of 2022! (Crazy, amiright?) Today, I’ll be sharing the story of how I came up with the title of The Undine’s Tear, as well as showing how the stones each of the titles represent were used on the original and current cover artwork.

Scroll to the bottom to see the previous entries in this series.

The Story Behind the Name

Have you heard of mermaid tears?

Some examples of sea glass, a.k.a. “mermaid’s tears”. Image by Kenrick Mills, @kenrickmills, courtesy of Unsplash.

Growing up far inland with not many trips to an ocean, I hadn’t—not until I started doing the research for the book that became The Undine’s Tear.

In lore and fantasy, a mermaid’s tears often have unique magical properties—such as the mermaid tear Blackbeard was after in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which was a key element in his pursuit of the Fountain of Youth.

Perhaps this mythological meaning is why sea glass, which is often green, blue, or aquamarine in colour and has been worn smooth by time and tide, was given the name of mermaid tears. These mermaid tears are often treasured collectibles of beachcombers and look very pretty displayed on a shelf.

Before publishing my book, I had intended to call it The Mermaid’s Tear, but a poll of my readers suggested the word mermaid would deter the boys in the room from picking it up. That wouldn’t do, since this is not your typical mermaid book—and, to date, has been enjoyed by many of the male persuasion!

Besides, I had long since decided an entire race of sea creatures wouldn’t be named only for the females. So, much like people are known as humans, I opted to call my merfolk undines (UN-deens), a word referring to the Greek water elemental creature. Since elemental magic is the undines’ inheritance, this seemed kind of perfect.

As for the tear the story is named after—it’s not a drop of saltwater, nor a bit of sea glass, but instead a teardrop-shaped dark green (black) opal that, in the culture of the undines, works like a flash drive to store messages and data, as well as serving as a beautiful piece of jewelry.

And the message that Tear contains is going to change the way the undines look at the world forever—in fact, it could affect the very future of the cosmos.

But that’s a story that would take a whole series to tell…

A wire-wrapped black opal gemstone against a black background. Image by Michael Kelly, @mikelly97321, courtesy of Unsplash.

Thank you to Andi’s Young Adult Books for hosting the original post.

The Rest of the Story…

Now, three years after The Undine’s Tear was originally published, I’ve come to understand the marketing pitfalls of putting a word in your title that few people can understand (or pronounce). However, I do love me my titles with multiple layers. Which is why each of the titles of the books is associated with a special stone that is significant in the story, but which also refers to something else. (A MacGuffin of sorts.)

You can see the eponymous black opal Tear on both covers for The Undine’s Tear here:

Original cover for The Undine's Tear with the Tear in the title
Current cover for The Undine's Tear with the Tear on the trident

Okay, the current one looks more like an emerald, but it’s pretty, isn’t it?

By the way, I specifically chose black opal as Calandra’s datastone gem because it not only looks cool, but, as a stone that is made out of silica, it’s actually composed of three to twenty-one percent water by weight—not to mention the associations of opal with the moon, which is also strongly associated with mermaids. Combine that with the undines’ elemental water magic and solar-lunar calendar, and opal seemed like the perfect choice.

By the way, the reason so many datastones and other crystal tech of the undines are forms of quartz are not only because it’s ubiquitous, but because quartz is a piezoelectric crystal, meaning that it can create its own electricity. It’s natural vibrations and moderate “fluidity” are why we use quartz crystals to create accurate timepieces, among lots of other inventions that have been in use for around a century. So much coolness, right?

The heart in The Sphinx’s Heart refers to a ruby-like stone (and a heart):

Original cover for The Sphinx's Heart with the Heart in the title
Current cover for The Sphinx's Heart with the Heart on the trident

For Zale’s prequel, his significant stone was a “river rock” bracelet his mother gave to him—actually a Tiger’s Eye.

But you know what? Tiger’s Eye looks terrible on a fantasy cover. So both of these covers interpreted that stone pretty loosely… and they look fantastic.

Original cover for The Waterboy with his "river rock" in the title
Current cover of The Waterboy with a looser interpretation of a "river rock" on the trident Check out the series

Speaking of undine’s tears, Alberta jewelry artist Barb Murrin made a wire-wrapped pendant inspired by this book, which you can find on Etsy here.

In this series:

Part One: Introducing the Rise of the Grigori series

Part Two: Where the idea for this series came from

Part Three: Author Interview and a peek beneath Calandra’s bed

Part Four: Narcissa gives us the low-down on Calandra’s true colours

Part Five: The Seed Ideas that became the fantasy world for Rise of the Grigori

Creating a Vivid Fantasy Mermaid World with Real-Life Connections

Today’s post is Part Five of my Rise of the Grigori Beneath-the-Surface series. (Go to the bottom of this post for links to the first four parts.)

In this post, I talk about some of the real-life inspirations behind the technology and worldbuilding in my mermaid world. I also have a special gift for you at the end. Enjoy!

A curly-haired mermaid sits on a boulder and watches the sunset over a restless sea. Image by Jeremy Bishop, @jeremybishop, courtesy of Unsplash.

The idea that became the Rise of the Grigori series started as a question while watching a mermaid T.V. show: What happened to all the mermen? Why do mermaids drag sailors beneath the sea?

Okay, I guess that’s two questions, but they’re related. I guess they didn’t have to be, but if you have a dimorphic society without mermen—which most mermaid stories are—then it follows that to keep your semi-humanoid species going, you might have to borrow some compatible DNA on a regular basis.

That answer seemed much nicer than the version you sometimes see where the mermaids hunt humans for sport. (I’m looking at you, Pirates of the Caribbean.)

But, since I “discovered” that the sirensong used by the undines (UN-deens) in my stories can be used not only to temporarily stupefy their male victims but to also subvert their minds completely, which they do to every single male they capture, it’s not that much nicer.

“Something must have gone terribly wrong if they can no longer produce their own males but still need them to survive, and if they feel the need to make mind-slaves of every man they capture.”

And, once I discovered that, I was hooked. After all, something must have gone terribly wrong in a culture’s past if they can no longer produce their own males but still need them to survive, and if they feel the need to make mind-slaves of every man they capture. Right?

While discovering the answers to those questions, which I eventually published as the Rise of the Grigori series, I incorporated a whole lot of things that fascinate me: mermaid lore; ancient cultures; issues of faith and worship and power; the historical landscape at the end of the eighteenth century, particularly in England and the West Indies; and even some extrapolations from modern scientific discoveries, which I incorporated into the undine culture as an expression of their magic and technology.

(Did you know there are experiments that involve surfacing highways in a crystal formation to generate power through piezoelectricity? Or that scientists are really experimenting with crystals that absorb oxygen that could replace air tanks for breathing underwater—an idea which I borrowed for my breathing stones? Cool, right?)

And, while I still have some mysteries to uncover in future volumes in the series, I’ve had a lot of my questions answered along the way. To me, finding those answers is part of the fun of writing.

But so is just making cool stuff up. :-)

I hope reading it brings you joy, too.

If you want to test the waters (see what I did there?), the standalone origin story of Zale, the first male undine to be born in three millennia, is available for free when you sign up to my newsletter. Happy reading!

Thank you to Sybrina’s Book Blog for hosting the original post.

Get The Waterboy for Free In this series:

Part One: Introducing the Rise of the Grigori series

Part Two: Where the idea for this series came from

Part Three: Author Interview and a peek beneath Calandra’s bed

Part Four: Narcissa gives us the low-down on Calandra’s true colours

The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad

Covers for The Undine’s Tear, The Waterboy, and The Sphinx’s Heart in front of a blue image of the lower side of water’s surface. Text: Rise of the Grigori Beneath the Surface Blog Series

Welcome to Part Four of the Rise of the Grigori Beneath-the-Surface series. I have a guest writer for this week’s post: Narcissa kor’Adonia, Opal Princess of Sirenia, the island home of my mermaid race, the undines. She’s here to give us the inside scoop on what her cousin Calandra is really like. Enjoy!

Interview with Narcissa kor’Adonia, Opal Princess of Sirenia:

Narcissa kor’Adonia, Opal Princess of Sirenia, as depicted by Artbreeder. (Except her eyes are supposed to be pale green.)

I never wanted to be a princess, but you don’t get to choose who you’re born as. It’s a lot of pressure, I’m not going to lie. But there are a few perks. For instance, no one really expects me to step out of line—which makes it easier to hide the times I do. After all, I’m the good one, not like my cousin Calandra. She has everyone fooled into thinking she’s so perfect, but not me. I can see right through her. All she wants is to take what’s mine, and I won’t stand for it.

Just because she’s a panacea, capable of healing in all three disciplines—stone, plant, and physic—everyone thinks she’s the best thing since we discovered avocadoes. They think she’s going to save the undines. As if. She’s so powerful, she’s bound to go crazy any day now, and then where will we be?

I keep watching for signs that she’s cracking, like our great-ancestor Nadia, the panacea who sank Atlantis. Sometimes, I think it’s started—like she’s hearing voices in her head. But no one believes me when I tell them how dangerous she is. My mother, Queen Adonia, keeps telling everyone how Calandra is the “Saviour of the Heartstone.” If I’m not careful, Mother is going to name Calandra heir to the throne instead of me. Then we’d be doomed, for sure. Especially since Calandra hates me.

Which is why I have to be good. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make Calandra’s life a misery. After all, she deserves it for taking all of Mother’s attention and making sure she always gets the best of everything.

I’ve had my victories, though—like stealing her favourite doulos for my bodyguard. The one she liked to hang around with so much when we were kids, back before he was tamed by Redemption. Sometimes I think she actually had feelings for him… but that would be crazy. You don’t have feelings for men. When they’re Redeemed, it would be like loving a post, and when they’re not… well, they’re much too dangerous to be around.

That’s why undine sirens Redeem all the men they capture with sirensong before the siren pods even climb aboard their human ships. It’s been that way for thousands of years, and, if I have any say, that will never change. Besides, freeing a Redeemed man is worth the death penalty, and even Calandra isn’t that stupid.

If only I could figure out a way to show everyone how underhanded she really is.

Wait. I think I’ve got something…

Want to know what Narcissa thought up? Read The Undine’s Tear.

Thank you to Jen Baxter of Character Madness and Musings for hosting the original post.

Next week: Some of the many seed ideas that became the Rise of the Grigori world. PLUS a gift for you.

In this series:

Part One: Introducing the Rise of the Grigori series

Part Two: Where the idea for this series came from

Part Three: Author Interview and a peek beneath Calandra’s bed

Cover for The Undine’s Tear (Rise of the Grigori Book 1); a green book cover with a magical trident wrapped in manacles in front of the image of a young blond white woman in a white Greek-style dress walking out of the waves. Text: Will she save the world… or destroy it?

The Ballad of the Brown V-neck Sweater

Is it just me, or does it feel like we’re careening toward the end of the year like a drunk squirrel on ice skates?

I realized today that I only have two weeks left before my two-week holiday, and I am so. ready. At the same time, I feel like I have a million things to finish before then. Paradoxes, am I right?

I’m pretty sure the panic I’m trying to squelch comes from still having several projects I want to complete before the end of the year. I’m getting closer. And I have a shot.

As I mentioned last Monday, I already published the Trailfinder Hat, and I have another design in the same collection to publish later this week that I will be very happy to have out in the world, the Lothlorien Fingerless Mittens.

In addition, yesterday I finished a sweater for my son Jude that has been in works since September 2019.

Oh, does this sweater have a saga of woe.

What’s that? You want to hear it? How kind of you to ask. :-)

Several years ago, I decided I wanted to start teaching myself sweater design. My husband has a ribbed V-neck sweater that I thought might be a good one to try and emulate as a learning project. So I got busy. I would be designing mine to fit my oldest son, Jude, who was in grade 12 at the time.

I ordered the yarn, did the swatch, did the math, created the pattern outline, and got to work.

According to the metadata on this photo, I was finally winding yarn in preparation to knit on February 18, 2020. I suspect this was for the extra yarn I had to order later, since I started the project on October 14, 2019, according to Ravelry.

By the time I finished the front, the back, and one sleeve, I realized I wouldn’t have enough yarn to complete it, so I went and searched for more. I was using an undyed natural yarn, though, so when I ran out my original yarn about two inches into the second sleeve and switched to the new stuff, I could immediately see that the new yarn was at least one or two shades darker.

Maybe it won’t be that noticeable, I thought.

It was.

Wound and ready to go. And the tea is almost gone… (Image shows a flat lay of a cake of dark brown yarn on a wooden tabletop next to the yarn label (Cascade Ecological Wool), an almost-empty mug of tea, and with the ball winder and swift at the edges of the photo.)

Since I had already come so far, though, I finished the sleeve, steam-blocked everything, and basted the design together for Jude to try on.

Sadly, the change in yarn colour wasn’t the only issue.

The sleeves were waaaay too long.

I had forgotten to go up a needle size after the hem when knitting the back, so the back piece was too small.

The unique sleeve cap shaping that I thought I was copying straight from that other sweater wasn’t quite fitting into the armhole smoothly because of a sharp-ish corner.

And that colour change on the sleeve was as noticeable as a flashing neon sign.

I took measurements, took notes, made a plan for how to fix the issue, and got to work… again.

Round 1 after basting it together, showing the weird armhole fit.

The plan involved ripping out the back and both sleeves to fix the sleeve length issue, the back needle size issue, and also so I could re-knit the back using the darker yarn where it would be less noticeable and save the lighter yarn for the sleeves. However, I believe I got as far as ripping it all out before I got stalled and put the project aside.

This was during a low-knitting-mojo period of my life, but, in addition, the pandemic hit. Once it did, I found it hard to focus on anything big and complicated and resorted to knitting dishcloth after dishcloth… then not knitting much else at all during 2020, thanks to the stresses and extreme busy-ness of that year.

Still progress

Slowly, over the next two years, I re-knit the pieces of the sweater in fits and spurts. A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to finish this project and get it out of my hair (no longer certain it would even fit Jude), so I put a burn on to make the last piece, which happened to be the second sleeve.

Then I sewed the whole thing together and had him try it on… only to discover that the revised sleeve cap shaping still created a weird pucker at the front and back of the shoulder. (At least it fit otherwise.)

I pouted for a few hours, then got back to work. Again, again. (I really wanted this out of my hair.)

I redesigned the sleeve cap (using some rather clever shaping tricks that I’ve never used before and which I’ll tuck into my toolkit for other projects), took the sleeves off the sweater, frogged the caps only, and reknit them in the new shape.

It still wasn’t enough. And the sleeves were still too long, and they kind of bunched up a bit in the armpits. (Jude insisted it was fine, other than the sleeve length, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle seeing him wear it as-is.)

I stewed on it overnight, then had Jude try the sweater on again so I could take measurements and notes. This time, I saw the problem right away. And there were two options to fix it. One would fix the sleeve cap shaping issue only, and the other—which would take much more work—would also resolve the underarm bunching.

At that point, I was tired. I just wanted to be done. And I already knew that the really real fix would require changing some subtle shaping issues around the armhole on the front and back pieces too—and that wasn’t going to happen. So I went with fixing the sleeve cap shaping only.

And yesterday afternoon, I pronounced it dead finished.

And—warm my heart—I just saw that my son voluntarily decided to wear it on this chilly winter day. Yay!

Here are some photos he let me take after finishing yesterday:

Check out this handsome kid! He makes my sweater look good. If only the light in our house was better, but that’s December for you…

I love the yellow edging. I think it totally brightens up the brown.

I learned at every step of the way… including that I would do this V-neck differently the next time around for a crisper point in the centre.

My initial goal with the project, besides making a sweater for my son, was to learn more about sweater design. Which I did. After all that ripping and knitting, I learned a lot.

When I saw how much work would be required for the “real” fix of this design’s sleeves, I opted for this one to be a learning prototype only. (There had been a few other “hmm, I should have done that differently” moments too.) I will likely revise and remake it as a pattern to sell at some point… but I need a mental break from it first.

However, between this project and my recent discovery of how much easier Excel spreadsheets make grading patterns, I’m now overflowing with new sweater design ideas. I even swatched a new cabled sleeveless turtleneck idea last week, which I’m very excited to make.

Let’s just hope that doesn’t take three years to finish, too. :-)

Fun fact: the very first sweater I ever made was also for Jude. I made it from a pattern in a knitting magazine while I was pregnant with him, and all three of my babies wore it. (Levi was already too big for it by the time we got him.) Here’s a photo of Jabin in it at just under a year… the only one who was able to wear it that long.

Jabin in the lime green baby sweater I made when Jude was a baby, only a year or so after I learned to knit. Looks like it needed a wash! Jabin was 11 months old here. (That extra-long space between the top and second button? That was an error in the pattern. I later made another one in a larger size, and it had the same problem. I wasn’t experienced enough as a knitter yet to notice it while knitting or know how to fix it on my own.)

A Peek Beneath the Surface: Author Interview

Today’s post is Part Three of the Rise of the Grigori Beneath-the-Surface series… but it’s mostly about me. Thank you to Cherie Colyer of Write. Read. Live. for hosting the original interview.

Other posts in this series:

Part One: Introducing the Rise of the Grigori Series

Part Two: Where Mythology & Imagination Meet: Creating a Real-World Mermaid Fantasy

On to the interview!

Swimming mermaid image by Nsey Benajah, @nseylubangi, courtesy of Unsplash.

What inspired you to write this book?

The initial idea for the world of the undines (UN-deens) came while watching the Australian young adult mermaid show H2O: Just Add Water in 2010. What happened to all the mermen? I wondered. Why must mermaids in most tales find human husbands or drag sailors beneath the waves?

My brain wouldn’t leave that alone, and, for the first time ever, I had an idea for a fiction novel. The only problem was that I didn’t know how to write fiction! This was the idea that inspired me to learn how.

Over the next seven years, I did a ton of research about mermaids, matriarchal societies, ancient myths, the Atlantic Slave Trade, and more, while also taking a course about novel writing and publishing my first two novels (both contemporary). After all the practice and research, I finally had the groundwork in place to tackle this epic fantasy about an all-female mermaid culture that had to capture human men to survive. It would be another two years before I published it.

Two years later in November 2021, I published the next volume, The Sphinx’s Heart. I’m currently taking a short break to write some sweet small-town romance before tackling book three.

Tell us three things we’d find if we looked under your heroine’s bed?

Not much, not even dust bunnies. My heroine, Calandra, is a practical, utilitarian sort who likes working with her hands, but she was also raised in a palace. So the servants make sure her room stays spic and span at all times. She has a stone working hobby, though, so I bet she has some interesting crystals and rocks she’s found stashed in the back of her wardrobe, which she doesn’t bother filling with something as frivolous as fancy clothes. And a few data stones, which is her culture’s equivalent of books—she loves to read and learn.

Tell us about a book that stayed with you long after you finished reading it.

My dad gave me the first three books from the Chronicles of Narnia for my ninth birthday, which was probably the beginning of my love affair with fantasy novels. I bought the rest of the series myself, and have spent the rest of my life looking for books that revive the wonder and magic I felt reading those for the first (or second, or third) time.

Another was The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. I read that many times. I was enamoured with the bravery and determination of the female protagonist—she was my Moana. I especially loved that it was based on a true story.

These two novels (and many others) contributed to my lifelong love of both history and fantasy, and to my belief that being a girl didn’t have to be a limitation.

Guilty pleasure… books you can’t get enough of?

Right now, it’s paranormal women’s fiction. I got hooked by Lindsay Buroker’s A Witch in Wolf Wood series, in which I’m all caught up [and which has since been concluded], and I just recently started trying other authors in this genre. Wit, witches, and wolf shifters—I’m hooked.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

Besides read? Lol. My “day job” is as a developmental editor and copy writer, so I get to play with stories and help other writers all the time, which I love. I’m also a mom of three teenage boys and a wife to my Prince Charming. We live a quiet life on an acreage in northern Alberta, Canada in a really amazing community. Oh, and I design knitwear patterns in my spare time—my “hobby business.”

What makes you laugh out loud?

Practically everything. Seriously, I’ve been known for my quick, loud, and distinctive laugh my whole life. I see the humour in almost everything, even very serious moments. However, I’m also deeply affected by other people’s pain, so it’s not like I laugh when I shouldn’t—most of the time.

My husband and kids know how to tickle my funny bone best. But I’m also particularly fond of word play, clean stand-up comedy, and sitcoms like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The IT Crowd. And did I mention the witty paranormal women’s fiction I’ve been reading lately?

Is there anything specific you want to tell readers?

The standalone prequel for the Rise of the Grigori series is available as a free digital download when you sign up for my newsletter. The Waterboy is a novella that tells the origin story of Calandra’s brother, Zale, the male protagonist of the series—the first undine male born in three thousand years. His mother raised him in England, away from her people, and when he discovers his powers, bad things happen that set him on the path of his destiny. You can grab the free eBook by signing up here. It’s also available to purchase on audiobook at that link or on your favourite audiobook platform.

Covers for The Undine’s Tear, The Waterboy, and The Sphinx’s Heart in front of a blue image of the lower side of water’s surface. Text: Rise of the Grigori Beneath the Surface Blog Series

Next week: Narcissa, cousin to the protagonists of The Undine’s Tear, gives us the inside scoop about what Calandra is really like.

Are you on my newsletter list? I send out regular specials and deals on my and others’ books, plus behind-the-scenes looks at my fiction and writing process. Oh, and as I mentioned in the interview, you get the prequel of the Rise of the Grigori series as a thank you for joining.

Sign Up

Happy Wednesday!

Stories and Embers

I spend a lot of time thinking about the stories we believe. How the ones others believe play out in their lives, and how the ones I believe play out in mine.

But recognizing what they are and thinking about them doesn’t mean you can automatically change them. Which gives me even more to think about.

That’s all.

Image by Christopher Campbell, courtesy of Unsplash.

I don’t have any great wisdom or ponderings to share today. I’m quite low-energy this morning, like a fire that has burned down to the embers. When I feel like this, it’s all I can do to get through the musts of my day, let alone find a little light to share with others.

So if there’s any light to share with you today, friend, it’s that I’ve learned these days come and go. And the sooner you get on with your life, the sooner a funk tends to dissipate.

So, since I’m generally lacking in good ideas today, I’m just going to share a few things I’ve been up to lately (and which are more than likely responsible for my sponge being a little dry).

New Knitting Pattern Release

The Trailfinder Hat, my most recent knitting pattern, went live on Thursday night and had a rather busy first weekend. I’m thrilled with and so grateful for the response.

I started this design in early October, so it’s one of my faster concept-to-completion designs. As far as pattern formatting and clarity goes, it’s also the best one I’ve ever written, in my opinion. I’m very proud of it.

And it’s on an introductory price of over 30% off for the month of December, but only if you buy it here on my website.

Check it Out Jessica Renwick releases Fifth Starfell Book

Jessica is an amazing editing client of mine, and I’m so thrilled to be able to spread the news about her latest book release: The Song of Embers, which comes out tomorrow (Tuesday). That brings her middle grade fantasy series Starfell to five titles in total. And I know it’s for middle grade, but it’s such a delightful fantasy series that even those long past the middle grade years can enjoy it. (Like, Harry Potter good. And the series keeps getting better with every book.)

For this project, not only did I get to help Jessica finesse the story a little, I also did the interior design of the print version, which was a fun challenge. Her previous designer has had to step back, which is a bit of a downer for an author mid-series. I’ve been learning how to do book designing with my own books, but this was my first time doing it for someone else—all while trying to match the previous designer’s specs. I learned some more about book formatting and Adobe InDesign with this project, which is always fun. I don’t want to do this kind of thing all the time, but it was a nice change from my normal stuff.

And the results turned out beautifully, according to Jessica. :-)

(Note about the universal book link: I’m an affiliate of Amazon.com, .ca, and .co.uk, as well as Kobo. If you click through from my link to one of those platforms and make a purchase, I make a few cents at no extra cost to you.)

See the Book Cover Experiment

In October, I had a little fun with creating an experimental new cover for Finding Heaven that draws inspiration from bestselling author Colleen Hoover’s current branding. A quick poll of my Instagram audience gave mixed results about whether people liked the new cover or the one from 2020 better, but they definitely leaned in favour of the old one.

So, the one from 2020 remains. But I thought I’d post the new one here for posterity. Now that it’s made, I’m pondering creating a special print edition that uses it for the folks who liked the look. But that will definitely wait for a while.

What do you think? Of the three covers this book has had, which is your favourite?

The new cover I designed in 2022.
The cover Finding Heaven has had since 2020.
Original cover for Finding Heaven Current Work-in-Progress

This fall has been a bit dry as far as writing is concerned. I’m making very slow progress (in fits and spurts) on my next novel, which is book two in the Peace Country Romance series, Every Bell that Rings. But I have no great urgency to write, which is weird. I do feel a lot of urgency to get some other things in my business resolved, as well as some niggling things I have to do in my personal life. But, like so many other things, my writing mojo has burned very low.

I’m not stressed about the lack of writing, which is also weird. But I think my adoption of the slow productivity ethos, and my constant re-focusing on what I want my life to look (and feel) like this year, is helping with that.

Writing shouldn’t be stressful, it should be fun. And as long as my books aren’t paying my bills, why was I so stressed about producing them?

That’s why I’ve been spending a lot of time this year looking at the foundations of my business, adjusting how I work, and adjusting how I market to something more sustainable and enjoyable for me.

I’m definitely planning to release this book next fall now. It’s a Christmas book, so releasing it earlier wouldn’t be the best start for it. I’m hoping I get my writing mojo back in the new year, which should allow me to not only finish this book but be able to release the next one in the series not long afterward.

But if it doesn’t? Oh, well.

One thing I don’t want to do: get so burned out I never write fiction again. I’ve got too many ideas and too many stories I want to tell (both to others and myself) to let that happen. Which is why I feel like this current lull is a time of healing, and when I’m ready, I know I’ll be able to regularly put words on the page again. (I’ve been writing in some form or another since I was nine. I don’t foresee that changing until they put me in the ground.)

In the meantime, I’m using my energy to prepare my business to grow to another level. So when my books do catch fire? I’ll (hopefully) be ready for what comes along with it, and once again have the fuel to keep that flame burning.

Okay, I’ve stretched that embers metaphor as far as I can. Happy Monday, friend. May this week find you merry and bright.

Where Mythology & Imagination Meet: The Creation of a “Real-World” Mermaid Fantasy

Welcome to the second entry on the Beneath-the-Surface Blog Series for the Rise of the Grigori young adult epic mermaid fantasy series! You can find the introductory post here.

Every book has to start with a seed idea. For the Rise of the Grigori series, that idea was a question, sparked while watching a mermaid show (H2O: Just Add Water) where the entire race was female: Where are all the mermen?

Despite the fact that some popular mermaid stories include mermen, historically, the idea of mermaids have been far more prevalent and romanticized. While mermaids were the stuff of sailor’s wet dreams—often conflated with the alluring sirens of Greek mythology to draw human men to their doom beneath the waves—mythological mermen were twisted, stunted things akin to tricksters and demons, if a male counterpart existed at all.

And my brain wanted to know why.

While answering that question, I researched mermaid myths and discovered that nearly every ancient culture had mermaids in some form. Soon, my brain had started to create the world and history of the undines (UN-deens, an elemental water creature from Greek mythology) to answer my question about the absent mermen.

Undines haven’t been able to birth their own males for three thousand years, since a powerful Mad healer in their history sank Atlantis. No one knows why the powerful healers go Mad, nor why the undines can’t produce boys, nor why the Heartstone that powers the barrier hiding their island is failing. Not even Calandra, the most powerful healer to be born since the Sinking—which means she’s probably going to go insane eventually, too.

Well, none of the undines know. Outside the barrier, someone knows—and they have assigned a young sphinx cherubim to guard Zale, the first undine male to be born in three millennia. It’s the sphinx’s job to reunite him with his sister (Calandra) and mother to save not only the undines, but the entire cosmos, before a powerful fallen dragon seraph plunges it into chaos. Again.

In creating the Rise of the Grigori series, I pulled on my interests in ancient and modern cultures and myths, history, my passion for social issues such as gender and racial equality, and my own Judeo-Christian spiritual beliefs about angels, demons, and the cosmos, and built a fantasy world set on an Earth almost like our own in 1799. While most of my research will never appear on the page, it creates a vibrant backdrop to the action and adventure tale of the brother and sister destined to save the universe.

If they can only figure out what went wrong in the first place.

Thank you to Long and Short Reviews for hosting the original post.

My fantastic book covers were designed by Patrick Knowles. I can’t wait to see what the next one will look like. :-) Image: Three book covers with magical tridents on the front in paperback, hardcover, and eBook format sit in front of a moody cloudy background reflected in water. Text: One mistake could unleash hell… Dive into this epic mermaid fantasy today!

Excerpt from The Undine’s Tear:

“You are wondering how to gain control of your powers,” Damon said without preamble.

Calandra thought about ignoring him or denying it, but what was the point? This was nothing more than a dream, and the slippery logic of dreams fuzzed her will to keep her more rebellious thoughts to herself.

“You know, I shouldn’t even be talking to you. An Unredeemed male. I could get in big trouble.”

The corners of his mouth curved under his trim goatee. “And who will report you?” He indicated the blackness around them. “Certainly not I. I exist only in your mind.”

She crossed her arms and cocked her head, studying him. “Have you ever been Redeemed?”

His expression became stony. “Redemption is for humans.”

“Redemption is for men. To make them safe. It just happens that the only men are human.”

Thinking of Osaze’s dread, she wondered again at the morality of it. Uncrossing her arms, she shifted her gaze from Damon’s face to his bronze chest. “And one of them is my friend.”

“All humans should be controlled,” he replied nonchalantly, drawing nearer. “They have not the patience nor discipline to control themselves. And I am not human, yet I am male.”

She looked up at him, eyes narrowed. “I can see that. What are you? I’ve never seen an undine with golden eyes.”

He smiled knowingly. “Not human. But I could be your friend.”

That same feeling of security and warmth from their first encounter enveloped her, as though he were projecting it from himself intentionally. She frowned, wanting to accept it and shake off her heavy heart, but not daring to trust him yet.

“What do you want from me?”

“I want to help you.”

Damon came near enough to touch her but didn’t, pausing before her with his arms to the sides in a placating gesture.

She wrapped her arms around herself and glared into the blackness beyond him. “Yeah, well, you can’t. Not unless you can tell me how to control powers that could sink an island and heal the Heartstone without going Mad.”

“Little lark,” he said, amusement dripping from his voice like honey from a spoon, “that is exactly what I intend to do.”

Covers for The Undine’s Tear, The Waterboy, and The Sphinx’s Heart in front of a blue image of the lower side of water’s surface. Text: Rise of the Grigori Beneath the Surface Blog Series

Check out the Series

Just a reminder that this is the last day to get an extra 10% off of any book in my bookstore with coupon code READMORE22. It’s the perfect time to dive into the Rise of the Grigori series. (See what I did there? Dive? Haha. I kill myself.)

Next week: an author interview with moi.

Happy Wednesday!

Book review for The Undine’s Tear from Lorehaven Magazine: 5/5 Stars. “Well-drawn characters immersed in intricate worlds. Mixes a biblical worldview, ancient Greek myth, and 1700s nautical culture. A rip-roaring read.”

Five Years

I heard something on a podcast last week that keeps rattling around in my brain when it comes to making business decisions about where to spend my time: is this something I want to still be doing in five years?

The example they were discussing was TikTok. The host, who happens to enjoy TikTok, was like, “Do I want to be spending twenty hours a week on TikTok in five years? No.”

It only took me a month of focusing on TikTok this summer to realize that that is not my jam. And this whole marketing pivot I’m currently making to a more content-centred approach from my own website is a result of thinking about what is.

Since I heard that podcast, I keep thinking about that question when it comes to all sorts of things:

Do I want to be working forty-five to fifty hours a week in five years?

Is this marketing method (whatever it is) something I still want to be doing in five years?

Is this income stream (whatever it is) something I still want to be pursuing in five years?

It’s a very helpful rubric. Because there are some things where the answer is a definite Heck, no! And some where it’s like, Yes, I love this and will do it forever even if it never makes me a dime.

But then there’s stuff that’s like, Well, I guess I’d be okay with it if I need to do it to make money, but it’s not like it lights me on fire.

“In five years’ time, I would love to be in a healthier, more energetic and content place. And that’s the rubric by which I’m measuring the activities I’m keeping.”

So much of the career advice you hear nowadays is along the lines of “If it’s not a heck, yes, then why are you doing it?”

This is in stark contrast to the prevailing attitudes fifty or sixty years ago, where it was like, “It doesn’t matter if it’s killing your soul, you have responsibilities, so this is the job you need to do.”

I’ve done a few soul-killing jobs. And I recognize how privileged I am to be able to say, “I don’t want to do that anymore.”

That doesn’t mean everything required to do what I love is going to light me on fire… and I’m perfectly okay with that. There can be joy in tedious tasks. Still, if it’s actually feeling a little soul-killing, it’s something I feel I need to examine.

Which is where the five-year rubric comes in.

Do I want to be working forty-five hours a week in five years?

I used to be like, “Sure, I love work, and besides, what else would I do?” Now, I’m less on board with this. The idea of a thirty- or even twenty-hour work week is sounding more appealing all the time.

Because I do love working on my business, but I also love doing hobbies and other things that aren’t necessarily related to my business. And the pace I’ve been keeping up for the last seven years (since I started pursuing a writing career in earnest) hasn’t allowed time for those activities. In fact, it has slowly pushed them out of my life. We got rid of our chicken flock. My garden looks like a nature preserve. And there are unfinished projects in my house that only need a little time and attention to be completed… yet there they sit, undone.

I bombed out on my slow productivity mission last week, and this morning, I’m still tired because of it. I’ve been fantasizing about taking the entire month of December off. It’s a warning sign to me that I’m overdoing it again. (I have a client project booked, which is good, but that also means this will remain a fantasy. However, I’m taking two weeks off, so I will be getting a break in there, just not a full month.)

Do you ever wish you could just take a break from your personal issues for a while? For me, I’d love to be able to set aside my workaholic tendencies for long enough to take a proper break and heal from burnout without feeling guilty for all the work I’m not doing.

But my unhealthy attitude didn’t develop overnight, and resetting it is going to take time, too.

I may not be able to see the future, but I can at least choose which path I’ll take to get there. Image by Martino Pietropoli, courtesy of Unsplash.

I’m working on it. I’m getting there. Even when it doesn’t feel like it.

Because in five years’ time, I would love to be in a healthier, more energetic and content place. And that’s the rubric by which I’m measuring the activities I’m keeping.

Onward. Slowly. So I can smell a few more roses along the way.

Because my life is my adventure. And if I’m not enjoying the journey, I might be doing something wrong.

Have you tried my books or knitting patterns yet? If not, please check them out. Thanks!

Introducing the Rise of the Grigori Beneath-the-Surface Blog Series

This spring, I booked my first-ever blog tour featuring The Undine’s Tear. It was a lot of work, as I had to produce original content for nine different blogs. But it was also awesome, because it didn’t take long for me to get tired of saying the same things over and over again and to start getting really creative. And I learned more about my world and my characters in the process.

Ever since, I’ve been intending to repost the best of those articles here. And, starting today, that’s what I’ll be doing for the next several Wednesdays.

I figured starting with an interview-style post might be a great introduction. You know, just in case you’ve never heard me mention anything about this series before. (Hey, it could be happen. And if you’re that new here, welcome! So nice to have you!)

Image by Shot by Cerqueira, @shotbycerqueira, courtesy of Unsplash.

Can you tell us more about the series as a whole?

Sure! The official series description is:

The Rise of the Grigori currently has three titles: The Undines’s Tear (Book 1), The Sphinx’s Heart (Book 2), and a standalone origin story prequel for Zale, the first merman in three millennia, in The Waterboy. The Waterboy is a free download when you sign up for my Books & Inspiration newsletter.

Packed with complex characters, lush world-building, gritty action, and impossible odds, this intricately woven tale presents mermaids like you’ve never seen them before. Join Calandra in a search for redemption that will threaten the very fabric of the universe.

So far, the series includes two books, plus a standalone prequel novella that you can get for free when you sign up to my newsletter.

In The Undine’s Tear, we’re introduced to the world of the undines (UN-deens or un-DEENS—a.k.a. mermaids), an isolated island somewhere in the Atlantic where the all-female undine race has protected, and been protected by, the Heartstone that powers their island’s barrier for thousands of years. Since they’ve lost the ability to produce their own males, they have to capture human men to survive—whom they enslave using the siren mind-bond.

As the queen’s niece and the most powerful healer since the woman who sank their original home of Atlantis, the heroine, Calandra, has been raised to heal the Heartstone and protect her island at any cost—even her own sanity, since every powerful healer before her has gone insane eventually. But when she receives a cryptic message from the mother who abandoned her when she was a baby that hints her mother might have been pregnant with a boy, and that the men she’s been raised to fear are not as dangerous as she’s been led to believe, her entire world is shaken and she starts looking for answers to the mysteries that surround her people and their history… and the brother she never knew she had.

The series is the story of both Calandra and her brother Zale as they uncover the reasons for the devolution of their culture, the divine purpose the undines forgot, and the plans of a nefarious, power-hungry fallen angel/dragon who wants nothing more to rule the entire cosmos by using the powerful brother-sister duo to accomplish his goals.

It’s full of adventure, action, and a world you never knew existed right under our noses.

I hope you enjoy the dive!

Books in the series:

The Undine’s Tear (Book 1)

The Sphinx’s Heart (Book 2)

The Waterboy (Standalone prequel)

Thank you to Viviana Mackade for hosting this post and asking this question in the original tour.

Covers for The Undine’s Tear, The Waterboy, and The Sphinx’s Heart in front of a blue image of the lower side of water’s surface. Text: Rise of the Grigori Beneath the Surface Blog Series

This summer, I experimented a bit with the AI art generator Artbreeder and came up with some character headshots for some of my main characters in the Rise of the Grigori series.

There were some limitations with the technology that would require me to do some further tweaking on my own to make these one hundred percent accurate. I couldn’t figure out how to force golden or green eyes for a person of colour (or even a white person), for instance. And it was pretty hard to get the age just right for some characters, like Zale—he looks too young for sixteen. Also, every time I tried to make his hair long, the software made him look like a girl, so I had to go with short. And putting scars on Robert? Good luck.

But it was still pretty cool to see my characters “in real life,” so to speak.

Plus, playing with the art generator was super fun! I keep wanting to play with another one I’ve heard of, Midjourney, but haven’t gotten to it yet.

Anyway, allow me to introduce you to some of the characters of the Rise of the Grigori series:

View fullsize
Calandra kor'Delphine View fullsize
Zale Teague/Zale bet'Delphine View fullsize
Robert Cox View fullsize
Narcissa kor'Adonia View fullsize
Osaze bet'Urbi View fullsize
Miss Abela Bethel View fullsize
Gryffyn Cox View fullsize
Queen Adonia View fullsize
Tanni kor'Zelia View fullsize
Hebe kor'Adonia

I hope you enjoyed this introduction to The Undine’s Tear. If you want to see the rest of the posts as they come, make sure to subscribe to get my blog in your inbox (in the sidebar or below this post, depending what you’re reading on). I’ve got some very fun posts coming up, including a bonus scene and a half, a tourism-style listicle of Sirenia, and some posts about my writing process.

Happy Wednesday!

P.S. Until November 30, you can get any of my books in my Bookstore in any format at an extra 10% off the lowest marked price with coupon code READMORE22. So be sure to snatch up some gifts for someone. (If it’s you, awesome. I won’t judge.)

Feel free to share and pin: