What’s New for 2022?

Wow, okay, we made it!

I know, I know—people make plans, and God laughs. Sure, it would be easy to just keep my head down and say, “oh, well, 2020 was terrible, and 2021 was slow, and 2022 is still a crazy COVID year, so might as well just throw all the plans out and let things be what they will be.” Except I’m not okay with doing that. Because guess what? 2021 was a damn productive year. I’m not willing to throw the good out along with the bad. So yeah, I’m going to do the maybe-mildly-jinx-y thing and plan out some of this year, and let you all know what to expect here on the blog for the next year or so.

On the Blog:
I’ve spent the last eight or so years keeping y’all up to date with what I’m reading and watching—I don’t plan on stopping that anytime soon. Hopefully, with PhD applications sent out and a slightly less insane semester ahead of me, I’ll have even more time for pleasure reading, which means more books to talk about!

I’ve been more into nonfiction than usual, but my tastes usually stray right back to rom-coms, historical fiction, and fantasy, so it’s safe to say that I’ll be reviewing lots of all of the above through this year.

I’ll also be keeping you guys up to date on the usual bits and pieces of life—the Foodie Friday posts are likely to make a comeback, as well as generally discussing big life topics and sorting out how I feel about current events. I can’t promise the usual 3-posts-per-week, but I’ll be doing my best to post weekly or twice a week when I can.

Additionally, I’ll be posting bits and pieces of my writing (fiction, poetry, novel snippets) both here and on my Medium page. Feel free to keep up to date with that, especially if you found your way to this page through Ten Lines to Tell or my poetry!

Upcoming Book News:
I do have some exciting book news on the horizon, including some new upcoming releases!

All the Way Up: The sequel to All the Way Home, is fully written and I’m well into the editing process. I’m aiming for a September release and so far it’s right on schedule. This book is a small-town-bakery rivals-to-lovers lesbian rom-com set in Rose Creek, the same town as All the Way Home.

Touchstones Re-Release: Some of you who have been following this blog for a while might remember Touchstones, which was published back when I was in high school. I’m in the process of re-editing, updating, and re-releasing it—serially this time, probably starting in early February. I’m especially excited about this project because I’ve been writing little scraps and bits and pieces set in the Touchstones world for years—since I was fourteen, really—and I can’t wait to share the more polished versions with y’all. Which brings me to…

Ghost Army: Speaking of Touchstones, what most of you don’t know is that I actually wrote a full-length sequel to it a few years ago. I never got around to editing it, though, nor to prepping it for publication. The Ghost Army been on the back burner for nearly five years, and everyone who knew about it has been progressively getting more annoyed that I haven’t done anything with it. So… my family and close friends can finally stop being thoroughly irritated with me! I’m finally working on it again! I’m reworking some of the middle sections and rewriting some of the areas where the writing could use a little more polish. I’m not really sure when this project will be released, but I’m expecting either the end of the year or the very beginning of 2023.

As a reminder—if you aren’t caught up on my previous published work and where to find it, here’s a link to that information!

Current Projects:

I have a few other small projects in the works as well—mostly continuations of 2021 projects. I’ve finally started a Medium page, where I’ll be releasing short stories and novel scraps on a fairly regular basis. Some of the Touchstones scraps are probably going to end up there, as well as some of my poetry. If you’d like to see what I’ve been up to over there, here’s a link.

I also fully intend to continue with my writing advice classes on Skillshare! I may not post often, but I do still record and post videos there when I have time. Over there, I draw on my academic background in history and anthropology to teach worldbuilding and storytelling. Upcoming classes are likely to include fantasy map-making, how to write magic systems in a non-cultural-appropriation-y way, and how to efficiently do and incorporate historical research into fiction worldbuilding.

Additionally, I still have a couple of novel-writing projects in the works, but nothing that’s quite ready for a release just yet. Current topics include screwball queer vampire historian comedy, space pirates, and dark academia Shakespeare retellings—we’ll see what turns out novel-shaped and what doesn’t, I suppose.

Art Stuff:

Yes, I’m still doing some art things when I have the time! I don’t monetize all of it—I still do a lot of watercolor and graphite/charcoal work for myself—but if you’re looking for what’s publicly available, this is what I’ve got (you can also take a look at my art Instagram, @inkandpaperx, if you’re interested).

I recently made an Etsy shop for polymer clay jewelry, most of which is vaguely DnD and fantasy inspired—think daggers and roses made into earrings—or just faintly absurdist, like slightly runny fried egg earrings. Feel free to check that out here.

I’ve taken to drawing DnD characters for my friends, too, mostly as gifts. I do take commissions, but only when I have the time! Above all, I’m just trying to get back into it for myself—there was a time when I thought I was going to graduate college with an art degree, so I’ve been trying to recover some of that passion where I can.

Other Stuff:

As far as my personal life and non-writing career goes… well, a lot of it is very up in the air. What I do know is that I’m on track to graduate with a Master’s degree in History this summer, which is exciting. After that, it’ll either be an Anthropology PhD or a job— applications are out for both, and the chips will fall where they may.

Those of you who know me IRL are well aware that the whole not-knowing of it all is absolutely stressing me out. Those of you who have been following the blog for a while know that I tend to handle stress through planning, baking, and running—and through writing about it here, so I’m sure you’ll get to read about more of that process as it happens.

Meanwhile, 2022 has already begun. Hello, new year, it’s nice to meet you at last.

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