Update: July 2022

July has been a really eventful month in an even more eventful year.

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On the writing front, my focus has been entirely on character development for the military sci-fi romance novel, which has the working title A League of Honor. My leads–investigative reporter Gianna Venizelos and destroyer captain Commander William Reeves–finally have firm physical descriptions, and I feel like I’ve pinned down the sources and the general shape of their romantic conflict. Maybe a bit of enemies to lovers? We’ll see how much the novel relies on that trope once I’m done with the outline.

Speaking of my outline, starting one is my plan for this week. In fact, I might write two. The beat sheets from Gwen Hayes’s Romancing the Beat seem like a good way to center the romance and piece together the bones of this story before I dive into my typical, highly detailed outline. This will probably take the rest of July and a good chunk of August.

Hopefully I’ll be able to use the rest of the summer to finish off the outline of Law, Love, and the Whippoorwill so I can get down to the business of deciding which project to tackle first. LLW seems destined to be shorter, and much of the novelette can be reused, but I feel more passionate about ALH at the moment. If I learned anything from writing The Silver Shrike, it’s that passion for your work-in-progress is key to finishing.

The cover of Fantastic Detectives, which will include “The Skull in the Tree”

Most of the other big news this month comes from the pre-publication side of things. As you may already know, “The Skull in the Tree” is looking at a release date sometime in September as part of Fantastic Detectives. But what I haven’t shared here yet is this novelette has the very first slot in the anthology!

Editors trusting your work to shape the readership’s first impressions and set the tone for their entire anthology is always such an honor.

This is only the third time one of my stories ended up at the top of the table of contents in a magazine or anthology, joining “Hanging at Crosbhothar” from Unsheathed: An Epic Fantasy Collection and “An Oath to the Sun” from Murder & Mayhem: A Dragon Soul Press Anthology, so I’m over the moon right now!

Here’s the full table of contents for Fantastic Detectives:

The Skull in the Tree – Austin WorleyThe First Censor’s Statement – Donna RoystonJustice in the Mist – Martin WilseyPerchance to Dream – Reed BonadonnaThis Sword for Hire – Gregg ChamberlainThe Codicil – Shannon TaftTumbling the Lord – David TatumPenance – Emma MelvilleA Madness Most Discreet – Robert FinegoldWorshippers of Baser Stuff – Maria ProkopyevaOut Among the Pecan Trees – Daniel RobichaudThe Cleaner – David KeenerSister Autumn and the Angel’s Blade – Jeff Patterson

In other writing news, my interview with Dragon Soul Press will be published on their blog a week from today. Although it isn’t very long or in-depth, I can’t wait to share it with the world!

For my July read, I finished The Shadow of Saganami and Scatter before opening up Games of Command. Of all the romance I’ve read so far, this book seems like one of the closest in concept to what I want out of my own space opera romance. Maybe a good comp for my query once my novel is finished?

I started Tinderbox by Rachel Grant last night, which is shaping up to be a satisfying military romantic suspense. Also, I’m currently working my way through Organic Ink: Volume 5. Seeing your own poetry in print is such a surreal experience!

Outside of writing-related stuff, things have been pretty quiet around here. The USFL Championship was fun, and we enjoyed the Fourth of July. You can definitely tell it’s summer, though. The temperatures here have been hovered around 100F for a while now, and they look to be pushing 105-110 this entire week. I’m just thankful the air conditioning decided to die last month instead of now. Fingers crossed the repairs hold up!

Stay cool out there, and I’ll see you all again in August.