Hi !! I hope you're having a great day!!

I am SO sorry I missed writing an email last month. YWW has a competition going on currently and I've been very caught up in that, as well as working on my novel.

I have a subscriber survey I'd like y'all to fill out (even if you ARE my parent or a friend who knows me really well) so I can help my platform better serve you. You can fill it out here. Thank you!!

Writing update:

I'm still chipping away at the 50k word goal on my novel, Play With Glass. I'm currently at 33k words, 89 pages, and 15 chapters. This is the farthest I've ever gotten into a project before, and I'm still painfully aware that I'm not very close to my goal yet.😅

Life in general update:

I started school again. My Mom has set up a system where I can earn extra screen time for doing afternoon occupations, which is good because now I have more time to work on things like platform building and writing.

Song recommendation:

God Only Knows by for KING + COUNTRY & Echosmith. I LOVE the original version of God Only Knows (it's by for KING+COUNTRY after all, how could I not!?) but I like this version even better.

Poem or writing excerpt:

This is a short story I wrote a while back and shared to get feedback. It's set in the same world as Play With Glass, but in a completely different place with different technology and different characters. It gives some backstory on Tala, a side character in the sequel I'm planning for Play With Glass.

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“Tala Archer,” says a voice behind me, “You are under arrest for treason.”

I jump and turn around. Three men emerge from the shadows, wearing the uniforms of law enforcers. Like me. All three of them have guns pointed at me. I raise my hands in the air. So they know.

Tavian had blackmailed me into temporarily releasing one prisoner to create a distraction so he could steal the Device. If he hadn’t been threatening my family, I never would have done it. Now I’ve been caught.

“W-what have I done?” I tried to keep my voice from shaking so as not to sound like I truly am guilty.

“Aiding an escape and stealing the Device. The penalty is capital punishment,” one of the men says coolly, as if he hadn’t just pronounced my death sentence. I completely freeze. They think I took it, too.

“Search me for it,” I said with new confidence, “You won’t find it. I didn’t take it.”

One of the men steps forward and starts checking in my pockets. Another one takes my gun.

“Ah-ha!” says the first, “I found it!”

He holds a tiny disk of metal in his hand. My blood runs cold. His malevolent orange eyes meet mine.

Tavian! I jump. Of course. He set me up to look like I released the prisoner so I could steal the Device. How dare he? He will be dead the moment they find out, because they will find out. Unless Tavion destroys the world first. I want to hide my head in my hands and sob, but I can’t. If I lowered my hands they might shoot me.

“I will take charge of returning this to the Office,” he says, “Although I think we may have its first victim.”

I shiver. Even if I can prove at the trial that he blackmailed me and set me up, letting a prisoner lose will mean life imprisonment for me, if not death by the Device.

If they even give me a trial.

But what if I can keep Tavian from using the Device to destroy the world without having a trial?

I stretch out on the floor in my cell, trying to silence my crazed thoughts. But before I can think of how to prove Tavian guilty, two guards come to hear my last wish.

Every prisoner condemned to death gets one last request first, even if they didn’t get a trial. They aren’t allowed to live or go free, but sometimes they ask to see their families one last time or to write their will. I want to see my family, since I did all this for them.

“Condemned prisoner, what is your last wish?” one of the guards asks.

I open my mouth to say I would like to see my family for an hour, but then I change my mind.

“There is a policeman named Tavian,” I say, feeling strangely calm, “I would like to talk to him. And I want you to set up another security camera that also records sound here, and then I want you to leave. I want you to look at the footage as soon as you have time.”

He furrows his brow and leaves. Apparently this is a completely uncharted request. That doesn’t surprise me. But the realization that I’ll never see my dear ones again finally sinks in and it hurts.

A few minutes later he comes back with Tavian. He leaves Tavian and walks away. I see him slip his hand along the wall, and when he goes away again I see a tiny eye-like dot there.

“So Tala, it seems I have got my way, hmm?” Tavian whisper-hisses, “They won’t find the Device, since I have it safely in my dirty hands. They don’t need it to get rid of you, though. Why would you ever want to see me, when it’s my fault you’re here?”

“I loved you,” I say, surprised at how easily the lie came out. It makes sense. Tavian is young, handsome, and usually good mannered. No one knows the monster he really is. Except me, now. “I loved you, and you did this to me. If I hadn’t loved you, I wouldn’t have let you ever say a word to me. You took advantage of that, forcing me to break every rule I’d ever been told to follow. I think you are a beast.”

He chuckles. “Thank you for this entertaining confession. Now I really think I must be going.”

He leaves. About an hour later the guards come back, talking in hushed tones. This is the end, then.

But the guard I talked to merely takes the security camera and goes away. Oh, why can’t they just be done with this quickly?

In a few hours, as best as I can figure, the two guards come back. This time the Head is with them. Why?

The Head gets straight to the point. “I would like to commend you on your conduct. You were brave in confronting Tavian and cunning in capturing him.”

What? My head is spinning. This is unexpected!

“We have questioned Tavian, and after much examination he has revealed that he took advantage of your love for him. After he repeatedly talked to you on seemingly friendly terms, he threatened your family until you promised to let a prisoner escape so he could steal the Device. Then he turned you in, accused you of stealing the device, and set you up. Even under such circumstances, the punishment for aiding an escape should be life imprisonment. But since the prisoner was caught and contained, and you showed you have a very cool head when dealing with Tavian, your sentence has been reduced to ten years.”

I gasp and blink at them in confusion. Wow, that was a big change!

“You will be moved from the jail to the prison tomorrow. Once again I would like to congratulate you on your conduct with Tavian a little while ago. I’m not sure I could have done better myself!”

“Thank you!” I say, and I mean it too, “But I think I need to be honest on one point. I never loved Tavian, I just told him I did.”

For whatever reason, the Head guffaws. When he finally calms down, he says “I think it was a very well used deception! But we will leave you now. You probably need to sleep.”

He leaves me alone in the jail cell, but this time I’m hardly upset at all. I’m not going to die! What’s more, I won’t even have to spend my whole life here! Ten years certainly is a long sentence, but for a twenty-three-year-old faced with the prospect of life imprisonment it doesn’t seem to be. And I will get to see my family again.

Art:

Here's a random watercolor picture I painted a while back of an underwater scene:

Spotlight:

Guess what!?!? This month you get TWO spotlights!! Because free books are too good to pass up, right?

The first is Allie Lynn's website and email list, Equine on the Mind. Allie is planning on releasing her novella The Color of a Horse's Song at the end of March/beginning of April as a new lead magnet for her email list. I haven't read this book yet (as I was too busy when she asked for beta readers), but I've read some of Allie's other writing and I really like it.

The second is Vanessa Scott's website, email list, and published book (Agents of WRATH). I KNOW I spotlighted her in my last newsletter, but from now until May you can read Agents of WRATH for FREE if you sign up for her email list!! (I HAVE read this book, so I KNOW it's good lol.)

New blog/YouTube posts:

Why some people say you shouldn't publish your first book and why I'm planning to do it anyway (blog post)

Amazing Grace - performed by Anna Kailin Fletcher (video)

Tiger kaleidoscopes (video)

I also re-released God Made Cats - Cheetah Version on YouTube without the URL that went nowhere. :)

Feliny:

I have been busy and a little bit stressed lately, and haven't done anything cat related on the internet except for posting those to videos up there.

The Word:

If you have a request of a verse I should do, feel free to recommend it! You are welcome to download this verse graphic and share it. The KJV version is public domain.

I'd love it if you'd reply and tell me what you think of today's email, how you're doing, and anything else you'd like to share!

Anna Kailin Fletcher

For those of you who subscribed directly from my website. . .

I have a special thank-you gift for subscribers, but it comes in an email right after you sign up, and that email only goes out if you sign up directly from sendfox.com/LoveisLight. So you can access it here.

Amazing Grace short story

If you know someone who might be interested in my website and email list, I'd appreciate if you'd share sendfox.com/LoveisLight and annakfletcherwriter.weebly.com