Greetings dear Chroniclers,

Happy New Year! Did you pick goals or themes for 2025?

I'm not committing to goals this year. But I picked 2 themes. One for my mental health and one to encourage creativity. (If you're new to the idea of themes instead of goals, there's a great YouTube video on it.) The Japanese concept of MA for my mental and physical health and the Explore creativity theme.

MA is simply put - a pause, an intended space or emptiness. (There's much more to it. So if you're curious, you can read about it here.) It was my theme last year too—a perfect one to carry over.

In the past, I worked right until I went to bed. I didn't sleep well, and I didn't leave space to do any creativity except write. Not healthy. This is the reason I picked MA and Explore. I worked on MA last year and it really helped my mental and physical health. And it helped me in maintaining my relationships. Just that little nudge of seeing my theme for the year was a reminder to slow down, enjoy what I have, and to breathe.

This year I also want to try new things, so I picked Explore. To start the year off, I'm trying a new craft - making stickers! So when book 3 releases, I can hopefully share specially crafted treats then!

So I'll invite you to choose a theme or two if you haven't already. Feel free to use the same ones! (No need to be unique here. Your journey will be the unique part!)

Let me know what themes you pick!

Japan Trip 2024 Highlight #1

First stop on the tour was Sendai (map link). Right away we learned more about Date Masamune, the famous samurai warlord and founder of the city. To do so, we had to trek up a steep hill. Now I'd been walking several miles a day to prepare for traipsing about 3-5 miles a day, but I live in a very flat area. So we were pretty slow going up the hill. (I didn't feel so bad when I saw a group of college students huffing and puffing as they made their way up. Hubs and I weren't too far behind them!)

First stop was Sendai City Museum, about halfway up the hill.

Here is a letter from Date Masamune to his son Tadamune about hunting. Seeing a letter he wrote made the whole experience feel a little more real. Date-san was a brilliant tactician, and he founded Sendai to make it a place of learning.

Of course, they had a replica of Date Masamune's iconic armor on display. Not only was he formidable when wearing his armor, but he only had one eye (due to a childhood sickness). So he wore an eyepatch and Date-san was known as the "One-Eyed Dragon of Oshu"!

We stopped for lunch at the delightful museum cafe. I had coconut curry with shrimp, fall veggies, and rice. (Most food was seasonal and warmed you from the inside!) And you know (me being the yuzu fanatic), I had to try the yuzu and ginger tea. (Yuzu is kind of like a lemon but better.)

At the top is the ruins of his castle (basically the floor plan) and a statue of him that overlooks Sendai.

Then we took a taxi from the top of the hill over to Zuihoden, Date-san's mausoleum.

Here's the view from the purification station at the bottom of the hill to the mausoleum. At gardens and special places like this, the fall color was incredible!

I'll share more highlights in upcoming newsletters!

Class Creation in Progress

Just a quick note that I'm working on an author website class that focuses on a simple cost-effective alternative to Wordpress. More details soon!

Obligatory Ferret

This year Pocky and Mochi received a "cat house" where we can change the inside and make entrances go to different doors. They really like the new house for stashing toys. It was so hard to get a picture of them in it!

Sale!

Kobo's "Start a New Series 2025" sale will feature Rise: the Liminal Chronicles eBook. Grab your copy for $2.99 USD and $3.99 CAD from January 9-22, 2025. (The link will update with the new books, including Rise, on January 9.)

Featured Book

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But for all its plotting and scheming, magic did not foresee the War of the Seven Worlds. And rather than watching their young fall to grim, the original supernaturals entered into a secret compact to exile magic. But nothing good can come from teams of volatile, confined supernaturals, each with something to prove.

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FREE Books Ready To Download!

Take me to the books on BookFunnel!

Take me to the books on Story Origin!

Free stories in the Liminal Chronicles universe are available for a limited time. So grab them while you can.

Claim your freebies!

May 2025 be a fabulous year for you all!

Be the Difference. Be extraordinary.



All the best,

Amy

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P.S. If your email blocks the links in this message, here are the URLs. Just copy and paste them into a browser tab. (FYI for openness, I've chosen branded links so I can see what's of most interest to my readers. That's all I want from the info!)

• Themes Not Goals: https://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/themes-not-goals
• Concept of MA: https://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/JAN-25-MA-concept
• Google Map of Sendai: http://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/Jan2025-gmap
• "Date Masamune Day" from my trip blog: http://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/Jan2025-tripblog
• Rise in the Kobo Start a New Series 2025 Sale: https://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/Jan2025-kobo
• School for the Magically Insane: http://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/Jan2025-book-feature
• Reading Goals - Bookfunnel: http://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/Jan2025-bookfunnel
• Reading Goals - Story Origin: http://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/Jan2025-storyorigin
• Free Liminal Chronicles Stories: https://go.liminalchronicles.com/freebies

This newsletter © 2025 Amy Winters-Voss. All rights reserved. Cover images copyright the respective authors.