Pigs, Time Magicians and More!
Jul 24, 2025 6:40 pm
Hey there!
I have to admit, I am a little afraid to say this, but we're starting to get into the swing of unexpectedly milking twice a day. No, life hasn't smoothed out perfectly, but there are fewer late nights and less chaos as a result of the new milk. The reality of the situation is that my 'writing' time now has a decent chunk of it bitten out by the milking, but I can't complain. Fresh dairy is a pretty dang good reason for my time shrinking just a bit.
The thing is, we had to figure out how to deal with nearly seven to eight gallons of milk a day. Fortunately, we have a bunch of animals that can thrive off of the healthy stuff. All the chickens get it, of course the calf gets some hefty bottles, but to account for all the extra bits, we got...drumroll....PIGS! I hereby introduce you to Hamrietta, Porktia and Squeaky (the latter was named by our six year old. We just went with it).
So far it's been enlightening to say the least. They are bonkers over the milk. As in, they will lick it off their food before they actually get to the food part of the meal. We've learned that milk is a pretty good way to get them to gain some weight, so it should turn out positive for all of us. We have a way to deal with the excess, and it eventually will return to us in food format. For now, we just think their adorable.
My Progress This Week
Just because my writing time decreased doesn't mean I'm not making the most of it! I'm still working on getting the draft of Elf Blooded done, which is turning out to be a lot more fun than I expected. *Slight spoiler if you haven't read Demon Blooded yet* Lily is a really fun character to get into the mind of. Being half-elf, having their magic, but also having been homeschooled her whole life, lends to some really fun thought patterns and logic. She's nearly the opposite of Krista in every way, which is proving very entertaining. In any case, I'm at just under 63K words for that book, which is past the halfway mark.
In addition to that work, I'm editing the next short story for you to read at the beginning of August. Here's a little sneak peak about the story--the cover!
It's full of intrigue, magic, and a little sarcastic humor, what's not to like about that? I'll pop in a little blurb in the next email, so look forward to that next time.
Also, chapters 16 and 17 of Dwarf Blooded are now available to those who are part of the second tier! We're getting close to wrapping that story up (I'm rubbing my hands together just waiting to see your reaction at the ending of this one), which means two things. The book will be published at the end of September and chapter of the next book, Fairy Blooded, will start going live six months in advance of that book (slated for March).
Some books to check out!
warm regards,
Dan
