Back in the chair
Jun 01, 2025 4:21 pm
AKA I'm distracted.
I've been home for two weeks and we won't get into how low my word count has been. Part of it was a wedding. No, not mine, but I officiated a friend's wedding. It was super neat and it was on Memorial day. The weather was gorgeous as was the setting with a waterfall behind us, though that did make speaking loud enough a challenge. But still I'm so honored she asked. But THEN... right after the wedding I house sat for her so she could go on her honeymoon and I screwed up and brought the wrong charger for my laptop. Which meant - you guessed it - I wrote very little. 100% my fault, but still it means I feel like May has had very little productivity.
However June is right around the corner and I am determined to turn over a new leaf and write like crazy. I have stories to finish and I need to get more books out. The epic fantasy is being edited right now and I think it will be amazing! The title is Exile's Refrain and take a look at this cover!
I can't wait for you to read it, and I'm working hard on making it the most amazing book. The reader magnet will be available in a few weeks. So get ready for that.
Book Recommendations!
The amazing Katie Cross has a new romantasy novel out. It is part one of a new trilogy. It is called The Smoke and the Sea. You get a chance to meet the tormented Henrik and the amazing Britt. You have draguls (mini dragons), magical woods, bad guys you enjoy hating. You can get the audio or paperback here or you can get the ebook version!
You may remember my mentioning the work of one of my author friends, Robert W. Ross. He’s written a bunch of stuff across Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance genres. I always recommend his audiobooks because his voice actors are so amazing. In fact, Robert and I both share the same voice actor, Autumn Juliet. She narrates Twisted Luck for me and One Heart that Beats for Two and The Journals of Ariel Thorne, Book 1: An Enforcer of Havilah for him.
An Enforcer of Havilah released a few weeks ago but I was a bit busy being in Africa!! Anyway here are a few words directly from Robert about his latest novel:
Hi Mel’s fans! If you’re interested in a fun, first-person, contemporary fantasy, I’d like to invite you to check out The Journals of Ariel Thorne, Book 1: An Enforcer of Havilah. For those of you who have read any of my other work, Ariel is set in the same universe, with cameos from previous books. That said, Ariel can absolutely be enjoyed on it's own, but fair warning, you may end up pulling on some of those cameo threads which’ll lead you to my earlier stories. There are worse things, right? Gives you something to enjoy between Mel’s awesome stuff. Remember, you guys read/listen a LOT faster than we can write. As an added bonus, if after reading/listening to Ariel, you do want to delve into earlier novels, I’m giving Mel 5 promo codes for any of my previous audiobooks. Enjoy!!
If you want a free audio book, respond to this newsletter and I'll give you one!
Weekly Micro Story
Return
Papa held me as we sat on the rocks, watching the far away lights.
"Pretty papa," I babbled. They were blue and white and rose and twisted up into the air, dancing like birds.
"Yes, they are."
I looked up at him confused. They were pretty, why did he sound sad?
"Papa?"
He looked down a smile crinkled his eyes. I relaxed.
"Sorry, Mika. They are pretty."
I could tell something was wrong, but not what. I looked back at the pretty lights, my face scrunched in thought. "Lights bad?"
He chuckled and kissed the top of my head. "No, Mika. They just … you won't understand this now, but someday you will watch with your own child. Those are our ancestors being released to return to the stars. When it is time for us to die, we go to the Assembly and let our spirits serve our people for a hundred winters. Then we return to the stars."
That made no sense. We prayed to our ancestors. Why would they be at the Assembly?
A streak of white came shooting toward us and I squeaked in surprise and a bit of fear. But it circled us, two of them twined together. And Papa smiled. They circled us once more. Leaving behind the feeling of being hugged, then they were gone.
"Papa?" I was now really confused.
"That was my parent's, parent's. Saying goodbye." The sadness was gone from his voice. "Someday I will go there too, and your children's children will watch me return to the stars."
The words were silly, but other streaks of light shot away, circling some of my friends, then darting upward. A few grownups cried, but then grown ups were silly. I let it go and just watched the pretty lights, until I fell asleep.
~*~
In my absence, the tomatoes have gone insane but my peppers are NOT happy. I shall have to do a LOT of tomato processing this year. I also have way too many weeds in the blueberry cage. Sigh. Oh well, weeding burns calories, right? Lol. I will be hanging out at LibertyCon in a few weeks. I know I said no cons outside Dragoncon, but I miss peeps so I'm going to go hang. If you desperately need a book, let me know, otherwise, I'll be at the bar.
Mel
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