October has come and gone and we move further into fall and closer to a season I am not fond of--winter. I’ve been in sunny Arizona for too long to appreciate the respite winter offers us from the brutal sun here. The shorter days give me itchy feet, the cold turns me into a whiney baby, but that’s season changes for you.

Overall Updates

Mad Raptor Productions is going well and I am super happy with how well it has been received by folks. Thank you all for making this launch special, it means a lot to me. We are working hard to make sure the books we come out within 2021 are the best they can be. Right now we have an open submission for our next anthology--Unexpected Heroes.

If you are a disabled writer or author, or you have a family member, friend or significant other with a disability, be it physical, mental, visible or invisible, we invite you to submit a short piece, 

The requirements are:

--Submissions are between 8k to 12k words in any genre. 

--A disabled protagonist(s) 

--Positive ending no matter the genre and follow the theme.

Theme: anyone can be a hero, even if it appears to be at a disadvantage. Sometimes not being able to see or hear something could make the difference between life and death; sometimes being stuck at home with a fibro flare could be the reason why a fire next door was stopped on time. Heroes come in many varieties. 

If you are interested in submitting a piece or no someone who is, feel free to send them to our website or a link to the submission form. 

Miliwordy (far behind, but still willing)

October was not a good month for Miliwordy and I have debated dropping out completely. On one hand, there are a lot of things happening in my life that will get in the way of writing and I won’t be able to do this with the same vigor as before. On the other, I still really want to get my projects done and published. It’s a hard thing to balance, but depending on how the next few weeks go, I’ll adjust my goals as needed, not completely abandon them. We shall see how National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) goes! Are you taking part in NaNoWriMo this month?

The Unknown!

This month threw a curveball at me as Mr. Brown signaled that we will be moving anytime between this month to the start of February. Naturally, this made me do the puppet flail and I’ve been in the progress of downsizing the house since the decision became final. This is something I have wanted to do for a few years, but after my relatives passed away this year, the urge to be closer to my family is stronger than ever. While the idea of moving so soon terrifies me, I am also glad for it and the opportunity to be with my clan again. More to come on that as I find it out.

Ten of Brownies

It is happening! I have started rewriting Ten of Brownies this month and it is coming along really well. I have changed a few details about the story and added another POV to spice things up, but it is flowing well and I can’t wait to share it with you guys. I’ll still be working on this while drafting out Carrow’s Tarot and Pilgrimage of the Cherry Blossom.

Another fun item for this is that the cover for it is in the works! I am happy to say that Kevin Liew agreed to do the follow-up covers and has been his magic for Ten of Brownies. I am looking forward to sharing it with you in the following newsletter, but here is a sneak peek. :3

Carrow’s Tarot

I’ve finished off a few more cards and will be dedicating the bulk of November to fleshing out the bulk of these cards since I am set on getting this book out in 2021. I have about forty cards left to do and I am set on getting the draft done at least at the end of the month so the alpha readers can tear their teeth into it.

House Call

Some of you may remember when I included short stories in my newsletter and I am getting back into the practice. House Call is a short story taking place right after the events of the first book when Ghost is called to check out the strange ongoings at a small village graveyard.

Pilgrimage of the Cherry Blossom

I set this story down while I was working on the other two projects, but I have occasionally come back to work on the series bible portion of it now and then. But I have rewritten chapters 1-5 and am mulling out one story plot before pushing onward after November.

Fine Print

Fine Print is still with the editor who ran into a few real-life issues and is held up, which is fine! Life happens and 2020 has definitely tested a lot of us and pushed us to our limits. Once I get an update on the status, I will let you wonderful readers known.

Lock & Key

The story is printed and on the desk next to me. This will be my reward project for finishing Carrow's Tarot and I am really looking forward to writing the next installment of Nia and Aurora.

Friend Shoutout

Dal Secil Runo was been amazing with helping Mad Raptor Productions Unexpected Heroes anthology and I wanted to return the kindness she showed us by talking about her book, dANGGER, launch on Oct 31. It’s a mystery story that takes place in one of my favorite places--Iceland.

This month I took some time off from video production to focus on getting ready for the next few months, so there isn’t a video of the month to share with you all. However, I am working hard at making new content for folks with a focus on writer productivity and parades about writer life.

Tamara and I recorded and edited an episode of Authortube News~! And it’s going live this week! It was odd to get back into the podcasting saddle, but we were happy to do it again. We’ve revamped at a lot with the branding, added another podcast host for the episode, and made a website as a one-stop-shop for Authortube News.

Spending is tight these days since a lot of my extra funds are going towards Mad Raptor Productions these days, but I did stumble across a game called Hades. It’s a rogue-like dungeon crawler game made by a group called Supergiant Games. It has heavy ties to Greek mythology and even when I “die” in the game, I am still progressing forward. Add in the fantastic voice acting and situations that happen, I’ve been pretty addicted to this game. It’s been out for a while, I only just found it this month. You can find it on Steam or Nintendo for the Switch if you are interested in playing it.

That's it!

Thanks again for being here and reading what I have to say. Please take care of yourself and be safe this coming month.

Talk to you again, real soon.