Hey awesome,

Happy November! How's it going in your world? Over here I completely forgot about Thanksgiving...I mean, in my defense, I already had Thanksgiving dinner in October (see the post about Wolf Day, if you're curious!), and also we're working a holiday light show at our campground, so it's basically deep December here at all times.

Like, I go out in the real world and realize it's not remotely Christmas time, and let me tell you - I am regularly confused.

Bright side - and it's a huge bright side - I'm mostly dealing with delighted people being delightful, and I get to ride a little train around a beautifully decorated park on a regular basis. A definite win!

While workamping isn't quite a regular schedule, it leaves plenty of time for adventures and writing. My mom and one of my brothers came to visit, and we went to a tea farm (sooo much delicious caffeine), back to the aquarium (look, fair warning, if you come visit me I'm going to do my level best to take you to the aquarium), saw a gorgeous 400+ year old tree, and ate all the food. All of it. Like I should probably be hibernating currently to make the most of all the food, but unfortunately I haven't mastered that skill yet. Send me any hibernating tips you might have?

Here are a few of my bajillions of pictures from the last few days:

In writing news, I'm approaching the halfway point in my Secret Project, having added about 40,000 words to it since Nov 1. It's definitely still very much in Messy First Draft mode, but the bones of the story are coming together, and I'm just getting more and more excited about it. Which is good, because there's still a ways to go...

Speaking of excited and a ways to go, I have a different new project alert! Steve Jackson Games (of Munchkin fame) and Three Ravens Publishing have joined forces for a series of tie-in novels from the Car Wars game series. From the release:

"The Car Warriors: Autoduel Chronicles will feature classic aspects of the game, gear, weapons, and more from forty years of Game Universe Canon with new Characters, Teams, and Corporations vying for the limelight of the arena."

Shenanigans will most certainly ensue - I've got a rough outline for my novel for late next year, and the first book, from William Joseph Roberts, should be kicking us off in early 2023.

Given 2023 is coming fast (seriously: what is time?), another bright spot for me is con season! I'm absurdly pumped to have a January con to kick off the year - Mars Con. Are you able to be in the Virginia Beach area January 13-15? Because I got a sneak peek at the panels, and wheewww they're good. Look at the ones I get to be on:

• Cats in Scifi and Fantasy
• Why do we love magic so much? Why do we love dragons?
• The Jedi had The Force; Voltron had the Space Witch, Evolving that Concept
• Considerations in Writing Strong Women
• #$%^~@ Swearing in SciFi
• Dying is Easy, Getting Laughter is a Bit Trickier

Plus, check out that guest list - a buuuunch of my favorite people will be there too, and what's a new year without an amazing opportunity to nerd out with awesome folks?

in the meantime, since it's not quite 2023 (or even December, yikes) yes, how about some free reads to cover you over the holiday season?

https://books.bookfunnel.com/free-fantasy-sciencefiction-ebooks/nkhigqs91t

https://books.bookfunnel.com/free-fantasy-ebooks/17x66sf06w

I'm aiming to get another 15,000 words done on the Secret Project over the next week, so back to work with me. If you celebrate it, have a lovely Thanksgiving, and if you don't, have a fabulously relaxing weekend.

Til next time,

Marisa