On March 2, we had our first real snow of Winter 2019 here in Brooklyn, and my daughter and I got ourselves organized and out of the house. We met up with another family for some sledding and snow-fort building in Prospect Park, and we were all really proud of our architectural masterpiece, built with brute strength and ingenuity (and only the teensiest bit of know-how—we basically winged it).
Why share this little little adventure with you, dear reader? Because it served to remind me that one needs to leave the neverland of the mind and get into the real world and do something constructive (like actually constructing something!). I’ve spent the last half year hunkered over the manuscript for A Wizard’s Sacrifice, whittling a sprawling, purple, 210,000-word mess into a something ready for beta readers, and then responding to some very solid critical feedback with more whittling and reshaping. My head has been very much stuck in this book, only popping up to respond to interruptions from family, the holidays, and my day job (darn those responsibilities!), as well as the ongoing distraction of trying to market A Wizard’s Forge.
If you’ve been wondering why this blog has gone quiescent, there’s your reason.
Additional Updates
The manuscript for A Wizard’s Sacrifice has been delivered to my development editor, Amanda Rutter.
My cover designer, Steven Meyers Rassow, has completed the photo shoot with model Michelle Duckett, and begun work on the cover for A Wizard’s Sacrifice. I can’t wait to see what he came up with—you can read about how he developed the cover for A Wizard’s Forge here.
In December, I attended my first ever con as a vendor when I met with friends and fellow Wise Ink authors C.C. Aune (The Ill-Kept Oath) and Kimberlee Bastian (The Element Odysseys) at Wizard World in Madison, Wisconsin.
Blackest Knights, shown in the picture above, includes my award-winning short story “The Weight of Bliss” along with other dark fantasy short stories by C.T. Phipps (Rules of Supervilliany), M.L. Spencer (The Rhenwars Saga), and many more authors.
Speaking of anthologies, my short story “The Remains of the Spell” appears in It’s a Living, which includes 14 mostly humorous stories detailing the lives of the servants, suppliers, and other “support staff” who clean up after the heroes and villains in fantasy realms.
AM Justice 
Of course you’re a Ravenclaw. 🙂 (I am, too!)
Yay Ravenclaw! I’m way too much of a coward to be a Gryffindor. 🙂
You’re so awesome!!
Omg I love your blog! It’s so inspiring and you have such a lovely family!
Your daughter is awesome 😎 👏