A Month of Love
In this issue: Grappling my Goals and my Q1 Project Progress Predictions, plus flirty Fiction Flings I can’t wait to read.
Newsletter Send Date: Friday, Feb 2, 2024
Hey Dragonlings!
It’s been an interesting month. Busy. That’s for sure. And flip-flopping between hot and cool. We’ve had temperatures as high as the mid 60s and as cold as the -50s (after wind chill) this month. We’ve had dry, wet and muddy, and snow-covered roads. I’ve only had to walk up the hill twice this month though, so maybe that’s a plus, and only had to call out of work one time due to the car being blocked in with snow drifts.
Speaking of work, my schedule changed. This was always the plan, as you might remember from the last email I sent out, but for a hot second, I was actually unsure if it would change, and even now, my future on my current shift is a little rocky. The company I worked for opened a new clinic, and I volunteered to work there when I discovered it would be a third shift job. So now there’s the hospital, care center, physical therapy and clinic. However, they decided to only open one wing of the clinic for the moment—the one that’s connected to the hospital—with plans to re-structure the other half. They’re predicting the project to take anywhere from 6-8 months.
I’m going to be working in the clinic full-time once it completely opens, but for now, I’m splitting my time between all areas. I clean the clinic, the business offices in the hospital, and the physical therapy wing. Then to wrap it all up for the evening, I tend to wash the mops and rags I’ve used for the night so that everyone else has plenty to use during the day.
What does all that mean? It means that my shift is now 6 PM-2 AM, and then on days when the youngest has archery, I find myself going in at 8 PM and staying until 4 AM, but that’s only once a week. It means I’m trying to sleep during the day once everyone’s out of the house. It means I’m trying to do school work once I’ve woken up while I’m waiting for everyone to get back home. It means I’m still trying to work around everyone else’s activities to make sure the youngest can get to and from volleyball practice and jamborees as well as archery practice and tournaments.
It means I haven’t had a lot of time to get back on the writing bandwagon yet this year.
This meme hit home, and made me laugh, so I had to share...
Because I’ve been trying to settle into my new schedule, there hasn’t been any real writing this month. That isn’t to say I haven’t been busy. I’ve been plotting out multiple stories in various series, some of which I’ll be working on this year. I have already changed some of my publishing plans because of this, pushing some of my releases to 2025. I’m not considering this a bad thing though. If anything, it’s giving me more time to work on the pieces I want released this year (even if it’s only a little) and devoting more time to polishing those that will come out next year.
So here’s the scoop on what I’m focusing on the rest of this year moving forward. With a little somethin’-somethin’ for the romance readers, since it is a Month of Love after all 😘
Sultry Solstices
What originally started off as a single short story in an anthology called Summer Solstice Seduction (no longer available), quickly decided it wanted to be a series of shorts about three sisters, which has since morphed again.
I got the idea to write a series of monster romances that were similar to the “monster of the week” style following one of the sisters in the same family and their paranormal partners. I was thinking about the myth of the seventh son of the seventh son, and wondered what kind of magic might occur with the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter. And since I wasn’t running low on monsters I could pair sisters with, nor did I actually declare how many sisters Tara had in the first story, I rolled with it.
I had plans to re-publish the first story near June and the next two in the series with it, but since it’s no longer three stories, I’m changing those plans. Instead of trying to write, edit and publish three stories, I’m going to focus on writing and editing seven stories. Then I can schedule a rapid release schedule for them every two weeks, starting June 2025.
Let me tell you, re-scheduling their release has already let me relax a little more.
I realized I wasn’t ready to release them this year because even if I did manage to get all seven stories ready for publication, I don’t know if I’d be able to handle getting my hands on seven covers for one series this year. Not when I have other series taking priority…
Moving on from that, let’s take a look at each of the stories and the couples they feature since it is the month of love. Only the first story currently has a title. I’ll come up with the others’ titles as I finish their tales.
- Presumed Dead: Tara (human) and Keegan (ghost)
- SS#2: Josefina (witch) and Sebastian “Seb” (vampire)
- SS#3: Chynna (human) and Hazan (wendigo)
- SS#4: Sunny (human) and Miguel (hellhound)
- SS#5: Zuri (human) and Lorenzo “Enzo” (orc)
- SS#6: Alicia (human) and Cian (fae)
- SS#7: Imani (human) and Sahir (djinn)
Monstrous Mates
Another short story that was originally in an anthology and decided it wanted to be a series.
The first story, “Monster’s Treasure”, is currently published in the To Love a Monster anthology, but I’ll be getting my rights back to it in August 2024, and my plan was to publish it and its two sequels some time after that…
That plan has changed. Similar to the Sultry Solstices, more monsters have raised their heads and demanded their stories told. I went from three stories to five, and part of me wants to make sure there’s seven of these as well because that’s my magic number. Similar to the Sultry Solstice series, each book follows a different couple, but unlike the Sultry Solstice series, the relation isn’t between the love interest, but the monsters coming from Darkside, where all monsters live. Each of these stories already have titles, but I have more ideas for monsters, so I might want to start thinking of more titles.
- Monster’s Treasure: Kilvazeth “Zeth” (demonic monster) and Peyton
- Monster’s Secret: Divi (cat monster) and Erik
- Monster’s Revenge: Malgromex (snake monster) and Natacha
- Monster’s Shadow: Valcinth (shadow monster) and Samantha
- Monster’s Thread: Moicae (spider monster) and Orion
Shifters
&
Mages
No updates with this one unfortunately.
I still plan on working on Hunter’s Betrayal, which could still be either the first story in the series or the third, depending on what my editor says when I hand her the new draft. My editor currently has another book from the series, Jenna’s Story, and we’re working toward completion of this series so that Puck’s Choice comes out on its 10-year original publication anniversary.
Each novel follows a different couple and all the stories interweave with each other in some way, so it’s best if each story is read in order… Once I figure out what that order is 🤔…
- Hunter’s Betrayal: Johnathan Hunter (human) and Sarah Taylor (witch/mage)
- Puck’s Choice: Puck Dupree (shifter) and Rand Hunter (shifter)
- Jenna’s Story: Jenna Grayson (shifter) and Daren Rhodes (human)
- Mages’ Sacrifice: Cassie Barns (mage) and Raquel Hunter (mage)
Damned and Dangerous Quartet
The only series so far that I’m working on that follows a single couple (kinda, sorta, not exactly).
Unlike the other projects I’m working on, this series is an urban fantasy rather than a paranormal romance, and while there is a romance between the main character and her partner, it’s an on-again, off-again kind of relationship, and isn’t the main focus of the series. Don’t tell Sorsha Phantom and Larz Kazal I told you that though.
I’m still slowly trucking away at a re-write of book three, but it’s slow going, and I’m not certain if I’m going to release it this year with the way my writing is going. I’m still hopeful, but I’m not holding my breath at this moment.
Jesse St. George
This is my newsletter exclusive story, which you’ll find linked at the very bottom of this email.
If you’re interested in teenage dragon slayers and how they survive school and dragon slaying, feel free to check it out. There’ll be a link to the story if you want to start from the beginning and catch up with this YA paranormal romance.
- Jesse St. George (human dragon slayer)
- Devon Lewis (human?)
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BLURB:
Rhode Island, 1846. Estranged from his family, writer Merritt Fernsby is surprised when he inherits a remote estate in the Narragansett Bay. Though the property has been uninhabited for more than a century, Merritt is ready to call it home—until he realizes he has no choice. With its doors slamming shut and locking behind him, Whimbrel House is not about to let Merritt leave. Ever.
Hulda Larkin of the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms has been trained in taming such structures in order to preserve their historical and magical significance. She understands the dangers of bespelled homes given to tantrums. She advises that it’s in Merritt’s best interest to make Whimbrel House their ally. To do that, she’ll need to move in, too.
Prepared as she is with augury, a set of magic tools, and a new staff trained in the uncanny, Hulda’s work still proves unexpectedly difficult. She and Merritt grow closer as the investigation progresses, but the house’s secrets run deeper than they anticipated. And the sentient walls aren’t their only concern—something outside is coming for the enchantments of Whimbrel House, and it could be more dangerous than what rattles within.
BLURB:
Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she’s had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny.
But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin’s legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them—and the truth may bring them both to ruin.
Part of being an author is balancing your writing with your personal life—and that means from time-to-time you have to make a move *wink-wink*.
I’m feeling pretty good about my changes in publishing plans, even though it’s pushing things back. I’m still continuing onward (my word of the year!) in the ways I can, and that means the world to me. And I know it’s really because of all the work I put into planning my 2024.
Knowing exactly what I have going on and what’s next makes planning ahead soooo much easier. As I’m looking at these growing projects, and their expanding worlds, I know I’m making the right decision for the writing, my work, and more importantly myself!
And who doesn’t love a little slow burn with anticipation in the Month of Love. 😉
Stay warm, Dragonlings!
~Skye
🎉READER EXCLUSIVE ALERT!🎉
The story of Jesse St. George continues!
I have for you my friends and subscribers the latest chapter of my growing heroine the dragon slayer is available to ONLY MY SUBSCRIBERS! If you’re new to the newsletter and want to start this dragon slaying story from the beginning, check out the Jessie St George page! ( Password = JESSE )
💡Please note this is an unedited chapter of Jessie Saint George, Teenage Dragon Slayer (Title subject to change), an urban fantasy, and may contain typos. Please be aware some parts of the story may change between now and publication as well.
Chapter 5
Instead of sticking around campus and waiting for Kimberlee to get out of class like she might have, Jessie sent her friend a text that her class had been cancelled and asked that Kimberlee get a ride home from someone else.
As soon as Kimberlee sent her a sympathetic reply and told her she’d get a ride from Jamal, she got in her car and drove home.
“Jessie?” her mother called from the kitchen. “Is that you?”
Jessie sighed, hanging her keys on a hook next to the door. “Yes. Class was cancelled, so I came home early.”
“Oh.” Her mother stepped out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. “I didn’t even realize you were home early.” The woman assessed her, and she felt like squirming under her knowing gaze, as if she’d somehow done something wrong. “Everything alright?”
Jessie shook her head. “It’s fine,” she said simply. She didn’t want to tell her mother about Devon. Not that she liked him. Not that he’d ignored and rejected her. Not that he even existed.
As far as her mother knew, she wasn’t interested in anyone—inside or outside the DSS—and had never been. There was no reason to tell her now either.
Her mother knew better though. She frowned, her eyes shining with worry and sympathy.
Jessie sighed. “It’s nothing. I promise,” she assured her mom, and then asked, “How was your day?”
At that, her mother rolled her eyes. “Boring. Filled with Zoom meetings. I swear there are more and more people who find reasons not to fund our endeavors. Small, stupid reasons too.”
Jessie wondered why that was. Once upon a time, people had clamored over one another for a chance to be a dragon slayer patron. The DSS coffers had brimmed with gold and jewels, given to members based on their ability to kill dragons.
Since then, the coffers had been converted to bank accounts both national and international, and while Jessie didn’t know their exact status, she knew from the way her mother worried that they weren’t overflowing as they once had.
She knew the DSS had investments in various stocks though, and should be fine for a while no matter her mother’s worries.
“It’ll all work out,” she said. She didn’t know if she was trying to placate her mother or assuage herself. It didn’t really matter either way.
Her mother pouted and held out her arms, wordlessly asking for a hug. Jessie didn’t hesitate to step into the embrace, wrapping her arms around her mother so tight, she was afraid the woman couldn’t breathe.
But her mom just held her and stroked her hair. “Rough day?”
Jessie hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “Only the end,” she admitted. “The rest was fine.”
“Well, that’s good,” her mother said. “If you want to talk about it, I’m here.”
Jessie loved that her family didn’t pry into her life, what little of one she had, but were still supportive. She always knew she could go to them with her problems when she was ready.
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