Things are rushing along at the speed of time, as you probably could have imagined, so I figured I should stop in and give a quick update on all the things that are going on.
I have my hands in a lot of buckets, all at the same time, apparently.
Bucket #1: Land of Szornyek
I know I haven’t stopped talking about this project since I started working on it, but it’s still kicking! Tentacles and Teeth has been published (March 28, yay!) and I had an excellent promotion that has resulted in a good number of reviews already—hopefully, there will be more to come.
Most of my work on this has been focused on the next two books: City of Dod (Book 2) is currently in production, and Book 3 (Untitled) is being drafted. I’ve also been working on my Patreon, doing updates, illustrations, ordering postcards, that sort of thing—as well as a super secret surprise.
Here is a video update for my Patreon that you can watch:
Bucket #2: Fairy Tales IN SPACE
When I quit my freelance work (did I mention that I did that? I’m a full-time author now. It was back in April. A lot has happened since then lol.), I jumped right into a brand new project. I’ll be releasing a series of fairy tale novellas, all set in space—more specifically, all set in an intergalactic space city called Rove City—sort of my fairytale kingdom in space.
I’m well on the way to being able to release the first one—a retelling of Cinderella (Untitled, thus far), and have two others mostly or partially drafted (a version of Jack and the Beanstalk, and a version of Beauty and the Beast). I’ve already scheduled my cover designer and my editor, so things are looking good!
Bucket #3: Yellow Arrow Publishing
Did you know I’m the Vice President of the Board of Yellow Arrow Publishing? Yup. Also something that’s been in the works. YAP is a local (Baltimore) non-profit that seeks to support women-identifying writers. Currently, we publish a biannual journal, host a reading series, have a writers-in-residence program, and run workshops for writers. We will also begin accepting submissions for full-length manuscripts very soon.
A couple things I’d like you to know:
We have a HUGE event coming up on August 2nd. If you’re in the Baltimore area, PLEASE COME. It’s Literary Night in Highlandtown, and we will have authors at wonderful venues all over town (art galleries, restaurants, bars, etc.) and a live readings by some of our very own, MD-local writers. There will be free books, free food, free alcohol, so bring all your friends, family, children, and dogs!
We need funding! If you are willing to make a small donation, CLICK HERE. (This is pretty much my entire job as Vice President, so you will likely be hearing more from me on this lol.) We are a 501(c)3, so your donation is tax deductible. If you are a business and want to sponsor this event, a future event, one of our writers, or anything at all, or you want to partner with us in some way, email me! ariele [at] yellowarrowpublishing.com
That’s actually all, but I really like things to be in 3s, not 2s :D
Bucket #4: Discord
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the Discord chat platform (mostly for gamers) but I’ve been running a server made entirely of writers and authors! If you’d like to join, let me know. We run sprints, talk about writing, editing, marketing, publishing, and all kinds of things, and we’re always looking for people that want to participate. We have trad- and indie-published authors, writers that are just working on their first manuscripts all the way up to those who have a good number of books published.
Bucket #5: Workshops & Conventions
A newish thing I’ve been doing is running workshops and speaking at conferences. I co-ran two workshops with YAP in January and February, spoke at the Eastern Shore Writers Conference in March, and ran two workshops with the Maryland Writers Association Montgomery County Chapter in May and June. I have three workshops with YAP planned for this fall, and will be speaking at the Hallowreads Convention in Ellicot City in November. I’ve also been doing Conventions—Awesome Con in April, GalacticCon in June, and Shore Leave coming up here in July.
Deidre Brown Prescott <3
Bucket # 6: Life
And of course, life stuff in general keeps going, regardless of whether my books get written or not. Josh is in business school right now, we spent a lot of money on getting our roof fixed; next up, we are dealing with drainage issues in our yard (hurrah for landscaping!). We went to visit my parents for a weekend, and Josh’s parents, aunts & uncle, and sister & boyfriend also came to Baltimore to visit. My mentor passed away (I’m a little sad she won’t get to read this—she loved getting all my blog post updates), so I made a whirlwind trip to NH for the service in the middle of everything. But Josh has a nice, long, 6-week break coming up in August, so I’m looking forward to having a little time to breathe.
Honestly, when I type it all out, it sounds exhausting, but the truth is: I’m loving every second of it.
Anyway, here’s a picture of the dog.
Thanks for listening :) <3