July Update

I wrote a book!

☀️ June / July Summary

I wrote a book!

The entire manuscript for an 89k-word adult romantic high-fantasy, currently titled Weave & Rune, is complete. On July 9th, I queried 54 agents and I’m now moving on with my life while replies trickle in (7 form rejections so far). The blurb:

When her quiet life is shattered by murder, Zahra—an industrious botanist and the daughter of an archeologist—teams up with charming local guide Hazen to escape an unstable kingdom and unlock the secrets of a dangerous magical artifact.

My plan is to give it six months and decide in the new year whether to self-publish this series. I’m not sold on whether traditional publishing or self-publishing is the right path for me. My decision to query agents was simple: you can self-publish after querying, but you can’t query a book you’ve self published.

Posted A Horror Short Story & A prologue to Weave & Rune

I completed and posted my third and fourth short stories here on SubStack. These short stories have been a great way to explore other genres, explore my fantasy world a bit more, and write some character backstories.

The River Will Rise

The Harnessing - A Prologue

I submitted a piece of flash fiction to Emerald City Ghosts and hope to share that with everyone in the fall.

Author Branding & Marketing

I worked with my design-oriented sister to create a new author branded logo and header. I’m hoping it communicates, ‘60% fantasy, 40% romance, 100% a good read’.

👉 I would love feedback from subscribers on these designs!

Growing Socials

I grew my TikTok follower count up to 2,025. It’s a pretty engaged group and I’m enjoying the community of #authortok and #booktok. The posts that have been most successful discussed fanfic —> trad publishing pipeline and technicalities in fantasy writing (like how you can’t draw a longsword from a back scabbard). I’m finding that my niche on TikTok might be as the nerd that pushes her glasses up and says, ‘well, technically…” Go figure.

New Book - a contemporary fantasy standalone novel

As I wait for responses from agents, I threw myself into a new project. I’m writing a contemporary witchy romantic fantasy set in the coastal PNW town of Port Townsend. Blurb:

A witch inherits an old Victorian home from her great aunt, finds a grimoire, and decides to conjure herself the perfect man.

I had eighteen people on TikTok volunteer to alpha read the first four chapters. Twelve followed through and all of them said they couldn’t wait to read more. Hearing feedback like this is incredible:
• I really want to know who the new love interest is

• I haven’t come across a book quite like this one

• I want a finished book as soon as you have them ready

• I love the premise and the magic system

• This is awesome so far

  👉 If you’d like to be added to the list of beta readers, please let me know!

🌻 August Goals

Finish Draft 1 of Witchy Romantic Fantasy

I’m 18k into the first draft and would like to hit 80k, knowing that I’ll add about 10k in a second edit.

Keep growing socials

I plan to continue to post on TikTok 3x a day—a mix of book recs, writing tips, and trending content.

I should probably focus on Instagram as well, but I’m not sure the best strategy. Lmk if you’re an author who has figured that out!