This Week on the Balcony: At the Beginning of a Few Things
My regular newsletter thingy, with a few words on gardening, the current work in progress, upcoming travel, audiobooks, and Happy Easter! 📚🖤
Hey, writing balcony friends!
Hope you’re all doing well and enjoying your Friday so far!
Well, those of you who are awake, at least… I’m still working on that, myself. These days, I can’t seem to do more than one (admittedly, very strong) cup of coffee before my stomach starts rebelling on me. Since I get up at an ungodly hour most mornings, I usually drink that cup at around 4-5AM, and this morning is no different.
So that’s me right now.
In non-coffee-related news, things are going well, for the most part.
I got my garden spaded and broken up and raked and hoed and planted, and while I’ve had to chase my dad off watering it a few times, as he forgets I told him not to water it (and that he might have watered it the day before, or that I might have watered it that morning - he’s 87, so that’s the way it goes some days now), he’s also helped me fix the watering system, which still has some quirks leftover from my garden having previously been a lawn.
My mom, meanwhile, helped my gardening project by collecting egg shells and coffee grounds, and by soaking banana peels in a jug for potassium, so I’m experimenting with different combinations of those, depending on the specific plant, and trying to keep out the slugs and other creatures in the process.
Unfortunately, it’s been weirdly cold the past week, and the tiny watermelon plant I planted doesn’t seem to be weathering the cold weather too well, so I might need to replace that one. Most of the plants are hanging in there, though, so I’m feeling pretty good about the project overall. My hope is to have it all established before I leave next month.
As far as the writing, I’m well into the last Vampire Detective Midnight book. It had a little bit of a slow start, as they often do, but I’m still really hoping I can get it done before I leave on May 8th. I won’t know if I’m kidding myself on that score for probably at least another week. For now, I’m choosing to remain optimistic.
I did learn, from talking to a number of readers this week, that elements of this book are likely to surprise a number of people! As I can never tell how much people guess about where I’m going with plotlines and characters, that was kind of a nice surprise. Of course, it’s mostly anecdotal at this point, and my main focus right now is to write a good book, not a surprising one, per se, and hopefully finish it before I have to board a plane.
The travel itself feels unreal in some ways right now, especially to somewhere as different as Japan. It struck me that I likely wouldn’t have planned this trip at all, had I known things would feel so uncertain and unstable in general. It feels like a truly strange time to be going halfway around the world all by myself. More and more, though, I’m envisioning it as a long writing retreat with a bunch of really cool scenery and excellent food during my breaks.
And hell, maybe the strangeness is even more of a reason to go? I honestly can’t decide, but I’m committed now, so I suppose it’s more reassuring to think so.
Audiobooks and their Many Ups and Downs…
Just a quick note on this ~ I’m obviously pretty behind on the editing for the audiobook chapters. I decided to prioritize the new book, as you may have gathered, but I’m still hoping to get a few more chapters to you before I leave.
The editing is still pretty slow for me, especially on long chapters, but I’m halfway done editing the next chapter of Black To Light, and I’ve got a bunch more recorded. I might even do some editing over in Japan, while I’m there.
And that’s it for news for now, or at least all that’s occurring to me at the moment.
I hope everyone who celebrates has a lovely Easter! I colored eggs with my nephew on Tuesday night, and it was ridiculous and silly as we tried doing tie-dyed eggs for the first time, just to be different, then started writing silly words on the eggs with wax, and of course everything quickly got out of hand while we were doing that (I was blamed, of course, and okay, probably fair enough). Then we all watched the movie War Games, which I hadn’t seen in an age, and my sixteen-year-old nephew got to marvel and the ancient wonders of dial-up modems and enormous floppy disks and really basic video game graphics. I think he liked it?
They’re all going to be gone this weekend, so Easter itself will be very quiet, and will probably be a writing day for me. There’s no egg-hiding this year, which is a little bit of a bummer, if only because traditionally, as a family, we’re ridiculous about that, too, and so competitive about hiding and finding eggs, it’s pretty funny.
As always, I’ve got a few more things for you below, but have an amazing Friday and weekend, whether you do the bunnies and chocolate and hiding eggs thing or not, and thanks so much for reading!
🐦⬛☕️📚🌤️🌻🌎
JC’S LATEST RELEASE ~
Book Description ~
“I smelled something.” Nick’s voice sounded as empty and dead as his eyes. “I smelled something, and tracked it here…”
Black gets a new case, solving the murder of the most famous tech mogul in the world, Lucian Rucker, after he’s gunned down on his company’s steps.
Unfortunately, no one else knows Lucian’s dead, not even the police, and the people who hired Black would very much like to keep it that way.
More than anything, they want to bury Lucian’s secrets before his murder inevitably comes to light.
But Lucian’s secrets are dark––darker than Black ever imagined, and it gets personal as he starts to uncover the billionaire’s crimes. When more people start to die, Black, Miri, and the rest of their team, must hunt down the mysterious killer before people they love get caught in the crossfire.
FAN FICTION:
Your regular reminder that there are brand new episodes available for Caelum Ignis since the last newsletter, starting with this one:
Caelum Ignis Ch54: "Death"
Draco’s arm remained tense and clenched as he aimed it in the direction of the Dark Lord’s very dead body. Draco knew he was dead. He didn’t doubt that the spell had worked. Yet he also didn’t seem able to make himself lower the wand, or even to unclench his jaw. He gripped the wand as if his life depended on it, his knuckles white and pained.
I hope you enjoy them!
And shockingly, I just realized there’s only ONE MORE EPISODE left in the Caelum Ignis story, which you’ll get on Sunday! 🐍♥︎🎉
I might have to think up some more free fiction stuff to share once I get back from Japan. I have a few thoughts about that, but at least one would probably be behind the paywall. I don’t know if I’ll do anymore fanfic or not. Possibly? It’s tempting, but as always, time is the issue…
This Week’s Bookfunnel Sale:
Click the image below to check out the books and authors currently on offer!
FREE BOOK OF THE MONTH!
As a special treat in 2025, I’m going to be featuring a free book every month for the next twelve months, from an author friend. Here is this month’s free book!
Dark Is My Exile is an introduction to my Wicked Realms series, and is a fast burn dark romantasy #whychoose romance with elements of forbidden love, found family, morally gray men, plot heavy romance, wicked Fae, and political conflict with enough spice to keep you reading all night long.
One week ago, I saw the future, and it was filled with fire and ruin.
Worst of all, I forsaw the death of the most powerful male in Caladrius.
A terrible prophecy that changed the course of my life, and endangered the men I love. They've sworn to protect me, but in this wicked realm, such promises are doomed to be broken. Now we're playing a dangerous game with the ruthless Fae King, who keeps me prisoner in his palace, using me to chart the course of his unending war against his brother.
As our enemies close in from all sides, one mistake is all it takes to put us in danger and send us on the run. But there is no cheating fate, and even the greatest sacrifice of all won't save us from what destiny has planned.
This is a prequel novella to Savage Is My Kingdom ~
Thanks so much for reading!
I appreciate you all so much! :)
