That my last post was a New Year’s resolution post is…almost hilarious?

So, for those who don’t follow me on Instagram/Threads, I’ve been in and out of hospital since January 25th. I went into the ER for a gallstone attack, the procedure to remove it gave me pancreatitis among…many other complications. I should mention now that, apart from a short stint in the hospital at the age of six for dehydration, I’ve otherwise never been hospitalized. It was…a journey—a quest even—but I’m on the mend.

As you might imagine, I haven’t been up to much other than trying to return to some version of healthy. To that end, I’ve temporarily withdrawn from any new freelance contracts (anyone who’s worked with me in the past or is on my list, don’t worry, we’re still good). I just can’t get invested in any new projects until I feel like I’m back on my feet.

Although, I’ll admit, this whole thing is really making me debate the freelance editing gig. I’ve been shifting more and more of my attention to my own projects now that I have a full-time job. I still want to work on comics and indie author books, but I think I may need to be much more selective. There’s only so much time in day, unfortunately, ha.

Other than trying to regain my health and sanity, well, I’ve felt like I’ve been on the back foot. No matter how much I accomplish, I feel like I’m still playing catch up. But maybe writing out what I have been able to work on might make me feel better?

Phantasmias: Three-Year Anniversary

That’s right! I can hardly believe it, but Phantasmias will be three years old this October! Of course, that means the yearly Spooky Anniversary Sale will be going on from October 1st to October 31st. It deeply amuses me to set the eBook price for CA$3.33, but especially this year, with the third anniversary. I’ve also lowered the Booklover Combo (Phantasmias trade paperback with bookmark) to CA$23.99 this year.

I’m sort of reliving the original print publishing adventure with a new non-fiction project that should be coming out by the end of the year.

The audiobook continues to be a work in progress. In my head, I thought, I’ll pay some folks to read my stories, but there’s a lot behind the audio work than I first realized. My narrator has also moved provinces, which is going to make continued work on this project very interesting—but still doable.

Otherwise, as some have asked, will there be a Phantasmias sequel?

Yes. Full stop. While I had hoped to publish this October, the whole hospital fiasco has kind of slammed the breaks on that. I’m looking at October 2025 with some hope…but I have to say, a lot of the stories have taken some twists with my medical drama. Who knew I had even more fears buried deep in my psyche? Of course, I still plan to revisit some of the worlds and characters from the original Phantasmias. So far, I have a sequel to “The Unicorn Problem,” “The Gods Are Dead,” “Pest Control,” and “Friends Like These.” The latter two were very highly requested and the first two were planned after I wrote the first ones. Some stories just beg to keep going.

Speaking of things that keep going…

The Novel

I finally typed (over) 70,000 words last month. That was one very strange thing about being in and out of hospital this year. I could tell when I was healing and getting better by how badly I wanted to write. The first two stays? I barely did a thing, mostly slept, and lost track of time a whole lot (even forgot texts I had sent or people that came to visit me!). It took another month for the infection to clear; I slowly felt my strength returning as well as the urge to write (and the disappointment that I hadn’t spent the time in hospital writing). The surgery went fine and I was home the next day almost as if nothing had happened. And my last stay in the hospital? I was going crazy not having my laptop with me to do some writing.

So, I guess my word count is my health bar? 😹

Assuming most of what I wrote makes sense, I only have the ending and epilogue to draft out. If my content editor doesn’t absolutely rip the book apart, I may have something in a publishable state by next year. I can finally get this epic dark fantasy out of my head…at least the beginnings of it. I think I’m most excited to start getting artwork commissioned; some of the eldritch beasties in my head are just begging to see the light of day.

Anymew, while I’d love to promise more frequent updates, I hope you don’t mind if I continue to keep things lowkey until I’m absolutely certain everything’s fine. Honestly, 2024 has been such a rollercoaster, I’ve become even more nervous about planning anything.

I know it’s a tall order, what with the state of the world, but I hope you, me, and everyone can start seeing some normalcy again.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day! ❤️‍🩹