Waiting is Not Easy

That’s the title of my son’s favorite book

And it’s true. Waiting is not easy. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.

Have patience, have patience, don’t be in such a hurry…

That’s a song my mom used to sing to my siblings and me whenever we were tired of waiting for something. Or whenever we wanted something to move faster than it currently was.

I’ve got that song stuck in my head right now.

It just feels like I can never do anything fast enough.

I just released the audiobook of An Echo of the Fae, and I’m already racing around, impatiently waiting on what feels like a dozen other projects and wishing I could just release them all right now!

But I can’t.

However, I can come over here and give y’all a little sneak peek into what’s been happening around here lately. A little Adventures and Episodes love. Even if it is already technically the third week of March already… shhhhh, I’m totally not in denial about the fact that February is over and we’re almost halfway through March already!

Yikes.

But Daylight Savings Time has returned… which means we’re all going to be confused and groggy for a bit. But hey, it’s light out later now, so that’s happy.

And stuff has been a-happening around here, my friends. So let’s dive in with some updates on the Adventures and Episodes that have been happening around here!

But first, HAPPY PI DAY!

Now I want pie.

Also, if any of you dear readers would be interested in a free audio copy of An Echo of the Fae in exchange for an honest review, I have a limited quantity of promo codes that I can hand out. If that sounds like your cup of tea, please click the button below and fill out the form and I’ll happily send you a promo code!

Life-ing

Yeah, I’m going a little backwards this month. But the life-stuff really took the front and center stage here this month.

My husband got a new job!

No, we are not moving anywhere. (Around here, I have to give this disclaimer first… because the announcement makes everyone’s eyes get all big and worried)

And it has been a really fabulous transition for him. He’s getting to do more varied things that keep him from getting bored and it is awesome. It does involve some travel, but not too much. And I got to go with him the first week he started the job and went to the HQ to meet everyone. (Literally the first time we’ve gotten away just the two of us since we went to Realm Makers in 2018… and both times have been for work sigh). The owner of the company personally invited me to come out and they all made me feel like I mattered… which is a big (and quite nice) change from the way all the other companies my husband has worked for have ever acted.

My mom and sister came to visit and to watch the kiddos while we were gone, so that was super nice of them. It was hard to see them go, but happily they will be back in a couple of months for some concerts in our state, so yay!

Also, I’ve started buckling down on the kids’ piano lessons — we are using two different curriculums and I’m actually re-learning some things alongside them and having fun learning to play some songs! Which is exciting. I’ve taken piano before (for many years when I was little and then I actually took piano lessons in college for a semester as well) but it’s never been something that came easily for me. I can read music, but making my fingers match up with the notes that my brain is trying to shout at me is very slow. So it’s been fun having some success with it and getting to actually play songs I know!

Writing

While we were traveling, I had a lot of time in the hotel by myself, so I got a TON of editing done. I managed to complete the line-edits on The Orb and the Airship, and sent them back to my editor for one last pass… which I have now completed, and The Orb and the Airship is ready to go to my final editor (this is the copyedit/proofread stage)! This means that for the most part… The Orb and the Airship is standing right at the precipice of being finished. Copyedits/proofreading may still find a bunch of typos and things to fix, but there shouldn’t be any more massive edits or rewrites or adding of scenes or changing the story anymore.

And that feels sooooooooo good.

Seriously, I feel like I’ve been working on this book for—ev—er. And now that it’s (almost) over, I’m not sure I know what to do with my life.

This is where we get into the “waiting is not easy” part of my title. Because I’m all antsy to get this series out into your hands, dear Readers! And knowing that it will still be a while is driving me nuts! So I’m having to take deep breaths and remind myself to be patient, while I dive into the developmental edits of Mantles of Oak and Iron. Breathe. Just keep editing, just keep editing.

Also, how many movie references can Jenelle sneak into one blog post?

And, I’m still working away at a rough draft of my Super Secret Project, which hopefully I can tell you more about later this year. But for now… it’s still staying the SSP. But what I can tell you is that it’s currently sitting at 16,000 words and I’d say I’m about a third of the way done with it.

I’m planning to dive through the content edits on Mantles of Oak and Iron and then hopefully use April and Camp NaNo to hammer out the rest of the rough draft of this SSP.

On that same business trip, I also finished listening through the audio files for An Echo of the Fae, hit approve, and it’s now available!!!

Also, my illustrator for my new children’s book says that she’s made some excellent progress on the illustrations, so that was super encouraging to hear!

So as you can see… I don’t have much to complain about. Exciting things are on the move.

Currently Reading

I’m currently reading Wrought of Silver and Ravens by E.J. Kitchens and enjoying it quite a lot.

Derek and I are reading Making Money by Terry Pratchett — which is apropos for March Magics.

The kids asked me to read them King’s Warrior (by yours truly) as their next “fun” read aloud book during the school day…. so that will take us upwards of 59 years to finish.

Derek is reading through A Series of Unfortunate Events to the kiddos. We’re on book 5. I’d forgotten how hilarious this series is. And bizarre. But hilarious.

For school, we are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. It’s a re-read, but we’re getting so much more out of it this time through.

My current audiobook listen is Tuck by Stephen R. Lawhead. I love this trilogy so much.

Finished Reads

Also, I’ve… somehow managed to read 10 books this year already?

I set my reading challenge at 25 books, which seems ridiculously low for me, but I have so much editing and writing and things to do this year, I just didn’t want my reading challenge to stress me out.

But I should have known better.

Several of these have been re-reads. But I’ve found some new gems, and continued on with a few new favorite series. So it’s been a good reading year so far. Of the 10 books I’ve read so far, my favorites were:

Troll Queen - I love this series so much. This book was kind of a sweet little breather from all the action of the first three books… and to some extent I loved seeing the characters just living their lives, and to some extent I … got a little bored. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and there was plenty of action going on with Melantha and Rharreth. It was an interesting balance. And of course, I’m not complaining! Farrendell totally deserves a break and some good things in his life. So it was nice to see him get to relax and enjoy himself a bit.

Between Walls - Pet and Jin Yeong and Athelas and Zero! I love them to pieces. And yes, this series is dark. And yes, most of them open with some sort of horribly mangled dead body that leads into their crime-show-esque mystery to solve. But I tend not to see the twists coming… even when I know there’s a twist coming… I don’t know what shape it’s going to be till it gets here. And I love that.

Gilded in Ice - This has been my favorite read of the year so far! The story pulled me in and didn’t let me go the whole time I was reading it. I loved getting to meet Bastian’s sisters, and I loved getting to see some further character development with Bastian himself. I love how this author manages to mash together various fairy tales so seamlessly that I am left wondering why those fairy tales haven’t just always gone together. This East of the Sun, West of the Moon/Snow White and Rose Red retelling is absolutely beautiful. I’m planning to write a longer review later. And I am super excited about book 3 coming in April!

Watching

Derek and I went to see Uncharted in IMAX while we were on our trip. It was… really fun. There were things I loved about it—it doesn’t take itself too seriously, is a fun Indiana Jones-style story, the main character is eminently likable. And there were things that… weren’t bad per se…. it’s just that the story is going quite well… and then it sort of feels like the writers ran out of ideas… and everything just gets… ridiculous at the end. Tom Holland is fun… but he’s still got a very Peter Parker vibe going that was tough to ignore. So it was like watching Spiderman on holiday.

We finally jumped on the Encanto bandwagon, and I looooooved it so much!

We watched a few movies with my mom and sister while they were here. Descendants 2 and 3 (super fun and silly). Zak Snyder’s Justice League (the definitive edition and the best movie in the trilogy). The Pirates of Penzance (with Kevin Kline and Angela Lansbury - and also the sort of movie you just have to be in the right mood for… which we were).

We’ve started watching The Mysterious Benedict Society with the kids and so far, I am absolutely loving it. I have no idea how this story made it to print in 2020, but I’m glad it did. I loved the book, and the movie has some very different things about it, but I like what they did with it and the changes they made work for the medium of a tv show and don’t annoy me.

March/April/May Plans

I have managed to sign myself up to help coach track this Spring for my daughter’s track team. I don’t think I have to do any running, but if you never hear from me again, it’s because I had to run and it killed me.

(ok, maybe I’m exaggerating my concern a bit…)

Mantles of Oak and Iron is going to be my March focus. I need to go through my developmental editor’s notes and make all the necessary changes. I don’t think it will be super difficult, but there is one portion that needs some re-writing work.

Like I said, I’m planning to use April to finish the rough draft of my Super Secret Project. I think I can get a good chunk of it knocked out if that’s the only thing I’m focused on for that month.

May will be my line-editing month for Mantles of Oak and Iron.

And that’s about it. Now that I’ve told you all my plans, watch them turn to dust like all the heroes at the end of Infinity War……

What have you been up to in these first couple of months of 2022?

What are your plans for Spring?

Have you read or watched anything super fabulous I should know about?

Do you like Daylight Savings Time?

I’d love to hear from you!