time for a change

I have decided that I need to set aside Book 23 of Forgotten Worlds where it's at (close to the end, as in right before the climax). This is tough one to write! I have been fighting it since the beginning and going back and forth. It's slowly evolved into what will be a good book. However, it's taking far too much time and I want to get book 21 out.

It's a bit like the AI tools I've been playing with to try to put together scenes for a movie-like trailer or series intro (haven't decided what style yet). I created some good clips so far, but I really need to focus on character references to create more. So, I'm working on that now and it's eating up my time. Just when I think I have a picture I like, I tweak one detail and the AI changes something else. 😫 It's coming along, but sometimes it eats up a whole day. (I have great models of L'Ni and Nik!) When that's done, I can also do a whole new character collection. AI has come a long ways since I first played with Midjourney.

So, I'm going to jump into edits for Book 21 now and get that out sooner than later. It's easier to edit than to write while I'm getting these character images as I want them. I need to take editing in pieces to keep my mind fresh while writing requires a more steady focus, so this is the best combination.

Besides that, when I publish book 21, I can go back to finish 23 and jump right into 24. That should make the transition easier... should (usually, but these final three books are a bigger challenge than anything else).

Thanks for reading.

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Thank you

Not just for reading the books and for your patience, but for any prayers offered for Dargo.

He's been slowly eating a little at a time for the last few days. Tonight, he ate a normal amount of food and has been taking his thyroid medicine in his food again. However, that food has been anything we can get him to eat. With his IBD, that may not be able to continue, but we'll take what improvement we can get for now as long as he's eating.

He didn't have a fever, so we can only guess what the problem might have been. Pray that he continues to improve, and thank you for any prayers that have been or may be offered.

St. Francis, we ask your intercession for Dargo's health. Please pray for us.

God bless!

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Saying good-bye... again

This will likely be our last Caturday as a household of four cats. My old Siamese has been declining for the last year. I didn't expect him to hit 15 years, but that passed a bit over three months ago. While we've been doing all we can to help him, the light has been dimming from his eyes as kitty dementia has been setting in, and he has been fussier and fussier about the limited food he can tolerate with his IBD. Nevertheless, he has held together, and, despite his sleeping all day every day for the last week, he's been taking his usual place on my bed when it's my night Rosary time; he's been my prayer buddy for all the years since I started the Rosary, and he still remembers and enjoys that part of our routine, the only routine he's been keeping.

Dargo is at the end of his life (we've been through this once before with our first cat, who lived to be 16). At this point, all we can do is make him comfortable and hope that he passes at home. It's not illness or his thyroid issue, teeth problems, or IBD this time. It's old age catching up to him. I believe Bilbo was sent to adopt us to ease this transition; the two are very different yet so much alike in how they love laps and snuggles under the covers that it's uncanny. (No wonder they became good friends in the nearly fourteen months since Bilbo became part of our household.)

I took this a few weeks ago of the two snuggling together.

This pic that I took about two weeks ago was one of the last best pics of our two big boys, synchronized sleeping on the bed while our sheets were in the wash.

We've done all we can for him. Although I expected this to come a while ago, it's still not easy. He's been a momma's boy all his life (since we got him at about 8 weeks old). Bilbo is a daddy's boy but snuggles with me when he can't have his preferred human. He's a bigger boy, though, and not Dargo.

I don't know how many days we have left with Dargo, but we'll make him as comfortable as we can.

God bless!

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Excellent writing advice

This is a series of posts from X that I found to be very well said. Although I already know it (easier said than done), it's points worth repeating:

The first pages of your novel have a simple but incredibly important job:

Give the reader NO CHOICE but to keep reading.

But is your opening hitting the mark?

Here are the four key elements every strong opening includes:

— Alyssa Matesic (@AlyssaMatesic) January 8, 2026

(four more posts in this thread... follow it for some great tips.)

 

small update

Book 23 is progressing well. I still deal with the usual hiccups of worrying about the quality, oscillating back and forth between "it stinks worse than a latrine after taco Tuesday" and "it's the holy grail of the series!"

That's normal.

And it is growing. I'm learning something new about the origins of the Feri. I knew and I've revealed enough, but I wanted to give it something more, a more complete picture. There was just speculation among Nya and her friends in Book 20 in the brief stop at the beginning of that book. This completes the picture, but I need to find the real gem hidden within it and bring that out for you.

That's all I'll say, except that the book is over 30K words now and things are about to really heat up. Also, if I encounter any more trouble in drafting this, I'll set this aside to edit and publish Book 21. That needs some major rewrites, and I'm in the right mindset in the struggle to make 23 a good story to deal with those issues. Whether I follow my usual pattern of finishing one book before publishing a previously written but next-to-be-released book or not is the only question. 😕

Thanks for reading!

ps- after writing this, I had a great writing session that gave me another breakthrough. The title ANGELS AND HERETICS is going to be perfect!

A site for indie science fiction and fantasy

Spotlight on Indie SFF is doing some good things.

Check out the latest and sign up for the newsletter to learn what's new in the indie science fiction and fantasy books (including mine):

I am a part of this and trying to support other indie authors as much as I can.

You can also find more at the Based Book Sale at basedbooksale.substack.com. I joined Substack to be a part of this again, since I have books permanently free or 99c to qualify for participation in the sales. I think I'm repeating myself on this, since I did share the video I made for the Black Friday sale. The BBS isn't just for speculative fiction, however. ANY indie book that is based in content qualifies, so romance and other genres are also accepted. However, the majority of books in the sale tend to be science fiction and fantasy.

Anyway, I wanted to share this, because the latest video on Spotlight on Indie SFF is fun to watch.

Tell your friends and share the love of indie books!

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Happy New Year!

ID 385314395 © Ekaterina Pereslavtseva | Dreamstime.com

May 2026 bring you closer to God and His love forever!

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;

the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

~ Numbers 6:24-26