My husband and I have a theory that people who have no family drama enjoy Christmas more and people who have lots of family drama enjoy Halloween more. Anyway, our household is a Halloween household. Mostly because we prefer black and orange with bats and cats over red and green with elves and presents.

The Pacific Northwest weather is starting to turn towards the cooler months, and the trees are starting to put on my favorite show. As always, I think to myself that I love this time of year. As somebody who was born and raised in a desert, I find such joy in the changing of colors this time of year. It's something I never really got back home, and every time I drive through the trees to my new hometown, I think to myself, "I can't believe I live here."

A lot of people think that the winter months bring seasonal effective disorder, and I'm sure that's the case, statistically for many people. But for me? Rain is my happy place. I always loved the rain when it rained back home in Arizona. The whole... 3 days a year we got of it. I get a whole lot more of it nowadays. A lot of people can't handle the amount of rain we get or not really seeing the sun for multiple days, but I really feel like I served my time of 300+ days of sunshine and 120 degree Fahrenheit days. I needed the change when I came here, and I find myself oddly happier in the winter months.

Bookish Corner

Once upon a time, I met another writer on r/selfpublish. That writer and I became pen pals and we still chat to this day. We support each other, bounce ideas off one another, and cheer the other on along the way. I have not personally read this book yet, but I have read their earlier work (see: published 6 years ago, which is a lifetime ago in indie publishing) and it was good then. I'm certain it will be even better now. Just hearing about how much this story excites them makes me happy, so I'm very happy to let you all know that The Nanoapocalypse: a LitRPG Sci-Fantasy is now available. (Description below)

River was screwed. An officer in the Interstellar Navy, his first away mission was supposed to be exciting, produce his PhD, and jump start his career. Instead, he was on a one-way trip to the apocalypse.
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The Eridani System’s only inhabited planet had gone dark, all its urban centers gone, replaced by medieval towns, castles, and old-school farmland, as if the entire planet decided to return to the feudal era. When River’s team lands, each is transformed into a role-playing game class and race, their equipment replaced with fantasy-appropriate clothing and gear, and they are given this message:
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​Thank you for entering Saoghal. This is an open world and there is no tutorial, no advice, no hints, no guidebook, and no help whatsoever. Best of luck, adventurer!​
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With no way to contact the ship, River somehow has to uncover how this society collapsed. And stop the process before it spreads to more planets, including Earth.

Goings On

I'm happy to report that after not writing for 6 weeks, I have written over 5000 words since my previous newsletter. It's not a lot, but it's still more than 0! I'm very proud of this number. I've kind of gone back to my roots and started hand writing my work and then typing it out afterward. It allows me to do some on the fly editing as it enters my word processor, so I'm ending up with an even cleaner draft than usual.

I have some other things I'm working on in the background, but it's not quite time to announce them yet. So I'll leave it there for now.

Sorry for no cat pictures this month. She didn't want to sit still.

Much Love,
Maria