The York Hoard: 10/31/2025
Happy Halloween!!!!! 🦇 Enjoy some updates on ALL THE THINGS
Packing and Printing and Panic, oh my!
Tomorrow (Sat. Nov. 1st) I get on the plane for the AuthorNation 2025 writer's conference! My flight is Tallahassee Atlanta Las Vegas, and while I’m not looking forward to the plane’s canned air, I am getting excited about the event.
I’m printing out stickers to put purchase codes on books, designing cards to represent books I won’t have with me (thanks for screwing that up, Amazon!), double checking that my websites are up to date, and practicing my presentation!
…oh, and also packing. (NTS: check the weather in Vegas!)
If you are there and see me, please say hi! My presentation is “ Unstoppable Storytelling: Crafting Epic Long-Running Serials” and is based on my book Become an Unstoppable Storyteller. I will be in the “Bronze 3” room on Thursday, November 6, at 9:00 AM!
Byword of the day/week/month/life continues to be: Done is better than perfect.
Weekly Round Up
Yet even with all the obligations, travel, planning, and organizing, there is news to report!
Dragon’s Grail Arc 3: The Dukes of Odwego has launched on The Bibliotheca! The first chapter, Adrift on the River, returns with Astra and her companions Traz and Xavai floating down the Hoshikwazu with no destination and no plan! Exciting times! Traz’s condition is worsening, their raft is not fit for traversing such a big waterway, and exceptionally bad luck continues to haunt them! The story will be updated every week on Thursdays.
CAN HAZ PODCAST! I’m back to regularly updating my podcast, The Author Alchemist. I’ve shifted the focus from straight craft advice to being a bit more down-to-earth discussions of mindset and productivity. I hope to get on a weekly posting schedule, but in the meantime, I’ll be sharing short vids from my travels!
A Plea for Author’s Notes: If you missed it earlier this month, this blog post is all about the joy of writing—and reading!—author’s notes. In the digital world, where space is endless, we have the opportunity to talk about our stories with our readers in ways we never have before!
Shop of York: My shopify store has languished for a while, but given my appearance at AuthorNation I figured it was time to update it. Eventually, I will have a lot more products there, including print versions of my books you can order directly from me! So go subscribe/follow to stay up to date!
The Skeptic’s Inspirational continues! Daily bites of motivation, inspiration, and reflections suitable for everyone, no matter your spiritual or philosophical approach to life. Hard to believe we’re on day 303 of the year already!
Flashback
This one isn’t very old, it’s from March, but really hits right now as I pack for AuthorNation 2025.
Why? Because the only reason I’m presenting at this popular and well-respected indie author conference is because in spring of 2023 I spent two fevered months writing and publishing a book on how to write serials, which was based on a spur-of-the-moment webinar I was asked to take part in. Nothing about that was planned or on my agenda, and I certainly never expected that to bloom into my appearing on numerous podcasts and eventually being invited to give this presentation! I wrote the book and marketed it with no idea of what it would lead to, only that I needed to keep going.
Don't Give Up the Violin
Resigned to failure, I packed the violin up and stuck it in the closet. In the intervening years, I legitimately forgot that I ever bought it until I started on the Great Repacking (Charlie Brown!). When I rediscovered it, I realized, damn, it’s been almost twenty years since I last opened the case. Twenty years of not playing the violin. Twenty years of giving up the violin. I cannot help but ask: Where would I be today if I had just not given up?
Spoopy season continues!
Most all of Tallahassee knows about Tallahassee Nurseries, the premier gardening center of the whole region. It’s a sprawling indoor/outdoor complex that is fun just to walk around and see all the amazing plants. I’m not a gardener even a little bit, but visiting there always makes me wish I was! Anyway, they often do the holidays right with their decorations, and this year was no exception!
Thanks for reading The York Hoard!
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