The Post-Keely Era
It has been over a month since Keely departed, and overall I’m doing okay. The first two weeks post-Keely were spent in a stunned state of grief, punctuated with a lot of sleeping. The stress of caretaking Keely for the first half of this year was a lot heavier than I admitted, but don’t worry, it caught up with me! Sooooo much sleeping!
But life goes on, and so do I. I have archived the “Keely’s Way” section of this newsletter, and started a new one to serve as my updatery: The York Hoard.
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Weekly Round Up
Despite it all, I’ve stayed busy, believe it or not!
House of York redesign: I’ll write more about this in a separate post, but I’ve restructured my business model a bit to make HoY my production company, with all my projects under its umbrella. It’s meant redesigning the site and all my other sites and…ugh, it’s been a project and a half. But I’m making progress!
Out From Fanfiction: Transforming Creative Freedom: This was published back in May but fell off the radar due to *waves hands around*. I wrote it to help all the great fanfic writers I know who are intimidated and/or frustrated trying to write their own original fiction. I know it’s a niche interest, but this one wasn’t written for the money (just like fanfic!).
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 the 245th day of the year already!
The Bastards of Yumeng Chapter 66: This story took a break over August, for obvious reasons, but is starting back up again this week. It’s hit 130,000 words and Yanli is still going strong! (This fanfiction is a WIP and is in the 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) / 魔道祖师-墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī fandom, free to read over on AO3!)
Flashback
Guide for Hobbyist Author is FINISHED!: This five-part mini-series is geared toward amateur writers who want to publish their work but aren’t interested in making it their job. It’s full of straightforward advice on publishing and not a single word about “author platforms,” “organic marketing,” or “SEO tactics.” Please share with any hobbyist authors you know!
Guide for Hobbyist Authors, pt. 1
The goal of this series is specifically to help hobbyist authors bring their vision to life. If they want to take that information and expand it in order to build an author career, they can do that too!
Keely, the Last Word
I just never want to let her go, but she’s already gone and it breaks my heart anew every morning. My good friend Lydia suggested setting up an altar for her, so I did, and that seemed to ease my soul a little.
Then my bestie
surprised me on my birthday with something she had been sitting on for months: a beautiful, hand-drawn portrait of Keely she had commissioned earlier this year. I admit, I cried like a baby when I opened it. Now, it is framed and sits in a place of pride in the living room. Thanks so much to Portraits by Diane, she did an amazing job capturing Keely’s vivacious spirit!
Thanks for reading The York Hoard!
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My heart goes out to you on the loss of dear Keely. You loved her and she loved you so much. It is never easy, as you know. Love that beautiful portrait of that “perfect for Kimboo” baby! Thinking of you friend.