Happy June! May was a very busy month with some novel experiences such as...finding morel mushrooms during a light snowfall while we were out woodcutting. We got out into the woods early this year for fear that drought would end up with a woods closure early in the summer, so we were out on the first day possible--May 1st (Forest Service in our region doesn't open for firewood cutting on our forest because of deciduous conifers--tamarack/western larch--that don't start budding until then). While the mushroom season started slow, by the end of our woodcutting season we had harvested the most we've ever had. So we'll have lots of yummy additions to all sorts of food this winter. We dehydrate what we don't eat for easy keeping.

And woodcutting was pretty much wrapped up at the same time because we got lucky. I was wandering around looking for mushrooms when I saw it--a BIG dead tree that was either a lodgepole pine or a tamarack. Both among our top choices. That one became a load and a half, and we found lots of other dead wood in that same area.

Plus there were, as always, lots of fun discoveries, elk sightings, and other cool stuff.

Not-so-fun stuff ahead includes working on a house. Yes, another one--husband's nephew had problems with the payments, so we took it over. It needs some work and it's definitely not a beach cabin type of place but...he and his wife have a baby and they're going to try to make it with her staying at home due to the expense of child care. It's a little bit that we can do to help.

So it looks to be a busy summer.

Meanwhile, The Great Draft2Digital Migration and Catalog Update is done, hurray! All of my books are now up directly on Apple, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Itch, and Kobo. Everything is available in paperback and hardcover on Ingram, except for two novellas that are only available in paperback. All buy links are available on my website, here.

And a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT. I now have an active Patreon! I have tiers running from $1 to $4 per month, with multiple offerings. I'll be posting weekly updates that will be available for everyone, though if you can toss $1 a month into the fund that would be great. That will also get you introductory posts to the other tiers and occasional free posts from there.

I decided that I wanted to get back into low-key serialization, but didn't want to do it on Substack or other venues for various reasons. I suspect The Cost of Power was scraped by AI because I serialized it for free on Substack. I also wanted to have motivation to get to work on a couple of other projects, plus...I have a backlog of short stories, most of which have been previously published, and I wanted a place to publish them. Additionally, I want to work on the Horses I Have Known memoir along with whatever I'm doing with Vortex Worlds and getting back to work on the second book of Goddess's Vision, Vision of Chaos.

So the tiers are as follows (besides the nominal $1 weekly update tier): short stories, $2 a month, one post a month and individual stories are available for purchase for $3. Horses Horses Horses, $3 a month (multiple free posts in this tier), posts every other week. Into the Vortex, $3 a month (with assorted free posts), posts every other week. Vision of Chaos, $4 a month, every other week.

Or you can get EVERYTHING for $7 a month!

Check it out! Patreon link​

All posts are scheduled to arrive on Sundays.

The Horses tier paid posts will eventually become the chronicles of an equestrian amateur, aka Horses I Have Known. In part, I want to chronicle a way of life that is fading as access to land to keep horses becomes more difficult and there's a greater concentration on show disciplines for so many equestrians these days. I grew up in an era where horses were relatively cheap, along with access to pasture and places to ride. Most equestrian memoirs out there focus on the show rider, and, well, except for Mocha, that hasn't been me.

Into the Vortex is an attempt to chronicle how I go about building a world into a book, from early rough draft stages to final product.

Vision of Chaos will be existing chapters from an already-built world. Longer chapters will be divided into two segments.

Another reason for taking the Patreon route is documentation of human creation of my work. I do not use generative AI in my work and never will.

Oh! And something else--I encourage comments on the work as I go along!

It's also an attempt to provide pacing in a rather busy time of my life. I've decided to slow down my production a little bit, which means I can hopefully juggle multiple projects in different stages of creation without burning out.

We'll see how it works.

And, in preparation for Vision of Chaos, I'm running a new Itch bundle for June! This one is billed as Powerful Women from the World of the Seven Crowned Gods and includes the five books of the Goddess's Honor series as well as the first book of Goddess's Vision, Vision of Alliance. 6 books for $10--a price reduction of 61%. Or you can buy individual books for 50% off of list price. You'll find it here: June Itch Bundle​

Seriously, I know things are tight for people, so I appreciate any support you can give me. The best way to do that is either through the Patreon, or by buying my ebooks on Itch--I get 90% of what you pay. If you want hard copies, then the direct Ingram links on my website give me better return--the expense of printing plus a small fee from Ingram. The same high quality printing that you would get by buying my books through another distributor, but without the additional cut they will take.

Thanks for reading, and have a pleasant June!