THIS is what February is supposed to look like here. Snow on the ground, and mud where there isn't snow.

There's no snow. A little bit of mud, but...no snow, unlike other places.

(Picture features the late great Mocha mare returning to the herd after a ride.)

It's shaping up to be a busy short month. Besides painting another house, I'm in the final stages of preparing Vision of Alliance for its February publication date--February 24th. This time around I'm not setting up preorders because...no one seems to take advantage of them. I'll probably send out a release day newsletter with all the info available on the 24th.

One thing I plan to do with Alliance is to provide hardcover copies for those who want them. They won't be cheap, but I intend to price them to be competitive with traditionally published books. So Alliance will be available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover when it is released. Sorry, no audiobook--I need to be making more sales in order to finance doing it properly. I absolutely refuse to use AI voices to make an audiobook. Just not going there. Period.

I have a new website and Alliance has its own landing page, too, complete with an awesome recommendation from Alma Alexander!

Here's the link: https://joycereynolds-ward.com/books/vision-of-alliance/ef7ac7a1-fb6b-4a6b-8c5a-203b9915fda6​

Which...I'm absolutely thrilled to have a decent, up-to-date website now. It not only features my books but as I write blogs, they're added there as well. Unfortunately, so far I can't mail blogs from that link--only from my Speculations from the Wide Open Spaces newsletter on Substack.

Still--check it out! https://www.joycereynolds-ward.com​

Vision of Chaos, the sequel to Vision of Alliance, is proceeding nicely in spite of everything going on. I am shooting for a June release date, depending on everything.

Another thing keeping me busy is the fallout from discovering that my lovely new laser printer is causing me allergy problems due to its previous location next to my desktop. So...it got moved to the next room and I can already tell the difference. But it wasn't a simple move--it involved relocating four bookcases and beginning a sort of my reference materials. The move got made in one day, but sorting books is going to take longer. But it's time. I don't need certain references for the next set of books I have planned, and best to get those books into the hands of people who will use them.

Other writing news this month--A Different Life: What If? will be part of an Itch.io Valentine's Day Romance Bundle. 29 authors for $25--it's not finalized yet, so I can't share the link. But the sale will be running from February 9th through the 14th. I'll be promoting it on Bluesky so keep an eye out for it.

Which...if you want to follow me on Bluesky, please, please have something in your account. There are large following accounts with no skeets that...I just end up blocking because I can't tell if they are bot accounts or not. For the most part, my public-facing writer social media is that Bluesky account. Facebook is unusable these days except for groups, for the most part, and I won't use X. I have other accounts but Bluesky is my main link for connection--you can find me there as @joycereynoldsward.

Other than that, I've been busy riding the Marker boy. He has a new halter that fastens and unfastens at the throatlatch, and he's letting me know that he really likes it by sticking his nose into the noseband and ducking his head so that it goes easily over his ears. Let's end out with the boy horse modeling his first All His Own halter that isn't a Mocha hand-me-down (the last one was falling apart). Isn't it pretty?
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