Notes From The Edge of Spring... 🌱
Talebones Tuesday (er, well...Thursday...)
Greetings, Talebones Readers!
This weekly(ish) digest is the way I communicate with my readers to let them know what’s been going on around the Talebones landscape, along with any housekeeping to be aware of.
So, elephant in the room: this is not Tuesday. It is Thursday. But I couldn’t quite get my act together to send out a post on Tuesday, so here we are! Howdy! 🙋♀️
Honestly, that’s been a theme for me this winter. A general inability to get my act together. Task lists keep getting pulled back to the bare minimum. Inspiration has been a little thin on the ground. Life has thrown its weight around in ways that are occasionally daunting and often overwhelming.
(I know I’m not the only one who feels that way. If you feel it too, you’re not alone, and I promise: all seasons pass. We got this. ♥)
But! There are glimmers of life here and there! Last week our little-serial-that-could, Smoke-Mouth, returned from a longer-than-intended hiatus with its fifteenth episode, and I recently had a lovely brainstorming session that yielded some fun ideas for upcoming short fiction. The soil stirs! Rejoice!
February is the final month of what makes up Winter Season here on Talebones, so it feels like the perfect time to do a little pre-Spring cleaning, admin, and wrap-ups. In this issue I’ll give you a sense of what’s been going on and what’s coming up as we say goodbye to one season and welcome another!
Shall we? We shall! Onward!
✨ First, A Quick Word From Our Sponsor… ✨
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And now, back to Talebones Thursday…!
Round-Up!
In case you missed it…
Threewise - in this short piece of seasonal fiction, a grieving child worries about her family’s impending Twelfth Night tradition, and receives an unusual visitation…
FICTION HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE:
Bonewhistle - Warren Wharton is a lonely security guard at the quiet ferry terminal on Ferris Island. Feeling a bit lost and paralyzed in his life, everything changes when he meets an unusual busker who plays a very strange instrument…
Hey Eye - a creepypasta-esque horror tale told in four forum posts…
The Keeper - a lonely lighthouse keeper receives an unexpected message that changes everything…
Let’s Chat Editing! Livestream with Sara Dietz - I recently had the pleasure and privilege of sitting down LIVE with the wonderful and talented Sara Dietz—and special guest baby! ♥—for a candid chat about a topic we know is a big sticking point for a lot of writers—working with editors! We touched on the common types of editing, our editing ethos, when the “ideal time” is to hire an editor, whether you really need to spend money on editing, certain common pitfalls and issues we find in our clients’ work, and so much more! (Tap the link above to watch the replay!)
Freelance & Fishmaids FREE CHAPTERS! - This spring, I’ll be embarking on the journey to turn my past serial into a novel, publishing later this year, and you are invited to check out the first two episodes FREE! You could also upgrade your subscription to read the whole serial before the revised version drops. (Check out the serial’s Navigation Page here for the synopsis, playlists, and more!)
Our supernatural/dystopian serial Smoke-Mouth is rounding the corner to its conclusion. Synopsis: Jenny-Dog is just fine on her own. Jenny-Dog needs no one and no one needs her. Until a fool young stranger shows up, says she’s walking all the way to the crippled mountain—to Lawetlat’la, to Smoke-Mouth—and asks if Jenny wants to come along. Jenny doesn’t fancy their chances. After all, it’s over a hundred miles on a dangerous road through a once-modern region laid bare by quakes and crisis. There are many-eyed angels hovering in the summer sky, and hungry thieves lurking in the woods with violence in their hearts. But the mountain is calling. And when Smoke-Mouth calls, the dreamers reply.
Explore the Table of Contents
Get started here - Episode One: The Fool
Read the latest episode here - Episode Fifteen: The Unwounded Eye
New around here? Most of our speculative fiction takes place on a haunted island in Washington State called Ferris Island. Check out the landing page to see which stories are currently available to read here online, along with other info and resources!
We also have stories of various genres set elsewhere, listed here.
TALESTACK NEWS is a twice-monthly bulletin of Substack fiction news where I collate as many announcements, projects, submissions opportunities, community endeavors, and generally cool things as I can gather. Check out the most recent issue here! (And if you’re a writer on the platform, check out the submission guidelines and email your news to talestack.editor@gmail.com by February 15th to be included in the next issue!)
Before Winter Ends… 🌬
This month I’ve got a few things that I’m planning to get polished up and ready before the beginning of March and the start of our Talebones Spring Season.
In January, I gave the Talebones homepage a much-needed refresh and also fixed up some background admin:
And February is all about finishing up those last-minute Winter chores.
I know myself well enough to know that if I overdo the goals I’ll never reach them, so I’ve boiled February’s list down to three “Need To Know” items for y’all…
Paid Sub Rebrand: A year or so ago I rebranded my paid subscriptions to be called “The Council”. While the name made sense at the time, it really hasn’t settled properly and I’ve never really felt like it worked for me, for this newsletter, and for what I offer. This month I’ll be scrubbing the “Council” name and pulling it back to something more simple and self-evident.
Editing Roster Is Open: After the post-holiday haze, my dance card is now currently wide open for editing jobs of all shapes and sizes! If you’ve been considering hiring me to look at your work—or you have any questions about my rates—now is the perfect time to reach out before the month fills up. (Reminder: paid subs get a discount on all editing work!)
Revision Diary Launches Soon! In March I’ll be launching my Revision Diary for paid subscribers only. This is going to be a more honest and personal glimpse into my process as I revise my serial, Freelance & Fishmaids, from an episodic story into my first-ever full-length novel. If you’re curious about a “peek behind the curtain” and a way to ask me more pointed and personal questions about my process, this is the perfect exclusive opportunity!
Upgrade your subscription below to get involved!
⭐ Reviews Mean Everything! ⭐
If you’ve read any of my books, I would be so honored if you would pause now to leave a rating or review!
For self-published authors, there’s no multi-million-dollar engine running promotion, marketing, and other advertising…there’s just me! So ratings and reviews go a LONG way in raising indie books in algorithms, triggering retailers to suggest them to customers, and helping new readers find self-published books that they’ll love!
And you don’t have to write a long or detailed review, either. A simple star-rating or a short comment work just as well!
You can review my books on:
Storygraph:
Or you can visit the books on their individual My Books pages to review them on the sites of specific retailers, like B&N, Kobo, or Fable!
Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to leave a review!
It really, really means the most. ♥
Interested In Going Deeper?
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Thank you for reading!
Tomorrow (Friday) I’ve got a date to write the next episode of Smoke-Mouth, so please do stay tuned for that in the next few days. Otherwise, I look forward to seeing you all around the Substack neighborhood in between admin/tidying sessions! 😂
Wishing you all a wonderful remainder of the week and a restful, readerly weekend!
Your grateful storyteller,