New Project

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Yep, I did have a new project emerge from the mists! It’s a juicy one, but still in the exploratory stages.

I start these things by writing a paragraph about the basic concept. Then I go on to start asking questions about the bones of the story. Who are these characters? Why are they doing this? What kind of society are they living in? Especially with fantasy, I work through the social viewpoint on magic. Is it known and accepted, or strange and feared?

As I work on this, I try to come up with as many possible answers as I can. The next step is to go through and highlight the ones that seem most interesting. And that typically leads to another round of why are they doing this, what does it mean?

Not that I ever develop a full outline with a list of required events or plot beats. My stories are more like a river that flows in (I hope) unpredictable but still valid directions. Usually I do have an idea what I want the ending to look like. Thus far I haven’t developed that.

I also need to consider length. Is this a novel or novella? Who is the intended audience? Based on my initial concept, I doubt it will be a YA title. Though there are a number of child characters, the content is too mature for young readers. Maybe. It’s early to say.

The last step, which I’m currently working on, is to start naming people and places. When you follow your plot like a river, it’s a pain to have to stop and think up names! However, I’m nearly at the point where I can begin drafting and see how the tale takes shape.

I’ll be sharing more of this soon, I’m sure.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky.

Willow Lake

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A young girl in orange robes advances from a dusty beige landscape. She has curly black hair and holds a glowing staff. Beside her is a yellow bobcat with a green mane. The image is framed in dark brown with a metallic gold headline. Text reads "Willow Lake, Cleodora Book 2, by Lucy D. Ford"

I received the printed proof of Willow Lake (Cleodora Book 2) and everything looks good. So I’m happy to say you can pre-order the book in printed as well as electronic formats. Release is scheduled for May 15, 2025.

But of course, now I see a typo in the back cover copy. Guess I’d better hurry up to fix that!

So if you could get into the story of a bold girl who serves the nature spirits in a subversively non-royal, non-capitalist, non-patriarchal setting, I hope you’ll give it a look.

Cleodora’s family are the spirit guardians of Acorn Canyon Shrine. Three years ago, she saved a corrupted spirit instead of fighting it. Cleodora became an archel, bonded with the nature spirit Tef as one soul with two bodies.

But the land of Tenebira is suffering under a terrible drought. It’s all because of something her relatives did at Willow Lake Shrine. Now the auctere of Acorn Canyon’s sacred pool calls on Cleodora and Tef. They must travel to Willow Lake, confront her family, and heal the broken shrine.

If they fail, all life will wither away!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky.

Familiars

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I’ve been reading up on the history of witchcraft. General research for a fantasy writer, you know. I’m not writing anything right now, so maybe I’m hoping to spark a story idea.

But it made me think about why a witch would want to have a familiar. It seems like they would give away the witch’s secret hobby. Yet I also look at them from a role-playing perspective. What sort of things could the familiar do to help the witch?

Anyway, let’s play the Random Question Game! If you were a witch (and I know you would all be GOOD witches) with a familiar, what creature would you want it to be? There are the obvious, cats, but don’t limit yourself. All sorts of other animals were accused of being the witch’s familiar — dogs, rats and mice, a squirrel, a pig, a horse. And, how would your familiar help you in your witchery?

I’d love to hear your ideas!

Also, this may be overly familiar, but submissions are open for my annual blog event, Queen Titania’s Court. If you know a writer who might be interested, I hope you’ll pass the lead along to them.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky.

Queen Titania’s Court 2025

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The silvery gates of Faerie are about to open up! That’s because this June I’m hosting my annual blog event, Queen Titania’s Court. And I’m inviting my fellow fantasy authors to take part.

The setup is that one character from one of your books will be summoned to Queen Titania’s Court. You’ll you’ll answer a couple of questions, interview style. This gives you a chance to show off your book in a more fun way than just an ad or the cover copy.

It’s a chance for Indy fantasy authors to shine. Whether you work is epic, contemporary, urban, fairy tale, grimdark or cozy — if it can be categorized as fantasy, this is for you. It’s also my chance to reach out and support the community of Indy fantasy authors.

If you’re interested, all you have to do is e-mail me, CAT09tales -at- protonmail -dot- com. Or if you aren’t a writer, but you know someone who is, please give them to info. I’ll get you all the details. It’s so simple! I look forward to planning this year’s event with everyone.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky.

Coming Soon

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A young girl in orange robes advances from a dusty beige landscape. She has curly black hair and holds a glowing staff. Beside her is a yellow bobcat with a green mane. The image is framed in dark brown with a metallic gold headline. Text reads "Willow Lake, Cleodora Book 2, by Lucy D. Ford"

Yes! Willow Lake (Cleodora, Book 2) is up for pre-orders on Books2Read. This is for the e-book; the paperback is set up but I won’t officially add it until I’ve seen a physical proof.

Release is scheduled for May 15, 2025. That gives me plenty of time to make tweaks before publication. I’d love to hear what you think!

Cleodora’s family are the spirit guardians of Acorn Canyon Shrine. Three years ago, she saved a corrupted spirit instead of fighting it. Cleodora became an archel, bonded with the nature spirit Tef as one soul with two bodies.

But the land of Tenebira is suffering under a terrible drought. It’s all because of something her relatives did at Willow Lake Shrine. Now the archel of Acorn Canyon’s sacred pool calls on Cleodora and Tef. They must travel to Willow Lake, confront her family, and heal the broken shrine.

If they fail, all life will wither away!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky.

Progress Report

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As previously announced, my next publication will be Willow Lake (Cleodora, Book 2). I have begun the many steps toward that goal.

The first thing, after completing all revisions, was to write back cover copy. I finished that earlier in the week. Back cover copy might seem like one of the last things to do, but actually I need it for most of the next steps. When I get to assigning ISBN numbers and publishing through Draft2Digital, I have to put in a description in order to complete those registrations.

I will also need it for doing the paperback cover in Canva. I have a rough draft in progress, but I like to let it rest for several days and come back to it with fresh eyes. Maybe I’ll think it’s ready, but maybe something will jump out at me and I’ll continue working on it. That is ongoing.

Currently I am working to format the for ebook publication. I hope to finish that today. Then it will be on to the paperback formatting. And then I will begin the actual publication.

Onward!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky.

How long?

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Believe it or not, I’ve been blogging for a little over 13 years. This post you are reading will be my 1,404th post! Can you believe it? Still, I’ve begun to wonder if I should thin out or delete some posts. Especially those older ones.

In the early years, I was writing mostly about dragons of myth and legend from around the world, with little jokes and such thrown in. After about 7 years of that, I felt like I was wearing out the topic. So I switched over to general news about my writing projects and related activities. During this time I’ve never been concerned about monetizing the blog. Building community and making a few sales, sure. In fact, I even published a collection called Wyrmflight. The e-book is still available, if any of this is intriguing to you. But I wouldn’t lose any income by deleting those earlier posts.

For myself, I know that I judge online sources based on how old they are. Information that’s more than two years old seems questionable to me. Even though some of my posts are evergreen, and continually get hits, I do wonder about the relevance of many posts from 10 or more years ago.

Is anyone aware of a standard practice as far as how long blog posts should stay up? I would love to hear your insights.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky.

Always

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A foggy sunrise over a peaceful sea. Text reads, "Nothing is always one way or another. Always is an illusion. It is a lie the powerful tell -- to themselves and to the world. It saves them from admitting that their way has not always been, and that one day their cruelty will have an answer. Deby Fredericks, Dancer in the Grove of Ghosts"

This is a passage from Dancer in the Grove of Ghosts, the second novella in my Minstrels of Skaythe series. I’ve found myself reflecting on these words in the context of current affairs.

“It has always been this way” is the lie our leaders attempt to tell us. They don’t want us to resist the many harmful changes that are being forced upon us. They want us to give up in despair and accept their domination. Whether they base this claim on biology or the Bible, it is still a lie.

From the outset, our nation has been changing. We have incorporated many, though often by ugly means. Those who live in the United States have always fought for our rights. Even those who weren’t directly affected have witnessed the cruelty of our supposed leaders. We have stood up with compassion and courage for the rights of others. First for blacks and later for women, later still for other minority groups and for gays and lesbians.

The overwhelming majority of Americans are willing and able to coexist peacefully with all our fellow citizens. We don’t want to go backward into a mythical “wild west” where might made right. We want to keep changing and growing.

Because you know what they say: if you aren’t growing, you are dying. And I do not want our nation to die.

If what I’m saying here resonates with you, I hope you’ll take a look at Dancer in the Grove of Ghosts and even the whole Minstrels of Skaythe series.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky.

Woman at Work, March 2025

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What’s Happening? Last week, eight of my fourteen special-ed students received awards, either for academic growth or improved effort. It might not sound like much, but it really made me feel I’m making a difference for the kids.

What I’m Working On. The fourth draft of The Agency. The word count was up to 18,500 before I began. It’s going well.

What’s Next? One more editing pass on Cleodora, Book 2: Willow Lake. As soon as I finish with The Agency, I need to start the publishing process for real.

Where I’ll be. Nothing’s planned right now, except for keeping my butt in the chair.

Fun and Games. I’m doing another run of Dragon Age: Veilguard and keeping up on things in my Animal Crossing village. My current reads are my brother’s poetry book, Brute Entropy, a graphic novel anthology I supported on Kickstarter called Sidequests, and Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny.

The days are getting longer, and I’m looking forward to spring.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky.

Writing in Dark Times

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The RadCon SF convention went very well for me. I brought two tubs of books for my table and came home with one. But the “Writing in Dark Times” panel was the best part of the weekend.

I had expected two others to join me on the panel, but I ended up going it alone. It snowed all day Friday, and I suspect the other writers couldn’t make it over the mountain passes. So I ended up inviting the audience to share their thoughts and ideas. That’s part of what made the panel such a success.

First, I explained that when I suggested the panel in September, I was thinking more of “AI” and book bannings and how the largest publishers seem focused on shareholder profits much more than any literary merits. But then the election happened.

We talked about how we are feeling now that Project 2025 is being imposed on us. Not only the ill-advised mass firings, but nationwide censorship of disfavored terms like DEI and attempted erasure of trans citizens from reality.

Talk moved on to protecting ourselves from the potential of threats, harassment and legal actions for our writing and art. We talked about using pseudonyms and removing direct contact information from our online presence. Not only to make it more difficult for trolls to find us, but to allow us space to review comments at our own pace.

We talked about activist burnout, and how important it is to pace ourselves. Project 2025’s aim is to overwhelm us so that we can’t respond. And anyway, nobody can do everything at once. We have to choose the issues to focus on. One small action a day is better than having massive tantrums that embarrass us later.

All through this, the audience had a chance to talk about their particular craft or art. We discussed how, sadly, there may be people around us who dismiss our art and try to make us stop creating. They might be overtly Republican supporters, or they might just consider the arts something childish to be put aside in favor of “real work.” I emphasized how our arts make us complete human beings. We can’t let anyone else stop us from finding peace and relaxation even at these times.

The last part, I invited the audience to share if they have any plans to write or craft something in response to the crashing of our democracy. Almost everyone did, in some way. (Also there was a large fighting demo right outside that kept interrupting us with their cheering, and I said, “They agree with us!”)

That was Saturday afternoon. All through the rest of the event, people kept coming to my book table and saying how inspired they were by that panel. Some new poems, letters to the editor, and even costumes might come of it.

Like I said, “Writing in Dark Times” was the best part of the weekend.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky.