So it is less than 2 weeks left to my vacation starts… and 5 weeks until my employment ends.   So far I have applied for 15+ jobs during the last 6 months. (look, Covid-19 happened and I ended up in a funk for 3 months.)  I have had… some nibbles. A phone interview, and an in person meeting.  I have also had a lot of silence.

The combination of Covid and unemployment is that I am floundering when it comes to writing.  Everything feels meh. Meh. Meh.   Which is annoying, but not surprising since the world is a dumpster fire.  So I am making plans,  since I can do that, despite feeling a lot of despair.

Workwise… I’ll keep on applying to jobs (Duh) and probably study some short courses (yay for free education!), before applying for a 2 year course in the same field that I am working in.    

Writingwise… I think I’ll poke at typing in Frosthold, since that is way overdue, and it is something I can do slowly.  Which seems to be my speed right now.

Financewise… I have a supportive dad, but I’ll have some lean months ahead, but I have survived that before.. (Or years.)

Lastly, I keep reminding myself that floundering is better than drowning.  I sending a lot of love and virtual life buoys to everyone. We will get through this. (We might be battered, but we will get through it.)

So far, the only good thing about Corona is that the Nebulas is online. Which meant that I can attend it. Yay!

I even have a panel! I’ll discuss book covers, on the Cover Appeal panel on May 31st on 11 am-12 pm LA time.

I hope I’ll see you there!

So, my dad asked me if I want to go to his cottage this weekend, when I said no, he wanted to know why.  I just said I didn’t want to because my colon is acting up.  (Which is true.) But the real reason isn’t my colon. Or at least not, just my colon.

The real reason is Åcon. .   Åcon would have been this weekend, and I am part moping over the fact that I won’t see my friends and grieving because I have no idea when I’ll see my friends again.  Which…is understandable. We are all grieving our plans and worrying for our friends and family.

So, what are my plans this weekend?

Basically, take it easy. Maybe poke on the outline, read a bit and clean the apartment. Sit on the balcony. Just… take it easy, because we are in a crisis, and no one knows when it will be over.

¨

So after. 4 months of revising, I am finally done with the rewrite. It is 11 000 words longer than when I started, and probably has a gazillion rough spots. Which makes this a good time to reveal the cover that I have been sitting on since August. My cover designer had an surprise opening, which I nabbed. It was… interesting to give cover feedback on my phone, since I was in Gothenburg.

Anyway. Here the cover is! Isn’t it pretty?!

It should have been an easy job….

Jenny travelled to Gesse, thinking it would be an easy, straightforward job, except for the fact that her mentor Arwel couldn’t come. She couldn’t have been more wrong.

The moment she arrives, she is plunged into the search for the  missing Lady Alenia, granddaughter of the viceroy of Perrine. Together with Eric, a Royal Inspector, she is racing to find her. Before it is too late..

The more clues they find, the more questions arise, making it clear that finding the killer isn’t the end. It is the beginning on a journey that will take Jenny and Eric to the cloister of Arnesse and the secrets it holds.

And some of those secrets will have teeth.

So I was browsing Canva, and for some reason I wandered into their Instagram post category. And I found this lovely self esteem bingo card. Which is filled with gentle reminders. I loved it, but I felt that self esteem wasn’t exactly the right word, since everyone needs gentle reminders. Not just people struggling with self esteem.. So I renamed it self care bingo, and changed the colors a bit.

And here it is! Feel free to print it!

I am not done with Vanished. I am signifcantly closer, but I am not done with it. Granted, I have been distracted by the world. *gestures at the news* Which means I am job hunting in the biggest economical crisis in a long kind. Fun times!

And to make things even more fun, I have to go to work at a hospital. Yeah.

So the current chaos makes it even more important that I finish editing Vanished. But! I also made a patreon. Which might be silly of me, but right now I don’t feel I have anything to lose. So, if you want to read sneak peeks and get other fun stuff, that is definitely the place!

So I think I haven’t talked about my plans for 2020. I have mentioned it on Twitter, but not in detail. Since Twitter in a fast moving venue, I wanted to have it somewere more stable.

The plan is simple. (Caveat: This might change, depending on what happens with my dayjob.)

*Publish Vanished.

*Publish Daughter of the Dark in print. (Which involves lightly editing it, since I hsve grown as a writer since I wrote it: I was also dealing with a parent newly diagnosed in lung cancer,. (that summer is something I never want to experience again.) when publishing it.)

*Decide about a bundle with Exile, Vanished and Daughter of the Dark. (Which will mean getting Exile edited, etc. So we will see.)

*Edit and send The Shifter’s Justice to beta readers. (I would *love* to be able to publish one book per year in the Portal Justicar series.)

*Outline the rest of the Portal Justicar series. Right now I am not certain of the order, which is one reason I got stuck on The Sun Bird’s Shadow. It could be book 4… or not. (Considering how it starts, I think it is book 4, but I also think I need to know what happens in the other books first. Isn’t series writing fun?)

*Write a book or two. Probably one that wont be released for awhile.. Or it might be. You never know!

So I had an wonderful christmas, that was mostly spent away from the internet. Which was glorious. I read lots of books, ate good food, played with my nephews (especially the oldest one, since we spent New Year and a whole weekend together, talked with my siblings, met family I don’t see ofte,, ate tasty food. Mmmm..

I hope you had a wonderful holiday too, with family, and friends, and tasty food and laughter and memories. And if you wasn’t… I am sending all the virtual hugs, and hope that the next one is better.

I am going to treasure the memories, and smile when I see the art my uncle gifted me at christmas. (“You live in a smaller apartment, so you get two paintings.” Which are lovely, but I am still scratching my head over the reasoning.)

Anyway, I am back in my apartment, and am slowly editing Vanished. I am part way through chapter three. Which is a nice progress, since I have a March deadline.