A few weeks ago, I posted this on Facebook:

OK. Time to get serious again. Starting my novel on the path to publishing. Current step is putting it on my website while I look for a cover artist. First four chapters are here, with more posted every 1-2 days. Our hero Tildy is a neurodiverse teenage girl who can’t control her shapeshifting abilities, and she’s about to learn what happens when you refuse the call to adventure. I think this will scratch your itch for fantasy!

I’ve shared updates on social media, but weirdly enough, didn’t announce it here to my subscribers (whom I value very much!) So here’s the latest, especially for you!

The prologue and 11 chapters are available here: The Starfall Omen. We’ve had about 100 readers visit the site, with more arriving every day – even when I haven’t shared anything, which is gratifying. I’ll need to figure out how to manage that landing page when the chapter count hits 30 so it doesn’t look daunting to visitors. But I suppose that’s a good problem to have.

I’ve put out feelers for cover artists, with an email to one already. I’m also talking with a mapmaker to see if she can turn sketches into something that brings my world to further life!

In a future post, I’ll describe why I’m getting serious again, and perhaps I’ll explain what’s taken so long to get back to this point. It’s a thing I’ve held very, very close to my vest, but it’s probably time to put it in the open, much like this book.

To end this post, let me offer some encouragement to other writers. The work is hard but it won’t only be hard. Don’t give up on your story or yourselves.

Thanks for reading!

Mike

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