Start of February Indie Book Notes & Freebies~Marie Judson Writer's Log #88

Indie author news, book freebies and deals, other good stuff!

Feb 01, 2025

How many of you find that you need a picture of the coming years to keep you going in the day-to-day? I’ve always been project-based person. In other words, what I’m doing in this moment isn’t enough. What’s coming has to have meaning for me. This all became obvious to me when I realized my current work, which held a strong pull for the past nine years, is feeling a bit repetitive, sometimes under my capabilities. I pursued a teaching credential late in life compared to most who land them in their mid-20s. I’d never wanted to be held captive in a schoolroom all day every day. But I found that the life of a special ed teacher holds surprises around each turn. I wanted tenure security and certain kinds of growth, like developing colleagues and sharing challenges. I set up several resource centers in schools over the years, taking rooms full of mayhem, dust and outdated mimeographs, and making them attractive as well as functional. Lately, though, I’ve felt I’ve reached a sense of competency and maybe am experiencing some tedium. I’m actually looking at retirement and being a grandparent. My son says that’s two and a half years away, which gives me a timeline I can pin my vision.

Do you know what I want most of all? To have the freedom to travel about the UK, following my family tree, tracking down where my ancestors lived. I’ve built it out in ancestry.com and supposedly you can print a book with all the info and images in it. Hopefully the funds I’ll have in retirement will allow that dream to happen. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it later.

Author Corner: Cover Reveal!

Guess what! I now have the cover of Book 4 of the Lost Xentu series and it’s more than half written. I expect it to be out in the fall of 2025. It’s hard for me to imagine working on a book with less dynamic tension and complex intrigue. The beauty of a series, and the reason many of us love a long fantasy or fantasy sci fi series is that the foundation is laid, bringing depth and intricately layered background details that are already there, like nesting dolls, to lend substance and credence to new events. We have the characters solidly in our hearts and can feel more, anticipate more, worry more with them. Do you love that? I love that. And I love the feeling of my readers’ caring and emotion right along with me as I write.

~~~ Missing Moon is also the February featured book launch for IUPH ~~~

Lost Xentu Book 3, Missing Moon, is already out for pre-order and launches February 10. See all the ways you can obtain it at its very own page! I love a review when the time comes!