Dearest Lore Keepers,
🍂🥧☕ Fall is in the air. With an increase in baking comes more writing sprints. And even though Arizona temperatures still hover near 100, the buzz of the holidays fills me with joy. I have so many reasons to be thankful during this harvest season! Keep reading to find out why. 🍁
Book Spotlight
Rebirth, growth, harvest, dormancy—each time has its place in Lily’s Passage. Throughout the land of Alderdale, Solstice Festivals ring in the seasons with festivities and local traditions. While the peoples and terrain of Alderdale may be fictional, their celebrations serve to reflect our own experiences.
Farrah and Asken’s journey spans most of a year, during which time they encounter personal transformation. For my characters and my readers alike, life may be filled with change. But each season brings its own blessings in the midst of uncertainty.
Reading
A Curse of Gold and Beauty by Mary Mecham
This quick read is a fun take on the classic tale of Rumpelstiltskin. If you enjoy fairy tale retellings with a twist, check out this indie author! She has a whole slew of YA fantasy tales.
Research
Poisonous plants (and their antidotes) compete with a variety of weapon-induced wounds for most suspicious search results this month. All in a day’s work for a writer…
Updates
🎉 BIG NEWS: Lily’s Passage is 100% funded! God is good ✝️ This means I still have quite a bit of work ahead of me to get the book into print, including finishing edits, finalizing artwork, and creating some additional material (such as an appendix and a discussion guide). Plus, there’s the professional copy edit and proofread and other tasks Redemption Press will take care of. Fear not—I’ll keep my Lore Keepers updated with any and all book news, so you can follow along on the rest of this wild journey.
✂️ I’m 67% done with edits for Lily’s Passage! I anticipate this next section will require the most labor yet, so I’m prepared to work hard through the holidays to get the manuscript complete and ready for publication early next year.
🪡 Upcoming craft fair: Find me at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ from 9-2 on November 9th! Grab a sneak peek of some artwork from Lily’s Passage and say hello.
✍️ New project alert: I’m working on a short story companion to Lily’s Passage. As a Lore Keeper, you’ll be the first to know when it’s available. Here’s a teaser:
Laurel’s Price
Victory comes with a cost. Laurel for victory. Iris for wisdom. When an assignment through the T’arscia Mountains turns deadly, Asken and his team must decide what they’re willing to pay for completing the mission—and if the price is worth their own lives.
Lore
When I think of harvest, an all-or-nothing result comes to mind. But the reality is more nuanced than that—a plant may take years to yield mature fruit. The early results tend to be small, unpalatable, and useless for eating. If I based my expectations off those first results, I may be tempted to give up. But through careful tending and patient nurturing, mature fruit will come.
If I apply this same mindset to writing, I find comfort in the process. Nobody is born an expert, but practice and dedication yield bountiful results. My own writing style has developed since I started my professional writing journey a few years ago. As I work through this draft of Lily’s Passage, I’m reminded of the benefits of waiting for mature fruit. The manuscript I deemed good enough to publish still had a long way to go. Once I returned with a critical eye, I found myself able to let go of the clutter I thought I needed. Now, though my story will never be perfect, it’s much closer to something I can be proud of years down the road.
In writing and in life, reaping takes time. Though the labor seems endless, I must be long-suffering in my attentions. Only then will I receive the bountiful joy of victory when the fruit is ripe for harvest.
As the wind blows,
Sydney Frusti
