Hey there Wild Circle!

August has been rough, in a word. I don’t want to get too deep into the ins and outs of it, but there have been a few deep emotional blows this month and it’s been hard for me to focus on much beyond keeping my writing streak going. (262 days now.) There has been a LOT of crying, and none of it over what I’m doing to characters in my books, which is the real tragedy here.

On the plus side I am feeling good about my writing — my life might be in shambles but my fiction doesn’t desert me. I’ve started work on re-writing Star of Ixchel and I’m so glad I decided to do a full rewrite. The book needed it. The characters needed it.

They are changing, for this book — some of them, at least. I’m letting them direct the show. I still plan on keeping the main, big plot points intact, but everything else is up to be changed around. It’s a mystery how this is going to happen as I’m pantsing the novel, the way I did the first one, and it feels pretty great.

All I’ve been able to really focus on this month has been drafting, but I do have some books sitting on the revisions pile, including Fate’s Promise. I’m hopeful to get to that one soon so I can release it in late September or early October. Cross your fingers!

Now, I’d like to share a small snippet from the first chapter of Star of Ixchel with you! Readers of Chosen of Kore will recognize the POV character, but the other one is completely new, being introduced in this story in prep for a larger role in later books.

Mara didn’t know if she was courageous, but she was trying to be. It was why today, when the giant behemoth of a man came through the clinic doors, she forced herself to calm her rapidly-beating heart and go see what he needed.

There wasn’t actually anything to fear from the man, so far as she knew. He was a foreigner, someone from lands across the sea, and since she’d begun working the clinic she’d seen him a few times — he tended to come in and get regular check-ups, either for himself or a member of his crew. The man captained a ship that often made port in Harbourtown.

He likely was perfectly nice. In fact that was all she’d heard from anyone who had dealt with him — polite. Nice. Weird accent, but couldn’t fault the man for that. He spoke fluent Atheē and that was what mattered.

It was just that he was so large. Easily the biggest man Mara had ever seen — even bigger than her Uncle Merry, who put into mind a large bear of the sort you might find wandering the forests to the north. The foreigner wasn’t just taller than Merry, but broader, too — a boulder of muscular strength, with arms that could possibly carry a bear off.

Something about the foreign sailor’s massive size triggered a prey response in Mara, telling her to run and hide.

But she was better than that. She was braver than that. She wiped her hands on her smock nervously and went to greet the man.

He removed his hat, revealing hair that spoke of the season with autumnal shades of brown, red, and gold. It matched his beard, which didn’t hang low like Merry’s but was trimmed close to his face, well-kempt. The man inclined his head to her politely, but Mara didn’t miss how his eyes scanned the room, as if he were looking for someone else.

“Good afternoon, Seigneur,” she said, pleased to note there was no tremor in her voice. “How can we be helping ye today?”

“Good afternoon, mevru Healer,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice that sounded like the very mountains had learned to talk. Goddesses, that accent was strange. As was the honorific. Mara tried not to dwell on it as the man was speaking again, and she had to pay attention. “A crewmate of mine has need of your services.”

Mara raised an eyebrow, feeling a little amused. “Ye do realize I cannae diagnose or treat in absentia? Yer crewwoman needs ta be here.”

The large man’s cheeks grew reddish-brown with a blush, and he stepped to the side, revealing what his bulk had been hiding: another sailor, this one holding an arm tight to his side, blood darkening his white shirt.

“Ye should have led with that!” Mara’s voice was strident, and she quickly fell into healer’s focus, getting the other man situated on an exam bed, removing his shirt and triaging. “How did this happen?” she asked the smaller man, but he looked at her blankly before turning to his captain.

The captain said something rapidfire in a language Mara had never heard before, and her patient answered. The captain let out a long sigh before he relayed the answer. “He says he was just trying to have a good time.”

“Does ‘e do that often, then?” Mara was already cleaning the wound, which wasn’t deep, thank Althea.

“Too often,” the captain grumbled.

I hope you enjoyed this little snippet! I am now off to write a bit more before the end of the day, and possibly get some other needed things done.

Wildly,
Katje