Hey there,

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? The reason I’ve been quiet is because I didn’t have much to say and I didn’t want to bother you. That being said, it doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. Aside from life doing it’s thing and my full time job, I have been doing some significant amount of writing, which is what I suspect you really want to know about.

Let’s get to it.

Song of the Sandman (A God in the Shed: Part II)

The bulk of my time has been taken up by work on the sequel to A God in the Shed, titled : Son of the Sandman.

Writing, editing and rewriting this sequel has been one of the most depressing and difficult creative journey of my life. I very nearly quit writing entirely at one point, and writing is one of those things that brings me the most joy in life.

But the storm has been weathered. The book is on the verge of completion. We have a date to go to copy editing, which means a solid release date isn’t far behind. While I apologize for the delays in getting this book to you, I hope the wait will have been worth it.

I do have a little something to help tide you over until Song of the Sandman hits shelves.

Achewillow is a side project I’ve been working on with my friend Amy Frost (winner of the first season of America’s Next Top Podcaster). It’s a ‘cozy’ horror story that isn’t as intense as A God in the Shed, but has a much weirder background setting. I wrote the story, so you can expect some strange characters, old gods and bizarre magics. It’s also codeveloped with Amy who brings a layer of cooking and coffee to the story. Also, she narrates it, which really elevates whatever I put on the page.

Achewillow takes the shape of a storytelling podcast, the first season of which spans 15 half-hour episode. It’s essentially a free audiobook. It tells the story of Miriam DuFour, a young adult who’s life is spiralling into the gutter until she receives a strange envelope. In it, Miriam discovers that she’s inherited a coffee shop from a relative she didn’t know she had in a town she didn’t know existed: Achewillow. From there, she is drawn into a world of subtle magic, baking, demons, coffee and the occasional raccoon.

I’m really proud of Achewillow and I hope you listen and enjoy it. This is the first of a few projects I have in mind to make sure you and I, dear reader, don’t lose touch for so long again. Of course, the more successful Achewillow is, the easier it becomes for me to put things like this together. So, if you do like our little podcast, consider rating it on iTunes, or leaving a review. I can’t overstate how much impact this has on the success of such a project.

The last time I put Arch-Android, the sequel to The Life Engineered, back on the shelf, I was done with a second, mostly satisfying draft. Once Song of the Sandman is out of my hands, I’ll be doing a third draft which will be sent to beta readers. From that point on, we’ll be in good shape to get this book into your hands.

The Life Engineered has always had a special place in my heart and I’m very eager to bring you the next chapter in that story. 

That’s it for now. I apologize again for the long silence. I didn’t feel like had much to say that was worth your time, but that’s about to change.

Cheers and much gratitude,

J-F.

Hey there,

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? The reason I’ve been quiet is because I didn’t have much to say and I didn’t want to bother you. That being said, it doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. Aside from life doing it’s thing and my full time job, I have been doing some significant amount of writing, which is what I suspect you really want to know about.

Let’s get to it.

(A God in the Shed: Part II)

The bulk of my time has been taken up by work on the sequel to A God in the Shed, titled : Song of the Sandman.

Writing, editing and rewriting this sequel has been one of the most depressing and difficult creative journey of my life. I very nearly quit writing entirely at one point, and writing is one of those things that brings me the most joy in life.

But the storm has been weathered. The book is on the verge of completion. We have a date to go to copy editing, which means a solid release date isn’t far behind. While I apologize for the delays in getting this book to you, I hope the wait will have been worth it.

I do have a little something to help tide you over until Song of the Sandman hits shelves.

Achewillow is a side project I’ve been working on with my friend Amy Frost (winner of the first season of America’s Next Top Podcaster). It’s a ‘cozy’ horror story that isn’t as intense as A God in the Shed, but has a much weirder background setting. I wrote the story, so you can expect some strange characters, old gods and bizarre magics. It’s also codeveloped with Amy who brings a layer of cooking and coffee to the story. Also, she narrates it, which really elevates whatever I put on the page.

Achewillow takes the shape of a storytelling podcast, the first season of which spans 15 half-hour episode. It’s essentially a free audiobook. It tells the story of Miriam DuFour, a young adult who’s life is spiralling into the gutter until she receives a strange envelope. In it, Miriam discovers that she’s inherited a coffee shop from a relative she didn’t know she had in a town she didn’t know existed: Achewillow. From there, she is drawn into a world of subtle magic, baking, demons, coffee and the occasional raccoon.

I’m really proud of Achewillow and I hope you listen and enjoy it. This is the first of a few projects I have in mind to make sure you and I, dear reader, don’t lose touch for so long again. Of course, the more successful Achewillow is, the easier it becomes for me to put things like this together. So, if you do like our little podcast, consider rating it on iTunes, or leaving a review. I can’t overstate how much impact this has on the success of such a project.

The last time I put Arch-Android, the sequel to The Life Engineered, back on the shelf, I was done with a second, mostly satisfying draft. Once Song of the Sandman is out of my hands, I’ll be doing a third draft which will be sent to beta readers. From that point on, we’ll be in good shape to get this book into your hands.

The Life Engineered has always had a special place in my heart and I’m very eager to bring you the next chapter in that story. 

That’s it for now. I apologize again for the long silence. I didn’t feel like had much to say that was worth your time, but that’s about to change.

Cheers and much gratitude,

J-F.

 Happy October! I reread my latest draft and sent it back to my editor! She’s thinking she’ll be able to dive in in mid-November. I’ll keep you posted.
In other news, my short story, "Neighborhood Alert," was accepted for publication in the next issue of  Inlandia: A Literary Journey and I’m thrilled!
We’re preparing for a Halloween release of the new Writing Bloc Anthology, where you’ll be able to read "Rachel Rose, Semite."
I’ve posted a piece on my website about the punk scene in North Central West Virginia in the early 2000s. I was unhappy with the way the zine I submitted it to cut the last half, so you can read it in its entirety here. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences!
I’ll be participating in NaNoWriMo this November, drafting a TOTALLY NEW project that I’m reall excited about! Let me know if you’re participating too so we can cheer each other on!
Thank you, as always for your support.  

We did it! The campaign has ended, I’ve had a wonderful talk with Adam, the CEO of the publishing company, and the sequel to The Seclusion is officially in production. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who supported over the past few months!

I’m going to give everyone’s inbox(and myself) a break for a bit, but there is exciting news in the pipeline and I will keep all of you updated as I can with news and behind-the-scenes developments every month or two. While I don’t have a timeline yet, my best guess after having been through this process before is a early/mid 2021 release. Again, I’ll let you know more as I do. Try and stop me. 

For now, I’m going to turn my attention to something I haven’t been able to focus on as much as I would have liked to these past couple months - finishing the story! Right now, it is about 85% of the way finished, and my goal is to have the first draft turned in to the developmental editor by the end of October or early November.

From there we will talk through how to make the story stronger. Then, we go through the old song and dance of revising, editing, revising, editing... and rinsing and repeating until everything is shiny and perfect. 

For those of you who supported by ordering 3 copies or more, look out for occasional emails from me regarding polls and surveys for behind-the-scenes decisions. 

Tomorrow evening I will be at the Author Reception and Signing at the NC School Library Media Association Conference in Winston-Salem. If you will be be there, let me know so we can connect! 

Thank you again, and until next time! 

-Jacqui

P.S. - The winner of the $100 Air BnB Gift Card is Jason Stokes who referred over ten supporters!!! Congrats Jason!

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Thank you to these final backers! 

Catherine Evans, Anya Pavelle, Mike Donald, Anthony Bassignani, and Glen Cantrell  

Check out some of their work below: