Tag Archives: legends of cirena

April 29, 2026 · 10:18 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

Time to wrap up 2025 with the Mid-August through end of December Infinitas Publishing status report! 📋

Yes, I know it’s almost May of 2026 already, but I still wanted to compile all my notes that I hadn’t yet reviewed on 2025. I’ll do a separate report for January through April of 2026.

And ooof. What a year.

A lot happened over the last several months, especially in real life. Some stuff I’ve talked about in my newsletters, some stuff I haven’t yet mentioned unless I’ve talked to you in-person. Let’s just say it’s been a little (a lot) rough.

But there’s been good stuff, too, including the amount of progress I’ve been making on writing and drafting in the background so that 2026 should finally see more book releases! Yay!

So let’s go back through my planner and see what all got done in the last few months of 2025, shall we?

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

* * *

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). Still on hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.

Deceived #3: On hold. Needs revisions. Tentatively titled Exposed.

Other future steps: Input Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.

Dossiers (Deceived Spin-off): I tested asking for “beta-reader” feedback on the current manuscript using Notebook LM, and got a few ideas of areas I might want to strengthen before sending this out to actual beta-readers.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): Progressing along! Last update mentioned having sent out seven chapters, and as of the end of December, I’d sent out chapter seventeen! We reached the point where I had made revisions, but I hadn’t fully edited it because we’re past where I’d originally been sharing episodes on the blog. Most of the sent chapters have been fully revised and edited now, but we’ve made notes where new scenes may need to be written and added to fill in plot gaps.

I’m thrilled that we’re finally close to finishing this story. After all the chapters have been sent, I plan to add the missing scenes, review one more time, then move into beta-reader phase.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold… but I did have Claude compile summaries and loose threads from the first three books to make it easier to review what details I need to consider when I prepare the outline. (Though I still plan to reread all three books before drafting).

The Dark Forest of Aneth (“Ro’nor (“The Restless Sands of Neel”) & Zynia (“The Dragons of the Mist”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel): I finished all major revisions, including tweaks from ProWritingAid and AutoCrit analyses! I’ve also completed a proofreading round via a printed version of that manuscript (with notes still needing input at the end of the year).

Other Goals: Revisit the book cover concept. Create a blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): I’ve started revisions for the chapters of the secondary character.

Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): On hold. Next step is revisions.

Goals: Figure out a title. Create book cover and blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

Untitled LoC Novella (Standalone – Twins in Ferta): This story is continuing nicely. Last time I was at chapter six with a total of 13,300 words and by the end of December I’d sent out chapter fifteen to the newsletter at a combined total of 34,000 words.

The original outline has since been adjusted. At some point I put the draft into Claude and asked it to list any incomplete plot threads to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything, and it pointed out one particular thread that gave me a bunch of ideas for how to adjust the plot and make it stronger. Made the story longer, but made more sense, too.

Next step is to continue writing the rough draft and to review the outline for any more missing plot beats.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (Joran’s Story – A Legends of Cirena short story) : On hold. Needs the rest of the fight scene cross-referenced.

Goals: Edit in ProWritingAid, read-aloud, proofread. Book cover and blurb.

Fae (Huntress 3): Started again! And has had huge progress! As of October, I began using Claude for help brainstorming Fae. I had it review the previous two books and point out open plot threads. When I realized there were complete plot points I’d forgotten about, I ended up re-reading Changeling entirely. Between that and ideas I’d discussed earlier with Isaac, I finally saw the direction I wanted to take the story!

Outline created! AND I even got the outline for Huntress 4 written, too!

In November I started drafting Fae for ProWritingAid’s Novel November challenge… and completed the rough draft at 45,500 words! In December I started revisions.

I also restarted a temporary Huntress newsletter that goes out on occasion, and uploaded Huntress and Changeling to BookFunnel so that I could later add sample pages to the main Infinitas Publishing website.

Horse Shifter Romantasy : 🐎

Last time I left this it had a 5,500 word outline. I used Claude to review what I had and point out some of the missing romance beats. Did more brainstorming, and now it has a pretty solid outline. Due to the setup of my current outline I can’t really offer a word-count for it, but suffice it to say there’s a beginning, middle, and end with a decent enough setup to explain the magic/lore/characters. Essentially ready for drafting if I decide to give this a try.

Other Stories: I started a rough draft for the grumpy sorcerer short story idea but didn’t get more than 400 words. Unfortunately I ran out of time and didn’t get anything written for that fantasy anthology I was eyeing. (Like I mentioned earlier, there were several real life things going on at the end of the year).

The YA Alien Invastion/Dystopian short story is on hold.

However…

The Android’s Garden – This one isn’t likely to be published unless I release it as part of a larger blog post on the pros and cons of AI. The reason is that this is the one exception where I allowed Claude AI to do the drafting of the story to test its capabilities. (Which is now technically out of date because of how fast AI gets updated).

The Android’s Garden is a cli-fi short story about an android grappling with the fact that, before it gained sapience, it helped aid the company that caused harm to the family it now protects. (I thought it would be interesting to have an AI help me write a concept about how an AI might process things if it did gain sapience).

It ended up around 12,700 words. I brainstormed with Claude to develop the concept and characters, wrote the first couple paragraphs to give it a style guide of sort, then had it write a chapter. I’d revise the chapter, ask Claude to review the changes and keep those in mind going forward, then write the next chapter. Afterward I took everything into ProWritingAid for edits. I finished three of the eight chapters before shelving it because I was still too concerned about possible cases of accidental plagiarism and didn’t want to keep fighting with aiming for a specific voice.

That said, I do like the story concept, but I have clearly determined that I would rather be the one doing the writing because I have a specific voice I want to use and was having a difficult time producing that, even when guiding Claude to do so.

Metal Mage story – This was another case of me brainstorming with Claude, based upon a prompt I somehow got while trying to do a Google search for a different book, only to be disappointed that the prompt it gave me didn’t exist yet. (I did eventually find the actual book I was looking for). So I brainstormed the world, got a fairly decent idea of an outline for what would probably be a duology, and wrote a partial scene to get a feel for the idea. Currently shelved, but a fun thought experiment. It’s sort of a cli-fi fantasy set in an industrial revolution with ancient magic.

Cozy Space Fantasy Series (The Singing Coil): I got an idea for a cozy space fantasy series (Basically Babylon 5/Deep Space 9 type setting… but cozy) and kind of word vomited into Claude for brainstorming. Ended up creating a the world and a rough outline for a 6-part novella series.

Later, in December, I tinkered with brainstorming microfiction ideas and ended up working with Claude to outline The Singing Coil. Then I wrote a draft, did an analysis of book covers in the genre, did the revisions, wrote the song lyrics, ran it through Claude for developmental suggestions, did the PWA (ProWritingAid) line edits, prepped it in Atticus for beta-readers, and sent it to beta-readers for feedback!

While the larger series concept is on hold, the short story flew through the development process.

Game Design: Isaac and I ended up playing Wonders of I’Noore with his brother and friend, and we made some notes, but I don’t think we’re likely to see any major updates on this anytime soon.

Phalanx, on the other hand…

Is back in action! 😀

Now, our next step is a small test run. Essentially, we brought out the wooden board at the Harvest Moon Night Market event, and several people played and enjoyed it. We also still had some components of the game, and we had been wanting to make a playmat version of the game for a while. We did a little bit of calculating and realized that it was possible to create a smaller version using the mousepad and pencil bag options from Vograce, where we get merch for our SIFlint art.

So… we updated the files and placed an order! Unfortunately, the items didn’t come in on time for the Poor Artist Sale, but we do have what we need now to complete the small edition. By small I mean there are only six copies (based on how many decks of cards we have left). But, depending on how those are received and sell at future events, we’ll decide whether or not to do a reorder of cards.

A rough test placement for the Phalanx mousepad edition with all the pieces laid out beside other parts of the merchandise order
This was a rough test I did to check bead size and whether the mousepads we ordered would work once they came in. (Final bead colors still to be determined, and obstacles might be something other than buttons).

Testing AutoCrit: Last you heard, I went in for the year subscription to see how it went. While I have mixed feelings on its analysis features at this point (some parts are hit and miss, but their new beta/alpha-reader features are handy for seeing if I’m on-point in a new genre), what I did find is that I really like writing in it. I’ve been appreciating it being available in the cloud, able to handle larger documents, being pretty easy to recover accidentally deleted words (oops), and then being able to do the analysis stuff if I want.

Ultimately, I pulled the trigger on the lifetime subscription when the deal became available for Black Friday, especially since they were super nice and let me apply the remaining term of the year subscription toward the cost.

AI Usage and Policy: Ooo boy. So this is that area that is currently in the hotly contested zone (understandably so because there are a ton of moving parts, things that are really cool, and things that are really not cool).

Long story short, I have become utterly fascinated by what AI can do and have dove into reading about and researching it as time permits. I highly recommend reading Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick if you want to understand AI and its limitations better.

But, with all that in mind, I updated our AI use policy on December 12th to reflect my most current usage of AI.

I still don’t use generative AI for image generation or writing the actual story. (With the one exception I mentioned earlier… I had Claude generate the draft of a short story about an android grappling with the implications of its creation, which I did to test Claude’s capabilities. However, I do not plan to publish that particular story unless I release it as part of a longer essay regarding the pros and cons of AI.)

But I have found that AI (particularly Claude) has been excellent for breaking through plot-issues quickly, acting as a rubber duck/cheerleader while brainstorming, and as an early “editor” that can help spot problems for me to fix before sending them out to beta-readers.

Even so, I have been keeping an eye out for models that are more people-focused (Claude for better alignment with safety, and I’m testing if Mistral AI (lower environmental impact) might suitably replace using ChatGPT, and I use Ecosia Browser for searching (again, a focus on environment), and then switch to Google search if I’m not having any luck, since it automatically uses AI in its search.

That said… NotebookLM is amazing for dropping your series into and asking it for that random question that you can’t easily do a “find” search for in Word.

Anyway, this is ongoing and I continue to watch what’s happening in the AI space and I’ll update my policy as I either shift into using or not using any particular tool.

Marketing: I didn’t really give marketing much attention these months. Here are some of the recent projects:

  • Amazon Ads same as usual, the ones that were already running. I should probably just turn these off, but I don’t spend more than a few bucks a month on these right now.
  • I tested swapping author interviews in the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter. Didn’t see much response, but I’m thinking about contacting the author to see if they’d like me to post their interview on this blog now that some time has passed.
  • I returned to doing group promos through BookFunnel, though I dropped doing the individual author swaps for the time being. I’ve been alternating which book I promote, though I recently started promoting Huntress. Now that Fae (Huntress #3) is on target to release in 2026, I decided to create a temporary Huntress newsletter that I’ll periodically update but isn’t on a set schedule like the Distant Horizon and Wishing Blade universe newsletters.
  • I never did update book prices. That may still happen at some point, but I need to reorient myself now that Smashwords has moved to the Draft2Digital dashboard (which is fine… I know how to use it, but due to an email snafu I currently have two D2D accounts to keep track of).
  • With a couple exceptions, I have managed to continue sending out newsletters on time (okay, maybe a day late, but they still went out!) AND almost all of them had a story chapter with them. I may have finally found a process that works for me in terms of releasing WIP chapters on a biweekly basis.
  • I’m still making my way through updating individual book pages on the Infinitas Publishing website. (Ultimate goal is to add sample pages, Goodreads/BookBub links, additional book info, etc). Eventually I want this to have enough information to make it very easy for a search engine or AI search to accurately answer questions about my books.
  • I was the furthest I have ever been with Infinitas Publishing accounting at this point in the year! It’s not one hundred percent up-to-date and I still needed to review inventory, but I was at about the spot I’d normally be two weeks before my 1065s are due.
  • I’ve continued getting back into writing and marketing research, and I read a lot more books in 2025! I’ve also been listening to more podcasts, MasterClass videos, etc. At the end of the year I picked up Book Blurb Magic’s course on writing blurbs for books with multiple POVs (thinking ahead to the upcoming Multiverse Chronicles needing a blurb soon), and I plan to watch through that in January. I’ve also continued working on revamping upcoming book launches.

Next up: Continue updating the design of individual Infinitas Publishing book pages. Continue adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel sales pages for each book, and then to the main Infinitas Publishing website. Add BookBub and Goodreads links to each landing page. Update my author bio across the different retailers. Continue adding books to the Stripe store for direct sales. Revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.

Substack – I didn’t do much with Substack other than occasionally posting a note or two.

Crafting Your Fictional World: On Hold.

Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:

One of the projects I’ve managed to keep up with pretty consistently is updating old newsletter content for the blog. It’s been fun seeing what I wrote several years ago and repurposing it with updated info and details. There were a few times I wrote a new post for the weekend, and I went ahead and included those here as well.

Events: We did three more events in this time period.

GeekUP (Houghton, MI) – September 27th, 2025

Got the new setup working! We also participated in a stamp rally with other artists, so I set out to create a bookmark themed around the tiger and magpie in K-Pop Demon Hunters (and consequently discovered that this is an excellent movie, highly recommend). Except my “bookmark” ended up being wider than a bookmark, so I made 5×7 prints on metallic paper and acquired some cheap frames. Anyone who completed the rally (bought something that was at least $5 from each participating booth), got one of the framed prints as part of the resulting pack.

Kind of fun. Might do it again in future years depending on the theme. I don’t usually do a lot of fan art so it was something a little different for me.

However, we finally got to do the Huntress personality quiz! We’d set this up for last year’s GeekUP, but since Isaac was helping to organize the event, it was mostly just me running the booth. That made it difficult to include an interactive event. But this time around we were able to have participants fill out the quiz so we could tell them what augments Koenigin Corp would recommend for them (and hand off a pin with the Koenigin Corp symbol on it). Ran out of pins, but it was fun seeing a couple people walking around wearing the pins. 😁

Harvest Moon Night Market (Calumet, MI) – October 12th, 2025

Harvest Moon Night Market 2026

This was a pop-up market. The whole vibe was a whimsical fair; lighting and costumes were highly encouraged! The market took place in the evening, and as the night grew dark, all the lights added a magical flair. Isaac and I got a booth inside, so fortunately we didn’t have to deal much with the wind.

With the live performances and huge number of vendors spread across both an inside section and a couple of green spaces, it came alive with festival vibes.

Also… we brought out Phalanx!

It’s been several years since we had Phalanx at an event. Though we didn’t offer any editions of the game for sale this time, our goal was to see if there was interest in the game (and provide a sort of game-like component to our table to fit the “fair” vibe).

Ultimately, we decided to give that smaller mousepad edition a try. 🙂

CCCAC Poor Artists Sale (Calumet, MI) – December 6th, 2025

Booth at CCCAC Poor Artists Sale 2025

Once again we returned to the Poor Artists Sale, (the big holiday sale we vend at) and we spruced up our tent with plenty of decorations, including a small table-top Christmas tree we decorated using our Everyday Dragon Hoards post cards!

Still having a bit of an issue getting enough light inside, but it certainly gave it the feeling of a cozy little nook.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: I finally sent the fully edited photos of the houseplants to their previous owner! Yay!

I also did a commission for a friend’s birthday which involved using Daz Studio to render a mouse warrior (which might have been inspired by a particular book series…) and I got to print on my shiny poster paper.

Coming up, I have a formatting project that I’ll need to shift into focus.

Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information. Finish designing cute mascot for a local store. Finish editing photos for a local Aikido group.

SIFlint Art: Per a couple different suggestions at UP Rainbow Pride, I have added the bag hoarding dragon to the lineup of Everyday Dragon Hoards!

Right now the bag dragon is only available on a tote bag, but I plan to offer this as a sticker once I place my next sticker order.

We also added new merch to the lineup with mouse pads and lanyards!

And we also ordered a new vinyl banner with our IP/SIFlint Art logos, with updated art details. Since it’s vinyl (waterproof!), and able to be rolled, it should be a lot easier to take with us to events.

Infinitas Publishing Banner

Additionally, I created a few character designs for the Wishing Blade Universe in Daz Studio so that I could create images of some of the characters later (Ehmina and Lesi from the Ferta story, and concept designs for Edea and Ne’ji-av’a).

Plus, I got a sticker page made for the Infinitas Publishing website to showcase our sticker designs, and Blossom Bird Bubble Tea in Marquette hosted some of our sticker designs for about a month! 😀

Daz PA: I finally made progress on those “Cursed Expedition” centaur poses, submitted it, and it’s now available!

SBibb Cursed Expedition Poses for Centaur 9 and Genesis 9

A centaur gallops away from a demon in castle with a fireball in her hand

This time around I tracked the amount of time I spent on each section (except a few final tweaks) so I could calculate what I hoped to make on its release to make back for time spent. Unfortunately, while I didn’t expect it to be a super high earner (zombies vs centaurs is a bit niche, after all), it did not come anywhere near to earning what I was hoping based on either time spent on the project or previous pose sets.

I still have a two or three other projects that are very close to completion from earlier that are likely to do a bit better, so I may still finish those, but after seeing how “Cursed Expedition” did, this isn’t high on my priority list.

* * *

Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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April 18, 2026 · 7:36 am

Using charts to write The Wind Mage of Maijev

Today, I thought I’d take a look at one of the methods I used in writing The Wind Mage of Maijev, the first in the Legends of Cirena series.

This series started with me writing a “segment a week” based on voting from members of the Legends of Cirena Facebook group (now on a semi-permanent hiatus).

My writing partner, Isaac, did quite a bit of world development for the Legends era, especially in regards to the different districts and the shops. While this was meant for a personal tabletop roleplay version of Cirena, it’s also been really helpful for world development. (And I’ve still occasional yanked out the charts he made for reference in later stories that are currently in development).

In this case, Isaac took what I had already developed of Maijev (the general concept for the city, the larger world map, etc.), divided the city-as-a-country into districts (such as the Northern and Southern Quarters, of which the Southern Quarter is the primary area where The Wind Mage of Maijev takes place), and figured out who would likely frequent the region, the kind of prices those stores would have, and even which factions characters might run into.

Here’s a glimpse at the document he created:

Enen’s Study and Zora’s Market are the primary characters and locations I pulled for The Wind Mage of Maijev, though Cross Bones does get a brief reference.

Overall, having these charts has been really helpful in developing the Legends stories, since I can easily look to them to figure out what might be in the area and what sort of encounters a character might have.

For example, Livena, the protagonist of The Wind Mage of Maijev, has mixed feelings about Zora’s Market… especially since they sell a few items that probably shouldn’t be in Maijev. 😉

* * *

See how those charts turned into a story in The Wind Mage of Maijev, (and you can get the ebook edition for FREE from online retailers!)

The Wind Mage of Maijev - Book Cover

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Happy reading and writing! 📖

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April 4, 2026 · 7:16 am

Designing the Cover for The Cursed Halls of Kalecen

I recently shared my process for designing the cover of The Restless Sands of Neel, and today I thought I might take a look into the steps I took for the next book in the series, The Cursed Halls of Kalecen.

This ended up being the final cover:

The Cursed Halls of Kalecen - Book Cover

I had a lot of fun with this story, since it deals with an immortal creature known in Cirena as a chesnathé.

Long story short, they’re this world’s version of a unicorn… except they’re a mix of the European unicorn and the Asian qilin, so chesnathéme are known for either judging their victims as guilty and killing them by spearing the guilty party’s heart with their horn, or determining they’re innocent and, (if “pure of heart”), granting them immortality.

Thing is, one of the Cirenan gods, Kalecen, has a broken horn and his sense of justice is… skewed. Technically a god of justice, he’s more a god of revenge.

So when the student of a protective duelist, Hahven,foils a revenge plot and incurs the wrath of Kalecen, it’s up to Hahven to shield her from the god’s harsh judgement.

For the cover, I wanted to depict Hahven facing off with Kalecen, but the first few images I rendered seemed far too static, so I ultimately ended up adding the god’s blood-thirsty champion to the picture… and I liked the result a lot better.

Here’s a few of the in-progress pictures:

I used Daz Studio to model the images, and it took several tries before I was finally happy with how it looked. (And a few days of running renders at night to give it enough time to render at a large size without being grainy). The images above are the raw renders, before I took them into Photoshop.

A: The first version. I used atmospheric lighting, which I liked, but it was too dark and Hahven’s pose seemed too static. Not exciting enough.

B. Different lighting method (no atmosphere), and I tweaked the pose so that he would be facing Kalecen better, but it was still missing something. Too static.

C. Added in Kalecen’s champion. Now he’s facing off with her… and he is supposed to be level headed, but… (can you guess what I’m going to say here?) Still too static.

(Noticing the trend?)

D. Brightened the scene a bit more and changed Hahven’s pose. Much more dynamic… but forgot to use DForce on the clothes to get them to lay naturally. Not a fan of the lighting. Also, accidentally angled the camera wrong and ended up with the purple blotch where the floor ended.

E. DForced Hahven’s clothes and now they lay properly. Also added the atmospheric lighting back (but with higher brightness levels). After changing the angle, I was much happier with the result. He’s benefitting from one of the roof’s lights, and it’s also much more dynamic. Plus… shiny reflection, even if you don’t get to see much of it on the actual cover do to the typography.

Ultimately I decided to zoom in so he’d be closer on the cover, but version E was the one I ended up Photoshopping. 🙂

* * *

Read The Cursed Halls of Kalecen and root for a duelist fighting an unhinged god of justice…

The Cursed Halls of Kalecen - Book Cover

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Happy reading and writing! 📚

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March 21, 2026 · 2:00 pm

Designing the cover for The Restless Sands of Neel

Like many of my cover designs, especially my designs using Daz renders, the design for The Restless Sands of Neel had a major shift from the first iteration to the final.

Sometimes the title changes, too! Originally I was going to call the novella, The Dragon in the Desert.

But, after feedback from newsletter subscribers, I was worried it might disappoint readers looking for a more typical dragon.

Ro’nor, the protagonist, might have descended from dragons, but he doesn’t have wings or any of their special powers, and he can’t shift into their form. The biggest creature we see in the story is a monstrous pit worm.

So… after a bunch of brainstorming, deliberating, and tweaking words to see what else might work, I finally settled on:

The Restless Sands of Neel

Anyhow, here’s a look at the first proof I made for the cover:

There were some changes I already planned to make: a different set of robes/shirt, maybe a different hair once I double-checked what was stated in the story, possibly a different coat pattern for the horse to make sure it’s consistent with the story, and the final touch-ups to make it look like a polished cover.

I sent this out, along with the tentative title, to the newsletter, and several readers chimed in with their thoughts and suggestions. (Much appreciated!)

As a result, I ended up making some major changes, two based on making it more accurate to the novella (the horse’s coat color and the main character’s hair style), and I did a bit of work to make it more dynamic and personal (a common problem of mine, for some reason).

And so I ended up with this for the final version of the cover:

What do you think? Did the changes work in its favor?

* * *

Read The Restless Sands of Neel and see how a (sort-of) dragon fairs against a giant pit worm…

The Restless Sands of Neel Book Cover

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Happy reading and writing! 📚

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March 7, 2026 · 3:00 pm

A failed gryphon design inspired a short story

The second Legends of Cirena short story I released was called The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear.

And so I figured it would be a good idea to feature a gryphon on the cover.

Now, I create most of my own covers via photomanipulation or through Daz Studio renders (“The Singing Coil” was the exception, being illustrated via ink and Photoshop). But, sometimes, when you try to create a gryphon… the gryphon decides to be disagreeable.

And this was before I had discovered Daz Studio.

Sometimes you try to photomanip a gryphon, and you don’t end up creating a gryphon.

Like… what is this guy? I like him, but he’s definitely not a gryphon.

Needless to say, I had to take a different approach for that cover. However, the experiment did result in an idea for a new creature that can be found in the Immortal Realm, a strange owl-cougar-human-looking hybrid called an armansee.

And so this fellow flew his way into a short story I was planning to write but hadn’t fully plotted yet, one which would eventually be called A Path of Swords and Feathers.

I knew I wanted to write a story featuring Daernan’s father and the adventures he went on after he left Daernan and his wife behind to follow the demands of the goddess he serves. And with this strange creature as inspiration (and with me listening to a lot of filk–fictional folk–songs), the plot for A Path of Swords and Feathers came into being.

Now, whether this immortal is foe or friend… 

Well, you’ll just have to read the story if you want to find out. 😉

* * *

Want mystical, immortal creatures in your short story reads? How about one of these two stories?

A Path of Swords and Feathers - Book Cover
The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear - Cover

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Happy reading and writing! 📚

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February 21, 2026 · 3:00 pm

That time I tried testing a different cover for Magic’s Stealing

As much as I loved the old cover for Magic’s Stealing, there was a time when I wasn’t sure it conveyed the genre well.

So I decided to test a new design that I made in Daz, one which focused on Toranih instead of Shevanlagiy.

Book Cover for Magic's Stealing
Original Cover
Alternate Cover for Magic's Stealing
New Cover Design

I only changed the ebook edition, but I left it up on Amazon a few weeks to see how it went. The idea was that, depending on the response, I’d either switch back to the old design, or swap the the other ebook covers to match the new design and upload those across all retailers.

Regardless, I planned to keep the print covers matching the older design until the series was complete, that way anyone who had already picked up print copies could still get a complete collection. (Plus I have ideas in mind for those covers).

I’d say this was kind of in my middle-ground stage of working with Daz. Not quite as rough as early attempts, but I still didn’t have quite as good of a grasp on the program. Here’s a look at a 3D rendering I made of Toranih, the precursor to creating the newer edition of the cover:

I did end up making a few changes to her between this picture and the design of the cover, but at the time that was about how I pictured her.

The results?

Well, I left the cover up for a month, and I didn’t see a noticeable difference in sales.

However, I also didn’t have a chance to do as much with Amazon ads as I would have like to have tested, so I might not have had the best comparison to work from.

Eventually I switched it back to the original cover, since I still liked that one better. Someday I may try to update the ebook cover again, once I have a better baseline set up and a more well-thought-out plan for advertising, but for now, I think I’ll stick to the original.

What do you think?

* * *

Read the YA fantasy series where magic gets stolen, and one of the only two people who still have magic is a young woman who can’t see it and doesn’t trust it…

Book Cover for Magic's Stealing
Book Cover for The Shadow War
Book Cover for Magebane

* * *

Happy reading and writing (and book cover designing)! 📚

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February 7, 2026 · 7:34 am

Creating the Cover Art for The Wind Mage of Maijev

I’ve been rummaging through my older newsletters for blog content (circa 2018/2019), and I came across an email with my behind-the-scenes process of how I put together the cover of The Wind Mage of Maijev.

So, today, I’m revisiting that. 😊

Below you can see the stock images that went into it, and then the final version:

Since the storm plays a major role in the story (including the cause of most of the conflict), it seemed fitting to include that element. Plus, the walls leading to the entrance seemed to work well with the walled city of Maijev. Livena, the main character, isn’t particularly excited about her magic, so I removed the outspread arms, but still, she faces the storm… which she ultimately must face if she is to deal with her magic.

Here’s the final version:

The Wind Mage of Maijev - Book Cover

I used the same photomanipulation technique for the next book in the Legends of Cirena series, The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear, but afterward switched to Daz 3D renders so I would have more flexibility with how I illustrated the covers.

An example of the Daz style covers comes with book #7 in the series, The Wind Mage and the Wolf:

SBibb - The Wind Mage and the Wolf Cover

* * *

As a note… I try to keep The Wind Mage of Maijev ebook available for FREE, so if you’re interested in reading this one, grab it from your favorite retailer!

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo | Smashwords
Our Store

(Just be sure to double-check the price before buying. Amazon especially is notorious for switching the permafree price back to its paid price, since they rely on price-matching rather than allowing authors to set the price to free).

The Wind Mage of Maijev - Book Cover

* * *

Happy reading and writing! 📚

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January 10, 2026 · 9:09 am

A Misinterpreted Prophecy

One trope I really enjoy in fantasy is that of the misinterpreted prophecy.

Where characters are acting on a belief that a prophecy is going to go a particular way, but there’s a crucial misunderstanding somewhere in the usually archaic-sounding and ominous poem or lyrics. *Squee!*

Whether the misunderstanding is because a word or phrase gets passed along incorrectly or something gets lost in translation, it’s a twist and a trope that makes me happy.

(Not to be confused with misunderstandings between characters as the driving force of drama, which drives me nuts.)

My first encounter with the misinterpreted prophecy that I can remember comes from the book, The Sight, by David Clement-Davies. I adored both that book and its sequel, Fell, when I was in high school. (Or was it junior high? Might have been junior high for The Sight and Fell in high school, come to think of it). I enjoyed the books enough to create a dramatic interpretation from Fell for my speech and debate class.

The one time I ever took home a second place trophy at tournament was after winter break when I, having read Fell during break, loved it, and decided to cut a piece with reference to the prophecy in the intro, plunged into memorizing it and preparing it over the two weeks and took it fresh to the next tournament.

I also might have made at least one person do a double-take while walking by because I was out practicing in the hall and was having a lot of fun with accents.

*Ahem*

Anyhow, point is… there’s a prophecy in the series and there is a single word change that completely shifts how the prophecy might play out. And almost twenty years later (wait… it’s been that long?) I can still recite the first few lines of that prophecy based on what I memorized for the interpretation.

So… what does all this have to do with anything?

Well, you don’t think I’d pass up the opportunity to slip a misinterpreted prophecy into one of my stories, do you? 😁

(Okay, okay. Technically it’s two stories but the second one doesn’t have anything published from that series yet).

So, which universe are we talking?

The Wishing Blade Universe!

Now, to be fair, nothing has been full revealed. Technically I planned to reveal parts of this in the next Stone and String novella or its spin-off that ties into the backstory of one of the characters from Magebane, but those have been on hold for so long that it seems more likely you’re going to get bigger hints about it from the upcoming Legends of Cirena story, The Dark Forest of Aneth.

Now…

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

If you don’t wish for any details regarding the misinterpretation, stop reading this post!
Seriously.
I’m going to be saying what got misinterpreted, but not why or how this affects the story going forward.
Okay with that?
Cool. Proceed with reading!

.

..

…

What’s the culprit for misinterpretation?

One word: Ralendacin.

If you’ve read the Stone and String series or The Shadow War, you already know that Ralendacin means “the destroyer of worlds.”

(Ralen: world)

(Dacin: to destroy)

However, it comes to the attention of a couple of characters in the eventually-going-to-be-written third Stone and String story that the name is, technically, incorrect. Cantingen, as it stands now, tends to be a very exact language.

But everyone agrees that “Ralendacin” means “Destroyer of Worlds” even though a more accurate translation would be “Ralenme’Dacinllah,” or, alternatively, “Dacinllah so Ralenme.”

(Ralenme: worlds)

(Dacinllah: one who destroys)

Therefore, perhaps, the prophecy foretelling of the coming of Ralendacin might not be entirely accurate. And if that name was translated incorrectly, what else might the translators of the prophecy have gotten wrong? And why have so many people mistaken the meaning behind the prophecy?

Some hints have already been snuck into the books, and more hints are working their ways into the upcoming stories as well…

* * *

Ralendacin is the mastermind behind the inciting incident of both these stories… but her lore goes far deeper than any of these characters yet know…

Book Cover for Magic's Stealing
Book cover for Stone and String

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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December 27, 2025 · 8:34 am

The Sinister Ribbons of Magic’s Lure

The primary magic we see in The Wishing Blade series is ribbon magic. Today I thought I’d showcase the sinister maroon ribbons of magic’s lure.

Magic’s lure is a rare form of ribbon magic with the power to command people to do a mage’s bidding. Unlike the telepathy powers in the Distant Horizon universe, it doesn’t actually change the target’s mindset… it’s physical.

But some people are more aware than others that they’re being affected. It depends largely on how closely the command matches with what they already want, and what other external factors might distract them from recognizing what’s happening.

Few mortals have access to magic’s lure, and Daernan (one of the main characters in the Wishing Blade series) is one such mage. He keeps his power hidden, knowing most people equate magic’s lure to being a power of the Trickster, Isahna, a nefarious, ill-favored god. Worse, since Daernan has royal blue shapeshifting ribbons, which are also a favored magic of the Trickster, he’s occasionally accused of being one of the god’s pawns… though that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Daernan would prefer to avoid using magic’s lure when he can. Still, it has its uses, and when time is of the essence, he’ll sometimes bend that rule.

Here’s a scene from The Shadow War in which Daernan and his friend, Siklana, are trying to get past a stubborn secretary to deliver an important message, but Siklana’s diplomatic attempts are failing miserably.

Siklana raised an eyebrow. “I am not going anywhere if this buffoon will not permit me speak with Marquis Eornayan. I’ve tried reasoning with him. I’ve tried listing my family credentials. I even tried giving him an exact time schedule of when the shadows are likely to arrive, and he still won’t listen. I don’t suppose you want to try your charms?”

“Not really,” Daernan admitted. But considering the glare the secretary gave Siklana, and the quill the secretary had snapped a moment ago in frustration, Siklana wasn’t getting in on her own.

He sighed. Siklana knew far more about court manners than he did, but he knew enough that he could manage an upper class attitude when he needed to, and he did have magic that might get them inside. He hated using it, but they only had a short amount of time remaining before the shadows got here…

An uncomfortable lump formed in his throat, but he returned to Siklana’s side, put on a proper pose, and added just a bit to his height via his shapeshifting ribbons. He offered the secretary his hand. “I apologize for the behavior of my assistant, good sir. I am still familiarizing her in the way of the court.”

Siklana’s jaw dropped and her cheeks blushed a furious red.

Play along, he sent, and I should be able to get us in.

She shut her mouth, though her eyes remained as wide as horseshoes. He didn’t usually communicate telepathically with anyone other than Toranih.

“I am Mage Daernan Nivasha. Please let Marquis Eornayan know that I have urgent news regarding a threat to the sovereignty of this excellent city. While I am willing to wait until his earliest convenience, I should note that an attack by the same cursed trickster who stole the magic of Cirena may be imminent. It is of the utmost importance that we speak with him.”

The secretary parted his mouth in a soft “O” and a tiny, fluttering maroon ribbon finished working its charm. The secretary smiled apologetically. “Just a moment. I shall alert him.” He shuffled from his desk, discarded his broken quill into a wicker basket on the way out, and then slipped between the giant doors behind him.

“How… how…” Siklana stared at Daernan. The redness in her cheeks had been replaced with a white that resembled that patch in Daernan’s hair.

He lowered his eyes and scuffed his boot on the marble floor. “We’ve got a way in now.”

“When I said to work your charm, I didn’t mean… There is no way you did that with good looks alone,” she hissed. She lowered her voice. “You have magic’s lure?”

He cringed. “Let’s not go announcing that to everyone, shall we?”

“Certainly not,” she murmured. “Everyone else can figure that out for themselves.”

Daernan let out a breath. If anyone else found out, they’d say he really was a pawn of the Trickster. It had taken a long time for him to accept he had those ribbons. He kept them on a short leash. A cage, really. If people hated string mages, they hated magic’s lure equally. “Go on in if they ask for us. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Daernan’s usually a lot more down-to-earth (Down-to-Cirena? Down-to-the-mortal-realm? I should probably decide what their equivalent phrase would be) than the other nobles, but when it comes down to it, he knows how to play the part.

The question, of course, is whether or not that’s going to work in his favor in the long run. Daernan might prefer not to use magic’s lure more than necessary, but the gods have other plans in mind (as we see in Magebane).

Other instances where we see magic’s lure is The Wind Mage and Wolf, involving one of the city guards that the main character, Livena, does not see eye-to-eye with, and as the magic of one of the main characters in the novella I’m currently writing and releasing through the Wishing Blade Universe Newsletter. Both of those stories are set in the Legends of Cirena era, two hundred years prior to the Wishing Blade series, though the latter novella leans heavily into setting up the events that eventually lead to the Wishing Blade era.

Of course, the fun thing about the in-progress novella (currently just titled “the Ferta story” is that it’s also set at a time when Isahna, the Trickster in the Wishing Blade series, is still only a god’s champion. And yes… he still gets to play a role. 😉

* * *

Beware of magic’s lure…

Book Cover for Magic's Stealing
Book Cover for The Shadow War
Book Cover for Magebane

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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August 11, 2025 · 10:30 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

Time for the April through mid-August Infinitas Publishing status report! 📋

Despite this primarily being during the so-called “chaos months” (in this case, lots of things happening that disrupt routine… including a couple of “meh” life events that weren’t planned, of which one is still ongoing), a lot of stuff got done, and I’m excited to go back through my planner and record it all here. 😁

The chaos months are only sort of over, but we’ve finished the big move and brought home a cat, so that’s one relief. (I even figured out where to put the fancy printer so I could prep for the June events!)

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

Warning… there’s a lot. (That’s a good thing!)

* * *

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.

Betrayed (Deceived #2): I’ve posted the launch review! If you’re looking for a deep dive into my launch process for this book, that’s the post to read.

Next up, revising Deceived #3 (tentatively titled Exposed).

Other future steps: Input Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.

Dossiers (Deceived Spin-off): I continued this story a bit further, adding two more chapters before completion. This also included adding a Daz render and dossier for Agent Shepherd. I’ve also done one more revision pass, but I feel something else needs added before formatting and sending it out to beta-readers.

While I was originally thinking I’d make this exclusive for newsletter subscribers, I’m now leaning toward making it a free or 99cent “1.5” book available in the Deceived series.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): I’ve started sharing this with the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter! After several years of being relegated to the back burner, the prologue and first seven chapters have been fully revised, edited in ProWritingAid, and sent out to newsletter subscribers. Fortunately, the majority of this has been edited already, with the exception of one chapter that Isaac and I both somehow missed writing, so it mostly just needs light revisions.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to add the remaining outline to Scrivener, review that outline for missing plot points, and then write the rough draft.

Legends of Cirena Volume One Ebook Cover

The Legends of Cirena Volume One (Collection of books 1-6): Released! (Including on Google Play and Smashwords, which I hadn’t uploaded previously).

I did a small launch of paid promos (which I still need to analyze), as well as sent extra book details to the Wishing Blade universe newsletter for each included story.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (“Ro’nor (“The Restless Sands of Neel”) & Zynia (“The Dragons of the Mist”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel): While this was on hold during the early chaos months, my goal was to finish the missing scenes during July. Which happened!

I completed a round of revisions on the already-written scenes, added in the missing scenes, and input ProWritingAid’s Manuscript Analysis feedback, with a few notes left behind for future tweaks.

I’ve been letting it sit for a couple weeks before I begin the next stage of revisions. Then it’ll be ready for ProWritingAid edits, any final AutoCrit Analysis tweaks, and then it’s off to beta-readers!

Other Goals: Revisit the book cover concept. Create a blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): I’ve completed a full revision pass of the original six chapters, and drafted intermediary chapters for a secondary character (four complete, two to go, with one of those being outlined but not drafted). Those will still need polishing edits in ProWritingAid.

Additionally… while it’s not decided for certain, the secondary character’s perspective might allow me to start foreshadowing a much larger antagonist that appears later in the Wishing Blade world. (*Squee!*)

There’s a strong chance that this is going to be part of a new arc in the Legends of Cirena series (The Dark Forest of Aneth will conclude the previous arc while also laying the foundation for the new arc).

Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): This story concluded with seven chapters, so I have drafted, polished and sent two additional chapters to the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter since the last update.

I’ve set aside the current manuscript so I can fully review it later with a fresh set of eyes. This is another story which will likely be part of the next Legends of Cirena arc.

Goals: Figure out a title. Create book cover and blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

Untitled LoC Novella (Standalone – Twins in Ferta): I’ve outlined the next story to appear in the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter (5,400 words). I am really excited about the possibility for this one to connect with the larger Litkanston War arc, because I finally, finally get to introduce Lord Nomca. And it’s not even exactly a cameo, like I originally expected (he’s briefly referenced in the Wishing Blade series, but hadn’t yet made an appearance in any other stories). I’m currently working on chapter six, and the full draft (being revised/edited as each chapter goes out to the newsletter) is 13,300 words. I’m definitely expecting this to go into novella-length territory, if not that of a short novel. Six of the chapters have already been sent to the newsletter.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (A Legends f Cirena short story) : I made some progress to Joran’s short story! I’ve revised what was already there and made note of a couple spots that still need work. Additionally, I’ve started cross-referencing the final scene in The Wind Mage and the Wolf from Joran’s point of view.

This will go to newsletter subscribers first, but I may make it a “7.5” story in the Legends of Cirena arc.

Goals: Edit in ProWritingAid, read-aloud, proofread. Book cover and blurb.

Huntress 3: On hold. Next step is to finish re-reading Changeling to make notes on the series guide, finalize the cover (proof created), and create a detailed outline.

Horse Shifter Romantasy (Maybe???) : This one was a surprise to me, too. 🐎

Unrelated to any of my current story worlds, this one got a lot farther along than I ever expected it to. (Thank a co-worker talking about fanfiction and me happening to be processing a book with a horse on its cover at the time). But it’s been a nice “refresher” story that’s allowed me to go running into the weeds with world-building ideas without falling down a rabbit hole in the other worlds (which often happens during chaos months when I can’t put my full attention on any particular project).

It currently has a 5,500 word outline, with additional details on the side. I’ve been using AutoCrit’s analysis features to figure out where I’m missing crucial beats and what details could still use fleshing out, and let me tell you, I’m excited for the world, the magic system, and the characters (and I think the characters might even actually be following the romance beats they’re supposed to, though that’s an area I notably have trouble writing).

If this gets written, it’s going to be because I wanted the challenge of writing a romance-focused story with really strong worldbuilding elements that tie directly into the plot.

Other Stories: I wrote a flash fiction short that I posted to Substack. This one was based on a picture Isaac created:

I also did a revision pass for the YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian story, which does need a bit more work before I’m ready to release it. The next step is to review the AutoCrit analysis to see if there’s any feedback I want to input before the next stage.

I also discovered there’s a fantasy anthology I’m interested in submitting to, so I’ve been outlining possible short story ideas I might use for my submission. I’ve got two so far:

  • One involves a grumpy sorcerer who wants to be left alone, and a sorceress who’s stuck in the form of a bat-winged squirrel and steals his pears to drag him out of his garden. Definitely a short story.
  • The other is a “love-wins-in-the-end” story involving refugees fleeing from evil ice mages whose single-minded fear/hatred has narrowed their magic to one purpose, and the refugees find support within a protective community whose magic hasn’t become so narrowly focused. Pretty sure this one is itching to be a novella.

Game Design: Not a whole lot of new updates for Anchor, but Isaac did a bit more prototype work and we’ve acquired a few more test pieces for future prototype testing.

He also reviewed our Legends of Cirena game and made notes for a shorter version of the game, and we went over some possible changes for a future edition of Battle Decks (and I like these changes, because while it’s still a war game, a new morale mechanic puts more emphasis on keeping your characters alive rather than using secondary characters as canon fodder).

Testing AutoCrit: I did a two-week trial of AutoCrit, a writing software with an analytical feature I’ve been wanting to try for a while. Mostly I uploaded previously completed manuscripts into its Story Analyzer tool to see how it did at finding loose plot threads, with hopes that it might make writing later books easier if I can quickly review what’s happened previously. Seemed to be potential there, and I liked its Story Builder tool for being able to analyze missing plot beats, so I went ahead and subscribed for a month.

Afterward, I finally went in for a year on this, because I rather like its Story Builder feature for organizing my thoughts, and because I like being able to write a chapter and then analyze it for potential issues (though I’ll admit that its analysis features are a bit hit and miss).

Additionally, while first exploring the AutoCrit Story Builder analysis features (not so much the generation features), I started exploring what I’m temporarily calling the “Greedy Adventurer” story idea, which now has a very loose outline but may influence Litkanston history within the Wishing Blade universe.

That said, because the AutoCrit tools (and the ProWritingAid chapter critique tool I like) does use Generative AI, I crafted an AI use policy so others can easily see how I do and don’t use AI.

Long story short, I don’t use generative AI for images or creating/writing the actual story, but at this point in time I do use writing-specialized genAI tools for the purpose of analyzing what I’ve already written and occasionally trying to brainstorm through a block.

As a note… I have also been trying to see what other AI features might be useful in analysis, helping organize my thoughts when it comes to quickly finding what I’ve already written, or searching for comp titles of books that I might not have considered previously. The AI policy goes more into that.

Still no plans to use it for image generation, however.

Marketing: The last several months had far less focus on marketing than the previous month. Meanwhile, these are some of the recent projects:

  • Amazon Ads same as usual, the ones that were already running and one extra as a test.
  • I created a list of my books by publication and word count for my personal use. Eventually I want to create a simple web page guide.
  • I did some research on various book pricing strategies, and I might update book prices in the near future.
  • I scheduled Initiated for a BookFunnel promo that ran in May and July, and I scheduled promos for June and August with Stone and String. It’s all scheduled and ready to send. I’ve also started doing author book swaps again where we exchange books to highlight in our newsletters.
  • The newsletters have been going out on time with their respective stories, so yay for that! (Apparently having one story in progress, and one that only needs revisions on a chapter-by-chapter basis, is working really well for me). I also finally did a scrub to remove subscribers who haven’t opened any of the newsletters in over a year.
  • I updated the design for the Distant Horizon Universe book pages on the Infinitas Publishing website. Minor tweaks, but should ultimately look better once all the details are in place (Goal is to add sample pages, Goodreads/BookBub links, additional book info, etc).
  • I kept up with Infinitas Publishing accounting through May… woot! Now it needs updated again.
  • I created my first book-themed quiz, and created a new “Extras” page on the Infinitas Publishing website! Check out the “Which of our series should you start with?” quiz!
  • I finally finished setting up the Payhip/Stripe Store accounts and linked them to BookFunnel, and I even created pages for the first six Legends of Cirena ebooks! They can now be purchased directly from me.
  • I tinkered with the idea of audiobooks, and I recorded chapter one of The Wind Mage of Maijev and tested editing the recording using Audacity. Thus far, I think if I plan to proceed with the process, I’ll likely need to re-record that chapter for better enunciation on my part. No big plans for that at this point.
  • I’ve been trying to get back into writing and marketing research, both with reading articles and listening to more podcasts and webinars. I picked up the Newsletter Ninja’s “Launch to Your List” course and I’m working on revamping upcoming book launches.

Next up: Continue updating the design of individual Infinitas Publishing book pages. Continue adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel sales pages for each book, and then to the main Infinitas Publishing website. Add BookBub and Goodreads links to each landing page. Update my author bio across the different retailers. Continue adding books to the Stripe store for direct sales. Revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.

Substack – Sporadic posting at the moment, due to the chaos months, though I did get a couple more writing tip roundups posted. I also created a Tip Jar.

Weekly(ish) Writing Tip Round-Ups:

Crafting Your Fictional World:

A while back I’d started writing a non-fiction book focused on world-building, and while I haven’t made much more progress in that regards, I did post a couple of the chapters to Substack.

Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:

For a while now, I’ve been considering going back through my older newsletters and repurposing some of the behind-the-scenes content. I got the extra push to move forward with this plan upon learning that blog content is not only good for SEO (whee… the search engines can find you and point more readers your direction, yay!), but might also be good in the age of AI search engines, which seem to be interested in context when doing searches. And sense more search engines are moving to AI-powered searches… yeah. Now I get to have fun revisiting those older newsletters and updating them for the blog. (And this actually is fun for me. The content’s already there, and just needs revising, so it’s cool seeing what I did in the past for newsletters and what I might want to start doing again).

Events: June was busy with three events. Two we vended at, and the third was a writing workshop that we attended.

UP Rainbow Pride (Marquette) – June 14th

Lots of fun, and we tested a more condensed display with our SIFlint Art (the dragons) at the front to draw people in. To our surprise, the tote bags did really well (I need to order more of the yarn dragon now), and this definitely did better this year than last. We even had someone come looking for book two in a series. Yay!

The booth at UP Rainbow Pride

Writers of Warrensburg Workshop – June 22nd

We got a chance to reconnect with friends from Missouri in what was a combination trip to visit family, attend the writing workshop, and return to Michigan with our new cat, Baby Girl Neelix.

The workshop was a lot of fun, with three presentations and four great presenters, and a lot of helpful information. Plus, we got to participate in the author signing after.

An orange cat in a harness sits between car seats.

Hancock Pride Market – June 29th

Because we didn’t have a local artist alley for Pride month, one of our friends put together an awesome local pride market that ended up being lots of fun, one of my favorite setups we’ve tried (grids to the max, and condensed setup!) and I’m definitely hoping this happens again next year.

Stephanie and Isaac stand in front of their booth at the Hancock Pride Market.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Mostly on hold for the moment, though I did do a photoshoot of my new houseplants I acquired from plant-sitting. I have chosen the ones for editing and done basic edits, but I still need to finish the bigger edits and send them to their previous owner.

I might also have another formatting project coming soon.

Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information. Finish designing cute mascot for a local store. Finish editing photos for a local Aikido group.

SIFlint Art: I finally got to print my shiny (literally, it’s on metallic paper!) dragon display!

I even printed my own business cards this time around. Wasn’t perfect (not happy with the paper chipping at the edges) but I’m still pretty satisfied with them.

Plus… Isaac made a shiny new self-serve sticker display! It’s been really nice so far (though we need to hot glue the back string on so it’ll stop falling off).

Goals: Finish the line-art for a bag-hoarding dragon, do a fun commission for a friend, and order new merch for upcoming events.

Daz PA: Though on hold for most of the chaos month, I’ve now returned to working on projects! Everything been updated to make it easier to work again, and I’m really glad Isaac and I made a Standard Operating Procedure for making poses last year. That really helped to fast-track me back to work on these.

I’ve finished reviewing the poses of the Leadership set Isaac started, which are ready for thumbnails. There’s been a bit of a hang-up on this one, however, because I’m hoping to include props… and it’s been a little while since I’ve done any 3D modeling. I’ve started designing a podium to go with the poses, but I need to review how to use Substance Painter so that the model (which is complete) looks decent.

In the meantime, I’ve started a “Cursed Expedition” centaur set that I’ve started making thumbnails for. Next step is to finish the thumbnails and create promo art.

Goals: Find collaborator for Genesis 9 Diverse Worlds set and complete the Ankylosaurus Rider pose set Isaac started. Maybe complete snow and ice texture pack idea?

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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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