Hello, blog! It has been a minute, eh?
Honestly, I really don't know how to structure this blog in the right way. What I really want to talk about is writing, but there has been such a lack of it that I really have nothing to report. 
If you've been keeping up with my news, I had my last release at the tail end of September with the wrap up of "Rise of the Spell Thief," a foray into fantasy. And in October, I was happily jumping in to my next WIP when life got turned on its head. Covid cases began to rise here, which caused my children to be out of school and learning via remote learning for the remainder of 2020. So, for five days a week, my work got pushed to the back burner while I was coordinating 4 children's daily school schedules, trying to keep my house in order and my sanity intact. 
Well, that all came crashing down on me in December. I have battled depression before, but it always seemed to come with a massive trigger or life change. But this time, it snuck up on me. I didn't realize that I was in a bad place until I couldn't force myself out of bed. I hadn't written in weeks, hadn't enjoyed anything for longer than that, and just laid there, crying. I called my doctor, who was amazing and got me in immediately. I've restarted my depression medication and have slowly started coming out of the fog. Now that I've been on my medicine for a while, I look back and cannot fathom how I was functioning in such a dark place. And I am so thankful for my pcp, who really went above and beyond when taking care of me when I was at my lowest.
Well, it's 2021 now. My kids will be heading back to school tomorrow (much to my worry, since Covid wasn't cured with a new year on the calendar, but it is what it is) and life will be taking it a little easier on me. And I think I am finally, FINALLY in a good headspace to begin working again. I have been working here and there, writing on my WIP, brainstorming new stories, and even working on a pen name in a different genre as a way to inspire myself. Looking back, I am not happy with the writing that I did for "Escort Quest" when I was in the middle of the worst of the depression, so I think I will start by rewriting the whole thing. Not scraping my previous work, but doing a full rewrite to see if I can pull it together a bit better. 
2021 is the year that I take it easy on myself. Ever since 2017 when JH and I started writing the first book of Ruins of Rimnir, I have been pushing to publish faster and better each time. I feel like my storytelling has grown, but my pushing for quick releases was not always the smartest idea. I feel like I could have put out better, higher quality work with more time dedicated to each book. 
So, in 2021, I am hoping to get "Escort Quest" published in the middle of the year. Right now, I would love to aim for May/June for the release of our follow up book, but I am treating that goal as flexible. I want Austin's story to really shine, as JH is planning on tapping into his personal side as we write a character who struggles with ADHD, just as JH does. I want to do right by Austin and put out an amazing story, one that was crafted with love and time. No rushed releases here, not anymore. I am not playing that game.
In time, as 2021 progresses, I think I will be spending time working on our back list. Specifically, I want to do some edits on the Legends of Xavalon series. That trilogy is the one that suffered the most from our rapid release schedule of last year, and it could use a little TLC. My goal for the rest of 2021 is to pull that series, rework it to tighten the story, and rerelease with new covers and some new marketing. The story was so fun to write, and creating a game with 9 levels to conquer was a challenge that JH and I rose up to. I wish that more eyes had seen the stories, and my goal is to get it out there for more folks to see.
Other than that, 2021 is going to be a "go with the flow" year. I have other story ideas, ones that I would love to get on paper, but my mental and physical health comes first. My family comes first. And I never want to put myself in a bad place again just to keep writing. 
But I'm still going to keep writing. Always writing. I was born to tell stories. And I plan to always tell them.
2021 is going to be a good year.

It's 12/1/20202 and this year's NaNoWriMo is officially in my rear view mirror. It was a struggle to say the least, having to juggle home life, remote learning with four kids, and trying to write when not taking care of things here. But you know what? 
You know what??

Six years running, baby!!
​Honestly? This year was pretty freaking brutal. I had a bunch of really poor days with lower than normal input and it got pretty crushing at times. There were a few days in a row when I considered quitting, just to relieve myself of the stress. But I love writing. Writing is my best stress reliever. I love creating characters and building worlds and watching it all come to life. 
That being said, I am not sure that I am happy with the direction of "Escort Quest" at this time. I have the rough draft about 3/4 of the way done and while I feel like the words are good, I'm just not pleased with the in-game story so far. I'm going to keep on chugging with it, moving it forward, but this is a story that's going to require a lot of editing and revision.
And that's okay! Every good story needs a few rounds of edits and revisions. Getting the words in the doc right now is priority. 
So, all in all, I'm chalking NaNo up for a win. I barely made it through, but we're all barely making it through 2020 at this point. 
December, and 2021, are going to be amazing, though! I can feel it! 

It's the end of week three, and I wanted to take a quick moment to check in on my NaNoWriMo progress.
So... did I do any better?​

​Honestly, this week was a struggle. Between stresses in my home life (remote learning is definitely a beast that I was not prepared for) and a little bit of writer's block, it was difficult to get back up on two feet this week. And after my poor showing during week 2, I knew that I needed to push hard to get back on track.
However, I am very pleased with my progress! I really feel like I am on track to write my 50k words for this month, maybe even a few more than that! I've been doing NaNo for 6 years now, and I haven't lost one yet. This year won't be the first one I lose!
So far, my story feels really good! I love the path that Austin is weaving through the story. I've passed the halfway mark in my plotting

It's time for the week two round up for NaNoWriMo 2020!
How am I doing so far?

Well, it's been touch and go this year, to say the least. I've had some really great days and some days where my word count has definitely not been the greatest. But I'm still plugging along, making some steady progress toward the goal of 50k. I know that my daily word counts are not that great, but as long as I keep my nose to the grindstone, I will be able to hit 50k by the end of the month, and maybe even make it beyond that! 
And how is my story going? 
You know, I am really liking my "Escort Quest" project so far. Austin's journey through his game, all while working on his inability to commit to anything. The dynamic between him and his escort NPC, has actually been a lot of fun to write!
As we go into week 3, I'm going to attempt to make my word count a little more steady. The ups and downs are doing me no favors, and I am hoping that life around here will start to level out a bit and the writing time can come a little more frequently. 
Hope everyone is having a wonderful week 2! 
Onward and upward.

So, I've been chomping at the bit to get into NaNoWriMo.
How's my first week been going?

Pretty darn well, if I do say so myself! 
My work in progress (or WIP) is going really well so far! I am enjoying my main character, Austin, and it's been fun basing him on my own child who struggles with concentration, focus, and impulses. And seeing him grow as each page turns has been a wonderful thing to witness! 
I cannot wait for you all to get your claws on this book!
But so far, NaNo is gonna keep plugging along. I usually struggle in week two (this is my 6th year and I know my patterns!), so I am interested to see how that week ends up treating me. It looks like our little family will be home with me again, so that means that writing will, once again, take a back seat to homework, zoom meetings, coloring pages, and reading assignments. And that's okay! 
So, let's buckle up and get ready to take on Week 2!

It's here! It's finally here!
November is NaNoWriMo month! One of my favorite months of the year!
I really love the yearly challenge of writing 50k words in a month. I've been participating in NaNoWriMo since... 2015? Yep! That was the first year that I sat down and took on the feat of writing a novel in a month. Ever since then, I have been a fanatic about writing along with everyone else. I've never skipped a year.
And this year is no exception!
For 2020, I am going to be focusing on the "Escort Quest" project. And yes, I had been writing this project on Twitch (RIP my very short Twitch streaming career, but it's become impossible since the kids have been home), but I am going to start where I left off, writing every day until I reach my 50,000 goal. The words I wrote previously will NOT count toward NaNoWriMo, even though I'm roughly 10k words into the story. There is no cheating in NaNo!
Honestly, I am really enjoying the slowed-down writing pace of this project, especially versus the frantic pace I wrote at all summer with Rise of the Spell Thief. The fast pace was fun, but there were times when I felt overwhelmed. And with life grinding to a halt in our personal lives, it's nice not to feel the incessant need to be constantly writing with a deadline looming.
If you want to follow my NaNoWriMo progress, you can click here to check out my profile: https://nanowrimo.org/participants/authormills And if you're a fellow writer taking on the monthly challenge, feel free to add me to your friends list!
Come on, November! I am ready to get things rolling! 

It's been a while...
Happy October, everyone! It's been a bit since I posted last, and I wanted to chat with you all about upcoming projects and what JH and I are up to for the rest of 2020.
Like the rest of the world, we have been under stressors and been bogged down with worries for most of the year. From March until September, our family was with us full time, which meant we had a lot of fun, but there were also some pretty rough days in there, too. But we soldiered on and made the best of it. Writing was shuffled to the back burner for a bit, but we were pleased to finish with our projects for this year: Augmented Creatura, Legends of Xavalon, and Rise of the Spell Thief. JH and I are so proud that we have managed to complete three full series this year, with 6 novels published and 7 novellas published! It was a great ride and we are so pleased that you all came on it with us.

Well, the end of the very long summer! It's been quite a ride over here for JH and I as we have worked through the Rise of the Spell Thief series.
And we are so excited to share the ending of our biggest project yet with you all!
That's right! It's time for the last episode, the last novella of Rise of the Spell Thief.
Griff has been on one wild journey, one that has been painted with death, destruction, thievery, magic, love, and chaos. He's not the same serf that we met in episode one, even though he's still looking for a place where he belongs.
But now, he's playing one of the most dangerous games of his life. He's found himself at the side of a shadow witch, one who is hell bent on stealing power for herself and taking over the land of Skobia.
And his love's life is at stake.
In this final novella, Griff will risk everything to save both Ella and his countrymen. He takes on Valentina, the crazed leader of the Order of Dark, all to save his people.
Rise of the Spell Thief: Episode Seven is now available on Amazon and free to read with Kindle Unlimited!

And for October news...
JH and I are incredibly excited to spread the love of our books, and we are taking a leap with the Augmented Creatura series by sending it wide! The series featuring monsters, battles, and friendships will soon be found on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iBooks and more! The series will start going wide on October 12th, so keep an eye on this space for more information regarding that!

So, let's talk twitch schedule! 
After my test stream last week, I have been SO EXCITED to jump back into streaming my writing sessions on twitch! I already have two followers (omg really!) and I'm chomping at the bit to do another round! 
So, let's nail down a good schedule.
As of right now, I am going to aim to stream on Mondays and Fridays from 9am EST to 12pm EST. 
So, that's three hours of writing sprints twice a week. For the moment, I will be working on my current writing project (currently called "Escort Quest") and writing in 25 minute sprints with 5-10 minutes in between for rest. As of right now, I will not have a mic or a camera going because I am trying to keep my internet footprint as low as possible... unless my mic is just picking up those sweet, sweet ASMR typing vibes. I did that for a bit in my test stream last week and it was pretty nice to listen to! But even though I wont have normal coms going, I'll be typing away in the comment section for anyone who wants to chat. 
And I will only be writing "Escort Quest" while on stream! 
I guess your next question is: what is this new project?
Well, Escort Quest is a standalone novel concept that JH and I came up with a few months ago when quarantine and we were stuck doing some terrible escort quest in World of Warcraft. JH kind of sighed and said, "Let's just skip this" and my brain got to whirling. What if a video game story was centered around an Escort Quest? One of the terribly annoying ones that we have all done, but you eventually come to love your little escort person!
And now, we have this fully fledged story idea! 
It's going to be an interesting journey because I fully intend to make this book a standalone novel... unless it gets too long! But! But! I am so excited to get started on it! I am finishing up the last details and edits of Rise of the Spell Thief now, so once my Twitch schedule gets up and going, I should be able to jump right into the first draft of this tale!
So, my twitch announcement is this:
My first official Twitch stream will be on Monday, Sept. 21st! 
Yep! We are a little over a week away from it! 
Oh gosh, I am so excited! Let's get this story going!
And remember, you can find me on Twitch at this link! Just hit the link and follow me to get updates on my streams.
And starting September 21st, I will be streaming every Monday and Friday from 9am EST to 12pm EST! 
I cannot wait!

So, as I type this, I am working on learning how to stream to Twitch
Exciting, huh?
I've actually been thinking about branching out into streaming for years, which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me well. Years ago, I had a now-defunct YouTube page where I created soap and bath and body products to help promote my old Etsy shop. And I am a semi-active member of the Authortube/Creatortube community on YouTube now.
But even though I waffled back and forth on writing on YouTube, it was something that I didn't really want to get involved in. There is a lot of drama and craziness on YouTube, especially in the Authortube community. I like the people there and I enjoy their company and their work and their live streams, but it always seemed like there was no room for growth of new creators.
So, I started looking at the other streaming alternative that I use more.
And it dawned on me... TWITCH! 

 know, right? Twitch, the streaming service for gamers. Would I be able to carve something out on Twitch for me, surrounded by Fortnite and World of Warcraft gamers? Is there room for writers on there?
So, I started digging deeper and deeper, and I started learning about other writers who were having a wonderful time on there. I've started catching more of their streams, and I realized that this would be an almost-perfect place for me to be! I write GameLit anyway, so why not, right?
My plan, as it currently stands, is I want to start streaming on Twitch in September. I would like to get myself on some sort of schedule when it comes to writing on there, and it would be a way for me to write in sprints, and maybe even write with others, while keeping myself accountable.
So far, this one stream is all I have done. It's a test stream, something that I just want to try out and stretch my legs in. I am still learning more about StreamLab and how it will help me in the future, but this is a big learning curve for me. However, after a few more test streams, I think I will be streaming at least twice a week once we hit the middle of September! More info coming as I square things away!
But for now, you can check out other writing streamers on there! My current favorites are Pirateaba and CoffeeQuills. I really like both of these writers, and watching them stream had been a lot of fun! Make sure that you check them both out!
For now, I am still stretching my legs.
If you want to check out the test stream that I did on Twitch, follow this link and watch me writing in action! (And of course, I beg for forgiveness about my spelling and grammar! Everything gets fixed after a good brain dump!)
And later this month, check back on the blog for information about my upcoming streaming schedule and how it is all going to work!