2026 has brought some new experiences so far

I knew going into 2026 that I was stepping into new territory with my writing projects. And it wasn’t just the work situation—and my decision a few months later to seriously start making writing a full-time gig. There were other things coming this year that were completely new to me. Some I had time to plan for. Others came out of the blue.

The Webstore

I went into 2026 determined to finally get a shop up on my website. I was using Ko-fi previously, and while that worked fine, I really wanted more control over my direct sales. Setting up the webstore wasn’t terribly difficult, but it entailed a lot more than simply clicking a couple buttons on the backend of my website.

The experience with the webstore included setting up an LLC (due to local regulations for sales tax), applying for a local sales tax license, determining which storefront plugin I wanted to use on my site (I opted for Woo Commerce after much research), setting up all the necessary pieces in the plugin (card processing, shipping costs, sales tax where relevant, and adding the products themselves.) It was a bit of work, to say the least.

But now, the webstore has been up and running since late January, and I’ve had a handful of sales so far. Currently, it’s mostly just signed copies of my books and direct-from-me ebooks (although you can purchase canvas prints of the maps from my two series, and Tagrin the dragon stickers as well.)

However…

I made a significant purchase at the end of July to help with merchandise in the form of a UV printer. I’ll be adding more to the webstore later this year (I’m guessing it will be October at the earliest.) There will be canvas tote bags with the same Tagrin artwork, and likely journals (with blank interiors), but I need to sit myself down and design the journal covers between now and then.

Just know that more will be arriving in my webstore soon, and hopefully in time for the holidays. You can check out my webstore here.

The Anthologies

Short stories have always been a bit of a struggle for me. I’ve written a number of them over the years, but the majority of those wound up in my files of things I’ll probably never publish. I find it hard to be happy with my short stories, but there are a select few I truly love. And two of them have now found a home in anthologies.

Both anthology projects began about three years ago, which tells you something about how long these can take to come together. And when I joined them, I didn’t already have a short story to fit the themes. It made me uneasy; I like to have a plan in mind when I step into a project, and not having a story at least partially prepared at the start was difficult. But I told myself I had plenty of time to come up with something (which I did), and that I’d inevitably have a story before the draft deadline came around.

I wrote Not All Books Are Worth Reading in May of 2024 as I was recovering from surgery. I was home and not terribly mobile for a few weeks, which gave me plenty of time to write. I’d planned to finish the final chapters of Rites of Departure during that time, but my mind hit a wall of writer’s block unlike anything I’d faced in years. Maybe it was the stress of the surgery and the recovery afterward, or maybe it something else that I couldn’t place, but I had to put Rites on hold.

And that’s when the idea for Not All Books Are Worth Reading came. I don’t usually break from one story project to work on another (I have a long history of abandoning manuscripts when I do that, so I’ve learned I need to avoid it if I can.) But in this particular instance, it was exactly what I needed. At the end of May 2024, I had a draft I was pretty happy with submitting to The Book of Spores anthology. (And immediately afterward, I was able to pick up where I left off on Rites and finish the last four chapters.)

Tiiv Kaadan has a far less interesting backstory. I had agreed to write a story for Together is a Distant Star, but it wasn’t until January of 2025 that I came up with an idea for it. I had just finished drafting book 7 in The Mage War Chronicles (title still TBD, sorry), when I finally knew what I’d write for the anthology. I wrote Tiiv Kaadan in two days and was in love with the end result.

Together is a Distant Star published in May 2026. The Book of Spores went through a Kickstarter in the fall of 2025, and the fulfillment should happen sometime in September this year. When I first signed on to both anthologies, I had no idea they’d both be publishing in some way within months of each other. But they were both great learning experiences, and they also helped boost my confidence in my own writing. The anthologies proved that I can write short stories, and readers do actually like them.

Whoa.

Voice Recording

This was one of those things that came at me from seemingly nowhere. Back in March, I was on P.L. Stuart’s YouTube channel to chat for an hour or so—we talked about The Caein Legacy quite a bit, along with other aspects of writing. The day after, another Canadian author, Jason Shannon, asked if I’d be interested in chatting with him on his podcast.

I didn’t know Jason at the time, but he knew P.L., so I agreed. We recorded the podcast episode in April (it went live in May and you can listen to it here), and as we were wrapping up, he asked if I’d be interested in a voice role in an audiobook he was working on for his upcoming novella, Taming the Laser Leopard. I was flattered, considering I don’t really care to listen to my own voice, so I said yes—provided that I didn’t have to fake an accent (I know my limits, and I am really bad at accents. Nobody wants to be subjected to that.)

I was even more excited when I got my portion of the script. I was voicing a character named Eleanor Ho, who was a spy (and something of a villain.) We recorded the audiobook in June, and last week there was a celebration/wrap party on Jason’s channel.

I honestly never thought I’d be asked to contribute to a project like this one, but it was so much fun! Taming the Laser Leopard will be available on November 30 in ebook format, but I don’t have any details about the audio portion yet. Updates should be posted on Jason’s website and instagram.

And speaking of Audiobooks…

I am currently in the early stages of getting an audiobook produced. I can’t share any other details yet, but something is coming. I met with Lantern Audio on August 3, and I feel really good about this project.

I should be able to share more very soon!

But the reason why I mentioned it in this post is that it is another new endeavor I’ve undertaken in 2026. I’m not recording the book myself (I do not have the voice for extended narration, particularly since most of my main characters are male), so I’m hiring someone to do that for me. Watch this space in the coming weeks for more details!