Age and Reality

“Over a period of twenty-two years “you’re bound” only to get older, barring nasty surprises. This notion of oneself as a kind of continuing career—something to work at, work on, “make an effort” for and subject to an hour a day of emotional Nautilus training, all in the interests not of attaining grace but of improving one’s “relationships”—is fairly recent in the world, at least in the world not inhabited entirely by adolescents.”

— Joan Didion, "Letter from ‘Manhattan’"

The 2025-2026 Reading and Review Challenge

I plan to read and editorially dissect 50 books in the next 12 months that all have to do with the current market of Fantasy and Romance, some with a lot of romance, some with a little. Many of these books are Romantasy, which means romance with fantasy trappings. This little project is because I want to read differently than I have previously. In our delightful world of books, we have so many kinds of books to choose from and enjoy. One similar project I enjoyed doing was reading nothing but women’s fiction for a couple of years. (outside my comfort books of course) Most of those books would be considered literature. It was a great experiment, and I read many authors I had never heard of, enjoying my deep dive in what women writers were doing.

One thing we do know—Publishing moves in cycles. If one looks at current bestseller lists, romance in one form or another is dominating the lists just as it did from 1970-2005 when it became absorbed by the YA market for 15-20 years. But romance is back again and probably will dominate the market for many years to come. Some of this is because Fantasy and Romance have moved into many other genres. It’s not just epic, grimdark which has dominated the Fantasy market for years and years. Think The Night Circus, The Once and Future Witches, Uprooted, Tress, The Book of Doors, even literature like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and then books like The Magicians and pastoral fantasies where the stakes are low and not about saving the world. Books that are about working men and women and not Kings and Queens. Think of women’s fiction with elements of magic realism. There are countless books. Also think of how historical fiction is strong now because that is related. Also, how we tell stories. It is true, that 21st century fiction is changing and while I love Dickens and Wilkie Collins, I also love weird and whimsical books like The Night Circus and Piranesi.

What I want to explore is how romance is cyclical and resonates with many readers right now, from teenagers to grandmothers. To see how the fantastical element is mainstream and it’s no longer just high stakes but also found families in a small town, conflicts in an academic setting, even inside a bookshop. And many times, some form of romance is there to help it out. Today, romance novels of all forms are stronger than ever. Just look at the term, Romantasy that I previously spoke of. Someone suggested that it was created to take Sarah J Maas out of the Fantasy genre so other fantasy novels could thrive in the Goodreads Reader Choice Awards. I don’t doubt it, but I think it might have been the surprise hit of Fourth Wing. It doesn’t matter though. Romance has spread into the mainstream. It’s in literature, fantasy, science fiction, and even horror. While it’s not been documented, a good way to examine this evolution is to look at Goodreads nominations and winner since 2009. To look at the votes and to look at bestseller lists across the board. Even the Locus lists are dominated by romantic fantasy, both Adult and YA. The jest of this is that Fantasy novels of any kind with a romance in it are doing better unless an author is well established in their field and even Nora Roberts is on the fantasy bandwagon.

People are buying the books. And markets are determined by readers. Booksellers are businesses. Yes, they love books. Yes, they buy books that people may never read. But in the end, it’s about readers. What readers care about. Readers move the industry.

I am not doing this to tell anyone what a good book or bad book is. That’s not me and I am a writer. My comments and so-called scores are about what the author wanted to do and what they did do. Maybe what I thought could have made it better, maybe my interest in how they did something beautiful. Or what they lost along the way. Writing a book is very hard work and seeing it published is an accomplishment. It’s highly competitive and a risky business. I am not here to tear down authors. I love authors. Writing fiction is such a crazy choice in life. You have to be an optimist to do it, you have to be a person who is tenacious, you have to be a dreamer.

— All this is to do something different. To think differently. To see differently. 

Work Updates

 

It's very easy to see the influence of The Goblin Market on Bee Fly Crow as it's a story of girls who face terrible temptations and must decide on how to live their lives. When I began the novel, playing with drafts and ideas, while coming up with a solid story, I did not realize the influence, because I had looked to other sources, and low and behold, after reading through the proposal last week, I saw old influences. Perhaps that is what I write about, girls and boys facing challenges. The theme itself is about power. The premise (what the story proves, like a thesis statement) is what love can do for one's life. There is a deep realism to it, psychologically. I have paid a lot of attention to the psychology.  Two things I want to address are: I began my new writing schedule and I changed to present tense for the entire book. It was divided. I do have some interesting structures in the narrative that I have planned with intent and care. Day 1 of the new schedule was a mess as I lost line 24 on my single page format, and I had to find it and reestablish it. Some of this was very silly but also due to the fact that I cut and paste a lot in the writing process. Why? Well, since I know the plot, I often write loose drafts out of order and later copy them in to revise and smooth out with the working draft. Somehow codes for lines and so forth were carried over. I did not realize, at first, that I had to highlight an entire chapter I was working on and then redo the paragraph format with no extra space. Three hours of time to discover something that would have taken a more computer savvy person thirty minutes. Oh, well. Today's work went well. I am changing past tense to present tense. Some places need complete rewrites. Some do not. I never thought in a million years that I would be writing present tense. If my team does not like it after the book is finished, I'll change it. I don't find it that complicated. But for now, I have made a decision. If one does not ever decide, the work suffers. 

Desire is the Opposite of Death

 

Time for the new writing schedule to be put in place. I've been thinking about immortals and mortals all day and what that really means in terms of my writing and my life. My ambitions. My desires. I have been thinking about possibilities and what I can do and cannot. And how to proceed.  The best way to go about my business of making art, of creating, of finishing my WIP and painting some wildflowers this coming winter. It's almost here, winter, the end of the year and the beginning of a new year. I can't go on as I have been going on. I have to take a new path. It is hard to make new habits, to change direction, to give up things in order to do the work I need to do. But I am sure to fail if I do not make these changes. And I wanted to write this here so I could come back and see the commitments myself, because I have to hold myself accountable. So here I go, making change. Nothing more to say.

Kitchen tree aka the kid;s tree

 We all have plenty of stars this year.

The ole Parlor 2024

 Finally finished decorating for Xmas. Here is my parlor. lol

A place to take tea.

 Christmas Season 2024. I am so very grateful for my life, those I love, and the journey I am on right now.