We went and played in a castle yesterday.

Well, nearly, anyway. It was our anniversary and my wife's birthday, so we decided to head to Newark Castle, where we got married, and revisit the special space. We weren't counting on the scaffolding around the main area, nor the fencing surrounding the council that said it was closed for renovations...

Still. We walked along the canal, took lots of pretty pictures of the castle from the canalside, had a drink where we had our reception, and explored the town itself, along with the beautiful church that sheltered us from the thunderstorm.

Aside from the lovely memories, there's a great element to visiting castles for me right now. I'm writing a dragonrider story, something I've wanted to do for a long time that comes from my fantasy roots as a Dragonriders of Pern reader. Castles are built for this kind of story and I find the floodgates open, my creativity swirling in my head in ways I haven't felt in a while.

Oh...and did I mention I won an award?

Despite it making me feel weird, I have to tell you. Ship of Dreams, my last novel, won a GCLS award a week or so ago. And I have to admit, it feels really, really good. I worked my butt off on that book and it's one I'm really proud of. It hasn't had the reader response I hoped for, so getting an award for it feels pretty damn validating, if you don't mind me saying so. If you haven't read it yet, it's on sale for less than a cup of black coffee until Sunday. Grab it now and enjoy an award-winning sapphic pirate adventure.

Have you signed up for the revolution yet?

Queer the Shelves Infinite is happening. Are you part of it?

The kickstarter is in review and we've got lots of readers and authors signed up. Of course, we need more than this is where you come in.

If you're a reader (and I assume you are because you've signed up for my newsletter) we need you to pop over to QtSI and sign up for more info. Get on the list, find out what's going on, what we're building for the community, and how you can get involved. And if you're lucky enough to have friends who read, tell them to do it too!

WE NEED YOU. This is a community effort and with your help it's going to be awesome.

Where can you hang out with us?

We're really excited to be doing Newquay Pride at the end of the month! We've never been there before and we can't wait to meet lots of new readers! If you're down in Cornwall, come see us!

We'll also be at Derby Pride in September, which is coming up faster than we're ready for! Again, we haven't been there before and we're looking forward to a totally new experience.

Other sapphic author news

We're part of SANG, a group of authors supporting each other, and we're pulling together a very cool anthology at the end of the month! Helena and I are co-writing a brand new wifey romance story, so keep an eye out for that at the end of the year!

Looking for a new book? Check out these!

Thanks for sticking with me. I'm looking forward to a full year of stories, travels, coaching, and adventures.
Also, I'd love to hear from you. So much of writing is solitary, and hearing from readers reminds me that I'm not alone at my keyboard.