Jacque Stevens

Back when I was blocked with my writing (and secretly unsure if I wanted to continue writing), I was working on other personal goals. One of those goals was to develop a greater connection to my feminine energy. I won’t go into all the reasons that I decided to create that goal (because DRAMA!) but basically, I had become out of balance. I have a more analytical brain. Even in my writing, I loved editing more than drafting and love finding systems to make everything more stru

It’s summertime, so I’m celebrating by putting my Mermaid/Siren book/series on sale: These books are a bit darker, sticking a bit closer to the original Hans Christian Andersen version of the story (which I believe to be redemptive and extremely beautiful) and including Greco-Roman worldbuilding. Killer fish. Deadly crushes. And lots of time under the water. Check it out!

Here we go with the monthly updates! -Last month, I was putting Etta’s Story through my writing group in chunks, and I am happy to report that we finished that draft, and I was able to complete the 2nd draft on my writing retreat. Next step is to send the full manuscript through some online betas, but I’m just letting the draft sit and simmer for a moment before taking that step. -I also finished drafting another short story with Leda and Etta.

Last week, I reported on my first few “Artist Dates” from the Artist’s Way. They were all short outings that caught my interest artistically and were meant to feed my inner muse. These short “dates” were nice breaks and convenient excuses to do a few things that sounded fun to me. But there is no rule saying you couldn’t do a longer outing. In fact, it was encouraged. And for a long time, I had been dreaming of going on a writing retreat. But who would I go with? How would we

Khoury was first introduced to me on a podcast where she was called a Fantasy Worldbuilding Expert (very official). I like fantasy with good worldbuilding, and her Mystwick books were being pushed by Audible around the same time, so I decided to give her a try. Mystwick is an upper middle grade magical academy series along the lines of Harry Potter, and I loved it. I made my sister listen to it with their kids, and they all loved it too. I especially recommend the audio editi

I have been talking about my experience trying out the Morning Pages routine from the Artist’s Way, and now I want to talk about “Artist Dates.” These are weekly outings where you do something that catches your interest artistically and feeds your muse, unconnected to any work you might be doing more professionally. Some examples might be attending a class that interests you. Learning a new hobby. Working on a craft/artistic project just for “fun.” Exploring a garden/hiking..

You already know I have my first book/series on sale right now, so I thought I would talk about some of the “firsts” in my current Work in Progress. Ette’s Story runs parallel with some of the events in Swan Bride and is based on the more traditional stories of Swan Maidens and Selkies. So you should know how it starts: A woodcutter takes Etta’s cloak. These sections are still being edited, but I feel pretty good about the first few lines, so I thought I would share: WIP: E

These are some rapid-fire updates I just sent out to my Newsletter subscribers, but I wanted to quickly post it here as well: -The audio for Shoeless has been completed and is available on Audible. The paperback and kindle versions of Shoeless also has newer typography to brand it with Soulless (that also is available on Kindle). -I have finished drafting my WIP (Etta’s Story) and have sent it to my main writing group in larger chunks. I hope to finish a new draft and s

It’s my birthday month, so I’m celebrating by putting my first book/series on sale: Yes, this IS my first book. No, it wasn’t published first. I wrote it, then wrote it again, then wrote something else, wrote another thing, came back to it, split it in half, and THEN it was published as my third book. But it is still my first book. And it has elves. So yeah, you should definitely read it for my birthday. :P

Last week, I talked about how I have adapted a Morning Pages routine from the Artist’s Way into my daily and weekly schedule. This is something I have done for just over a month now, so I wanted to talk briefly about the benefits I have noticed (so far) and maybe I will check in again sometime when I have some long-term results. 1. Increased Creativity/Word count. After being stuck on the same two writing projects for a while, I started the Morning Pages to see if thi

Because I work night shifts still, my schedule is often varied and upside down. I cannot claim to have a consistent morning routine—or even say where my “morning” officially begins and ends most days. However, this is how I have chosen to approach Julie Cameron’s morning pages from the Artist’s Way, no matter what time I end up doing them: 1. Start and End with Prayer: I could probably do several posts on how and why I do this, but for now I’m going to pretend it’s self-

For those of you who have read the Swan Bride (and I hope a lot of you have) you might recognize the main character of my current work in progress as Leda’s half-sister: Etta Wood. She is a swan maiden with a black feather cloak who married a woodcutter several years before Leda’s story in the Swan Bride. Though Etta mostly serves as a foil, sounding board, and mentor to Leda in the Swan Bride, I have been interested in expanding the story of her romance as it follows the mor

It may go without saying that I have been away from social media and posting about my books for a while. Basically, for the last year since the Swan Bride came out. I still was writing, but for whatever reason, it just wasn’t as fun as it used to be. It was slow and honestly a bit discouraging, so I let myself get pulled away by other goals—making it even slower. I kept missing my usual word-count numbers and even had to cancel a preorder I posted last year, knowing that I wo

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