Like so many people, this year started off filled with struggles for me. (Let’s just say that seasonal mental health issues, plus insomnia, plus major construction involving jackhammers in our building are not conducive of any kind of productivity—writing or otherwise.)
But now it’s June somehow, because time is still a thing (even though it really doesn’t feel that way since 2020 happened). And despite all the challenges, I’ve actually gotten some writing done, especially since the weather has gotten better, and the jackhammers have been laid to rest. (Yay!)
I got back into the swing of things with a new Legend of Lasniniar—a fun misadventure story featuring Barlo and Iarion, called “The Wanderer,” which takes place after Harbingers (Book 8 in the Lasniniar series):
A hidden obstacle in the tall grass. Between the human zealots, demons, and other dark creatures roaming Lasniniar, Barlo never expected to get taken down by some stupid piece of wood.
But the dwarf and his elf friend Iarion always seem to attract trouble, turning even a simple camping trip into an unexpected adventure.
And the strange staff that tripped him becomes only the first of Barlo’s problems…
A stand-alone misadventure story from the World of Lasniniar epic fantasy series by Jacquelyn Smith.
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I’ve also been doing a lot of work on expanding the Fatal Empire series, which really got its hooks in. When I first came up with the idea for this series (waaay back in 2012 or something), I envisioned it as a set of four short novels. In 2013, I published the first one, Keeper of Secrets. The voice and tone are quite a bit different from my Lasniniar series, and a bit more of a challenge to write.
After putting out Keeper of Secrets, I promptly went back to writing Lasniniar, telling myself that writing the rest of the quartet was Future Jacqui’s problem—which I was confident she would get around to working on… eventually.
Late last year, I planned to finally work on the other three short novels in the set, all in a row.
…Only to find out things had changed.
I hadn’t written in that world for around eight years. My concept of the series storyline had shifted away from my original plan, into uncharted territory. Would it still end up as a set of four books? (I still don’t know.)
Not only that, but a couple of other stories from within that world started to become rather insistent about being written. (Some ideas, you need to let simmer for awhile. Others, you need to jump onto, before they slip through your fingers.) Writing shorter adventures within my existing series is how I explore my worlds and learn about my characters’ back stories.
So now I’m in the various stages of wrapping up four Fatal Empire projects—one core novella/short novel (the only project of the four that was actually planned, which might end up being a full-blown novel), two short story prequels, and a fun little bonus project.
At this point, I’m starting to wind down on that series so I can see how it develops on the back burner before moving on to the next core title. But with all the time I’ve spent in the Dharakmeni Empire recently, I doubt it will be anywhere near as long as the gap between Keeper of Secrets and the projects I’ve written over the past several months. Even though I need to take a break and work on something different for a bit, the ideas are still swirling…
