Turns out, this weekend marks the last wedding I’m working in October! Doesn’t mean October is going to be much less crazy with two business trips on tap starting on Monday. And I just finished my day job and then the rehearsal dinner for the aforementioned wedding – I’m tired. So, tonight and tomorrow will be necessarily short. Speaking of needing to finish a story…

I really don’t know what’s going on with my writer’s nook. This is the writing space I helped Jake insulate to keep me warm while writing yet still look out the back window into the garden in the summer or the back yard covered in snow in the winter. All while being cozy and productive.

And it’s been great – this is where I wrote the first two books of my trilogy – The Veilbound Saga. A Crown of Thorns and Moonlight was written in the dead of winter in a manic writing sprint. The second book, A Heart of Shadows and Fire, was written during the sweltering summer of 2023 – but between the insulation and a killer HVAC unit, my writing nook was my comfortable cocoon.

So, you can understand my confusion since I started A Throne of Stars and Sorrow, I’ve felt a distinct cold draft on the back of my neck. It’s been a beautifully lovely spring – warm, but not hot – so it’s not the outside weather. I made Jake check the ducting from the AC unit, and he wasn’t able to find anything. The only windows in the room are in front of me, so the draft isn’t coming from there.

The cold air on my neck has literally driven me to distraction, making frequent hot tea breaks absolutely necessary. As such, the writing has proceeded at a much slower pace than I’d like.

I was working on a pivotal chapter where Eryndis – who’s been loyal to the forgotten queen since book one – reveals his own god-touched agenda when the draft came in puffs, almost like breaths. I shivered, and started to turn when I felt a hand grip my shoulder. The draft turned into actual icy breaths as a fervent whisper came right next to my ear – “Will you please finish this chapter first–!”