The many worlds of Kit

The common thoughts around backup is to follow a 3-2-1 strategy for anything you deem important. That means 3 copies, across 2 different mediums, and at least 1 copy off site. How does this look for your novel? You have the copy that you back up locally, such as your Scrivener backup, where at least three versions should be kept. Backups should also be copied offsite, such as to the cloud ideally. You can choose an external hard drive or thumb drive, and that's an excellent way to do it as well, to have two different backups on site, one on your computer and one on external media, but then the third copy should be in the cloud.

I'll digress a bit and note that Scrivener, with its backup system built in, makes this very easy. With Word or other platforms that aren't as easy to backup, and I admit I haven't tried any of the newer ones. I love my Scrivener. So you might need a backup software that keeps daily or incremental copies of backups. For example, my offsite backup keeps up to a year of file history, so recently, when I thought I'd deleted an entire month of social media posts I'd planned (cue panic!), I could go to my backup, choose the copy of the file I backed up on May 29, download it, and see if I needed to recover anything. You want this type of system for your Word documents, for example, because if you accidentally deleted a paragraph a week ago, ideally you want to pull a file from before that to see if the paragraph is there.

How should you back up your website?

First of all, I want to ask can you backup and keep a local copy of your website files? If you cannot backup and download a copy of your website (and ideally move it to a new host without much fuss), then you are putting your author business at risk. Full stop. I don't care how easy it is or how all-on-one, or how good the vibes are. If you are on a proprietary platform for your website, well, to quote Whoopi, "you in danger, girl."

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, you should backup your website in much the same fashion. With Wordpress (self-hosted, such as through Epona Author Solutions), I recommend using a backup plugin like Updraft. They have a free version that's been a staple on all the website builds I use, though there are other plugins as well. (I also use Duplicator and enjoy it.).

Here's how the 3-2-1 system works for websites.

3 most recent backups kept. If I'm doing a major change, I'll backup first AND download that backup (labeling it with something to help me remember why I have it), just in case I need to restore it or install it on a development site to see what I did or recover something I took away.

2 different places that I back up. I back up in the website itself. Those backups are stored on the hosting server. But I also at least once a month, download a copy of the backup to my local machine to have it. For my hosting customers I do this automatically once a month. I would also suggest that customers download the automatically weekly backups if they wish to keep them more often. When you add Epona Vault onto your hosting package, I will automatically transfer each weekly backup to the cloud as well for additional protection. Need backups more often? Let's talk.

1 backup must be offsite. See above. At least one copy of the backups, which I do weekly, is kept offsite.

Sound like a lot to manage?

I won't start the next serial story for Muse Happens until August and so right now I'm doing double the monthly amount (about 6K) and I think, I should have the story finished in about five months. Which is, to be honest, a lot shorter a period of time than the book as been "in progress" in my Scrivener program. Trust me.

I have stories that have been in progress a lot longer than that, including the first story that really got me started in this world. And, that character (Mollie) has shown up both in the Akron Auxiliary series and in the serial that's currently available to the community and to Muse Happens members. Even if the characters' stories aren't finished, they are there, in the world, existing and doing things that often end up in books.

So as I'm writing this morning, I'm thinking about finishing up all those partial projects. I would guess there are probably close to a dozen. That's one of the joys of ADHD. Out of sight, out of mind isn't just a saying. It's actual, lived experience. Given the way that I write, I probably won't sit down and power through and entire project but rather work on it a few thousand words a month at a time. I need to be able to bounce between projects, to have enough spontaneity and newness to what I write to keep the novelty going.

https://youtu.be/UpWlDwwqJDE

Welcome to the June edition of our Epona Muse Publishing news. I'm excited to announce that our website overhaul is complete.

We have 3 new submission calls (two fiction, one nonfiction) and are announcing that we're now open for novella submissions.

Want to check out our existing anthologies? Horses Are Magic https://books2read.com/horsesaremagic Neurodivergent Voices Grief Vol. 1 https;//books2read.com/grief

There's been a lot of talk in horse circles lately about how to encourage younger individuals to pursue equestrian sport and how to keep people interested in the hobby. The cost of showing, of staying competitive certainly is a hot topic in those conversations, and it's also a topic on which I don't have much to add since I don't show. It certainly does sound expensive, and that lends the belief that only rich people can own horses.

The truth is there are a lot of middle income individuals who have horses too, especially if you're lucky enough to have a small acreage or have a friend or family member with land who wouldn't mind keeping your horse for you. And the truth is, it's the backyard horse keepers who keep this industry going. We're the ones at our local feed store purchasing feed, hay pellets, and fly spray. And we're the ones who shop online for those things that we can't get locally.

I feel like the backyard horse person has been lost in this conversation. With climate change and ongoing droughts affecting hay supplies, not to mention wildfires, and the price of fuel adding to the cost of well, everything, I think it's important to take some time out of this ongoing conversation about those who are on the Florida circuit or who board at full-service barns to think about the backyard horse keeper. We may not show at anything larger than maybe a regional show, if we're lucky to have one in our area. We also may not bring in the big bucks when we visit, but we do visit events, and we do spend money. And we deserve a seat at the conversation.

In fact, I would argue that it's the backyard horse person who provides homes for horses who cannot make it at the upper levels of their sport (Though there are also just as many backyard breeders who contribute to the overpopulation of horses as well.) We'll take in a pasture companion, adopt a horse that might not be able to be ridden five days a week, but who would make a lovely companion.

I would suppose that a large portion of my readers are those who either keep horses as a backyard horse person or who would like to. I mean sure, we'd all love those fancy stables of the rich and famous, with climate controlled arenas and viewing lounges, but mostly, at least for me, I'm thankful to be able to keep my horses close and see them every day. That's what I'm celebrating as a backyard horse person, and I hope you celebrate it too.

A lot of people use Linktree on social media so they have one page where they can link to their books, their other socials, and donation links. It's handy for creators and it's handy for those who want to support them. However, LinkTree recently announced that they are not just integrating with AI, but actively feeding everything that you put on your page into AI, and understandably a lot of authors and the creator community are not happy about this. (Article in Smart Company.) There's been a lot of talk about alternatives like Carrd(.co) and I understand why people are looking for other places to put their writing.

But have you ever thought that placing this one page link on your own website might be the better move. Not only would this help direct potential customers to a domain you own and are in control of the content, but also, it gives them an opportunity to click around and see what else it might like. Instead of using someone else's tool to promote your work, why not use your own?

I have started a page of my own and you can view it here. I admit, I usually send readers to book or series specific pages on my website, so I have some more work to do on my own personal link tree. Mine happens to be text heavy. But you can design it with buttons, sections, graphics, and more. The possibilities, especially within WordPress no matter which page builder you're using, are positively endless.

I don't have a linktr.ee page anymore, but there are several benefits to creating your own.

- You decide whether you're going to use AI tools or not. - You can customize it the way you want and keep it in the style and branding of your website - The domain name won't be linktr.ee/you which only promotes LinkTree, but instead will be your domain. It will help with name recognition. - You can track site analytics if you want to see visitor numbers and referrals - You won't have to subscribe to yet another service.

One of the greatest joys, and yes, greatest sources of "pain", for me is having a story unfold as it goes and realizing something that completely changes the world that I've built or will at the very least impact it greatly. I say pain with air quotes because honestly I love it when that happens, as it did here recently.

I don't want to give spoilers for The Search for Apollo's Chalice, which is a time travel novel that you can read chapter-by-chapter as part of my community. (You'll join, won't you? It's free.) However, something happens in that book that really changes the world. Like literally resets everything, and I've been thinking about all the ramifications of this ever since.

I was listening to a podcast that talked about a TTRPG that's coming out later this year featuring time travel and about how time travel can be difficult because one small change can have ripple effects that you can never imagine. The good thing is that there are no wrong answers here. After all, this is all imaginary and what your imagination thinks happens is completely and totally up to you. Someone might have different opinions of what those changes are, but they're not writing the story. You are.

Anthology: Magic is Plum Wild (estimated publication date January 2027)

This is a charity anthology, with all proceeds going to The Y’all Squad, an amazing 501c3 organization that helps support people before and after severe weather. (Also, if you’re in need of weather coverage, I highly recommend Ryan Hall Y’all’s page for those of us who fall into radar holes or aren’t well served by local weather networks.)

When a storm gets plum wild and damages a town The Y’all Squad is there to help. And this anthology celebrates the wild weather and weather geek authors by being chock full of fantasy stories featuring magic and weather, and it’s all…you guessed it…plum wild! We’re looking for magically caused tornadoes, floods that follow a weather working, and the magically driven weather that creates for great fantasy reading.

What we are looking for

Fantasy stories featuring weather and magic, or magical weather, or weather magic. Just make sure the two topics are tied together in a way that makes them vital to the story. We know weather can cause disasters and heartbreak, but please, we’re looking for stories that don’t end with the village being wiped off the map. It’s okay to rebuild. It’s okay for there to be damage, but let’s not write dark or grimdark stories featuring weather. And no excessive violence or gore. We want to keep this anthology suitable for the general fantasy audience.

What we’d like to avoid: No dark/grimdark stories and no excessive violence or gore. We want to celebrate the exhilaration of weather, the spirit of neighbors helping neighbors, and the rainbow that helps after you take the shelfie. (That’s a selfie in front a shelf cloud and only recommended for professional storm chasers, please.)

Length: 2000-10000 words.

Reprints? Original works preferred. Reprints may be considered if the story has been out of print for at least three years and has not been available elsewhere.

NO Generative AI WRITTEN or PROMPTED WORKS!

No simultaneous submissions and no multiple submissions. Authors, please only send one story.

Rights and usage

Epona Muse Publishing requests the exclusive rights to publish the story in print and ebook for six months after publication. Beyond that, the anthology will remain in print for a minimum of 2 years, and then the publisher reserves the right to retire the anthology. The story can be reprinted/republished after the first year of exclusivity. We will also ask for audio rights for the short story (nonexclusive). We will not ask for any other rights or the rights to any subsequent/related works. Any questions, please ask!

Payment: This is a charity anthology which means the authors will not receive royalty payments. All proceeds will go toward the Y'all squad.

Other requirements: It is suggested that authors share the anthology in their newsletter (if applicable) and on social media at least once a month. Remember a rising tide lifts all boats.

Authors will sign a publication agreement outlining the responsibilities of both publisher and author. Since no payment will be made, no W9/W8 (non-US authors) will be required.

Due dates and how to submit

Submissions are due by Saturday, October 31, 2026

To submit please use the form on our website and decisions will be made within 30 days of the submission period closing (so by November 30 at the latest).

Anticipated publication date is January 2027.

Anthology: Neurodivergent People & Animals (estimated publication date December 2026)

Autistic individuals (and other neurodivergent people) have strong relationships with animals. For many of us, our animals are often the only beings who accept us unconditionally, without making demands, or asking that we mask to adapt to a neurotypical society. This anthology celebrates our unique relationship with animals. Come laugh, smile, cry, and grieve with us as we experience the full range of our relationship with the animals in our lives.

What we are looking for

Nonfiction essays that talk about own voices/lived experience of being neurodivergent and our relationship with animals. While this anthology can cover any aspect of pet ownership, we ask that it not include distressing details of animal abuse or mistreatment. (It’s okay to say you rescued your pet from a bad situation, just not go into details about just how bad it was.)

What we’d like to avoid: We’re looking for an upbeat and informative anthology, so while death is a part of sharing our lives with animals that live far shorter lives than we do, we’re hoping for stories that are more celebratory than sad.

Length: 1000-8000 words.

Reprints? Original works preferred. Reprints may be considered if the story has been out of print for at least three years and has not been available elsewhere.

NO Generative AI WRITTEN or PROMPTED WORKS!

No simultaneous submissions and no multiple submissions. Authors, please only send one story.

Rights and usage

Epona Muse Publishing requests the exclusive rights to publish the story in print and ebook for one full year after publication. Beyond that, the anthology will remain in print for a minimum of 2 years, and then the publisher reserves the right to retire the anthology. The story can be reprinted/republished after the first year of exclusivity. We will also ask for audio rights for the short story (nonexclusive). We will not ask for any other rights or the rights to any subsequent/related works. Any questions, please ask!

Payment: Authors will receive royalties based upon their share of 70% of the royalties received from each sale. The remaining 30% remains with the publisher to cover costs associated with the anthology. Royalties are split equally among contributor and the publisher reserves the right to use PubShare to distribute royalties, which unfortunately does take an additional 10% (leaving 60% for the authors). If you have any strong feelings either way, please indicate so in the cover letter.

Other requirements: It is suggested that authors share the anthology in their newsletter (if applicable) and on social media at least once a month. Remember a rising tide lifts all boats.

Authors will sign a publication agreement outlining the responsibilities of both publisher and author. A W9/W8 (non-US authors) will be required for tax purposes.

Due dates and how to submit

Submissions are due by Wednesday, September 30, 2026

To submit please use the form on our website and decisions will be made within 30 days of the submission period closing (so by October 31 at the latest).

Anticipated publication date is December 2026.

Several years ago, I've lost track of time since that was a couple of computers ago, I wrote a short story that I really loved. Unfortunately it appeared to be the start of a longer project and the place where I'd submitted it passed, and the story has sat on a hard drive ever since. But recently I've been thinking about it. You see, the story features dinosaurs, or namely a large lizard that's based off bearded dragons, but I'd hoped to introduce more dinosaurs.

I'm not going to lie, as much as I love horses and unicorns, I love dinosaurs too. It's like six-year-old me who checked out the dinosaur books at our small town library gets to enjoy the love of dinosaurs. Not in a Jurrasic Park, have to wait the whole movie for the big T-Rex scene, but rather in a these are cool creatures and I'd like to explore more about them sort of way.

Like I said, the story sat on my hard drive...

Late last year I wrote a cozy fantasy short story about an ice mage and decided to have them become an Adept and immediately be sent to the desert. Luckily their favorite barista that they were crushing on is going with them, but still, that's going to be quite the change. And I realized that on this planet where there are large lizards, there is also a continent with a near perennial Arctic region and some hot deserts and somewhere in the middle there are going to be unicorns.

This is the joy of being an author. I get to do what I want. I'm an adult. (You can laugh. It's okay. I'm still an adult.)

Anthology: Gouda & Cozy (estimated publication date November 2027)

What’s cozier than a dish with warm, gooey cheese except maybe cozy fantasy where cheese is the center. Perhaps your gnome chef is trying to make the perfect grilled cheese. Or maybe your fearless hunter is searching caves for the last remnants of a well-aged cheddar. Whatever is happening in your world, it must be cozy and it must involve cheese, if you please.

What we are looking for

Cozy fantasy stories where cheese plays a major role. Whether the cheese is magical or made with the milk from heirloom goats, it should be the focal point of your story. You can’t just put a slice of cheese in your story and call it done.

Stories must be cozy or cozy adjacent that leave you with warm and well-fed feelings. The kind of book or world you’d want to go to again and again that’s the perfect antidote for real life.

What we’d like to avoid: Please nothing that isn’t cozy. That means no explicit violence, gore, animal abuse, dark or horror elements, and please no explicit sex/erotic content.

Length: 2000-10000 words.

Reprints? Original works preferred. Reprints may be considered if the story has been out of print for at least three years and has not been available elsewhere.

NO Generative AI WRITTEN or PROMPTED WORKS!

No simultaneous submissions and no multiple submissions. Authors, please only send one story.

Rights and usage

Epona Muse Publishing requests the exclusive rights to publish the story in print and ebook for one full year after publication. Beyond that, the anthology will remain in print for a minimum of 2 years, and then the publisher reserves the right to retire the anthology. The story can be reprinted/republished after the first year of exclusivity. We will also ask for audio rights for the short story (nonexclusive). We will not ask for any other rights or the rights to any subsequent/related works. Any questions, please ask!

Payment: Authors will receive royalties based upon their share of 70% of the royalties received from each sale. The remaining 30% remains with the publisher to cover costs associated with the anthology. Royalties are split equally among contributor and the publisher reserves the right to use PubShare to distribute royalties, which unfortunately does take an additional 10% (leaving 60% for the authors). If you have any strong feelings either way, please indicate so in the cover letter.

Other requirements: It is suggested that authors share the anthology in their newsletter (if applicable) and on social media at least once a month. Remember a rising tide lifts all boats.

Authors will sign a publication agreement outlining the responsibilities of both publisher and author. A W9/W8 (non-US authors) will be required for tax purposes.

Due dates and how to submit

Submissions are due by Sunday, August 30, 2026

To submit please use the form on our website and decisions will be made within 30 days of the submission period closing (so by Sept 30 at the latest).

Anticipated publication date is November 2026.

In my last blog I talked about how the mind-body divide, or in today's terms, the focus on work-life balance seems to have broken career balance. And as soon as I hit publish on that blog, I could hear the questions coming. If I'm not supposed to focus on having work/life balance, then on what am I supposed to focus?

The answer comes from yoga philosophy, namely the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna (in the guise of the charioteer) tells Arjuna, a warrior who is about to go to war against his relatives, about the concept of dharma.

What is Dharma?

Well, Dharma isn't just the name of a hippy-like lead in a late 1990s/early 2000s sitcom. Okay, I admit, that reference was probably a bit old for some of you. But in all seriousness, dharma is a foundational concept in many Asian religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. It translates into duty, cosmic order, or right way of living. Sounds deep and serious, doesn't it? And also, what does this have to do with being an author.

Let's examine a couple of quotes.

Considering your dharma, you should not waver. For a warrior, nothing is higher than a war against evil. - Lord Krishna

In this quote, Krishna is telling Arjuna that considering his dharma, in other words, the fact that he's a warrior, then there is no higher calling than to be in a righteous war. Or, to put it in simpler terms, there is no higher calling than to following your dharma (your duty or your purpose) and in doing so, you are living in the right way. This means if you're an author AND your calling is to tell stories (i.e. you're not doing it just for money or to sell your services or whatever, but that you truly need to write because it's something you keep coming back to), then your highest calling is to write stories.

Better is one's own dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well performed. Performing the duty prescribed by one's own nature, one incurs no sin. - Lord Krishna

If you are acting according to your own nature, even if you do so imperfectly, then you are on the right course. In other words, stop stressing about whether you're good enough or whether your work is perfect. If you're doing the best you can with what you know to write your stories, then you are doing your dharma.

There is the concept of balance. Writing 24/7 and neglecting everything else means you won't be able to write. There is a need to find a balance between caring for yourself, writing, and taking care of everything else. I've also found that when you focus on your dharma, which would include all your purposes or all your duties, and do them as well as you can, then the balance will begin to come easier. I'll talk about this in a future blog.

My young adult book, Gaits of Magic, released this week and it's the first book in the Divine Rein Academy series, which is a YA fantasy equestrian academy series. On one hand writing YA is different. The protagonists are in high school (I tend to write starting freshman year, which is on the younger side for YA) so the issues are different. There's a lot more homework and a lot more interpersonal drama. But I got to thinking, is the horse part of writing YA different from writing adult?

Well, probably the first thing that comes to mind is that they ride a lot more in the YA books. These books are set at an equestrian academy, which means a lot of saddle time. But also, life just doesn't get in the way as much when the main character is a teenager. *smiles* Of course, in my Heart Compass Stable series I deliberately made the main character a non-rider at the moment because of her horse's needs. I wanted to showcase an equestrian who doesn't ride or drive just to show that we exist, but also I feel like we're left out of a lot of equestrian fiction because everyone wants to read about riding and jumping and showing.

The horses themselves, I don't think are a lot different. They're loved, beloved companions, and cared for well. Sure some may live outdoors in a pasture 24/7 having access to shelter in inclimate weather, while others live in a stall with adequate turn out, but as a general rule the horses are loved, cared for well, and live a pretty good horse-y life.

The horse's ability, breed, and equestrian discipline all vary depending on the story.

I still struggle to think about my work as cozy fantasy, and yet, based on this blog post on Book Riot. It gives the definition of cozy fantasy as: a subgenre of fantasy that prioritizes comforting, low-stakes narratives, character relationships, and community over epic battles or world-ending stakes. Acting as a literary equivalent to a warm hug, it often features slice-of-life adventures, gentle magic, and happy endings in enchanting settings. By this definition then, a lot of what I write is cozy fantasy including my young adult work. I'd say some of my more general fantasy is cozy-adjacent just because there are bigger world-shaking issues happening, but they're handled with a cozy touch.

I've been thinking about this because recently I've been reading some cozy stories that feature very real, very un-cozy problems, and I've discovered that I don't like it. Now it's entirely possible these problems are hitting too close to home and are a possible trigger of mine, or maybe it's my autistic sense of justice being activated, but there are some real world problems like threats of losing land or homes or not being able to find adequate food, that just feel wrong to me in a cozy novel. Like there is a jarring clash between the safe, comforting world that's been built and our very not cozy real world that's built on capitalism.

Now I have to be honest. A time honored trope in many of those young adult equestrian stories I have read, and still do read, are that the farm is about to go under and someone enters a horse race or a competition and wins all the money to save the farm. It's a happy ending and there's a lot of narrative tension there. So it's clearly been done many times before. But does it feel cozy? If your choices are everyone lives happily ever after or continue to teeter on the edge of ruin, well it makes me wonder if the people writing the stories have truly experienced hunger or worrying about where their next meal will come from.

Look, fantasy, and even the cozy fantasy subgenre is huge. There's vast terrain to be covered and what one person considers cozy another person might not. So it is not my intention to yuck on anyone's yum, more to explain my thoughts on cozy fantasy and what is feeling good to me right now in the reading space.

The common way we think about work-life or life-career balance is that there is a time for "life" and a time for your career. And like that odd mixture of cranberry sauce and gravy at an (American) Thanksgiving plate, the two really shouldn't meet. The problem is that "life" is pretty much a 24/7 proposition. If you're not living, then you're dead, and while work may make many of us feel dead inside, we're still alive while we're doing it.

That reminds me of the mind-body divide too. That some guy who said "I think therefore I am", then saw fit to separate the mind from the body, as if your brain doesn't have to be in YOUR body for YOU to think. If my brain were lying on the ground somewhere separated from my body and not in a jar as in Futurama, well, let's be honest, I wouldn't be thinking at all because none of the supporting systems (circulatory, respiratory, etc.) would be attached to my brain to keep it working. It'd be a blob of gray matter that some creature would probably come along and find it a tasty meal, but it wouldn't be thinking even before that happened.

If we think if our life and career in the same way we think about our mind and body, then we're going to make the same mistakes.

Yoga philosophy doesn't separate the mind and body the way we do in the west. And in fact, there's a book I've been wanting to read (Descartes Error) that proposes that "I think therefore I am" should be "I feel therefore I am". Which falls more in line with yoga philosophy and my own as well. I mean I love thinking, love learning new things, but it's the undefinable spark of inspiration that drives me, and that's often driven by feelings, whether it's passion for a project or for helping people, or just a simple desire to put some good comfort cozy into the world.

Hindu philosophy, which made its way into yoga philosophy's beginnings, speak of Prakriti (nature, matter, the formed Universe) and Purusha (pure consciousness that animates matter). To put it into simpler terms, there is the body, and your mind, being formed of matter (it's in the name--gray matter) is a part of your body, and then there is that spark, that pure consciousness which would be your spirit, your inspiration, your muse. It's the driving force. And while we're still talking about them as separate things, without matter, without prakriti, the purusha (consciousness) would be very limited in what it can do, and without that consciousness, we would be like the living dead.

Just as the separation between mind and body is false, the separation between life (everything you do outside of work) and career (your job) is false.

We all know our work affects everything outside of it. Burnout, depression, anxiety, and bosses without boundaries are real. Trying to find that balance, especially as an entrepreneur or author, is difficult. And while I am not telling you to forget that balance entirely that it's our jobs to work all the time because that's what capitalism wants us to do and is (an extraction process), I'm also not telling you NOT to work because let's be honest, we all like to have food in our stomachs and our bills paid.

I'm inviting you to think about these differently.

Is your work as an author or as a "day job" actually feeding your spirit? It is supporting the other areas of your life? We know that you cannot wall off your author time and your family time. If you're like me then watching television or eating dinner with your partner might mean that you're thinking of story ideas or a random idea or thing to do to help promote your writing might pop into your mind.

Is all the other time in the day supporting your work as an author? Do the people around you take your writing seriously? If not, how are you addressing that? Do they give you time to work when you need it? Do they believe their job is more important than yours?

I follow a lot of self-proclaimed author gurus and I'm noticing that a lot of them are pivoting away from faster writing and shorter times between releases and more toward trying to sell authors on creating a sustainable career and finding the elusive author life balance. After tell us to burn ourselves out in pursuit of the algorithm and in satisfying readers' demands to binge our books, they're now trying to tell us to go in the opposite direction. There's just one problem with what they are teaching us.

It's wrong in one single, fundamental way.

I'm not saying we shouldn't look for sustainability in our writing careers or in working with our brains. I'm all about that! But what I'm saying is that the way they're teaching it is wrong.

Because they're trying to teach you from the same tactics and the same methods that they used when they taught you to burn yourself out by churning out books.

What they're teaching is that there's one thing, one magic switch, one magic trick or system, that once you find it, all your answers will be clear forever and ever.

If we want to look at having a sustainable career and avoid burnout, that's not the right answer nor is it one that's going to lead us to the author nirvana that so many of us are seeking.

The most common error isn't the search for balance, not at all. The most common error is thinking that balance or a sustainable career is finding one single thing at one single point in time.

That if you do this thing once, then you'll have balance and sustainability and you'll be golden.

I'm afraid the path to avoiding burnout, the path to that sustainable author career isn't like that. Author life balance comes not from one decision, but from countless small decisions each and every day. It isn't a snapshot in time, but a tightrope walk that we take each and every day, back and forth across the wire. Something changes and the plates we're jugging shift, then we have to shift with it, otherwise we're just going to topple off the wire and pray there's a net below.

The trick, if you can even call it that, is being flexible enough that you can shift with the changes in this industry and in tune enough with your creative nervous system so you can manage the stress and difficulties those changes bring.

It's an ongoing process. It never ends, my friends. And yet, it's just as important a part of being an author as putting words down on a screen or piece of paper is. In fact, I'd argue, it's even more important because if you burn yourself out, it's going to make putting those words down a hundred times more difficult.

I'm busy putting the finishing touches on Gaits of Magic which releases on 5/21 on all sites, though you can pre-order direct from me and receive it on 5/10. In the meantime, enjoy this excerpt. 

The pendant around my neck chimed. Several screens which had been scrolling the menus and an event calendar between welcome message and faculty introductions suddenly switched to a large hall that must be in the administration building. I recognized some of the teachers, including Instructor Barlowe, the barn manager and riding instructor sitting at tables. The camera panned the room, then settled on Sophi Winterwings, the Academy’s Director. She was tall, elegant in crisp black slacks with low boots, and a white blouse. Her black jacket had the Divine Rein logo on it.

“Hello students,” she said. “Welcome to Divine Rein. I’m Sophi Winterwings, your Director, and we’ll do some introductions here shortly, but I wanted to take this opportunity to go over a few things. We’ll be recording this and it will be on your student portal so you can watch it again, or for our students who aren’t with us at the moment, you can watch it when you do arrive.”

“She’s an elf,” Kelawyn whispered, as if I hadn’t already figured that out.

I listened to the announcements while I finished my dinner. The director talked about the coolers kept stocked with beverages along with minor snacks and grab-and-go meals as well as the beverage dispensers on each floor for after hours. She didn’t mention the magical hall monitors, though I suspected it had something to do with our pendants and maybe other, magical means. The brief remarks concluded and some introductions were given, including Marl Barlowe, the riding instructor. Then, the presentation ended.

A smattering of applause filled the cafeteria before the din of conversation began again. “See you around?” I pushed back my chair and started to stand.

“Yeah. We’ll figure out class schedules or something. Nice meeting you,” Kelawyn replied. She stared at her empty tray. “I guess I better get going.”

“Yeah, me too.” I took my tray to the alcove along the wall where I disposed of my trash, then sent the dishes back to be washed. It was only when I was walking back to my room that I realized I’d forgotten to ask about her horse.

When I entered my room, it was still empty. My roommate hadn’t arrived yet. I wondered where she might be coming from and how many students hadn’t been able to get here before the announcements, which seemed rather like the official opening to the school year. It wasn’t my problem, so I took a moment to stand by the window garden and meditate with the plants, before sitting on my rainbow cushion next to the potted acorn still sitting in its gallon pot on the floor. There was a table packed in one of the boxes; I hadn’t unpacked it yet to put the acorn in its place. I’d decided it could go next to my desk, between the desk and the bed so it would be protected from getting knocked over. I sat, my hands on my thighs, and focused my thoughts on the acorn. Instantly a warm sensation, like being wrapped in the big, thick quilt I used in the winter, surrounded me, and I swore I smelled the arnica cream my mother used on her joints.

I checked the clock. They wouldn’t be home yet, but I sent love and let them know I was unpacking and my roommate hadn’t arrived yet. The mother tree would hold the message until they returned.

Engrossed in my meditation, I didn’t hear the door open behind me.

“Oh. You’re on the floor,” a voice said, startling me from my meditation.

I turned to see who I presumed was my roommate, pulling a glittering black suitcase in one hand, and a cart stacked with blue and black plastic crates with the other.

I gently closed the connection with the acorn, then stood, picking up the cushion and realizing that where my side of the room was awash in greens and blues, she wore black from head to toe. There was an energy to her, a rawness that I couldn’t quite place. She wasn’t elven, and I didn’t think she was a shifter.

“Sorry, I was meditating,” I said. “Can I help you with anything? I’m Lizzi.”

Happy May Day! Happy Beltane!

The Epona Muse Publishing show is back! This month I'm letting you know about the new fantasy anthology we just published, Horses Are Magic, in honor of the Year of the Horse. Grab a copy in print and ebook from your favorite vendor:

https://books2read.com/horsesaremagic

You can also still pick up our original anthology, Neurodivergent Grief Volume 1 at https://books2read.com/grief

We also have this news show as a podcast. You can get a link to your favorite service here: https://shows.musecharmer.network/@EM…

We hope to have our website revamp done by next month and with it will come a lot of new submission calls. I'm very excited for this new era of Epona Muse Publishing and hope you are too.