August 2026 Update

Man, this year is just flying past, isn’t it?

This month has a couple events coming up, and there are some story updates to get to. Let’s dive in:

July Event Review:

I attended three events in July, including my first two county fairs. It made for a fourth straight month of running around which ended better than my best month last year.

The first event was Lincoln County Fair over Fourth of July weekend. This was a modified attendance compared to normal, as I was part of the fair’s author table in the Open Exhibits area. This was the first year of the fair hosting such a table (modeled on a similar setup at the State Fair), so I was something of a guinea pig. It was a good time. The author I shared the table with was a lot of fun to talk with on a lot of self-publishing choices. Lincoln County is updating thier fairgrounds, so I’ll be curious to see how next year looks.

A week after the fair, I took part in the HNB Street Market. Always nice to stay home for an event. Got to see a few familiar faces stopping by as well as a few vendor friends I haven’t seen since last year, and enjoyed catching up. Was one of those days that felt long but still ended up good at the end.

I then got my third-weekend-in-a-row achievement for the year by attending the Linn County Fair. Since it is my county’s fair, I had quite a few people wander over who I hadn’t seen in a while, from high school friends to open gym players and old co-workers. I always have fun with such surprises, but one highlight of the fair was actually a new face who had bought SWRR at the Yachats bookstore and when she recognized the cover came to say how much she enjoyed it.

This was once again an author table arrangement (run by the same coordinator as at Lincoln), and with Linn being more central to Oregon’s population there were also more authors. I do feel kinda bad for the others, because I was the only one who stayed after 6 and everyone seemed to come out of the woodwork after 6:15, but I enjoyed getting to talk with them and talk shop on writing endeavors. Overall, the fair ended up being one of my best event of the year thus far.

I hope these two fairs do the Open Exhibit author tables again next year. Made for a very entertaining month of tabling.

Upcoming Events in August:

I’m starting this month at another county fair! This time I’m out at the Crook County Fairgrounds in Prineville, OR, for my second four-day event ever. Could be interesting with the heat and the nearby fire, but we must play the hand we are dealt. That and I get to visit with family for half a week, so this will be fun no matter what happens at the . The fair starts in the evening of Wednesday, August 5th, and runs through Saturday the 8th. Currently this is the last trip I’ll make over the mountains this year (but that can always change, can’t it?), so if you want to catch me in person in Central Oregon this year, head over to the Crook County Fair and say hi!

The second event on the docket is a Barnes & Noble signing. This time I will be at the B&N in Salem and will have everyone except Forest Flight on the table. I enjoyed doing these events last year and am curious to see how Salem goes. They have me scheduled to appear on August 15th from 1pm-3pm. Looking forward to seeing everyone who hops in!

Now I shift down to September and… it is currently open. That’s strange. Then I look farther and see… I only have Back to Hogwarts in October confirmed on my calendar after August. There are a few pending applications, but the end of the year is looking to be much less hectic than last year.

That said, I’ve already surpassed my event sales from last year! And in half the events, too! It’s been a fun year of meeting people and trying out some of the larger fairs. Thank you to everyone who has visited me so far this year. I greatly appreciate it.

Writing Life:

East of the Sun, West of the Moon hit a snag, broke through, and hit another snag. What else be new with Ingrid’s tale? The opening is finally yielding to my repeated attempts at it and there’s a couple new character dynamics emerging that could be fun to weave into the existing plan.

The most recent snag is truly a new wrinkle that I only really became focused on in the last two weeks or so. My way of writing may play well on the page, specifically using italics to denote thoughts, but that does not translate to a verbal medium very well. If I want to have my work in audiobook form, I need to adjust how I arrange and format sentences with that awareness.

What caused this? Simple. Wraith is coming to audiobook! I sent back the pick-up sheet after church yesterday and the producer I met at Beaver State Comic Con will be getting a polished file to me in the next couple of days.

My working theory is to have the audiobook release in October to coincide with the spooky season. The impatient side of me is wanting to get it out ASAP, while the schemer is waiting on a specific condition to be met and will only be known when I see the final files. I will keep you all posted.

I’ve also made some strong headway into the second Hammer of Fate book while Ingrid fights me. Ward has proven to be much more certain as to how he wants to move forward, while Rodian hit me with a surprise I wasn’t expecting in his last stinger. My primary focus remains with ESWM, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Ward’s next book gets drafted first. Time will tell.

That’ll be it for this month. Until next time. Take care, and may God bless you in the days ahead.