I finished the first draft of book 6 of the Tales of Rydding Village series this week, and now I’m in recovery mode, when I catch up on the things that weren’t getting done while I was lost in the book. Today was an errand day. It was nice to get out of the house without having to worry about getting home and getting back to writing.

I’m planning to take it semi-easy for the rest of the year — as in, no more deadlines. I’ve drafted three books this year and my brain is tired. Since fall is my favorite time of year, I schedule October as a light month, giving me plenty of time to get out and enjoy fall. I’ll be working on revising one of the books I wrote this year, but a lot of that will be brainstorming. Then I need to revise the book I just wrote. I also want to catch up on admin work and do some promo, as well as getting my fall cleaning done to be ready for the holidays and all the fall work in the yard. That doesn’t really sound like taking it semi-easy, but I’m giving myself fewer quotas and deadlines.

Then I need to think about what I want to work on next year. I have a good idea for the next Rydding Village book and I’ve been playing around with some other ideas I want to develop. I’m hoping to send the book I’m about to revisit to my agent, so a lot of next year’s agenda will depend on how that goes.

For now, though, the leaves are starting to turn, the nights are cool, and we’re having a last burst of warm weather this week before fall really hits next week. I’m going to be taking lots of long walks, doing a lot of baking, and generally reveling in the season. I’ve stocked up on baking supplies, apple cider, and soup ingredients, and the fuzzy socks have come out of storage.

To help with prep for the cozy season, the Cozy the Day Away sale is back. This weekend, Saturday and Sunday the 3rd and 4th, there’s a whole slate of cozy (and cozy-adjacent) fantasy on sale. You can find the sale here (but the link won’t go live until the sale starts).

I’ve put Tea and Empathy on sale. If you haven’t tried this series yet, here’s your chance. Or tell others who might like it. They can try it for less than a dollar. To make it a little more fun, here’s some incentive: A couple of weeks ago, I went to an 80s dance party, and I wore a dress that I actually wore in the 80s when I was in high school. If Tea and Empathy makes it to the top 100 in Amazon’s cozy fantasy category during this sale, I’ll post a picture of current me wearing my high school dress. So tell your friends to buy the book if you want to see me being a dork.