I started this post in July of 2025, but clearly July has disappeared beneath my feet. July was the month of CAC replacement and readjustment. Which technically started in June.
2025 has been the year of home repair. We live in a house that was built at the turn of the 1900s (I almost said century, but that could easily apply to the 2000s, which would not be accurate).
I once dreamed of owning a home that wasn’t subject to landlords and their need to get rid of tenants to raise rents, among other things. And yes, a home doesn’t have landlords; it does require banks, and if you don’t pay your mortgage the end result is the same, but they can’t arbitrarily attempt to raise that mortgage fee during the term it’s in effect.
At the moment, we are installing a new furnace. Why, in the middle of summer heat, are we doing this? Because the delivery pipes for the gas are cracked; our furnace is at least 34 years old, and the manufacturer has gone out of business, so we can’t replace those pipes — or we would have.
And we’d kind of like to not run a furnace with cracked pipes when it gets cold. And also: with the various tariff wars constantly floating in the ether, we won’t be facing the added burden of an additional 25% — or maybe it’s 35% now — on units or parts that come from across the border.
This isn’t really writing commentary; it just feels like life has been home repairs and the resultant financial pinching that arises from them.
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I went on a writing retreat in May; it’s been a while since I’ve done that, but I’d been really struggling with the beginning of the tentatively titled The Winter Prince. It’s a West novel, the third in the Burning Crown series, which is the final arc in Essalieyan. And: I did finally find the right start of the book. Absent home repairs and everything else, I could hear the voice of the book. So I’ve been working on that.
The Wild Road is out in the wilds.
I have started the next CAST novel, because Cast in Blood is really the first half of a longer story. Blood has been through all of the revision/copy-edits/proofing and my part in that book is mostly done, which frees up the mental space to actually write new Sagara words. Actual CAST novels are perhaps the easiest for me to start. The Severn books took multiple attempts, and the Academia books, likewise. But CAST tone is set by Kaylin, and her voice is pretty clear to me as a writer.
I don’t have a cover for Cast in Blood yet — that’s the mostly done element — but the book isn’t due out until April of 2026 (I think that’s the date that’s on retailers). And as usual, when I do have a cover, I’ll share.
I hope everyone else’s homes or apartments are not being as high maintenance as ours, and that the heat is bearable.
Lesa 
Tracey 
br60103 
Marcia 
Susan Cook 
Joyce Ronquillo 
Dawn Etheridge 
Tanya 
Joanne Johnson 
Andrew Halliwell 
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I do love all your books. Do you have any idea when wilds will be on audible. I have most of the actual books in my library but when I work a lot I love listening to them because I can do that and work at the same time.
Thank you for creating such wonderful worlds for me to visit.