- It’s only March, so I’ll just have to pretend I can see the flowers
Over in Canada, we still have a few more months of winter ahead, but this month’s newsletter has lots of flowery goodness!
I have a new short story that released last month! I’d love it if you would give it a read. You can access it for free (pdf and epub) here!
What Lives Within a Rose
As the sole proprietor of the Garden, Ashe uses her magic to store memories within enchanted flowers, ensuring they will never fade. One day, she receives a visit from Burg, a wizard who has accompanied his prince on a voyage to secure a royal match. When asked to steal a memory to prove the prince’s intent, Ashe finds herself warring between her duty to her queen and the feelings she’s developing for the foreign wizard.
Fun facts about this story!
- It was written after re-reading This is How You Lose the Time War for a book club last summer. I don’t actually have super strong opinions about that book as a whole (it is fine), buuuut, in it, the characters put letters they are sending to one another into such weird little things, which inspired the “storing memories inside flowers” part of the magic system.
- Also inspired by This is How You Lose the Time War, I decided I was going to lean into the flowery prose (if you’re not going to be melodramatic in romance, when are you going to be melodramatic?)
- This story is like the backstory of two characters who exist in this other novel that I have yet to write, because I finished a first draft of it years ago and was like, “wow, I tried to shove like three books into one,” and I have yet to go back and untangle it. But I love them and it was great to finally get them on the page.
Some recommended listening to go along with it:
My books will be available as part of a promotion on Smashwords to celebrate Read an Ebook Week! This is a chance to get books from many other great authors at a discount so you can get right to reading.
You will find the promo here starting on March 1.
March marks the start of when I am going to buckle down and finally get to writing Of Mist and Magic #3. I decided to stop plotting and start writing because I felt like I was just spinning and going nowhere. Will this be a terrible idea? Who knows. I am giving myself the (hopefully) achievable goal of one chapter a week, so that I feel good when I succeed instead of stressed. This will hopefully either a) let me get a bit ahead or b) still leave me with some time for messing around with short stories if I want to. And if it’s of a similar length to A Damsel and a Demon, I’ll have a finished draft in five-ish months or so.
I have the prologue and Chapter 1 done! Follow along on Instagram for more progress updates and some fun snippets as I go.
This month I had a MOMENT when Yaelokre dropped Hearken. In that I just listened to it really loudly on headphones on repeat for a while and legit cried the first time I heard it because it was so beautiful.
I realize that is probably not a normal reaction to have to a song, but that is neither here nor there. As someone in Youtube comments very aptly put it, it sounds like the kind of song you would hear in the credits of some movie as this big resolution. And it just oozes the vibes of a story that I have percolating in my brain, so it was a very emotional experience! I look forward to listening to it obsessively in the future.
This month Millie thinks everything is suspicious. Veeeeryyy suspicious.
Have a great month!
- New Year, New Writing Space!
Sometimes, we make poor choices when painting a room. Sometimes, it takes us two years to fix these choices.
So, in what I think is really cool news, back in December I had dropped my books off at a new bookstore in my city that was accepting local authors. There’ve been a few articles written about them, and the store owner namedropped my books as ones that she’s carrying that she really liked! Which was very unexpected, but so cool to see!
A journalist even reached out to me and I got interviewed for this one!
Anyway, the store owner is super sweet, and she’s trying really hard to make the store a positive space in the community, which is great to see. Reasons why indie bookstores are the best!
I have been…utterly failing at plotting the third Of Mist and Magic book. Mostly because I have become very sidetracked with short stories. I have one that I am working on that I would like to submit at the end of the month, but after that, I would like to focus and actually make some headway on this outline. I am dog-sitting for my neighbours for a few weeks, and I generally spend a fair amount of time there when I do so that the dogs are not lonely. One of them REALLY likes to climb all over me, but a notebook and pen are easy things to bring along and try to use despite her mission to invade my personal space, so hopefully this should all work out well.
Picture time!
As mentioned earlier, I previously made…questionable decisions about paint colours. I wanted the room I wrote in to have a chill, forest-y vibe. I proceeded to pick like a child-funhouse level shade of green. This is what it looked like before.
Cheery? Sure. Chill? Absolutely not.
It took me two years of trying to convince myself it was okay, because I really, really did not want to move everything out of the room to repaint it. But I was finally like, “I should really just do this,” and booked some time off work so I had almost a week to get it done. And the results…
It’s much, much better. I now have chill writing vibes while working and it is glorious.
Millie was VERY sleepy after meeting my friend’s new dog. My girl adores people, but is more hesitant with other dogs. However, my friends were adopting this dog and they wanted to make sure she was okay with other dogs before finalizing things, because they eventually want to get a second dog. So, they asked if we could bring Millie over. We did, and Millie was very good. She did a little lip curl a few times when she got a little overwhelmed but overall she was nice to the dog, even if the other dog clearly wanted to play with her more than she did. But the other dog was very nice with Millie, so my friends were like, “yep, we’re getting her!” So my girl helped another doggie get a forever home, and I am very proud of her.
Dogs are the best.
- Happy New Year!
Wishing everyone good vibes to kick off 2026!
A few months ago, I got a story accepted by Heartlines Spec! This publication is centred around long-term relationships: platonic, romantic, or familial. My piece, Of Flowers and Snails, focuses on Alyssia, a human girl, and Rowan, the fairy who has been visiting her since she was a child, as they work to save a grove that protects the humans from the dangerous magic waiting beyond. You can read it here!
I really enjoyed writing it, as it was an idea that I’d had kicking around in my head for years, and was pleasantly surprised that I could fit it into such a small wordcount (about half of what I’ve been writing for Indie Bites!)
This past month, I started plotting the third Of Mist and Magic book. Initially, my goal was to have the outline for this done by the end of January. I have come to accept that there is absolutely no way this will happen. This is partially because I am playing with different scenarios a bit, and partially because the outline is way ridiculously more detailed than I originally anticipated. I am essentially writing out dialogue in script form and occasionally just full scenes. This means it is taking much longer than I anticipated, but I’m essentially getting a 0.5 of a draft out of it, so I am okay with this. Also, I think I found a stronger direction for the plot than I previously had, so I am pleased in this regard.
In December I also finished plotting the short story I want to submit to the next issue of Indie Bites, so I get to start writing that this month. Stay tuned for more news on that front!
Story time!
I have been slowly making my way through the Tales of Xillia remaster. It has long been an inside joke between my sister and I that I will send her/sing Elize’s silly little skit where she talks about it having snowed last night each winter when it snows.
Anyway, she has since moved away to the UK and has escaped our Canadian winters.
Naturally, while I was replaying it, this skit came up, so I whipped out my phone, recorded it, and sent it to her saying, “I recorded this JUST FOR YOU.” I then woke up the next morning to a message saying, “I blame you for this” and a picture of it having snowed overnight in the UK (which is infrequent). This amused me far too much and I have decided that clearly, I am a wizard.
Last month I also read The Works of Vermin for a book club.
Never have I been so confused yet wished so fervently that I could understand. Even after I got to the twist and understood it, I was still confused (not about the twist, but about everything else). I feel like this book is trying to say something, but I have absolutely no idea what that is. But I would really like to, because it’s written beautifully and I really enjoyed the characters. Hopefully book club can help explain it to me. I think a reread might also be in order.
A little blep for the new year. ❤
- Cozy Up With Fantasy! (One-Day 99c Cozy Fantasy Book Sale)
Do you want some cozy fantasy? I think you might want some cozy fantasy.
If your heart desires warmth and happiness, head on over here for a wonderful selection of fantastical tales that are sure to help you make it through the winter!
My book, A Sorceress and Scones, is included in the sale! Come join Korinne as a sorceress and her pals become far too invested in her love life.
All the listings include a handy-dandy list of keywords, making it easy to find something to suit your fancy!
Happy reading! 🙂
- Winter Magic! (If I tell myself I like the snow, will that make it true?)
The mornings are dark and the snow has come. Winter is upon us. But that’s great for cozying up and reading and writing, right!?
My books will be part of the Smashwords End of Year sale! All of them will be available either very heavily discounted, or for ~free~. Get nice and cozy with A Sorceress and Scones or subject yourself to some emotional trauma with A Damsel and a Demon. The choice is yours!
You can access the sale (starting December 8th) here!
Also just a reminder that I have a story featured in the latest issue of Indie Bites, which you can read for free here! I had way too much fun writing it, and would love for everyone to go read about Sophie in all of her disastrous, otamatone loving glory. The other stories in this issue are also very good!
After car troubles leave her stranded at the Hoddinott Hotel, Sophie meets Milo, an elderly man who has come to watch a former lover’s piano performance. As Sophie tries to prove herself to be the perfect wingman, the two bond over (questionably magical) drinks and tales of their past loves in a hotel that may be filled with more magic than anyone realizes.
I have indeed started plotting the third book in the Of Mist and Magic series. My tentative goal is to have it all planned by the end of January. This felt pretty doable until I went and decided that I wanted to submit one short story a month in December, January, and February, two of which need to be planned and written. So…we’ll see how that goes!
So, according to my SpotifyWrapped, I have listened to the Clair Obscur soundtrack for longer than I have played the game.
This is not a concerning amount of Clair Obscur. Not at all.
I am a little disappointed that Un vie a t’aimer was not on my list of top songs, but this song is 11 minutes long. So, if you just go by the actual run time of the song, then I listened to it more than what my actual top song was. So. I mean.
(My actual top song was Her Song, by the Family Crest, apparently. Which is also very good.)
I promise I don’t always just take pictures of my dog while she’s sleeping. But it’s hard not to. ❤
Happy holidays!
- When you accidentally don’t write the newsletter until halfway through the month
This is what happens when you start the month with a week of migraines and then go on vacation… But uh, we’re back in business, so let’s get going!
This is a double publishing month!
First of all, A Damsel and a Demon released on November 1st! This is book #2 in the Of Mist and Magic series. It is a prequel to A Sorceress and Scones and focuses on Arycelle’s backstory. You could technically read it first, but I highly recommend reading A Sorceress and Scones before you dive in, because I put a lot of references in, and I think they hit better this way.
Second, I’m featured in IndieBite’s 20th issue: Potions and Paramours! The entire issue is available to read for free in either PDF or epub, or you can order a physical copy from Amazon, if you so desire!
A tiny blurb about my story, Time in a Bottle:
After car troubles leave her stranded at the Hoddinott Hotel, Sophie meets Milo, an elderly man who has come to watch a former lover’s piano performance. As Sophie tries to prove herself to be the perfect wingman, the two bond over (questionably magical) drinks and tales of their past loves in a hotel that may be filled with more magic than anyone realizes.
In terms of writing updates, I’m currently working on another short story for submission at the end of the month. I also have (just barely) started planning A Warlock and a Wish, which is the third book in the Of Mist and Magic series (and takes place ~2 years after A Sorceress and Scones). I have basically gotten so far that I planned the prologue and snickered to myself over being somewhat evil (in a good way).
I expect those two things will keep me busy for the rest of the month!
This month we went on a mini vacation to Banff! This all came about because my friend and I wanted to go see Autoheart, but I could not justify spending money on plane tickets to Calgary just for the concert. But my husband loves Banff, so I was like, “Hey, what if we went to Banff for a bit and then to the concert?” And that’s what we did!
It was absolutely beautiful (obviously)
The concert was also extremely good. My friend had made a sign and we spent the whole concert trying to get the band to see it (the staff were also very nice and trying to help us by shining their flashlights on it). Then during the very last song of the encore (which happened to be my favourite), they looked over, saw the sign, and waved! Then after the show they came and talked to us and we got pictures. It was magical.
This is the face of someone who just got an hour long walk and like three cubes of beef. Her life is very hard, apparently.
Happy rest of the month!
- Happy Spooky Season!
Hope everyone is getting in some good spooky reads this October!
October is A Sorceress and Scones’ book birthday! It’s been out for a year now! Whoah! I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who has read this book over the past year. 🙂
If you haven’t, and you want to, you’ll have the chance to, soon! It’ll be part of the upcoming Cozy the Day Away Sale on October 11th and 12th (over two days this time!) and will be available for free! So check that out if you’re interested.
It’s the perfect time to pick it up, too, because A Damsel and a Demon (the prequel, featuring Arycelle!) releases in less than a month! eARC signups are still open if you’re interested! (and you can also get a free copy of A Sorceress and Scones by signing up for that as well!)
November will be spent working on final final edits for A Damsel and a Demon (just making sure there are no lingering typos/formatting issues and things), and then I’m going to actually start seriously plotting book 3! I am interested to see how this will go, because I’ve made myself some notes, but it became very evident very quickly that I need to figure out exactly how everything is going to fit together/in what order. I am thinking there will be lots of loose leaf and shuffling of pages around.
After my misadventures playing through Final Fantasy V, I was inspired to go back and play through Final Fantasy IV and see how it held up to my memory of it. I maintain that it is leaps and bounds better than Final Fantasy V, and I don’t know how they followed up with that hot mess. The plot definitely becomes significantly weaker once the idea of the dark crystals is introduced, since that comes out of left field and it just feels like there are fewer events that actually happen after that point, but everything in the upper world is solid, and the story still makes sense so, you know. That’s a plus.
Maybe eventually my friends will get around to playing VI, but right now everyone I know is obsessed with Silksong. I, on the other hand, am trying to figure out how I’m supposed to balance the fact that the universe has decided to give me the Tactics Remaster and the Tales of Xillia Remaster within a month of each other (as they are both games that I love dearly). There is an almost 0% chance I will be done with Tactics by the time Xillia comes out. RIP me.
I realized the other day that the clothes I was wearing sort of looked like a bumblebee, and that I have a bumblebee headband from my friend’s kid’s birthday party that I attended in the summer. Then I went to the dollar store and they had bumblebee dog costumes. So I decided that we are going to do family bumblebee costumes and I am now far too excited about this idea. But my dog is too cute and she doesn’t seem to totally hate it.
Have a great month!
- Cover Reveal!
I figured out an actual release schedule for A Damsel and a Demon, which means it’s time to share the cover with everyone! Behold!
My cover artist (Miss Vie Book Designs, totally linking her here because she is the best) did an absolutely fantastic job and like, even just the proof looks stunning next to the first book.
I’m currently working through the edits I got back, and the publication date is set for November 1st! eARCs are available if you’d like to read it earlier!
This is a prequel to A Sorceress and Scones and it is recommended to have read that one first, but if you haven’t, no problem! There’s a question on the eARC sign-up sheet that asks if you’d like to receive a free copy of A Sorceress and Scones to read prior to this one, and I will happily send that along to you as well, if you so desire.
This month I continued to write far too many short stories. I was working on my submission for Indie Bites’s Potions and Paramours issue, which featured this character I had played in a Monster of the Week campaign with my friends years ago and was an absolute blast to write. It ended up being longer than I expected considering I was like, “Yeah, the plot is just two people vibing at a bar,” but that’s what happens when you try and throw in a bunch of sweet bonding moments, I suppose. This story also had me googling a hilarious amount of things about alcohol because I do not drink at all, so that was fun.
Regardless of whether or not this gets accepted, I want to write more short stories with this character! It was a very interesting change writing our-world fantasy versus writing more traditional fantasy.
I then also wrote a cosy fantasy short story to submit to Tales and Feathers, which had a limit of 2500 words, which was a real challenge! I ended up repurposing this very old story idea that I had written years ago and re-set it in the world of A Sorceress and Scones. It follows this girl named Amouri (and her friend Quentin), who works at this shop called the Findery, which carries items with particularly strong memories embedded into them. Amouri paints runes onto the items so other people can re-experience the memories and helps match people up with what they’re looking for.
Anyway, as soon as I submitted this I found out that they accept like 0.01% of the submissions they receive, so I’m pretty sure this will get left by the side of the road. But it was fun to write, it fleshed out the world a bit more, and Amouri and Quentin were fun and I want them to pop up in something longer now. And who knows, maybe it can find a home somewhere else.
All this meant that I didn’t actually even start looking at my A Damsel and a Demon edits until like the third week of August. But unlike with A Sorceress and Scones, there was very little that needed to change developmentally, so it’s mostly just grammar stuff and is much quicker.
And here’s my favourite random haiku from this month. I wrote this one when my work computer had to update to Windows 11. You can follow along with my random haiku adventures on Instagram or BlueSky, if you so desire.
I played some old JRPGs this month! My friends and I did a group replay of Final Fantasy V! I…did not like Final Fantasy V. The plot was either non-existent or utter nonsense and then the battles were so poorly balanced that I was just so incredibly grateful that I was playing a version with autosave, because it would have been infuriating otherwise. And I just don’t understand how this is sandwiched between IV and VI, because I feel like they just did not try at all. But I beat it and I can now say I have beaten it and that is…something I guess.
I also finished playing through the HD remaster of Lunar after having abandoned it when Clair Obscur overtook my life. Which means I am now finally playing through Lunar 2! I never really played this one as a kid. I started it with my dad, but I was mostly just sad that it wasn’t the same characters and, from what little I’ve played now, I think too young to appreciate the themes (I was like, 9). So I’m excited to actually give that a chance.
And today, on this holiday (in Canada, anyway), we have Millie reminding us to take it easy and take a snooze. ❤
See you next month!
- I said let’s not stay in our basement all month, but then the air quality had other plans
My province decided to be on fire all month. 😦 Hopefully August is better, but it’s not off to a good start. Anyways…
The biggest news this month is that I got the edits for A Damsel and a Demon back from my editor! Developmentally, there is very little that needs to change (a couple of really minor things that could be expanded on/clarified), so it’s mostly going to be going through the copy edits and importing those changes into Atticus! So, I’ll be trying to work on that this month and see if I can nail down a release schedule.
I’ve also started a series I’m calling “Melodrama Mondays”, in which I write overly melodramatic haikus every Monday. This is part of a long game because in like, over a year (after I finish the third Sorceress and Scones book), I want to write a story in which the main character expresses herself through excessively melodramatic poetry, and have the little in-between chapter bits be poems. So, I’m doing this as practice. Also, I discovered that writing excessively melodramatic haikus is a lot of fun. Here’s my favourite one from last month, about my friend’s cat that I’m cat-sitting, and his “biting face”.
You can follow along on either my instagram or bluesky.
After last time when I learned NOT to start another novel length project in the middle of working on edits for a previous novel (because holy cow, was it hard to get back into writing it after a break), my writing life has become consumed with short stories. I wrote one last month which was SUPPOSED to be nice and cute about an old man and a dragon, but then it ended up making me cry. So, you know.
I ended up setting it in the same world as A Sorceress and Scones, because why not, so now there are some fun tie-ins between that and A Damsel and a Demon, and it fleshes out the world a little bit more. I had lots of fun. And then I threw it on the chapter header for fun just because I could. ❤
Anyway, I did submit it somewhere and I have no real hopes of it being accepted because it’s on like the very upper range of the wordcount they accept, but we shall see. If not I’ll just hang onto it and throw it at a bunch of places and see if I can’t find a home for it somewhere, because I am very pleased with how it turned out!
This month I’m also trying to write another short story for Indie Bites’s “Potions and Paramours” issue, due at the end of the month—which is going well but is leading to the most hilarious of google searches because I have chosen to write about two people vibing at a bar, and I do not drink. So I’m googling things like, “do people take straight shots of vodka???” just to double-check because I’m like, “idk, I think they do, but I certainly haven’t.”
Theeen, because I get emails and I saw it, there’s a magazine accepting slice-of-life fantasy short stories that are a max 2500 words so I want to seeee if I can pull something together for that. I have a kind of repurposed idea of something that I wrote years ago that I think I could take the base of and completely rewrite. I’m plotting it and also shoving it in to A Sorceress and Scones’s world (because apparently that seems to be my new favourite thing). We’ll see how it goes.
This is already going long so I will just say that during July I had to go on a work trip to Montreal and in the hotel room they gave you little sleeves for your coffee cups and THEY LET YOU DRESS UP YOUR CUPS and it was very cute.
My dog’s birthday was in July! She turned 5! My sweet angel went to the pet store and picked this monster out (by which I mean she low-key stole it from the toy bin and I was like, “well, I guess we’re buying that one!”)
See you next month!
- Summer Fun in the Sun (Let’s not stay in our basement all month, yeah?)
Big exciting news this month! I’ve been working with my fantastic cover artist on the cover for A Damsel and a Demon and it’s looking absolutely fantastic! The actual cover reveal won’t come until later, but here are some behind-the-scenes pictures of early drafts~
None of these are quite what we ended up going with, so stayed tuned for the full cover reveal later on! I will say that I absolutely adore how it turned out and I am super excited to share it with everyone later!
In other news, did you miss your chance to pick up books last month? If so, you can do it again, because…
My books are in the Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale! So, if you’d like to pick either of them up, just use the following links to do so for free!
A Sorceress and Scones: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1633931
Sous-Faerie Soufflé: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1651530
Happy reading!
Last month was focused more on working on the cover and interior art/formatting for A Damsel and a Demon than actual writing. I got my first proof copy for it, which was very exciting! 9/10 of the weird formatting things I tried to do worked, and I think I found a work-around for the one thing that Amazon didn’t print properly (because, surprise surprise, they did not follow their own printing templates). The manuscript is being sent off for editing next month, and I’ll do another test print once I’ve incorporated those edits, so more to come on this front later!
You’d think that finishing a game would help you overcome your obsession with said game, but no dice. I finished Clair Obscur last month, proceeded to force two friends, my sister, and her husband to let me explain the entire plot to them, obsessed over the OST and edited a bunch of the songs for my D&D group to use during our campaign, purchased two crochet patterns to make an Esquie, also bought a really pretty cross-stitch pattern of Gustave and Sophie, started watching a playthrough of it while walking on the treadmill, purchased the required items to do a Baguette cosplay (despite the fact that I do not go to conventions and if I wear this outfit for Halloween, everyone is just going to think I’m making fun of French people), and finally, after not being able to get the game out of my brain for a week, was like, “What if I just started a New Game+ file in French?”. And that is what I did.
(I have also recently gotten into Monster Train 2, though, and that is also fantastic. So maybe I’m slowly becoming a normal, non-Clair Obscur obsessed human being again. Maybe. Probably not.)
Look at this little blep. Look at this face. Doesn’t your heart just melt?
If it’s summer where you are, I hope everyone enjoys the sun! See you next month!
- Free Ebooks and a Month Consumed by a Masterpiece of a Video Game
Happy Pride month, everybody! In celebration, I’m running a special promotion!
You can pick up the ebook for either Sous-Faerie Soufflé or A Sorceress and Scones for free, from almost any retailer, for the entire month of June! Links are available on each book’s download page on my website. The only place this offer is not available is through Amazon. If you’re limited to reading through Kindle, just send me a message through my contact page and I can send you an epub directly. Happy reading!
A Damsel and a Demon (the prequel to a Sorceress and Scones!) is away with beta readers. I’m making some small edits based on their feedback and working on writing the dreaded blurb. Most exciting is that work on the cover should start Monday, so expect some behind the scenes progress pics of that next month!
This past month I have been playing far too much Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It started when my husband was like, “Allie, would you like to play that Clair Obscur game? It’s been getting really good reviews.” I was like, “okay, sure.” I downloaded it, thinking we’d have a file that we played together and a file that he played by himself, because he plays games at a much faster rate than I. That plan lasted all of a day and a half, because I was apparently playing, “painfully slowly,” so he ditched me completely, bought a second copy of the game on PC, and left me in the dust. I have now sunk like 50-60 hours into this thing, am approaching the end of Act 2 (I think?), am far too invested in all the characters, have cried twice, and am obsessively theory crafting about what is going on.
I could ramble for far too long about everything that makes this game a phenomenal masterpiece and it would be well deserved. The music, the exploration – but I will just say that one of my favourite things about this game is just how it uses quiet, subtle moments to help define character interactions so masterfully and allows them to breathe. Just a moment where one character will lie down next to another beneath the stars, and one of them will wordlessly rest their hand on the ground between them. Or when one character will be standing on a cliff’s edge and another character will walk up beside them and silently adopt the exact same stance, showcasing their bond and shared history, despite the separation that has spread between them. It’s just so. Ridiculously. Good.
According to my PS5 I’m only like just over 50% through this game and I’m pretty sure I’m barrelling toward a big reveal. There’s no way I’m surviving this game emotionally. There’s just no way. RIP my heart and soul. Unless they majorly fumble the second half, this game is soaring into my top 5, for sure.
We’re cat-sitting our friend’s cat until September, so this issue also guest stars Philip! He and Millie were snoozing in the basement. Naps are very important.
Have a great month!
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Allie Leigh 