mcahogarth

Still Working on the Cover...

...someday it will be done...

Caturday with Working

I lost about two and a half work days to assorted Real Life things last week, so I am trying to make up for it this weekend so I can get Heartskein out on time. I think I might be a few days late anyway, but a few days is more forgivable than a few weeks. Hopefully. >.>

Everything else is on hold until I finish that! Carefully! Because these last stages are all about finicky stuff that can't be rushed or I'll mess it up, so I am forcing myself to stop instead of trying to...

Work Begins on the Heartskein Cover!

In keeping with my promise (and my alma mater's offer) I drove up today to school to hang out in the art building and work and chat with all the kids as they came into their classes. I got there just before lunch and started work while talking with the AP Art students (that's 'advanced placement', which means if they do well enough they'll be awarded college credit). I took a break at lunch to nibble something and talk to the English department about possibly coming into the Creative Writing ...

The Caturday with Exhaling

Doesn't he look like an art installation? This feels appropriate since this past week I hung the exhibit, did my reception, and hosted my talk and Q&A. It was amazing... I'll have more about that in the coming days.

Last week my kid also polished off her theater season with a trip to the state competition, so it was a tremendously busy week--in fact, the busiest of the year, unless something comes up! And that after months of work by both of us. But it's over! I feel I can exhale a ...

Monday Catch-Up

Because this is the busiest week of the spring season for me... a brief pause for news/catch-up!

• I have replaced my misbehaving Patreon Grant Application with this new form. The old form was eating responses without sending them to the grant manager. If you submitted a grant application and no...
  2020-02-03 14:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Caturday Seashell

We haven't done Caturday for a while! (And Monday I will have an actual news post, so I'm not going to bother with news today!) Instead I give you furry seashell cat. Also, a link to humor about Microsoft Excel, written by my friend Rowyn and still excellently funny. Go laugh!

What's Jaguar Up To?

I am the busy jaguar! Last week I finished Heartskein and handed it to beta-readers. I also finished drawing in and mailing the 25 paperbacks for the Major Pieces Kickstarter. Which is fantastic because it leaves me with the rest of January free to concentrate on exhibit planning.

For those of you new to the newsfeed here, my high school alma mater selected me as their Alumna Visiting Artist for 2020, and that means I have a two-week gallery exhibit, plus reception and...

Heartskein is Done!

If you want to be a first-reader for this book and are not on Discord, wave your hand so I can send you a URL!

If you are on Discord, the link is in the #vault. If it's scrolled too far, I've pinned it. Or you can just PM me for the link directly. :)

Please note, at the request of my dedicated first reader team, I am doing something different with this one and posting my first draft. Like "I haven't even re-read this" first draft. It's much rougher than my usual beta read offering...

2020 Plans

I already posted my themes for the coming year! Here, then, are my concrete plans!

DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT WITH WRITING

As I mentioned in my theme post, I’m planning to get off the hamster wheel of delivering a billion books a year, even if it means my revenue plummets. This year, I’m only planning to finish Heartskein (due in Q1 of 2020); then I’m going to leave the Peltedve...

2020, Themes

My themes for the coming year! Specific goals coming as soon as I get myself organized! 💖

A Jaguar Guide to Reducing Future Holiday Stress

*dons Santa hat*

Hello, Patrons! Yes, I know the major gifting holidays are mostly over. But the period between Christmas and New Year’s is actually one of the busiest bits of the holiday for me, because it’s the time I prepare for next Christmas!

I’m not sure when I started doing this. I do know it wasn’t a conscious decision, and I think it started gradually. I remember part of the inspiration for my activity was that the period between Christmas and New Year’...

New Holiday Story: Longest Night

One of the few indulgences I allow myself on vacation is the writing of a holiday short, if I feel like one. Jahir and Vasiht'h have already had a funny holiday story ("The Snow Maiden")... but the realization that there was a holiday season between the events of From Ruins and Healer's Wedding--the first holiday the two of them spent on Escutcheon together--made this story inevitable. 

So, a quiet short about Longest Night at the Seni manor. It's a little bit abo...

The Stories I Didn't Know You Wanted

One of the best parts of being an indie author who answers only to herself and her readers is the freedom to throw aside convention and head down the roads rarely taken, particularly the surprising ones you didn’t realize Were Things. This is something I’ve had on my mind lately post-Major Pieces… because not only did that Kickstarter do amazingly well, but the reviews being left on retailers for the book have been… illuminating. There’s a lot of “Yes! I love these small ...

Every Day is Caturday, Plus Holiday Gifting Guide

Whenever I look up from working, a cat has appeared. This particular moment was funny because I moved the beanbag right up next to my desk to make room for the Christmas tree and somehow I still managed not to notice him joining me.

I count it as a Christmas blessing that we've ended up with a cat who has absolutely no interest in Christmas trees. The tree skirt, though... he will endlessly burrow under and then sit, purring, convinced that no one can see him and he ha...

Freebie Short Fiction: Season's Meaning (Alysha Forrest/Peltedverse)

It's that time of year again, when we must imbibe the cup of holiday cheer! So here is the return of Season's Meaning, a story which is not available on retailers anymore. Fill out your collections!

The Latest From Chez Jaguar

We’re heading into the holidays, and the final weeks of the year! Which is traditionally the time of year I slow down; I try to take at least two weeks, if not the whole month, off. I asked a bunch of you what you wanted to see from me, post-wise, during this slower period and surprisingly the answer was “news and updates!” I can totally do that! So here we go..!

On Discord, we’re embarking on the last two books of the Her Instruments series for our readalong; t...

'Making a Living'

(This $10 tier business post is available to all patrons this month as a Christmas gift. Enjoy! --M)

When I asked about topics that interested you all, business-wise, one of them that came up was “you mentioned that art-making/making a living is different if you have dependents… can you talk about that?”

Which is a great question, but not a small one. To even start on it we have to deconstruct the concept of ‘making a living’ or being a ‘full-time artist’, w...

Free Books!

Hey, y'all! I am participating in this free book giveaway, in particular handing out copies of Flight of the Godkin Griffin. If you haven't gotten to that one and are curious about it, you can pick it up until the end of the month. (It is a sword and sorcery story about a cranky middle-aged griffiness in the army, and how she came to not rule a province.) This book was originally serialized for pay on Livejournal, and then picked up by small press Sofawolf, and I remain fond of it, p...

Book Launch: Major Pieces, a Princes’ Game Collection (Peltedverse)

Everybody’s got a story… even the bystanders.

The staff of the Alliance’s foremost restaurant… the forgotten  children of the imperial Chatcaavan harem… the story of how an empress  hired a D-per, and an entire ship full of Glaseah came to settle on an  alien world… here, woven amid the larger stories of the participants in  the Chatcaavan war, are the smaller scenes observed by its minor  characters, or shifted by ...