My blood. Your Blood. Our Blood. -Practical Magic

We don't always get to choose who makes up a part of our family tree. Let's be honest...some family members we love to pieces, while others we can't stand! Writing this Family of Blood novella not only helped me answer questions that you still had, but oooo…the family secrets that spilled out while writing this had me picking up my own jaw off the floor on more than one occasion!

You won't believe what happened between Mario and Clarice that started her despise for him! Just saying…. Oh! And what happened to Angie after she lost her opportunity to stop her son like she was promised by the dream realm? And that's just for starters! This novella is full of short backstories of the family members Sophie didn't get a say about being a part of her "family". Who has the secrets to help win the final battle? Preorder Family of Blood Today! It launches into the world on Halloween!

You might notice some changes going on. With the cost of living and everything else going on, I have to find ways to cut down on expenses. So, here’s some of the things that you might actually notice:

• New Website - I love creating landing pages. So, to cut down on website expenses, I have made some free landing pages through Mailchimp, linked them together, and will be adding them to this site once I figure out how. It was so much fun using those creative skills for a change. I was able to keep the dark mode background to make it more migraine and visual friendly. I even found a black and white photo that tied my favorite book videos together. Look familiar?…

• Medium - To make sure my blog posts don’t get lost in switching platforms when needed, I have decided to put them on Medium.com and call it a day. It doesn’t cost me anything, and I already had the platform prepared. This way I can write about book reviews, my hemiplegic migraines and mental illness, along with whatever else suits me without the stress of trying to be consistent. Lowering my stress levels helps with the intensity of my chronic migraines, so anything to ease the need to meet a deadline I know I will struggle to meet is really best.

• Influencer - If you follow me on TikTok, you’ll notice that I’ve taken to doing video reviews of products. If you’ve known me for any length of time, then you know that helping small businesses grow has always had a special place in my heart. It’s why I got my degrees in marketing/management. To help small businesses grow! Although that has become too difficult for me to do in a regular sense, this seemed like a fun “next best thing”. And I’m definitely having some fun!

• Mario - You might see Mario in more of my videos come next month. I’m going to be moving to a small town in KS, and we’re going to share one side of a duplex. I’m going to help out with the kids, and he’s most likely going to show up in more books so he can be unalived….lol! We’re going to be roommates with hopes that the cost-of-living settles sooner than later.

• Beehiiv - You’ll notice that the newsletter is back, and on another platform. This one is new, but shows great promise, and it doesn’t cost me anything at the moment! So, I will be able to grow and still get to share things with you. It even comes with other great abilities like adding other published content and developing an app! They keep adding more things to it, so it will be fun to grow along with it.

Once I’m moved and settled, I hope to get more writing done. But at least some of this condensing is nice! And it’s of little or no cost at the time being. I’ll keep you posted of any other changes as they take place.

Kickstarter Campaign Update…

Right now, I’m in formatting mode. I’m reformatting all the special edition ebooks and paperbacks to match the covers. It’s time consuming, but totally worth it in the end. As each ebook is finalized, it’s being released to those that have the specified books in their reward tiers. Once all the physical books are finalized, I will order them and have them sent to the person who is spray painting them for me.

Barnes & Nobles takes 15 business days to verify a vendor (not including holidays). Once that is finalized, I will order the notebooks for everyone. They will also be released to the public shortly after. These are lined notebooks with the underneath covers of Come Find Me, Watch Me, and Let the Games Begin as their main covers to match the saga. Just some fun additional merchandize for people to enjoy!

Health Updates….

The MRI is November 3rd. I find that the b12 injections really have made a difference. I only take afternoon naps if my brain is too exhausted, or it is resetting. I no longer have to sleep the entire day and night away, never feeling like I have enough energy to even breathe anymore.

I believe that my eyesight is settling. Although I can get around without wearing glasses, it would still be nice to have things more defined to see better since my diagonal astigmatism remains. (Thanks mom!) And farsightedness is still an issue as it always has been.

I believe that moving will be very good for me. Especially as my apartment complex works its way to being a slumlord, and the constant guilt trips is just becoming too much. I don’t have the spoons for any of it. My sister has had the freedom to do whatever she wanted while I remained the responsible one. I’m tagging her in, whether she wants to be or not. LOL!

That’s all I have for now! I hope this finds you all doing well!

All the best,
Stormi