Autumn Catch-Up & Announcement!
It’s one of my favourite times of year. I love the colours of the falling leaves, the crisp air, and even the colder weather—it puts me in the mood to curl up by the fire with a good book!
Traditionally, the autumn equinox is a time of taking stock—of the harvest that’s been gathered, the work that’s been accomplished, and those last few tasks that need to be completed before we nestle in for winter.
I live in the countryside, and have been foraging sloes for gin, which we’ll enjoy over the winter. The jars sit in a cupboard alongside the blackberry vodka I made a few weeks earlier, and I take great satisfaction in seeing them all neatly lined up.
But as a writer, the fruits of my labour are far less tangible. How do you measure the year’s work? By completed projects, or only by those that have been published? What about works-in-progress, outlines, proposals, applications, and all the rest?
Not everything has come to fruition yet, but there are still some things I can celebrate with you!
I started the year on a high: a short story of mine was published in The Garden anthology in late 2024. Then, after dabbling with interactive fiction and doing a course on game writing with the Irish Writers Centre, I made a Twine novella called Canvas Keepsakes, which featured in the 2025 Spring Thing Festival of Interactive Fiction.
In April, I travelled to Belfast to attend Eastercon in person for the first time, and it was just amazing. I bought my weight in books, admired the beautiful artwork on display, went to some wonderful panels, *reconnected* with old friends, and was lucky enough to make some new ones. And somehow, in all of that, I failed to take a single photo!!
I had been planning to write a blog post about the trip—but what’s a blog post without pictures, I asked myself? The task soon fell by the wayside, and here we are, almost half a year later, and I haven’t updated the blog at all. *sigh*
So, what have I been working on all this time? Well, I’ve been putting the finishing touches on my fantasy novel, with a view to sending it out into the world soon. The prospect is both exciting and terrifying! The story is close to my heart, and so I can’t help but feel protective of it—but it’s time. I’ve also been working on a new project, which I hope to announce soon!
In other news, The Garden anthology has now been released as an audiobook! I can’t tell you how amazing it is to hear my story, ‘Fruit of the Earth,’ narrated. Karen Frantz did a fantastic job—she even pronounced all of the Irish names right!
It’s available on Spotify, Kobo, Google Audio, Libro.fm and Audible. The print edition can be purchased directly from the publisher, Sans. PRESS, as well as from a number of other retailers listed here on Books2Read.
Next month I’ll be attending Octocon in Dublin, and I’ll try my best to take some photos this time! I hope to see some of you there, and wish you all a very happy equinox.