Greetings friends and followers! It's an exciting time to be with me on my writing journey!

I have finished my second draft of my fantasy novel, Anthemia: Kingdom of Heroes. I have sent the draft to several beta readers. Their feedback will help me known if it is set for publication. If you have any interest in being one of those readers, let me know soon. As they're reading, I'm preparing to self-publish the novel. Considering the different methods of publishing, I have decided it is what's best for this book and the sequels I have in mind for it. What this means though, is all the steps of creating the book, the cover, the formatting, and editing are on me to complete or to hire someone for. I'm endeavoring to learn the cover design and the formatting myself. While it will take time and some expense, it will save me time and money as I look to publish books in the future. From there, I will apply what feedback my test readers give, and format the book and cover to self-publish with KDP. I also will need to hire an editor before then. I also have two books of Christian poetry out already! The links to purchase can be found on my website.

God is good, and while I've had my share of setbacks in the past few months, lots of good has happened in addition to my writing. I couldn't ask for a better church family than the one I'm with each week. I lead Bible studies with them, outreach with them, and serve and fellowship with them all each week. Substitute teaching has been great. It has been wonderful to build relationships and good reputation with the students. And I've worked with grades 1-12 over the past few months! Sub teaching won't be my long-term job, so I will need to plan and consider what my next career steps are, but for now, it is the right work while I progress my writing. May you be blessed this Christmas season! Stephen Ritchie