Hello, readers!

I’m thrilled to share that my first panel for Canada Fiction Fest will be TONIGHT at 7:00 p.m. EDT - more on that in the next section!

Canada Fiction Fest is ONGOING! 🍁

Canada Fiction Fest just started two days ago, and MY FIRST PANEL IS TONIGHT at 7:00 p.m. EDT! 🎉

If you want to see me and three other Canadian authors chat about our creative writing processes and inspiration, make sure you sign up at the link below so you don’t miss it!

• Attend my discussion panel TONIGHT!

I’ll also have a second panel where four of us fantasy authors (myself being one of them!) will be giving author readings! This takes place TOMORROW, June 24th, at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

• Attend my June 24th fantasy author reading panel!

If you can’t make it to either of my panels, replays will be available on the Canada Fiction Fest Youtube channel later. I hope you can come out to attend these events when they’re live, however. Thanks for your support, and I hope to see you there!

• Check out the Fiction Fest website for the full list of panels!

Storytellers Marketing Mastery Summit

I attended the Storytellers Foundation’s Storytellers Marketing Mastery Summit back on June 12-14th, 2026! It was an AMAZING time learning from others in the writing industry and getting to know many other writers online too!

I can also FINALLY reveal that I was a volunteer Software Beta Tester for the Storyteller Foundation’s new writing app, Storyrise! 🎉 It was such a cool experience being able to give my input (as a writer) on how to better enhance the UX and UI elements of the app during these past few months! The Storyrise app demo was officially revealed during Day 3 of the Storytellers Marketing Master Summit.

A HUGE thank you goes to Jackie Garcia-Morales and Theresa Villareal for the opportunity to work with them and their team! Being able to personally test out the features was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about the work that goes into developing a writing app in the process.

Check out the Storyrise app!

I also posted a Youtube video about my own experience attending the summit, so you can check that out as well!

What Am I Writing Lately? ✍️

Untitled Harlow Mystery Sequel Series Book 1

• Status: First draft is 100% written (15/15 chapters)

• Next steps: Put aside from now and focus on other current WIPs

Remember how I mentioned that I felt creatively stuck during the June 9th newsletter?

Well, after I had that revelation, I actually took a few days off from writing anything. I genuinely needed the break, and I didn’t want to force myself to write something that I wouldn’t be proud of for a first draft.

Fortunately, the writing inspiration DID return after said break! Even better: I finished writing Draft 1! 🎉 I’m really happy about how this turned out for sure.

Meanwhile, I’m also slowly plotting Books 2 & 3 of the Harlow Mystery sequel series.

I promise that I’ll give this series a name at some point! I just need to figure out WHICH name. 😆

I’ve also been thinking of spending the rest of 2026 with editing and trying to complete WIPs, rather than writing Draft 1 of new ones. Why? Because:

1. I have MANY WIPS that should probably be finished at some point if I want to publish them and share the final versions with you readers

2. The giant list of WIPs that is ever-increasingly growing does not spark joy for me.

Will I actually commit to finishing some WIPs? I hope so. I just need to figure out WHICH ones.

Other Writing-Related Activities I Did Include:

• Posted a new Youtube video about my experience working with ARC Readers for my YA fantasy book Found! 📖

• Made some updates to my author website! 💻

• Recorded a PODCAST INTERVIEW with the Merry Writers Podcast that will be officially published in October 2026! 🎙️Ari and Rachel (the hosts) were so lovely to work with!

• Practiced author readings for my second Canada Fiction Fest panel (taking place TOMORROW)! 📚

What Have I Read Lately? 📚

I won a book giveaway back in May 2026, and I received all of the books back at around June 9th-10th!

I finished reading The Never Not Broken by Gauri Prasad first, and EVENTUALLY I will get to reading The Shards of Conduit by SN Yusuf and A Lion’s Head by DM De Alwis. All three of these books were written in genres that I typically don’t read and/or write in (dark romance/suspense, sci-fi and historical fantasy respectively).

Other books I read recently include:

• Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondō

• Unsettling Canada by Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ron Derrickson

• The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

• Sounding Thunder: The Stories of Francis Pegahmagabow (American Indian Studies) by Brian D. McInnes

I also read this essay about how struggling with creative work doesn’t mean that you’re failing.