Hey, I’m Courtney Floyd, author of Higher Magic and creator of The Way We Haunt Now. Welcome to my monthly newsletter, Wallowing in Ink.

Oops! Some of you may have just received a half-drafted version of this issue, because my newsletter client freaked out. Sorry about that!

March’s newsletter is landing in your inboxes a day late because I was traveling this weekend for Read Freely Fest at Richland Library in Columbia, South Carolina.

The festival was such a blast and so well organized. Not surprising, since it’s put on by a public library. I was on a panel called Bards, Mages & Sorcerers, Oh My with Maiga Doocy and Emily Krempholtz, and we got to talk about fantasy world building, magic systems, and so much more.

Afterward, I met a bunch of wonderful readers in the signing line. It was truly a delight, and I’d love to do more reader-facing events in the coming year.

I did at one point find myself telling the Ashley Poston that there’s body horror in most romance plots. So, um, yeah. It’s probably good I don’t leave the woods extremely often. (Ashley, on the teeny tiny chance you’re reading this, it was very cool to meet you! Sorry I’m weird!)

((Also, for the record, I love romance novels. I’m a lifelong reader of them. What I meant was that if Love Island has taught us anything, sometimes kissing sounds make you want to rip your ears off. Sexy is often just a sweaty slip away from scary, you know?))

Updates; Or, It’s My Work In Progress, I Can Revise Iteratively If I Want To

I’m still drafting my horror faeries novel. It’s taking a bit longer than my usual 3-4 months because I’m trying something I heard Jasper Fforde (one of my favorite novelists) talk about last year. every 10-20k, I read through what I have and revise based on what I’ve learned while drafting it.

I usually have to do several rounds of substantive revisions after a first draft, and I’m cautiously optimistic that this iterative process is getting me to a stronger draft.

Based on beta reader feedback, I think it’s working.

The first 60% of the book is with my agent right now, so I’ll find out soon enough. My goal is to have a complete draft by the end of April or mid-May at the latest.

March Recs

• This month, I greatly enjoyed an ARC of Danai Christopoulou’s debut novel, Vile Lady Villains. It’s a sapphic horrormantasy that brings Lady Macbeth and Klytemnestra into the same story in bloody, brilliant collision.

• I also tore my way through T. Kingfisher’s Daggerbound. It’s the sequel to Swordheart and it is so worth the wait. I loved every minute with Learned Edmund, the Dervish, and their growing cast of friends. We get more Zale in this book, too, which I was delighted by.

• Currently Reading: Max Gladstone’s Empress of Forever

• Up Next: C.J. Dotson’s These Familiar Walls, which is out on the 14th!

I know I promised a peek into my current WIP research, and that’s still in the works. More soon!

For now, thanks for wallowing with me,

Courtney