The rest of the conference brought together around authors from all career stages and genres. I met so many weird and wonderful people! It's rare we get to let our inner creatives out without seeming odd, but amongst other authors it was safe to unleash them. When you get 1,200 authors in one space, all freely geeking out about craft and stories, the energy is infectious. The whole convention buzzed with creative energy - everyone feeding off each other's excitement and ideas.

I attended dozens of lectures covering all facets of authoring. My brain's a bit fried - I'll need to go through my notes to remember half the things I'm planning to implement over the next few months.

A Murder Mystery

The highlight? A real-life Clue party where a murder most foul had occurred. Actors (and Actresses) playing various suspects were scattered around the venue, and we had to question them to figure out who did it, where, and with what weapon.

After a while, I ended up at the bar and unexpectedly became the bartender for an hour or so. It was perfect - I got to collect everyone's answers while serving drinks. Unfortunately, by the end, pretty much every suspect had been eliminated and every weapon accounted for.

The twist? The host had told each actor they'd poisoned the victim, but the reveal was he actually died from a brain aneurysm. A hilarious way to end the night! I also ended up chatting with some very unassuming but big-name authors and podcasters at that party.

Multicast AI Audiobook Narration!

Normal voice narration would cost me between $4-7k USD for a decent audiobook, depending on the narrator. At Author Nation, I won a raffle for a free multicast AI audiobook from a company called Spoken!

I'd been trudging through Amazon's AI audio for my books with zero enthusiasm, but Spoken is in a completely different league. They analyse your manuscript and assign different AI voices to each character - creating a full-cast audiobook like a radio drama. The quality is remarkable. If you really concentrate, you might catch that it's AI, but it's natural and emotionally expressive in a way Amazon never quite achieves.

I've got a few things to work through over the next few weeks, but I expect to get started on the narration of Purgatory of the Ancients by the end of November. I'm genuinely excited about this!

What I'm Reading: Evergreen Academy by Heather Schneider

I met Heather at Author Nation on day two or three - they all blur together honestly. She was lovely in person, and when I read the premise and saw the cover, I was sold. Perfect cozy fantasy vibes.

The magic system is entirely botanical - harvest plants, florals, ferns, aquatics, trees, defensive plants, and more. It hits all my favourite magical school tropes while boldly treading new ground with this unique system. The protagonist attends a secret college for magical botanists hidden in the woods, complete with a glass schoolhouse, climate-defying gardens, and seasonal festivals.

And Heather's ability to describe delicious food? Oh my god. Amazing.

If you enjoyed Harry Potter but wish it focused on college-age students, or if you love plant magic and cozy fantasy with a touch of slow-burn romance (no spice), this is absolutely worth checking out. 

You can find the link here

Or take this quiz to discover where you'd fall in the botanical power spectrum: Click Here

Writing Progress

Part 2 is about a week away from being polished and ready to go, which means I can finally start straightening out the mess that is part 3.

For reference on length, parts 1 and 2 are novel-length in their own right, which is why this is taking so long. Part 3 should be considerably shorter, but I can't say for certain until it's done. I'm expecting this book to land around 700 pages, similar length to Embers of Ancient Fire.

Which means I should get back to it.
So until next month, stay awesome

Stew