While I’ve focused on healing—with extremely positive results!—nearly three months have passed, and 2025 is almost at an end. It’s been quite the hiatus, but it was necessary, and I have brief but exciting updates for 2026!
First: What has happened?
Well, after a cascade of crises, we had to back out of our last event of the year due yo a family emergency. I went back to the neurologist about the regression of my injury, and we figured out it was due to stress—and the past three months have included loads of de-stressing strategies. Basically, because of the injury, my brain reacts to extreme stress by fizzling out. As long as I keep my stress mild to moderate we’re golden. So, to de-stress, I have been painting, reading (loads!), playing cozy games, and writing snippets of inconsequential stories.
While the unceremonious end to the year’s events was a heavy hit, it’s become clear that the white-knuckling I’d been doing most of the year to maintain all my prior commitments was detrimental to my recovery. As soon as I let things go for a little while and actually focused on recovery instead of just saying I was going to, things started clicking into place.
Five Years
October came and went, and October 10 marked five years since Ranger’s Odyssey. In those five years, I’ve released four novels, two D&D companion books, and an unrelated short story in an anthology. I’ve completed a full series and created a D&D core companion system for playing in Ambergrove. I went to Scotland and Ireland on a book tour. Ambergrove books are in libraries in a dozen states in the US and in a dozen libraries in Scotland. Thousands of copies have been sold, and there’s always at least one copy of one of the books checked out of a library. Someone is always in Ambergrove.
I met my author goal less than a month after Ranger’s Odyssey was published, but I have been swimming in gravy since then. While this year shook me and made me feel that the future of Ambergrove was unsteady, I am ending 2025 full of exciting plans for Ambergrove in 2026.
So—what’s coming?
2026 will once again bring a shortened event list. At this time, I only plan to attend events from previous years that I’m committed to continuing in perpetuity, such as the Clayshire Castle Medieval Faire.
There will be some buzz throughout 2026 as I work to break from my initial publisher and re-release new editions of all the previously published Tales of Ambergrove books. These new editions will include typo and format corrections, additional content (D&D companion books only), and—hopefully—professional illustrations! More to come about the new editions throughout the year.
I have also finally been able to get back to Ember on the Anvil. It seems a true break was just the ticket. So, while all this is going on in 2026, I will be working with the cover artist, and perhaps an illustrator, to ensure EotA matches the new versions with the new publisher. I’ll be finishing up the writing, working through the rounds of editing, and then leaving the finished product for publication after all the new editions are released. With any luck, this will be sometime around Q4 2026. 2026 will be a big one for Ambergrove, that’s for sure!
I’m working on a schedule and will be updating the website and resuming social media updates in January—as long as I don’t slip on ice and break my head in the first week like I did this year! Walking with stakes whenever there’s the tiniest bit of snow like I’m climbing a frozen mountain may be dramatic, but it has so far given me peace of mind and kept me vertical.
Here’s to a crisis-free 2026, a break for anyone who needs one, and so many adventures for all of us! I’ll leave you with 2025’s wackiest paintings of the year: my wedding gift for a friend who named her pets after fictional characters and opened the door for weird old-timey portraits. Sometimes it’s the thought (and the laugh) that counts.
Until next time, adventurers!
Tales of Ambergrove 