It’s that time! We’ve been writing this book since late in 2022 and are closing in on being completely finished. Our anticipated publication time will be in May of 2024.
We’ve known what we wanted to title this book for a long time given where this book takes place. With a pretty intense ending to Book IV: Asunder, Book V will definitely be one wild adventure.
So here we are! The big title reveal.
Thread of Souls
Book V
The Deep Hollows
It’s been so much fun to explore the region that Taliesin and Ruuda come from, a place we’ve only see in flashbacks in previous books. It has its own unique terrain, plants, animals, and cultures that we haven’t encountered before.
While waiting for The Deep Hollows to be available, you can check out this excerpt from the upcoming book! Don’t forget to read the previous books if you haven’t enjoyed them already!
Now that you know about types of writing jobs, education required, and options on freelancing, that leaves an obvious next question. How do you find writing jobs? We’ve found our various writing jobs in a few different ways:
We applied online to a job posting.
We got hired from knowing someone else in the company (including twice being referred by one another).
We were randomly reached out to because a hiring manager saw our website.
We were reached out to by someone that didn’t hire us for a full-time role, but wanted our help on a temporary, contract basis.
I think there are two major lessons to be pulled from these experiences. It does, indeed, pay to know people. And having a good online presence can get you opportunities.
Where to Look for Jobs
As someone with a background as recruiter and resume writer, as well as a human myself who looks for jobs, these are my top recommendations if you want to find work.
Indeed: This is a top job board site. It’s very well-used by employers and is easy to search. But do NOT apply through Indeed. Use it for research and then visit the employer’s website directly to apply.
LinkedIn: While not as user-friendly in search terms as Indeed, it does offer a large amount of jobs to look through on a daily basis. Networking opportunities are also very useful here. Again, don’t use their Easy Apply. You’ll just get lost in the shuffle. Go to the employer’s website.
Submittable: This offers opportunities to submit written work to a variety of publishers if you are looking to be more of a freelancer.
Pitching: You can pitch article ideas to various websites in hopes of getting paid to write the article. This is hard work and does require a great deal of research and effort on your part. Having a reputation already as a writer makes pitching easier.
HigherEdJobs: If you are seeking to teach writing or work as a writer in the academic field, this is a great website to use.
Remote.co: There aren’t a lot of job postings on this site. However, since they focus only on remote work it is a good place to stop by once in awhile and see what writing jobs are available.
Visit Company Pages: If you have companies in mind you’d like to write for, check them out directly. Go to their LinkedIn profile, their website, or their social accounts. They will post what they are hiring for through these channels.
The first month of 2024 is coming to a close. It’s been an exciting time and we are eager for all the things planned ahead for Thread of Souls!
Audiobook
That’s right! Phantom Five is now available as an audiobook on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. It’s narrated by our own Dorian! He is a professionally trained voice actor that has done work for commercials, promotions, and YouTube before. He’s done a wonderful job of bringing the book and characters to life.
New Merchandise
Brother Zok fans can rejoice! We have two Zok-specific merchandise in our store. A sticker with the Holy Dragon symbol on it, and a typography t-shirt. Both are available for purchase on our Redbubble shop.
Brother Zok Shirt
Book 5 Work
I can’t believe we’re actually near the end of writing the fifth book in our Thread of Souls series. We literally just have the climax left, which will encompass a handful of chapters. After that the road ahead brings plenty of editing and designing the book cover. Right now, the plan is an end-of-May release.
Stay tuned for Book 5 reveals including more excerpts, the title, the cover, and the summary!
We talk the controversial topic among writers. Are adverbs in writing a good or a bad thing?
When Dorian and I worked as part of a narrative team for an online game, something one of the other writers said always stood out to me.
“Adverbs should never be used,” he would say. “I listen to Stephen King. He says no adverbs in writing.”
And yet, this writer’s favorite author was Patrick Rothfuss, who uses adverbs liberally in his books. Irony abounds.
It doesn’t take long on the internet to find varying and strong opinions on the use of adverbs. So here are our thoughts.
We use adverbs for two reasons.
No other single word will do.
We are avoiding a repetitive verb or phrase.
You often here that if you are using an adverb, then you’ve used the wrong verb. That’s not always true. “Whispered” or “muttered” will never mean the same thing as “said softly”. Sometimes, adverbs are necessary for clear storytelling.
However, if you find yourself writing things like “said loudly”, “said urgently”, and “said angrily”, then you should look for some alternative verbs. Good replacements are “yelled”, “urged”, and “growled”.
There also may come a time when you are trying to avoid adverbs so much that your verb usage and phrasing become repetitive. In that case, adverbs are a great way to keep your writing feeling fresh.
Overall, there is a place for everything in the world of creative writing, including adverbs. Telling the story in the way you think is best is the most important part of being a writer.
We are so excited to finally announce the release of the first audiobook in our Thread of Souls series. Phantom Five is out and available via Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. It was narrated by our very own amazing Dorian.
It has been a long process in getting to this point. From trying two voice actors that didn’t work out, to setting up our own booth, and to figuring out the ACX system to upload the book.
We actually had the book finished in December 2023, but the ACX review is a very long process and customer support isn’t the smoothest experience. Our biggest hurled was that they pulled our legal names over our pen names and could not fix it for us. Eventually we accepted it since we list all four names under Amazon, anyway.
We are so happy with the final product and so excited to bring it to you!
I have enjoyed drawing my entire life. I’ve never done it in any professional capacity and never had any training. But there is plenty of my art hanging around our home. So I’d like to take a moment to share some art with you.
This feature is art of Jade the druid, a major character in our Thread of Souls book series. Enjoy!
This is an autobiographical post. The names of people and places may be changed.
We decided to write autobiographical posts about the colorful life we have lived. There will be tales of sleeping in a campervan on the beach, of defending a bird’s nest from a snake, and of running away from wolves while sick with bronchitis. There will be tales of diagnosis with PTSD and ADHD and how it changed our lives, of meeting biological family, and of job loss. It’s a tale of overcoming challenges, of finding out who we are, of love, hope, cats, and of a marriage that’s gotten stronger through it all.
Autobiography Post 15
Discovering TTRPGs changed our lives. Ever since 2015, it has impacted our hobbies, our interests, and led to the launch of our book series. There is no way to minimize how it has shaped our future.
But it had very modest beginnings.
Critical Role
Dorian watched Critical Role long before I ever did. He would tell me about the stories and the characters. Seeing the rules played out before him made him want to learn how to play the 5th edition of D&D. He bought a rulebook and would read it frequently, learning the game. He invited me to learn but I was hesitant. It was so confusing to me when he would explain it. I didn’t understand how it was played.
Ending Up Involved
Once Dorian felt confident with the rules, he met up with his friends to have them make characters. He met with five different people and they scheduled a time to all play their first game together. But the week of, only two of them said they would show up.
“It would really be better with three players,” Dorian sighed. “I don’t know who else to ask.”
I hesitated, then offered, “I could play. It’ll be fun.”
He brightened and helped me through making a character. A chose a druid because I could do elemental spells and have an animal companion. That was when I made Jade and Foxy. I still didn’t understand, but I was willing to give it a try to support my then-fiance.
During the first game two of Dorian’s friends showed up. It was the person who played Brother Zok, and the person who played Sen. About an hour before the game Dorian encouraged me to call my adoptive sister to see if she’d be interested in joining us.
“You know, I’ve always wanted to learn how to play DnD,” she admitted. “I can’t tonight, but I might be able to join another week.”
So the three of us playing Jade, Sen, and Brother Zok sat down at the table. We had an incredible time playing through what’s ended up being the first two chapters (not including the prologue) of Phantom Five.
Learning More
Not long after that, I started watching Critical Role with Dorian. Seeing a game played out helped me learn and realize what a TTRPG could become. Though we started out with D&D 5e, over the course of the years we learned many other systems and ultimately forged a game more homebrewed than anything else. That’s our creative minds at work!
Back then, we only used graph paper for a map and some lego pieces for characters. Years later it led to a huge Dwarven Forge collection and an entire bookshelf worth of miniatures. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of the first games, but you get an idea of what we created in the following years!
We became so invested that it changed the course of our lives forever. And over the next couple of autobiographical posts, I am happy to share with you how it evolved and how it turned into Thread of Souls.
I’ve always loved the coast. That’s the main reason why we moved close to a beach. There’s serenity in watching the waves, and a sense of fun in large dunes and lighthouses. I’ve collected a fair share of instrumentals that remind me of the coast. Not only do I like to listen to them casually, but they are also great inspiration when writing scenes set on the beach, or for planning coastal TTRPG games. Enjoy!
Amber Ale from Divinity: Original Sin II
I love this melody. It makes me think of a busy harbor and ships swaying on the waves. I’ve never played the game, but Dorian first introduced me to this soundtrack from a playlist he designed for Ruuda Drybarrel. I have listened to it many times since!
Moonlight Serenade by Little Island Leap
This one just makes me so happy! What a great beat. I have several from this artist, but I listen to this one the most. Even if I have it playing while I’m trudging through daily work, I can’t help but smile and dance a bit at my desk.
Lurelin Village from Juke Remix
This is originally from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and subsequently Tears of the Kingdom. It was way back in 2017 that Dorian and I were playing Breath of the Wild and came across the coastal Lurelin Village. We realized how much we missed the beach. In two weeks, we were vacationing on the Gulf Coast (back before we moved up north). As such, this song will always hold a special place in my heart.
Ukelele Dance by Derek and Brandon Fiechter
This is another track where I have many from the same artists. I always enjoy listening to Ukelele Dance with its mix of calm and fun melodies. Dorian is also pretty good on the ukelele, so it makes me smile.
“I work freelance. I have a lot of free time on my hands.”
That line, said by a journalist character from The Devil Wears Prada movie, paints a luxurious picture of life as a freelance writer. When you are looking for work as a writer, you’ll come across two different options on job boards. Employers that need freelance writers, and employers that need full-time writers. So which do you choose? Which is better? Since we have done both in our careers, we’ll give you a pro’s and con’s list to compare.
Freelance Writing
Pros:
Your schedule is flexible. You can work when you choose and how many hours you choose.
Your workload tends to be flexible. Most jobs require at least a minimum amount of work per week/month.
You are not tied to the job. You can freely quit without consequences.
The work tends to be more independent with minimal to no supervision.
Cons:
Some jobs cap the maximum amount of work you can do, so you might not have unlimited earning potential.
Work can be inconsistent. Days or weeks may go by with no work available at all.
You don’t have access to benefits such as healthcare and vacation days. That means if you want to take a trip, you will be out a paycheck for that time.
Employers can cut your work load, hours, or job entirely at any time for any reason. They have more flexibility to do so because you’re not a full-time employee.
You have to do your own taxes from your income.
Full-Time, Permanent Writing
Pros:
You have a guaranteed amount of work so your hours and paycheck are predictable and dependable.
You have access to benefits such as healthcare, vacation time, and other perks.
You possibly have the opportunity for career advancement within the company including salary raises.
Cons:
There is a lack of flexibility with your schedule and life. You are usually committed to working a certain schedule.
You usually cannot take on more work for extra money if you need it for a specific week.
We talk stereotypes on TTRPG players, and about who all played at our table.
It’s a tired stereotype that still hangs around in the media. The overweight role-player who lives with their parents, has no job, and can’t socialize. They can name stats for the most obscure monsters but can’t cook more than box mac and cheese. Even big companies in the TTRPG world (which shall rename nameless in this blog) said they are realizing they had a stereotypical idea of who plays their games and see now they were wrong.
So, who are the TTRPG players? Drawing only on our own personal experience, we’ll list who has played at our table across the years.
A rogue character was played by an x-ray technician who worked in the ER at a local hospital. She owned her own home on enough land to have a farm. She liked to sing, play instruments, and was actively involved in her church.
A fighter character was played by her husband, another x-ray technician. He enjoyed playing video games and going out in the evenings. He was also a cancer survivor.
A ranger character was played by a legal assistant who worked for the social security administration. She was a former high school athlete that continued to play rec sports as an adult, and enjoyed video games and board games.
A wizard character was played by her husband. He transitioned from marketing to healthcare administration in his career. He enjoyed social activities of all kinds. They had an apartment in the city before building a house.
A paladin character was played by a math teacher and baseball coach. He liked to collect comic books and still played rec baseball as a hobby. He rented a house along with a group of friends.
A barbarian character was played by a music teacher who had a Master of Music degree. He enjoyed pizza and composing and relaxing with friends. He owned a house with his wife.
Our ranger and wizard characters are played by Dorian, an executive producer in television and a business owner. He likes video games, editing videos, and traveling.
Our cleric and druid characters are played by me, Talia, a professional writer and a professor. I like drawing, traveling, and fashion.
If you’re a TTRPG player and feel comfortable sharing, let us know your profession and hobbies!
