Starting A New Chapter: Life Updates and Writing Updates

Lately there has been so much happening, I’ve barely felt like I’ve had time to stop and think, let alone update my blog. On top of that, we had a sudden emergency with my laptop and it needed to be repaired, so I haven’t had it for a few days.

But now people are wondering what we’re up to again, and I’m finally reunited with my laptop… so this blog post will have all the details!

Also, I just want to say THANK YOU!!!! Everyone has been showing us a lot of love, and we both appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts. The fact that I want to write this blog entry right now is such a good thing, because it means people care enough to want to know about our life. So thank you for caring!!! Thank you for asking us how things are going, and for reaching out to us. We appreciate y’all so much.

Picking Up Where I Left Off

Sooooo: in my last life update, I posted a basic outline of the past couple years. This ended with us arriving in Denmark, and with me releasing two new books for sale on KDP.

Since then, obviously things have been changing a lot! Casper and I are currently in America, at grandma’s apartment in Everett. We’ve been here since July 10^th, and we’ll be here until August 4^th (unless our plan needs to change). So here’s what we’ve been up to:

The Storage Unit

This plan has changed so many times it’s left me a little dizzy!! But we think we’re finally getting it sorted out now.

Our original priority for coming to Washington was to get our stuff out of storage and on its way to us in Denmark. However, it was a bit of a last minute trip, and we didn’t end up with a lot of time to plan things out. Upon arriving and contacting a LOT of different moving companies, we kept encountering two recurring responses: radio silence, or a need for at least 30 days notice.

So… at first we tried to rent a uBox through uHaul, but it became a ridiculous and complicated process full of conflicting information (which has apparently ended in us being ghosted by a rep who was emailing us), and it earned us nothing but frustration.

In the end, we’ve decided to go with one of the companies that need a month’s notice. That really seems like the only option we can take. So our plan is to return home, then come back to Washington in October – when Casper’s school year is safely started, and after his summer course is over (it’s two weeks and starts in August, and we need to get home for it, since daily attendance is mandatory).

Returning Home

There is also one very important thing we need to take care of when we get back to Denmark: completing the family reunification process.

Thankfully, we’ve already gotten a good start. We’ve completed the application online (a lengthier and more complicated process than you might guess), and the next step is biometrics. They’ll need to take my fingerprints, etc, and then we can officially start the application process.

We originally thought we’d have to go to California to do this, since that’s where the closest Danish embassy is, but we recently found out we won’t have to! Since we had applied for a visa extension while in Denmark, and had to cancel it to get my passport back for this trip, my stay for that period of time seems to be a gray area. As far as we’re able to research it, that time doesn’t count toward my visa, and I should be able to go back without any issues. Then we’ll be able to go somewhere in Odense to do the biometrics stuff, and fill in any blanks that might be left on our application.

And then it will FINALLY be time to start our future in Denmark!!!!!

My Future With Writing

I want to end this post on yet another positive note: I am busily writing!

Firstly, for the beloved people who have become the first fans of The Witches of the Cormorant, I would like to say: yes! I have already started the third book. But I put it on hold, so it’s only got a few chapters written so far. The whole plot is almost entirely planned though.

After the rejection of the first two books (which at the time were one longer book), I got hit really hard by depression, and I started to wonder if I was really supposed to be a writer. I went through a long time – a year or more – where I wasn’t writing much; I would attempt a short story, but lose my confidence and give up, and that was all.

But a few months ago I felt myself catch hold of a really big idea, and I’ve been running with it ever since. Now it’s become a nearly completed first volume of a fantasy series. This one I intend to sell, one way or another, to a publisher. I have rebuilt my confidence and I feel that I am definitely a good enough writer to make a career of it. And this book is the best thing I have ever written.

Unfortunately I don’t feel 100% ready to share what it’s about right now, but soon I’ll be posting a blog entry just dedicated to this series and its content.

And, once the first book is done – while I’m in the process of trying to find a home for it – I’ll also be working on the third book in The Witches of the Cormorant. This one, loosely titled The Kingdom of the Unicorn, begins with Thistle’s first act as Queen: the abolition of the slave trade. We also join Amarra on her quest to reunite Cambir’s lost princess with her throne, follow Kellio to the deserts of his childhood, and learn more about the branches of the royal family tree. Kepeito is gone – but his son will soon be born. What will this mean for Cormoris? How will Thistle keep her throne in spite of the kingdom’s turmoil? And where have Jettana and Cambira gone?

These questions – and so many more – will be answered in book three. So please don’t think I’ve given up on it just because I started writing something else! Sometimes life just… makes you take breaks. That’s all. But book three is definitely in the works.

Hopes and Plans

Casper and I are very much enjoying our trip so far. Although our reasons for being here revolve around big life changes and lots of planning, and we’ve encountered countless stresses along the way, it has been really nice to see grandma and Everett, and the fam on San Juan Island, and to be reunited with the things in the storage unit. We’re hoping with all our hearts that this trip will be one we remember fondly for all our lives, and that we can get a mover scheduled soon.

I just can’t stop picturing all our belongings in our apartment in Odense. It will be SO beautiful – and although we’ve already made that little place our home, this will make it real.

And I’ll probably have more updates soon – so stay tuned!