Hello everyone,
The hazard of the kind of writing I do is that I need to be emotionally present and accessible to do it, otherwise the prose and narrative don't quite click. That's what happened with yesterday's draft — I was too focused on getting it out the door while juggling other stuff I have going on in my life at the moment.
Although great was her exhaustion, rest eluded Saphienne as she lay within the cool sheets of her bed staring up at the colder, celestial hallucination. The challenge waiting for her was equally as astronomical where it loomed in her mind, but both the false sky and the real demands of her a...
2025-11-05 01:12:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello all,
I'm getting ready to do a big edit pass of the existing chapters, and as I finish each one I'll be adding volume art to Royal Road. These aren't the future book covers, just a fun placeholder. Since you're supporting me, you get to see them first.
I'll reveal the art for Volume 3 to you all at some point in the future... 2025-11-01 04:17:06 +0000 UTC View Post
“Tell me again.”
Across from Saphienne in Celaena’s study, Faylar squared his shoulders. “If anyone specifically asks what I was doing with you, I tell them that I was helping you copy some books using the library’s Tome of Correspondence. I don’t try to hide it; I didn’t do anyt...
2025-10-31 23:48:12 +0000 UTC View PostRelations were not improved overnight. For the first few lessons after their confrontation with Almon, his three youngest students were wary, Saphienne and Celaena in particular being deeply sceptical that he would amend their record in his ledger. Their caution was reciprocated by the wizard, who ret...
2025-10-29 21:13:33 +0000 UTC View PostHello all,
Chapter 95 needs reworked. I thought the feedback I got from test readers would be easy to address and have sorted, but the deeper I went into it today, the more I realised I need to restructure it quite significantly (around 30% of it needs redone) to achieve its goal.
Should* be done and posted tomorrow. Sorry for the de...
2025-10-29 00:55:45 +0000 UTC View PostSummer turned to autumn as so turned the leaves, and red spread through the hair of the elves who flourished in the Eastern Vale. True to her recollection from the prior year, Celaena was early to lose her blonde for auburn — for which Iolas teased her in retaliation for her remarks at spring’s end. N...
2025-10-25 23:46:43 +0000 UTC View PostNever before had the apprentices seen their master so elated as he was in his garden after Iolas cast his first spell. Almon laughed for joy, forwent bowing to instead applaud his student with great enthusiasm, delighted beyond measure at the feat he had just witnessed.
“Excellent! N...
2025-10-21 22:46:05 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone,
Well... damn. The Patreon has hit $1k a month, which means I now owe +4 chapters to the read-ahead, for a total of +14 beyond the public release.
Rather than drive myself to ruin cramming this all into a tight timeframe, I'm going to adopt a different release schedule for the next little while. Basically, unt...
2025-10-19 20:22:00 +0000 UTC View PostNow all but initiated into the ancient ways, Saphienne reacted as she always did when she felt too much: she distracted herself with her intellect. She was powerless to prevent the mill of suffering from grinding on, and to throw herself between those long-stained stones would neither have made her feel b...
2025-10-19 20:08:44 +0000 UTC View PostMy Dearest Saphienne,
Sat under the maple tree in the upper terrace of the garden, Saphienne smiled through her blush as she read the salutation in the letter from Laelansa. The afternoon was balmy due to the stirring breeze, soothing with the rustle of leaves and the sway of tall gr...
2025-10-16 17:01:37 +0000 UTC View PostAn age had passed for Saphienne since she last entered the library, and potent nostalgia made her pause on the threshold in recognition of what she had never consciously admitted to herself:
This had been her home.
With that revelation came the pang of loss, as she beheld in the phrasing of her...
2025-10-14 23:49:01 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re the one who shattered the tree…”
Having lived in anticipation of a reckoning with Almon for months, Saphienne listened from beneath a tide of overwhelming despair.
“…And Saphienne covered for you, didn’t she?”
Surprise made her eyes flutter open — st...
2025-10-13 20:10:01 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone,
I'm alive! High dose of doxycycline knocked me on my back for most of this week, but I'm nearly back to normal today (just tired — slept very poorly last night). I'm going to be throwing myself at the writing tomorrow and over the weekend to catch us up, and all being well we should be fully back on track by the end of ne...
2025-10-10 00:21:53 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone,
I'm really sorry to do this, but Chapter 89 is going to be late this week.
I've been increasingly unwell since Saturday, consequently working at a snail's pace. I'm phoning the doctor when the surgery opens this morning; I anticipate I'll be back on antibiotics yet again, whereupon I should quickly perk up enough to g...
2025-10-07 06:37:31 +0000 UTC View Post“Thou art mistaken child.” Celaena tried to pull away; the spirit possessing Taerelle tightened her grip. “Wormwood hath come.”
Although Celaena struggled and the alarm bell rang, Saphienne calmed as she learned the bloomkith’s identity. Both her tutor and Hyacinth associa...
2025-10-03 19:45:54 +0000 UTC View PostCrying out attracted the attention of the patrons in the teahouse, and Alinar was quick to hurry over to Saphienne with a towel at the ready, utterly perplexed as he slowed to a halt beside the couches. Thessa had jumped across the table and was hugging her with a high-pitched squeal of joy, while Saphienne was laug...
2025-09-30 12:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone,
This is just a brief update to explain what I'm doing at the minute.
You'll have noticed that we unexpectedly blew past the $500 target for the Patreon, and we're rapidly closing on the $1000 target. Each of those involve increasing the read-ahead for TEWWBAD on here by another +2 chapters.
If this hadn...
2025-09-28 23:27:23 +0000 UTC View PostOnce Laelansa had set off for the Vale of the White River, Saphienne used the remainder of the day to study her sigil and attempt to deconstruct its meaning. She had thought about it idly during the week, and was pleased to discover that her time away had deepened her capacity to contemplate the puzzle, findi...
2025-09-26 12:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostPeriodically, I get suggestions from readers that the price of subscribing to the Patreon is too high, and that it ought to be lowered, or the Patreon should have another, cheaper tier added.
Did you know that when the TEWWBAD Patreon first started, it had two tiers? And that the lower charged $2 for four chapters, and the higher charged $...
2025-09-23 15:59:56 +0000 UTC View PostWith her plan confirmed, there was nothing for Saphienne to do but wait for the right moment to make her move. That meant giving her adversaries time to relax, which in turn meant that they must see her often enough to feel reassured that she wasn’t a threat; they would worry about her, if she kept her...
2025-09-23 12:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostSitting with Laelansa in the expansive kitchen, still cradling Hyacinth within herself, Saphienne contemplated the next step in her plan, aware that there were several preconditions that would have to be met before she could execute it. Chief among them were solitude and secrecy — she had to be alone, and no o...
2025-09-19 12:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostThere was much to do before Saphienne began. Were she to succeed in what she intended, she first had to ready her arsenal — including her mind.
Querying how busy the teahouse would presently be solicited suggestions that they wait until afternoon. That allowed her to ask Celaena when sh...
2025-09-18 12:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostA small mountain of gifts awaited Saphienne when she returned to the guest room, as did Laelansa, who perched barefoot and cross-legged on the bed with the enchanted tray of tea and chocolates levitating beside her.
Yet Saphienne only shut the door and walked to the windowsill, studying ...
2025-09-17 12:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostAllow me to paint for you a backdrop, before I stage the drama.
The summer solstice festival was a time of joyful unity for wood elves and spirits of the woodlands, the ancient ways embodied in their shared merriment. Across all three days, elves who had befriended spirits would walk abroa...
2025-09-16 12:00:39 +0000 UTC View PostOf course — it had to be Laewyn who found them on the floor.
When Saphienne sat up with Laelansa – her fury at herself mistakable for the fervid bloom that lit her paramour’s cheeks – she saw the older girl leant against the doorway, grinning from ear to ear.
<... 2025-09-11 12:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostGathered in the long dining room for interrogation by Taerelle, Saphienne’s friends were unprepared for the intruder alarm to ring, and the instant she tiredly announced its significance they started to panic.
Yet the senior apprentice was calm.
Saphienne’s eyes flew open as Taerelle se...
2025-09-09 12:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostA member of the Patreon comments:
The casual use of the word "fuck" by the elves is kind of off-putting. Does the word have the same multifaceted meaning for them as for modern English? Its an ugly word.
Yes, the wood elves use "fuck" and a few other words in the same way as native English speakers.
You...
2025-09-08 07:24:21 +0000 UTC View Post
See Saphienne as she was becoming, the forthright young girl, fourteen years old. Her hair was once more brown as the earth, and she was still pale — though even these features had begun to lose their resemblance to those of the quiet child she once was, her hair thicker, gloss beginning on her skin. Her eyes were still green, but their childl...
2025-09-05 08:57:52 +0000 UTC View PostBefore Saphienne could cast her first spell, she would have to fully comprehend what was required. Through having listened diligently and by reasoning through the apparent implications, she drew several inferences about the practice of the Great Art, all of which were right, and none of which were sufficient. 2025-09-04 12:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post