July feels like Yuletidings of Goodness

and I am glad to be going through the best of all discomfort can bring

Hello, there, my soul bards and merna-loving lovelies,

As so many other creators of various kinds are saying this week, “where has the first half of 2025 disappeared to?” I do not think it so much disappeared, at least not on my end, so much as it transmuted and transformed a lot of life lessons into practice. With practice comes mistake-making and more learning and more practice, right? That’s where my early 2025 has been. Maybe that is why the whole July Yuletide vibes feels that way now more than ever this year?

A New Quarter and More Writing Challenges to Publish More Books!

I mean, com’on, we’re starting the month off with a new quarter, and July is also Rough Draft Challenge for all of us over at HeartBreathings Writing Community. I am so grateful Sarra Cannon created this off-shoot of her amazing community, and I am honored to play a tiny role in it.

Like that placeholder cover, do you? I am in talks with a cover artist for Season 2!

For my personal writing goals this month, I am focusing on the world of The Merna Annals through the lens of Season 2’s Book 6: Legacy of Lyric and Time. This story picks up 333 years after the end of Book 5: Bound by Lyric and Time. You can imagine which couples and whose kid is kind of at the focal point, if you’ve enjoyed Book 5 already. Writing the return of magic to the hands of immortals with humans as their outright allies against a former ally this time around has been a hoot and a half. Frey, this is all your doing, of course!

Thanks to my sister in soul barding, Mama Magie Ward, I am also going to do August 80k in August to help finish A Merna Annals Side Quest 3: Six Weeks but Three Years. Frey’s book has sooooo many ripple effects. Want to be on the ARC team? I sent a SUPER SPECIAL PRIVATE EMAIL to our superfans a few weeks ago to open the opportunity to them first, and I am now making it public here!

I am looking for eight more people to join this team ASAP!!! If you want free copies of this one early, now is the time!

Lots of Business Meetings and Future Planning Happening Early

Authortube's Friendsgiving Sprintathon November 2025 is ramping up its planning process this month, and I am also meeting with a team of amazing Authortubers to start planning what will replace the Sweet Treat Stream Crawl in Spring 2026. Click here for the application to join the Friendsgiving event!

Additionally, I am also planning the launch of Soul Bard Academy’s next several classes. I will be making announcements soon about what the next one in the fall contains. As usual, all current members of my coaching program receive free access to past and future classes for Soul Bard Academy. New students will be welcome to join at $125 for lifetime access—that’s right, all past and future classes. Click here for more information!

Of course, I have been working on planning Season 2’s Book Tour for the end of 2026, and I cannot wait to see more people at the rest of The Side Quest Book Tour this year. Not sure where to find my schedule, virtually or in person? Check here!

Lots of Travel Ahead

I will be out of town this quarter more than I have ever been since starting this business all the way back in Spring 2020, when I started the final run of Book 1: Bound by Fate and Blood. Not only do I have five to ten in person events between the start of July and the end of September, but I also have to travel for other life reasons that I am not willing to talk about right now. We’ll talk about those closer to the start of August or September, I think.

I am grateful for the opportunities, and this is where I have to also admit in the same breath that I am testing my introverted, hermit-like tendencies hardcore. It might not surprise most of you that I spend the majority of my days live the stereotypical writer life: I am often in my office, and unless I am talking to someone through an electronic device of some kind, I am alone. That might be why I keep so many cats in my life? Maybe.

“Surely, Jenna, you have family?” Nope. I’m estranged from my biological family for various reasons, and I have yet to birth a child that stays Earthside. Therefore, I am definitely testing my boundaries by going on The Side Quest Book Tour. As two of my favorite mentors and coaches often remind us, “You don’t grow where you are comfortable. Seeds are planted in darkness for a long time before they see the light again for a reason.” There’s growth in the discomfort of doing what is not our normal. For me, this means pulling out old skills and sharpening them, true. Therefore, I am grateful for the opportunities to travel and grow through this time and connect with people not only in a virtual space but also in a physical one again for the first time in several years.

I am extremely excited for July’s virtual events as much as I am the in-person ones. Where can you catch me virtually? Always check my Linktree for my social media of course (click here). I am also partaking in two events through Indie Authors Central (click here).

Copies of eBooks for The Merna Annals are also available for a promotional price at Smashwords as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! Find my books and many more at https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/ all month!

You can also find me in-person at these, events. I am super excited to be teaching my Writing with Tarot and Dice mini-class at the Midsummer Holistic Expo. For more information, click here. I would love to also do a dinner with anyone willing to hang with me in the Lancaster, PA area Saturday night of this weekend. Email me if you are interested or contact me on social media!

And for the second in-person event this month, I am overjoyed. This event has been on The Side Quest Book Tour the longest and is kind of the one that started it all. I am honored to be gathering with A LOT of Authortubers at Bowie, MD’s The Write Women Book Fest. This is a VERY D E I FRIENDLY and VERY BIPOC and VERY WOMEN POWERED and VERY LGBQTIA+ and VERY FAMILY FRIENDLY event that is celebrating its final year. Literally, you WILL NOT be able to catch all of us Authortubers at this event ever again in the future. Come and hang with us? Click here!

So Excited for This Journey

I am grateful to be here. Thank you all for supporting what I do, even if it is in a small way. Thank you for sharing, reading, interacting, and generally just being you.

I would not and could not do what I do if it were not for people like you. Now more than ever, your voice does matter. We are creating and consuming the stories of healing and more that we are these days for a reason.

You are here for a reason.

Keep shining!

All my hugs,

Jenna OM
~Your Soul Writer

PS
BONUS NEWSLETTER next week as we handle the launch for Pearl and Gold!