In late April of 2025, I pressed publish on Kindle Direct Publishing for the very first time. The book I had spent 10 years agonizing over, writing and rewriting, killing and resurrecting darlings left and right… It was finally ready to be released to the world. Not only was The Death Witch now available on Kindle, but it was also available for order in a beautiful physical edition designed by me. (No thanks, AI cover art!) I couldn’t have been more exhilarated, dizzy, and proud. But now came the hard part… Doing the work justice by actually getting it out there.

*Cue summer tabling montage*

During the summer that followed, I sold The Death Witch at 5 markets. As someone who had participated in only one small craft market before this point, I had barely any experience. I learned very quickly that the wind is the enemy, and sandbags are our friends. I sold The Death Witch at a lavender farm, at a downtown street fair, and in a massive horror-themed convention. I am proud to say that at these markets, I sold over 100 copies. That is, of course, minus the one guy who asked me if I was rich before his card declined and he ran away with his “free” copy.

Sometimes selling was as easy as just standing there with a smile and letting people pickup the book themselves. Other times, a bit more strategy was needed. During the busiest convention I participated in, no one was looking for a book by an indie author. Most customers were shopping for horror films and merchandise of already known brands. I had to get creative. As it turns out, randomly asking people walking by if they like to read is a fantastic strategy! Just by engaging with them, I was able to pull them out of the zombie stomp through the convention center and introduce them to something new and unexpected. It was exhausting, but it was worth it and I made my highest table fee ever back that day ($900!).

Prepping for the markets was good fun. I loved testing out different Wicktoria Academy-themed merchandise, from letters to needle-felt goat head keychains to stickers. Prep work is no joke. I found myself spending the entire summer pin-ponging between my full-time job and crafting just to have enough inventory for my monthly market. Before I do another full market season like that again, I plan on dedicating an entire winter to filling up my stock of goodies so that I’m not scrambling all summer long!

Prepping for the markets was good fun. I loved testing out different Wicktoria Academy-themed merchandise, from letters to needle-felt goat head keychains to stickers. Prep work is no joke. I found myself spending the entire summer pin-ponging between my full-time job and crafting just to have enough inventory for my monthly market. Before I do another full market season like that again, I plan on dedicating an entire winter to filling up my stock of goodies so that I’m not scrambling all summer long!

On a more personal level, this year has been completely transformational for my self-confidence as a creative. I have wanted to publish my own novels for as long as I have been writing (which has been like, forever). I have realized that the best way to connect with others is through my work, whether it aligns with them or not. Some of my favorite interactions were with people who found The Death Witch to be too dark for their tastes because, more often than not, they would emphatically congratulate me on finishing an entire novel and getting it out into the world. My next favorite kind of interaction was the customers who keenly asked me if I was CERTAIN I was going to finish the series, whom I assured I wouldn’t be able to rest until Agnes reached the end of her Wicktoria Academy journey.

Speaking of sequels… This past winter has been incredibly intense in terms of personal uprooting and change. Let’s just say if you keep pulling the Death card in tarot, by the time the Tower comes along, you are in for one hell of a life transition. With the help of a beautiful electric typewriter (Brother Compact Electric 2, for all my typewriter nerds out there), I have finally been able to dig back into this sequel and make some serious progress. Without a stable base, it is impossible for my work to come through in an authentic sense. I can’t turn myself into a factory line just to get the job done. It is art at the end of the day, and art takes time. But that’s okay, so long as it doesn’t take me ten years this time (it won’t).

Crypt of Corruption has been an interesting beast to contend with. Agnes has grown so much throughout The Death Witch, and such significant changes have occurred within her character. It took me a while to stop writing The Death Witch pt. 2 and start writing Crypt of Corruption – an entirely different book – because I couldn’t let go of the way Agnes used to be. Although the changes are still relatively subtle, they need to be visible for the reader to feel a sense of impact from all that happened in the first book. And Agnes deserves to grow up, too, doesn’t she?

So, I resolved to stop forcing Agnes into a skin she’d outgrown, and I immediately saw a gratifying shift in my work. Then BAM, another block. What was it this time? Well, I’m sure I will write an entire post on this, but I was held up by my own unwillingness to delve into the more unhappy emotions involved in Crypt of Corruption. Funny talk coming from someone who raked Agnes over the coals for 200 pages, isn’t it? Well, I wanted to avoid the emotions and memories I needed to draw upon in order to make certain scenes work, and so I suffered from “writer’s block” that I beat myself up for under the assumption I was being lazy. It wasn’t laziness, it was fear. As soon as I was able to recognize that, I was able to take a breath, remember that these bad experiences are what makes Wicktoria Academy such a strong series in the first place, because the surreal is grounded in the real, and I got back to work.

Hermit Creates has grown so much in the past year. I don’t think I even realized how much I accomplished until I put this post together. And so for that, I am grateful. While my daily life hasn’t changed since becoming an indie author – I do still absolutely need a day job despite these strange rumors that I’m rich or come from money (???) – I am so happy I decided to finally get The Death Witch out there and into the world. I just like to put ink on paper and hallucinate the strangest little stories my mind can produce for hours at a time. I hope you will join me for this next year, and especially for the release of the next Wicktoria Academy book, Crypt of Corruption. When will that be?

I am hoping for Halloween at the latest, but don’t quote me on that!