There is a particular kind of tired that comes from a full season, the kind where every hour has a purpose and every purpose matters. That has been my July. Articles written, recipes tested, a book launched into the world, and a new club opened up to readers who want to walk closer with me. I wanted to slow down for a moment and tell you what has been happening, because you are part of this work, and you deserve to know where it stands.
Hold the Line: Chain of Custody Is Out, and Readers Are Responding
This month I released The Meridian Files: Hold the Line, Chain of Custody, my debut into fiction after years of writing nonfiction and faith-based wellness content. I will be honest. Fiction felt like a risk. Nonfiction is where I have lived for so long, where I know the rhythm and the reader.
But the response has settled that fear. ARC readers have been generous with their time and their honesty, and the book is currently holding a 4.8 star rating. More readers are signing up each week to review it, and I am watching a community form around Nic and Ira’s story that I did not fully expect. Thank you if you have already read it and left a review. If you have not yet, there is still room to join in.
Introducing the Healthy in Heart Book Insider’s Club
This is the biggest new thing on the table this month. I built the Book Insider’s Club because I wanted a real way to invite readers into the process, not just the finished product. There are five roles you can apply for, and you can choose more than one if you want.
Beta Testers read early manuscripts and tell me what is working and what is not, before the story is locked in. ARC Readers receive advance copies closer to release and leave honest reviews when the book goes live. Launch Team members help spread the word during release week, when momentum matters most. Recipe Testers cook through the dishes I am developing and tell me the truth about how they turned out in a real kitchen. Wellness Program Testers walk through the programs I am building before I hand them to the wider community.
If crochet pattern testing interests you specifically, mark that on your application. I am matching testers to the right projects as they come available, and I want to know where your gifts are.
Behind the Scenes: What I Am Actually Working On
I like pulling the curtain back here, because the finished product only tells half the story.
She Who Welcomes the Sun is still on my hook, and it is slow going. I need floor space to spread out my yarns for the color changes, and most weeks I only get that space one evening. But every row is teaching me something, and I have not run into a single problem with the pattern itself, which tells me it is solid. I am nowhere near ready to release it. If you want to be one of the first to test it when that day comes, sign up as a Beta Tester and mark crochet patterns on your application.
Beyond the blanket, I am sitting with three different trackers and two wellness programs in progress right now. I am not ready to say more than that, but I wanted you to know the workshop is full.
Once those pieces are further along, I am turning my attention to the next round of RISE group topics, then finishing the Psalms puzzle books that have been waiting patiently on my desk. After that, I am heading straight back into the Hold the Line saga. I miss Nic and Ira already, and I am counting down the days until I can sit with them again.
Life Inside the Community
The Sabbath Table Gathering keeps surprising me with where our conversations go. The topic range has been wide this month, and I love that about this group. We do not stay in one lane. We follow the conversation where it needs to go, the way real fellowship does.
Inside RISE, we are working through Healing from the Inside Out. Each week I bring five questions tied to that week’s topic, and everyone takes time to reflect before we come together and share. It is a safe space, and I am grateful for how open this group continues to be with one another.
The newsletter also has something brand new this month, the Pattern Detective Challenge. I hid an acrostic for readers to find and solve. So far, no one has played. I will admit, that surprised me. If you get the newsletter and have not tried it yet, I would love for you to give it a look. I built it for you.
Congratulations are also due to Charles Sutphin, our Monthly Subscriber Appreciation winner for June. Charles won a copy of The Way: Restoring Righteousness. If you are subscribed, you are automatically entered each month, so keep an eye on your inbox.
Coming This Fall
Two article series are already taking shape for the fall calendar. The menopause series has become deeply personal this time around. I am walking through menopause myself right now, and researching it for you has meant researching it for me too. I found more symptoms tied to this season of life than I expected, and I am looking forward to sharing what I have learned when the series begins in September.
Right behind it comes the herbs and supplements series, launching in October. This one has been years in the making in terms of the notes I have gathered, and I am excited to finally organize it into something you can use.
New in the Shop
I also released a new Logitarian framed poster this month. If you have followed the Logitarian framework, Think Clearly, Stand Firm, Live Grounded, this is a way to keep those pillars in front of you every day. Take a look if that speaks to where you are.
Grounded in the Process
Seasons like this one remind me that growth rarely looks tidy from the inside. A blanket that takes a year. A book that took longer than that. A club built one application at a time. None of it happens all at once, and I have stopped expecting it to. What matters is that the hands stay moving and the heart stays open. That is where I am this July, hands full, heart open, grateful you are walking through it with me.
Continue the Journey
If you have been curious about Hold the Line, Chain of Custody, this is the month to pick it up. You can find it here: The Meridian Files: Hold the Line, Chain of Custody.
If any of the five roles in the Book Insider’s Club caught your attention, whether it is beta reading a manuscript, testing a recipe, or trying out a wellness program before anyone else sees it, the application is open now. Book Insider’s Club
If Sabbath Table Gathering sounds like the kind of fellowship you have been missing, you are welcome to join us. Sabbath Table Gathering
Haven’t tried the Pattern Detective Challenge yet? It’s waiting in this month’s newsletter. Head on over and Subscribe today!
And if the Logitarian pillars resonate with you, the new framed poster is in the shop now.Logitarian poster product
I built all of this to be walked through together, not consumed alone. Come find your place in it.
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