This is the epic annual chat where I get to reflect on the year with my great writing friend, Nicolas Lemieux. Yay! Welcome back to our dual platform, Nicolas. How about we start with introductions and a brief summary of our year in writing, then dive deeper into the highlights?

Read in French – Nicolas has kindly translated our discussion. Thanks so much Nicolas!

First! Let’s Meet the Authors

Nicolas Lemieux

His chosen genre is Science Fiction, where he gets his kicks dreaming up astonishing worlds filled with a sharp palette of badass, quirky characters who get tangled up in all kinds of meaningful trouble. Often funny, sometimes disquieting, always exciting.​

As Nicolas works on his novel, Seven Drifts, which features a drifting city spaceship, a wannabe sleuth, murders, a brewing rebellion, and an antique wooden treasure chest, he enjoys blogging about books and his writing life while sharing glimpses into the world of Seven Drifts, including through his free story, DRIFT & CRADLE.

D. L. Lewellyn

D.L.’s unexpected passion for writing ignited in 2020 after a summer of avid, lockdown-induced reading in her favorite genre, paranormal romance.

Let’s Get Started

Okay, Nicolas, how about you go first? What was your 2025 like?

NL: All year round, I’ve been deep inside the world of my novel, Seven Drifts, and what a wild ride it’s turning out to be! The story is set on a former starship that was damaged, stranded, and, for better or for worse, turned into a long stack of gigantic O’Neill cylinders. It is a politically complex place of varying gravity conditions, led by a benevolent-looking villain, Mayor Larocque, who compels his people into a way of life he calls Driftism. I’m having a ton of fun with the characters, from the failed botanist but passionate amateur sleuth Anita to the trumpeter Blake, who is slated to write the true story of their rebel crew, to Leona, the great-granddaughter of an infamous architect.

Honestly, the writing process itself is one great source of happiness (and growth), and I know you feel the same way about yours. I love how it forces me to dwell in my solution-seeking mode, as we discussed in our emails. It’s a compelling challenge; always worth it!

To make things interesting, let me throw out a few topics a reader of our conversation might want to playfully toss somewhere at the back of their mind as they read on…

• What are the three distinct gravity conditions mentioned in Seven Drifts, and what are they associated with?
• Could there be characters in the story who aren’t really called “folk” at all?
• An antique treasure chest is bequeathed to someone in the story. In your opinion, who could it have belonged to?
• Who is Baba?
• Do people in Seven use such things as GPUs and VR?
• What kind of propulsion drive might Seven have used before it was damaged?
• What was the name of Leona’s late great-grandfather?
• What specific goal does the narrator, Blake, pursue in the novel Seven Drifts?

It’s an exciting time for me, as the manuscript is finally mostly in place. I’ve gained confidence in my structural choices, realizing that an introductory set of chapters can work just fine if they are beautiful and fascinating enough to hook the reader. I can’t wait to share these characters, this world I’ve created, and that crazy, quirky, action-packed story. Now, let’s dive into the specifics!

DLL: I have totally felt your joy in what you’ve accomplished this year in Seven Drifts. It’s a huge project, and making those structural tweaks and feeling those “aha” moments must have been awesome. I can’t wait to dive into it as a reader.

It always amazes me how each year ends with events that surpass the previous one, even though I often think a year can’t possibly have more going on or more to learn–and yes, I’m still learning tons in my 6th decade. This year, while I wouldn’t necessarily lump all the happenings into highlights, learning definitely played a role. My biggest takeaway is never to take anything for granted.

After retiring early in 2023 to focus on writing full-time, I was given nearly two years of that privilege. But early this year, cancer struck twice in my family: first me, then my sister. We started chemotherapy a day apart and lost our hair together. I realized how much I had taken my health and family for granted.

While this was all going on, I had to face that I’d also taken democracy for granted–a truth more bitter to swallow each day. Watching the hatred promoted by our bumbling leaders in a reality TV-style government only makes personal challenges even harder.

So, what does someone do when life presents what feels like impossible obstacles that are mostly beyond their control? My answer is to write every day and make time to talk to my sister.

The second thing I learned is that having a passion to lose yourself in—one of those joys that makes you want to wake up in the morning—even to face a chemo treatment or another loss to democracy—restores the good things in life. I came to this realization by making this year about having fun with my characters and scenes in three new novels—yes, three—that darn multitasking gene—and that’s in addition to the six I already have going. While I haven’t finished a single one, I’ve written probably as many words this year as my 320,000-word series.

That simply means I found the joy of writing again while also spending a great deal of time promoting my already published novels. That effort has paid off, and I’ll discuss why later. I also returned to voracious reading, which is what launched me into this writing journey five years ago. I’ve decided that reading is equally part of the joy and the best way to become a better writer. I’ll share my favorite authors from this year’s reading list. I’ve reached 74 books in a 50-book goal, and the year’s not finished!

Other highlights include launching my new BookBub website, attending a super fun writing retreat, adding my books to Audible via Amazon’s Virtual Voice Studio, and splurging on Grammarly Pro for editing support. More on this later.

Let’s get into the Writing Process

Nicolas and I really enjoy looking back on our emails after a year of correspondence and finding that we had tons of insightful things to say about our writing process that we forgot about as the year progressed.

Here’s us airing out a little about writing ourselves into a corner while we face life’s challenges.

DLL: Writing is my solace. And as I escape each day into my current novel, I’m encouraged with my progress… except that I’m still working on the mechanics of my plot. Dang those plots. That’s the most challenging part for me–thousands of words of great scenes, and everything is moving forward, but once again, I’m writing myself into a corner, LOL. At least coming up with solutions occupies my dreams so I can sleep.

NL: First off, let me tell you how much I admire your courage and resiliency in your approach to your current predicament (and I apologize for the clichés). The truth is, I have no idea how I’d fare myself, faced with the same reality. But from where I stand, I can only say “I’m here, offering my good vibes.” I’m so happy that you’re doing better now and that you’re on the recovery track.

Congratulations on making such good progress! This many words is a body of work to contend with. Isn’t it the best? You write yourself into a corner, and then your creative brain takes over – in its own time – to find solutions you wouldn’t have dreamt of in your waking time. Often, these solutions turn out to be precisely what makes your story unique, personal, human, and truly you; exactly what makes it irresistible and relatable. I find solace in writing as well. I’ve been all over the place in my novel Seven Drifts, moving scenes around and generally making parts of it a lot better. I enjoy how it forces me to dwell in my solution-seeking mode, even though I am often overwhelmed by how long this challenging process takes. Sometimes it helps me sleep, other times not.

During a creative dry spell this summer, I reread my first story (Tides of Cath), and it was nice to go back to the first spark that ignited the rest of the project. It’s the story I wrote first but haven’t finished yet. It takes place centuries after the one I’m finishing now, though, so it seemed only logical to work on the prequel story first. But going back to ToC really got my creative juices bubbling up again. I found it super encouraging, actually. I had no notion of scene structure and whatnot back then, but geez, I think the story works just as well. Maybe even better, I don’t know; as if I was relying on my instincts more when I wrote these pages, and I don’t know why, but I really like how they flow. So it gives me even more incentive to work hard and finish Seven Drifts so I can go on and work on Tides of Cath again.

DLL: Wow! This is so inspiring, Nicolas. I can also relate to relooking at earlier work and often wonder if I’ve given up some of my spontaneity in my writing. For my part, I seem to be constantly in editing mode and worry about overdoing it. That could have something to do with Grammarly Pro. I couldn’t resist a half-off offer on Black Friday last year, and it truly is like having a professional editor on my payroll. However, that editor is also constantly riding my shoulder, slowing my writing every time I stop to see if I can write what’s being flagged better. I mention this AI writing tool briefly as both a pro and a con. But the pro outweighs the con for me, as it has helped me become a better writer.

Back to spontaneity, I didn’t go at my first novels with any kind of coherence, just pure gut instinct, which left holes while somehow also managing to get a story out. Always shocks me when I look back at how much fun I had writing that way. I think this is why I’m having a hard time finishing another novel. I’m not using pure instinct to tell a story. Instead, I’m swamped with too many techniques learned since then that are stifling me. I’ve sort of lost my voice. I miss the old days. I laugh at myself because this is always how I learn to do new things, just throw something out in the world based on pure creative juices, with holes, imperfections, and all. Then, I reverse engineer. Part of that process lately has been reading authors I love and figuring out why I love their storytelling. Still, it’s all part of the passion, right?

NL: Pure instinct: I like these words. That’s how I operated at first, when I wrote a large chunk of the first draft of Tides of Cath, and I can feel it when I read it again. I hope some of it is still there in 7D – I’ll have to trust in the process for that. Funny thing, I experienced the same with singing. At first, it felt natural and easy, even gratifying, until I took voice lessons with various teachers and coaches. Then, for a while (I mean, years), singing became complicated and hard, nerve-racking, almost an impossible dream. But eventually, it became more natural again, in a different way, and more satisfying – but still kind of nerve-racking, but for larger reasons (I mean audiences) and sometimes, downright terrorizing. But it’s the middle part I want to go for, the “more natural and more satisfying”. It’s like once we start learning the ropes, it becomes harder to reconnect all the techniques and knowledge with our first, primordial impulse to create. To reconnect our busy head with our soaring heart takes time and patience, but we get there eventually. Some days, I feel like I need to act like a “bad student” to find that connection again. I need to ignore what I know and deliberately seek the flow without thinking, and to Hell with the technique and everything I’ve been told. Sometimes I find it helps uncover that nugget of truth, or touch that magical feeling of “something appearing out of nothingness” I enjoy so much. Reconnecting with other art forms, such as music, or with other authors, is also a great way to find that connection again. (More on this later.)

Writing Quests

DLL: So, Nicolas, while I was busy writing and undergoing cancer treatments this year, I added a few quests along the way (why not, right?), which I got to share with you in real time. One was switching virtual audio book platforms from Google to Audible. Producing even virtual audiobooks is a cumbersome task, but it felt like an accomplishment to finish all five books! Both have awesome features, both are free to authors (my only reason for doing them instead of hiring actors), but only one reaches the audience (as usual): Amazon. Still, I haven’t sold any audiobooks since my initial launch, and I’ve received no feedback from the few who purchased them. I suspect AI audiobooks are not readers’ preferred format. We talked about the pros and cons of AI voices vs. real actors. I think most are obvious. There’s nothing like real emotion and inflection to tell a story. Obviously, actors are on my bucket list for the future of my series. Your thoughts?

NL: Thanks for the audiobook of Priss’s story! I listened to the first one and enjoyed it very much! That virtual voice is just out of this world, I almost forget it’s not a real human reading to me – so much so that it’s a bit uncanny when I think about it. Now, if I had a choice between a human-read book and an AI-read one, I’d go with the real human voice for sure, as I’d know I’m supporting the work of a real artist, and it would be easier to identify and connect emotionally when listening to a human being. But for ease and affordability, I can understand people settling for the next best thing once in a while.

DLL: I really appreciate you listening to Priss Starwillow and sharing your thoughts, Nicolas. It’s so helpful. And yes, connecting emotionally is definitely the piece that is missing, even with the uncanny voices. Sigh… One day, if I can win a contest with a cash prize, I’ll splurge. I would love readers to enjoy my series on audio.

Another quest this year was attending my first writing retreat with local authors in the wonderful historic town of Virginia City, at a fabulous, haunted Victorian hospital-turned-art center. A local Reno writer, Kim Harnes, hosts these each year, doing all the labor for the cost of the retreat. We had some great classes with fellow attendees, including an agent we practiced pitching our stories to. Check out the fun highlights in my blog. I highly recommend attending workshops and retreats.

NL: I haven’t attended a writing retreat myself so far, but I have no trouble seeing how that learning and pitching process, though intimidating, would be an exciting time for me as it was for you, and I’m sure it would benefit me in all kinds of ways! Back at the end of 2024, I enrolled in QWF (Quebec Writers Federation), but along with my day job and my writing project, I guess it turned out to be one too many things to do, so I ended up attending only one of their multiple online events. I have no doubt I would enjoy and benefit from attempting something similar again in the future, or, better yet, something more punctual, in-person, and intensive, like the retreat you attended.

DLL: QWF sounds like a valuable organization, and it’s great to connect with local groups to explore unique outreach opportunities within our communities, i.e., book fairs and conventions, which I really want to do. But becoming a writer during Covid sort of set me off on the recluse path, promoting from afar (i.e., social media). After meeting many local writers at the retreat, I decided to dedicate this summer to interviewing them. As a result, I had some fascinating guests on my Spotlight, and through them, discovered local organizations and resources.

Like you, I sign up for events, including online classes, but I never seem to have enough time to participate fully. However, the little I manage to fit in always adds at least one helpful nugget to my repertoire, making it worth navigating the overwhelming amount of networking and training available to indie authors—often offered for free–so long as I don’t let it eat up my writing time. That is a challenge, I must say.

I follow Reedsy, AutoCrit, BookBaby, BookBub, and BookFunnel, to name a few, which regularly offer classes or helpful blogs. A few other useful newsletters come from Gotham Writers (which has great classes and blogs) and Writers Write. This last one is ad-heavy, but it contains lots of great content. Check out my latest favorite blog as an example: “What Can Jane Austen Teach Us Today?” They always provide a brief yet interesting post, followed by helpful bullet points and a list of related articles.

This might also be the place to mention my cross-promotion group on Facebook: #RomanceBookBlast. I participated in every quarterly Book Blast promotion over the last two years, as well as the Black Friday sale, which has significantly impacted my book sales and visibility. So, I can highly recommend it as a valid marketing tool for an indie author on a tight budget.

Our group host and admin, Jessica Anderson, has done a fantastic job helping us grow. Participation is free as long as you agree to promote the quarterly events through your newsletter and social media. I average around 3,000 downloads per free offer. In my genre, it’s advantageous to sell exclusively on Amazon by enrolling in Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) to reach Kindle Unlimited (KU) users. My KU pages read have increased significantly this year as a result of the promotions (76,000 pages read!). I also discount my other books in the series, and each event leads to sales of all my books. The group and its followers have steadily expanded, and our events are promoted not only by each other but also on BookBub, Apple Books, and by influencers on TikTok. Thank you, Jessica! She’s been wonderful in driving this promotion to new levels.

If you receive author newsletters offering free books, they’re likely part of a cross-promotion group. I prefer this as my main marketing platform, but it’s also helpful to coordinate with other promotions, such as Written Word Media, BookFunnel, BookBub, and others, to maximize impact. I tried Written Word Media for the first time this fall. I’m fairly certain that my #RomanceBookBlast results improved with the paid promotions, but not enough to use them regularly, except maybe for special events and when I can catch sales. They claim that their emails go out to 50,000+ readers (at least for romance audiences). Sales have continued to trickle in, and I’m thinking the paid promotion helped reach more romance readers.

Also, while it’s not a significant number, my book ratings on Amazon go up a little each promotion, and every bit of that helps as well.

I also took advantage of an offer from BookBub this year to create a website with their new Author Websites by BookBub. I was intrigued because, as a BookBub author with my books featured on my profile, they automatically appear on a catchy page on the site. The free templates are simple, clean, and easy to use. I designed an attractive, author-focused website very quickly. I feel great about using BookBub because they truly understand the readers and market.

NL: That’s amazing, Darci! I’m thrilled and impressed with what you were able to achieve with cross-promotions and groups! It makes me even more eager to finish my book so I can have as much fun finding out what can be done to share my sci-fi story. Written Word Media, BookFunnel, BookBub; I’ve seen some of them, but I haven’t learned to know them – so far. I didn’t know you could create a website with BookBub! I enjoy that kind of stuff, so I can’t wait to dive into it!

DLL: Glad I could share some useful tips, Nicolas! One last highlight to share is about writing contests. You and I have both participated in Writing Battle, which hosts many contests throughout the year. I’ve interviewed the amazing couple from beautiful Nova Scotia who created the platform, which has since exploded in popularity. I entered the Autumn 2025 Short Story contest this year after a long break from contests. It was a bit daunting since it was also my last week of chemo, and I wrote in a chemo fog! But I loved my story, and it did well, reaching the final showdown after passing through the peer judging duels. Writing Battle provides four really unique genres (often more like tropes) for each contest, along with prompts. I got “Vampirical Romance,” with “ice rink” and an “influencer.”

While it is super hard making it to a win for the fabulous cash prizes, at least you end up with a story that, while challenging to write in the abbreviated timeframe with the required prompts, ends up surprising you and being a blast to write. But then you need to find a home for it. I’ve published these stories in my “Priss Starwillow” collection, and you can find them here for free, except for this last Writing Battle story, which became part of an anthology called “Dreams.”

I belong to a wonderful group of indie authors on Instagram who support author Chantal Agapiti’s The Dreamer’s Bookshop, which she created to support indie authors! The physical shop resides in Belgium. The paperback is available in her shop and on Amazon, and you can get the ebook here. Follow the shop for future anthologies and to support indie authors. I’m proud to be part of this ongoing project.

NL: Thanks for the links, and congrats on making it to the final showdown! That’s an amazing feat. I very much enjoyed my two participations in Writing Battle, though I didn’t enroll this year, figuring that I would rather put my limited time on my novel in progress. But I look forward to participating again in the future, for sure!

Works in Progress

DLL: I’ve been overwhelming you this year, Nicolas, with my work-in-progress in our email chats, and I feel terribly guilty, but you’ve been great about offering encouragement and sharing your own experiences. I was also glad to get a sneak peek at Seven Drifts. Then, I managed to talk you into letting me beta-read a scene.

I feel like sharing some of our discussion and our WIPs here. How about you?

NL: Absolutely, share away! And please… No guilt! It was fascinating to read several versions of this part of your work and to witness their progression. I feel privileged to have been part of it, and I hope for that opportunity again. 

About The Starlight Chronicles, I really enjoy how you manage so many different characters and their lives and backgrounds, and how you get us to know them better and better, to the point where I feel like I’m part of the family myself. It’s a breeze to get into, despite so many people to track. So well done!

I also love a mix of genres. This is an intense romance with a lot of action. Shifters, vampires, a slew of other supernaturals, even alien princes! I deeply enjoyed each and every reference to history, and how the story makes a fascinating use of the Sumerian language and culture. Gilgamesh rules! Apart from that… Well, TSC had so many compelling characters, each with a fabulous destiny. Also, so many fascinating, eye-widening settings (even the library of my dreams!), and such a complex, riveting plot… Not to forget, what an epic, spectacular ending! So well done.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that I like the way you weave in many short chapters, moving the story forward in a smooth, gradual progression, giving so much information without it ever feeling too charged or complex. My scenes tend to grow each time I look at them, and I always seem to find new details that are missing, so I add them.

DLL: I’m so glad you enjoyed my books (in a few iterations ☺️), and thanks for saying so, not to mention your lovely comments. I can’t wait to return the favor, especially after getting to sample your scene.

Many readers who don’t read fantasy romance (romantasy) are a bit overwhelmed by the large cast, and I for sure got carried away on my first go around. 😁 In a sense, after absorbing stories from so many fantasy romance writers over that crazy summer of 2020, I let my paints spill all over the canvas, even aliens for Pete’s sake. :) But it was a lot of fun and a huge relief that I made some kind of plot out of it. Mostly, I think it’s a fun ride to go on with Selena, sort of like Dorothy through Oz. She finally runs into some serious challenges in Tigris. It’s so hard to make my characters suffer, but finally, I got some readers shedding tears. I’m hoping to do better with that in my spinoff stories.

Here is where I dove into my novel-in-progress with Nicolas, but months later, everything has changed. Surprising, huh? I will offer a fresh take on my projects, then Nicolas will give us a sneak peek at Seven Drifts. WARNING! EXCLUSIVE COVER REVEAL. 😊

My focus has shifted to finishing Gemma’s story first (Selena’s best friend in The Starlight Chronicles (TSC)).

As the series reveals, Gemma likely has a stalker she’s evading. How will the twins help her handle her problem while convincing her she’s their mate? Will it take them into the Sierra Nevada backcountry, where Gemma’s skills are tested, to face a compelling, morally grey (or worse–his character is still developing) antagonist, a rogue bear shifter named Dietrich Braun? Hmmm. While we meet a few new characters, this story will be a streamlined, standalone romantic mountain adventure.

My next goal is to finish a TSC two-book spinoff (already well in the works) for my two favorite secondary male characters. One is for Michael Elliott, who will team up with Halil Enair (who once tortured Michael on the behest of her evil father) and a new character, a powerful skin mage named Spero Vic, in a story that will explore the dragon lore Elliott promises to share with Selena. We get to travel to a new realm, learn about Onyx (Michael’s dragon) and his kingdom, discover Rune magic through tattoos and song, and meet exciting new characters. It’s all coming together in Halil’s Midnight Sun.

Running parallel to this story and set to join it during the climax is Ember’s Dark Flame. This will be a standalone story with its own ending, then moving to a final climax in Halil’s Midnight Sun. It features vampire emissary and spy Mortas, and Ember, the woman he once loved (also Andras Johns’s best childhood friend and favorite witch who appears briefly in Books Two and Three in TSC). What happens when these estranged lovers reunite to rescue a young witch and stop an evil coven’s plot? I can’t wait to let you know! Both novels will introduce new characters and bring back old ones from TSC.

I’ve also started an epic historical fantasy set in 1776 Alta California, The Spanish Maiden Who Dreamt of a Bear. We’ll embark on a true historical expedition with fictional characters, Elara Sofia de Luna Estrada and her father, Alejandro, who join Juan Bautista de Anza’s ‘traveling city’ from future Tucson, Arizona, to future Monterey, California, as de Anza (the first governor of New Mexico) claims territory for the Spanish Crown.

Elara is Andras Johns’s grandmother, a marked maiden of her time who finds bear shifter Broderick Johns when she arrives with the expedition at the presidio in Monterey. When a competing Russian colonist and bear shifter arrives on the scene, he sets his sights on Elara and pretty much everything else that belongs to Broderick, including his status as the most powerful shifter on the North American continent. Elara and Broderick are mentioned throughout TSC.

Of all the non-TSC novels in the works (three sci-fi and one YA urban fantasy), the one I most want to finish is The Fourth Planet of Cinnamon Jones. It’s a sci-fi fantasy set in Eastern Oregon, in the town of Halfway near Hells Canyon, then moves to Portland, which is a hub for displaced fae. It turns out the fae are not just creatures from human mythology, but aliens from a planetary system deep in the Milky Way called Helixia.

We’ll see what happens when a handsome but hardened bounty hunter comes for Cinnamon Jones, a changeling at birth (left with human parents who believe they adopted her legitimately), who doesn’t realize she isn’t human until a car accident throws her and her parents into the Snake River, and she sprouts gills and webbing on her hands and feet. That’s fine because Cinnamon already knows that water is her element. What’s not fine is that her birth parents want her back on Sempria as their weapon in a political power struggle.

Take it away, Nicolas!

NL: Wow, Darci! So many new stories, I can’t wait to dive into! On my end, I’ve been wondering for a while whether to reveal more of my project and risk spoiling parts of it… But the more I think about it, the more I think I’m ready to reveal more about the story, especially now that it’s mostly congealed. (BTW, I like that term.)

So here’s a first, quick-and-dirty – potentially confusing – jumble-teaser intro…

Seven Drifts is not only about chasing after treasure chests, drooling over a cool house, or watching from a rooftop as weird things happen. There are dead bodies. Thieves. NoFolk. Illegal children – lithe kids, an army of them. Places with different gravity conditions, like the heavy, hypergee Underlevels, the nogee levels high up in the Eights, and of course, the more familiar legitgee, citizenry levels. It has urban and rural zones, even ski resorts. It has interns, rebels… A big festival, and a jazz band with competitive lead singers. You’ll hear of climate change inside a space city with messed-up weather systems – and that’s just one more clue. It has a bunch of funky, quirky acronyms, like VR (it’s not only a drug), GPUs (General Preservation Units), MAHAL (a type of propulsion drive). At karaoke, Anita’s best friend will meet her tall, dark stranger with a baby face, older than he looks. Leona is the great-granddaughter of a well-known, infamous architect named Felipe Crasotte, who lived a hundred years ago.

Seven is a former starship, damaged and stranded, that was turned into a long stack of O’Neill cylinder-type habitats – or districts. It’s going nowhere. It is led by a benevolent-looking villainous villain who happens to be the mayor of the city and savior of the people…

As a compelling zen master, Mayor Larocque proposes a philosophy and way of life he calls Driftism – capital D – and de facto, he is the city’s drift master – in more meanings than one. Every morning, all citizens must partake in the daily drift virtual session – seven drifts per week – to train their minds to drift along with the Master’s. Mayor Larocque, aka Baba, is very much into sharing his expansive mind with his valued mentees. He intends his beloved people to get his drift just as he gets theirs – in the fullest of ways.

The story takes place over the course of the most important week of a very important year. That year is the second centennial of Seven’s Awakening, which took place after a centuries-long journey. As the saying goes, “only seven more drifts to go before the big festival night…”

(Geez, I’m still having fun after years of working on this!)

I’m planning to use excerpts from Felipe Crasotte’s journals to expand on aspects of the world and its history in a fun way and to reduce exposition in places. Also, I’d like to use the narrator’s POV in the first person here and there, to show other ideas that are useful to the story. The writer is Blake, a character in the story. He is also the trumpeter in Leona’s new band, and he becomes Anita’s lover pretty early on. In the end, he pledges to write the true story of Anita; what really happened with her and her crew, and most importantly, why, so that down the line, after they get to the end of their long journey, the people of Seven may stop hating her for what she did – effectively putting an abrupt end to their beloved, comfortable way of living, while in fact, saving them and giving their ship a true destination and purpose.

Book Recs & Cultural Influences

DLL: As I mentioned, I read a lot this year—the most I’ve done in years towards my Goodreads goal. I’m at 76 out of my 50-book goal. I raised the goal to 60 in November and surpassed it again. This is mainly thanks to a new favorite author, Lindsay Buroker, and her many series. She is a prolific urban sci-fi/fantasy writer who creates stories I dream of writing, with witty banter, fantastic world-building, and relatable characters. Her writing is phenomenal, and even my husband is enjoying her sci-fi series, “The Fallen Empire.” It reminds me of the best parts of “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” and the sadly short-lived “Firefly.”

Two other outstanding books this year were Andy Weir’s “Project Hail Mary.” Can’t wait for the movie! My whole family got into this one and discussed it. I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend it. The second audiobook I couldn’t stop listening to was the first book in Callie Hart’s “Fae & Alchemy” dark romantasy series, “Quicksilver.” The next in the series, “Brimstone,” has just been released, and I can’t wait to listen to it!

I read both of these early in the year, ahead of the social media hype, which I love doing. They just feel more special that way.

Another author I got into was Elise Kova—wonderful fantasy romance with great characters and worlds.

Your turn, Nicolas!

NL: Seventy-six books, that’s an impressive achievement. I have read The Martian, by Andy Weir; even studied it over a course I did back in 2018, but not Project Hail Mary yet. Now it will be on my reading list! I’ll keep a note to check out Callie Hart’s and Elise Kova’s books.

Reading is one of my favourite ways to calm down and reconnect. I don’t do it as much as I’d like, but reading usually brings me a kind of peace and a lot of inspiration. I don’t set goals, but I try to read a little every day if I can. I keep a list so I won’t buy the same book twice, as I’ve been known to do. Here’s a sample from the last couple of years, so you’ll see the kinds of books I like to read.

• The Language of Acorns, V.R. Friesen
• Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone – Outlander #9, Diana Gabaldon
• Revenger, Alastair Reynolds (Book #1 of a trilogy)
• Children of Gravity Beta version 1, V.R. Friesen
• Aestus Books 1-2, S.Z. Attwell
• Shadowlake, Olivia Rytwinsky
• Gravity Shattered Extra Scenes, V.R. Friesen
• Stone of Fire, JF Penn
• Day of the Viking, JF Penn
• Pilgrimage, JF Penn
• Manifesting Your Greatest Self, Nick Ortner & Creating Lasting Change, Jessica Ortner (The Tapping Solution)
• Pale Face, W.D. Killpack III
• Crown Prince, W.D. Killpack III (Next books in series on my reading list!)
• The Shithead, Tim Grahl
• Out of Tune, D.C. Greschner
• Regenerative Business, Samantha Garcia
• Ursus Borealis, D.L. Lewellyn
• Drago Incendium, D.L. Lewellyn
• Tigris Vetus, D.L. Lewellyn
• Shadow Captain & Bone Silence, Alastair Reynolds (books 2-3 of the Revenger trilogy)
• Inside a Dark Space, M.J. James
• The Trials of Imogen Sol, C.L. Walters

Oh, and before I forget… Thanks for peppering your stories with so many awesome musical propositions! I look them up and listen to them. As a result, I often listen to Neko Case nonstop while writing. I love her voice and music. I have other notes I’ll explore further. Keep suggesting!

DLL: A fantastic list, and so fun to see my titles in there. Thanks again for taking the time to read them.

You’re the second person to mention enjoying the songs and other art references. If you haven’t listened to First Aid Kit, you’ll dig the Swedish sisters, too! Here’s the song referenced in Ursus Borealis.

I added a credits page for my cultural references in Tigris, along with a detailed Appendix for the series. It was fun to put that together, recalling all my side and minor characters and being amazed by the sheer number of them. I also love hearing when a reader takes the time to check out those end materials, which has happened more often than you might think.

NL: It’s wonderful! In addition to great music, I see any art form as a potential nourishment for my creativity. Marie-Claude and I sometimes go out and visit big and small art exhibits. Every little gallery, every museum, every piece of art can be a source of inspiration and energy. Check out these exhibitions we saw recently: Alan Glass, Joyce Wieland, Atelier circulaire, Espace Bougie, BIECTR. I love pottery as well.

DLL: That is a wonderful body of exploration, but not surprising from such a fantastic city where beauty is around every corner, as your walks attest (follow Nicolas on Instagram for some amazing photos, a few of which have been sprinkled throughout our conversation). One day, I will visit Montréal and say hi!

NL: It’ll be my great pleasure to say hi too! Thanks, Darci! Once again, it was wonderful talking to you and getting to know you a little more. I had a great time chatting and collaborating with you on this compilation. I look forward to more fascinating conversations to come!

DLL: Same here, Nicolas. I can’t wait to see what new things we chat about in 2026. Happy New Year to you and Marie-Claude.

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Follow D. L. Lewellyn at bydllewellyn.com and sign up for her newsletter and a free story. You can also stay posted on Instagram and Facebook.

Follow Nicolas Lemieux at nicolaslemieux.com. Sign up for his newsletter and get your copy of DRIFT & CRADLE. You can also stay up to date on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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