Autumn Plans and Happenings

Hello again! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, a delightful Hobbit Day, and a glorious beginning to the autumn season!
Personally, I am very excited to be moving on into fall. It's my favorite season anyway, but this fall in particular there's a lot going on that I'm excited about and looking forward to. There's going to be a lot happening here at the Lair too, so here's a quick update of what's going on and what's coming up:

- Many of you have been lifting up my friend Andrew in prayer, since he lost a finger in a farming accident a week and a half ago. His finger is healing well, but he could still use our prayers. He spent this past Thursday and Friday in the hospital having his appendix out. Yeah, it kinda stinks to be him right now. So continued prayers would be appreciated.

- The book trailer for Son of the Shield is in the works! God has provided me with a group of very willing and capable friends, and with their help and His blessing the trailer is going to be awesome! Right now I'm in the process of casting people in roles as my characters - a surprisingly difficult undertaking. There is no shortage of willing volunteers, the trouble is just finding people whose appearances are appropriate for the characters they'll be portraying. They're slowly coming into place, though, so all is well.
On that same note, thank you to all those who shared their opinions and advice in the poll I held recently regarding the teaser for the trailer. It looks like we'll just be making versions of the trailer instead of just picking one (since the votes never really singled out one teaser), but that's perfectly alright with me.

- Work is continuing on Empathia's Hope, my current WIP. It's been a bit draggy for a while, but things are finally starting to fall into place and pick up speed. The characters are opening up and starting to cooperate with me (and each other), which is a tremendous help. I'm not going to set a goal date for completion yet, but I'm hoping to have a very sizable chunk of it finished by Christmas.

- Falls the Shadow, the futuristic/steampunk novel I've been posting with friends H.A. Titus and Elynn W. Marshe over at The Lost Scribes is wrapping up. The final segment will post October 15, and we'll be pulling the story from the website shortly after that to begin editing, start thinking about publishing, and start working on future Lost Scribes projects. Don't worry, there will still be plenty going on at The Lost Scribes. Those of you who've been following it can still expect something on the 1st and 15th of each month, as usual. More details on that to follow at a later date!

- October is going to be a very exciting and busy month. Most of the plans are still classified so I can't give out details just yet. But I will give you two clues. One is: a first-time meeting including myself and a very special person whose name I won't disclose... yet. The second is: The Writer's Lair is going to have its first-ever book giveaway contest, and friends, it's gonna be good. You will not want to miss it.

- It dawned on me today that NaNoWriMo begins in 37 days. Which is so not what I wanted to think about today. I've competed the last two years and would love to do it again... but I have absolutely no idea at all what story I'll write if I decide to compete this year. So, as if I didn't have enough to do, I have to start thinking about that now. *Note to Self: Start now, stocking up on chocolate-covered pomegranates.*

Those are my plans for this fall - at least, as we say here in the Ozarks, 'Lord willin' and the creek don't rise'.

What are your plans or hopes or goals for this fall?