{"id":1199,"date":"2026-02-17T19:24:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/?p=1199"},"modified":"2026-02-20T03:49:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T03:49:17","slug":"february-fantasy-events-and-writing-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/?p=1199","title":{"rendered":"February Fantasy Events, and Writing Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With 2026 off to a totally dystopian start, allow me to transport your mind back to Ancient Greece with a writing update. And if you desire to physically<\/em> portal to a different time and place, I have some suggestions to help there, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

War of Helinthia Update<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I wrote over 22,000 words in November for\u00a0Epic of Helinthia<\/em>\u00a0book 3, 12,000 in December, and 23,000 in\u00a0January. Seems like I should be close to finishing, right? Sadly, no.\u00a0I tried to rush through the first draft, resulting in sloppy characters and problematic plotlines.\u00a0And the\u00a0Muse refused to\u00a0let me continue until I fixed them.\u00a0This novel\u00a0has 6 POVs, so even the smallest tweaks to a single chapter have ripple effects across all the rest, and I needed some big tweaks to multiple chapters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since starting War of Helinthia<\/em> in February of 2025, I have written 153,013 words, but only 98,388 are here to stay. That’s 54,625 words sacrificed on the altar of the Muse. It was a necessary sacrifice though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

War of Helinthia<\/em> WILL be releasing this year, just not as soon as I’d hoped. I will not take your passion and love for my series and my characters for granted. You deserve a completed epic, not a half-assed series that cuts corners to meet deadlines. My new Release date is 1 October 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

February Fantasy Events<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now for the physically transporting experiences I promised. I’ll be an attending author at two incredible events this month that you don’t want to miss!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flora and Fauna’s Winter Fairy Market<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sunday, 22 February in Lexington, SC<\/strong> will be a magical outdoor market. A mini Renaissance Faire, if you will. Dress up in your fantasy garb and shop all things whimsical, eclectic, and handcrafted with love. Baked goods, jewelry, tarot, books, ironwork from a real forge, and tons more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Learn More about Winter Fairy Market<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Front Paige Media Book Fair<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Saturday, 28 February in Raleigh, NC<\/strong> is an explosive book fair, featuring hundreds of authors, book vendors, coffee, and gifts. You subscribed to my newsletter because you love books. So this will be your heaven, trust me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Learn More about Front Paige Media<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With 2026 off to a totally dystopian start, allow me to transport your mind back to Ancient Greece with a writing update. And if you desire to physically portal to a different time and place, I have some suggestions to help there, too. War of Helinthia Update I wrote over 22,000 words in November for\u00a0Epic of Helinthia\u00a0book 3, 12,000 in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[39,40,41],"class_list":["post-1199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-book-events","tag-local-events","tag-small-business"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgX4is-jl","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Reading-wrap-up-2025.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1199"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1233,"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199\/revisions\/1233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjpankey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}