<p>It&#8217;s been a very long time since my last post. I just wanted to share that I&#8217;m heading over to Substack to try out something new. My Substack is called &#8220;A Place to Stand&#8221; and draws on my experience as a trauma survivor. Here&#8217;s a short excerpt from my first column: &#8220;In the coming weeks &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2024/11/18/new-substack/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">New Substack!

<p>Continuing the “Letters from Namora” series, in which Fourteen Stones’s people introduce themselves and their world. This is a letter from the archives of Valdena Filtraikas, a woman who rises well beyond her own expectations and will play a pivotal role in the futures of two nations. In this letter, she is a young student (mosevin) &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/03/02/a-letter-from-the-mosevin/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-

<p>A friend recently asked me what book(s) I would &#8220;un-read&#8221; if I could, to get to discover them all over again. This is one of them: Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. (Yes, it might be time to invest in a new copy. 😉 ) As you can see, I&#8217;ve read this book a lot. A &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/02/28/gnu-terry-pratchett/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">GNU Terry Pratchett</span></a></p>

<p>A &#8220;Letter from Namora&#8221; video, featuring Galvo Dendraikas, one of Sostavi&#8217;s political movers and shakers. Read the original Letter from the Council To find out more about Fourteen Stones, and get your own copy, please visit the book’s page. If you’d like regular updates from the blog, please consider subscribing. As always, thank you for visiting!</p>

<p>How do you stay motivated on a long-haul project? I&#8217;m working on this a lot lately during the revision process on my third novel. I&#8217;m one of those (maybe annoying) writers who usually does okay with motivation, at least when I&#8217;m caught up in a project. (Between projects is a totally different story. I get &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/02/21/life-sketching/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Life Ske

<p>A reflection on the trip to Spain that inspired Fourteen Stones. My memories of Cudillero, the real town that became Sostavi, capital city of Namora. The first thing I feel is what I wouldn’t give to do that again. We can’t have exactly the same experience back; if Paul and I were to go to &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/02/16/the-real-sostavi/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">The Real Sostavi</span></a></p>

<p>These last few days have been a little hectic, so I&#8217;m shamelessly borrowing from myself for today&#8217;s post. You might have seen some of my recent &#8220;Letters From&#8221; series, in which some of my favorite Fourteen Stones characters are featured here on the blog, in their own words. These letters are new content, rather than &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/02/14/letters-from-namora/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-

<p>Continuing the “Letters From” series, in which Fourteen Stones’s people introduce themselves and their world. ** Write a letter, my brother says. Letter? I say. Letter about what? I don’t do that kind of thing. Haven’t in years, not since my wife Virta and I got married and she moved out here to the village. &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/02/09/a-letter-from-the-farmer/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">A Letter from

<p>These days, I’ve been doing a lot of revising. Right after the New Year, I pulled out the draft of the novel I wrote last spring and summer. Taking another look at it has been teaching me a lot. I loved writing this book. It started out as a short story that I wrote in &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/02/07/the-whys/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">The Whys</span></a></p>

<p>The next in our series of letters from Fourteen Stones&#8216;s people. Here, a member of Namora’s governing Council introduces himself and Namoran politics. ** Galvo Dendraikas, at your service. I am a sventin, one of the seventeen members of Namora’s ruling Council serving our leader, the Tavin. I have been here in our capital city, &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/02/02/a-letter-from-the-council/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen

<p>I know I’ve been posting a lot about my book lately. Today’s post touches on it too (sorry!), but I’m thinking about the bigger question of creativity, and why this particular book, and the process it went through in getting published, feels like a real benchmark for me. I’m a trauma survivor. Only recently, I’ve &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/01/31/reclaiming/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Reclaiming</span></a><

<p>In which Fourteen Stones&#8216;s matriarch introduces herself. “Orchard-keeper” is only one of her titles, by no means the most important – but she will tell more. ** My name is Pelayut Silvenis. You’ve met my elder son Ribas, who is the zhinin of our little village, Lida. He is the caretaker, so to speak, of &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/01/26/a-letter-from-the-orchard-keeper/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">A Le

<p>Last week, I posted about how my book Fourteen Stones arrived “in the ink,” and how I got to see it for the first time. The best feeling. Book publishing is a strange game. In the writing process, you devote yourself for months or years to something that exists nowhere except inside your own head. &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/01/23/a-long-and-winding-road/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">A Long and Winding&nbsp;R

<p>In which my favorite character from Fourteen Stones introduces himself and his home&#8230; ** Where to begin? I have no real gift with words, I’m afraid. But I’ve tasked myself with these, and so my stubbornness will have to stand in the place of skill. My name is Ribas Silvaikas. I am the zhinin of &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/01/19/a-letter-from-the-zhinin/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">A Letter from the&nbsp

<p>I&#8217;ve been looking forward to writing this post for a long time. Yesterday, I finally got to hug my brand-new book, Fourteen Stones. If there&#8217;s anything like the experience of seeing your own story &#8211; the one you dreamed of, sweated over, adored and fought with, and gave the best of your energy to for &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2023/01/17/the-books-have-landed/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">The Boo

<p>Join me next Monday, December 12, at 5 pm EST for a wonderful Zoom talk with my friend and colleague Dr. Julia Lee Barclay-Morton! Julia and I have both recently had books published: her hybrid collection The Mortality Shot is her first, and Fourteen Stones is my second. Our books are very different, but Julia and I have a lot &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2022/12/06/dont-miss-it/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Don&#8

<p>I&#8217;m very excited to share a wonderful upcoming event. In a couple of weeks, on Monday December 12, at 5 pm EST, I&#8217;ll be giving a Zoom talk with my friend and colleague Dr. Julia Lee Barclay-Morton. Julia and I have both recently had books published: her hybrid collection The Mortality Shot is her first, &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2022/11/29/writing-talk-december-12/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Writin

<p>The blog has been quiet for the past couple of weeks&#8230;life&#8230; 😉 But I&#8217;m excited to share two upcoming Fourteen Stones events with you. The paperbacks are printed! My publisher will be sending out the preordered copies and other crowdfunder rewards soon. (I can&#8217;t wait to get my hands on my box of books. There &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2022/11/08/update-bookish-stuff/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-t

<p>This week I interrupt our Tuesday Creativity series to mention a couple of upcoming events&#8230;but the first one is also a creative boost, so that counts. 😉 Next Monday, October 24, at 6 pm EST, I&#8217;m giving a FREE workshop on Zoom: &#8220;Writing with Musical Inspiration.&#8221; This fun, no-stress workshop uses musical prompts as a &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2022/10/18/upcoming-events/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-re

<p>A musical prompt for today. This piece is an old favorite of mine that I&#8217;ve recently started re-learning (slow process!): Frederic Chopin&#8217;s Nocturne in C sharp Minor, Op. 27 no. 1, performed by Artur Rubinstein. I first learned this piece when I was thirteen. The name &#8220;nocturne,&#8221; &#8220;night music,&#8221; gives us a sense of the &hellip; </p> <p><a href="https://krisfaatz.com/2022/10/11/tuesday-creativity-4/" class="more-link">Continue reading <spa