2025 Year in Review

Hi all,

It’s time to take a look at my goals for 2025 and see what I achieved. I wanted to push myself a little bit this year and I think on the whole it was manageable. I didn’t hit all of my goals, but that’s okay!

Write three books.

This year I wrote the first drafts of:

Game of Air and Lightning

The Severed Pantheon

Cloud’s Core

It was the year of standalone books, it seems!

Publish two books.

This year I published Curse of Anubis #2: The Blazing Serpent and Curse of Anubis #3: The Frozen Eye.

Get two covers designed.

The covers for Curse of Anubis #3: The Frozen Eye and Curse of Anubis #4: The Dead Kingdom were both designed by Deranged Doctor Design this year.

Self-edit two books.

The last two books in the Curse of Anubis series were self-edited and sent off to my editor, ready for publication.

Send all my reader magnets to my editor.

All of them were edited by her and I feel like the stories have really improved!

Read 100 books.

This year I read 121!

Write the Game of Air and Lightning reader magnet.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get this one done. I’ve had so many ideas for it that I’ve started writing and then scrapped not too far in. I’m still trying to find the perfect story to write.

Change my writing schedule.

My writing months are now March, July and November. It works a lot better now that they’re more stretched out.

Write 12 short stories.

I initially planned to write a short story a month, but I forgot about the months that I’d be writing books. So, I managed to write ten short stories this year. My newsletter subscribers have read most of them.The stories are:

Affection

Blue Once More

Fire Dragon

Neglected Vote

Red

Run-Along

The Bus

The Last Excavation

Two Paths

Unnamed

Research different kinds of mythology.

I’ve done a lot of research this year into Japanese mythology and Celtic mythology. I haven’t come up with any concrete story ideas for either yet, but I’m hoping the more I read about it, the more ideas will come to me.

That’s it for this week! Next week I’ll be posting about my goals for 2026, so you don’t want to miss it. See you next Sunday.

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before they disappear:

Brand New December Fantasy Adventures

Long Live the Queen: Amazing Women in Fantasy & Science Fiction (Dec 2025-Jan 2026)

New Year, New Monsters 6: From the Skies

What Jobs Would my Characters Have?

Hi all,

This week I'm going to write about something that I think will be quite fun. If the events of their books didn't happen, what jobs would the main characters be doing? I'm only going to do this for books that are currently published, I might do this again in the future once I have more books out!

Hazel - Elemental Dragons

Hazel would be working in a laboratory alongside Marco. She would be working in the administration department with Aqueous, who would spend most of his days sleeping. Outside of work, she would be involved in a lot of charity work for dragon rights and to help commoners.

Cheyenne - Years

If the world wasn't constantly under threat of destroying itself, Cheyenne would struggle to find her place in life. With so many sisters, she would struggle to stand out amongst them and would feel pressured to do as well as them. After years of job hopping, she would go into the beauty sector. She would become a popular hairdresser and eventually start her own business.

Audra - Mute

Due to her anxiety, Audra would really struggle to find a job. After years of trying, she would eventually find a job in a warehouse. Her colleagues are quite happy with the fact that she doesn't speak and she feels comfortable for the first time in her life.

Shannon - Celestial Plague

Her phobia of flying would make her hard to employ in most sectors. After years of doing random cleaning, waitressing and hospitality jobs, she would eventually find a job in an animal shelter that she absolutely loves. She would climb the ranks to supervisor and advocate for animals when no-one else would.

Ashleigh - Celestial Plague

If Ashleigh weren't a part of Warren's cult, she would have been brought up in a much more healthy household. So, she would become an art teacher! Due to a much more positive mindset about her power, she'd be much happier using it and would love teaching children to express themselves.

Raya - Celestial Plague

Out of her friends, Raya is the one who would feel the most pressured to go into a good job. She would refuse to use her power for anything and would instead force herself into a corporate environment. After years of burnout, she would start her own baking business from home, mostly supplying birthday parties and weddings.

Jenna - Celestial Plague

Jenna would work in the same industry as Raya, but thrive in it. She would become one of the youngest CEOs of her time and would be known as a ruthless business woman. She would also work part-time as a diving instructor.

I won't go into Tahira as I would like the Curse of Anubis series to be fully published! I don't want to accidentally give away what she's like in later books or how her feelings might change if nothing had happened.

That's it for this week! If you enjoyed reading, let me know and I'll do another one! See you next Sunday. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles while they’re still available:

Brand New December Fantasy Adventures

Long Live the Queen: Amazing Women in Fantasy & Science Fiction (Dec 2025-Jan 2026)

Curse of Anubis Virtual Advent Calendar

Hi all,

The virtual advent calendar is back for the sixth year running! This year, the theme is Curse of Anubis. There will be twenty-four facts spread over twenty-four days! The facts will be about the following subjects:

The Virus

Chosen Ones

Duat

Gods

Each topic will get six facts each.

As with all the previous years, an ebook can be won on December 25th! The following books are eligible:

Blood and Water

Venom and Earth

Glass and Ice

Cinder and Fire

Mute

Years

Nirvana

Heaven

Purgatory

Hell

The Plague’s Hope

The Blazing Serpent

The Frozen Eye

The Dead Kingdom - to be claimed on release day April 2026

If you would like a chance at winning one of my ebooks, please read the rules below and go to my Facebook page: Jessica Turnbull Author.

If you’re unsure what you should be looking for, here are some previous facts that have been posted:

I hope you have fun if you participate! Next year I’ll be doing a calendar for Game of Air and Lightning! Here is my Facebook page again so you can participate: Jessica Turnbull Author.

Good luck to everyone who enters, see you next Sunday!

PS; don’t forget to check out this book bundle for new Fantasy books:

Brand New December Fantasy Adventures

November 2025 Writing Project Wrap-Up

Hi all,

With November finished, it's time for an update on Cloud's Core! My final word count is...

78,618 words!

I was aiming for a word count of around 72K-73K but the story just kept going! I'm quite pleased about this, as I really enjoyed writing this book.

Unfortunately I did fail with having a casual writing project, but that's okay. I now know that I need a better structure in order to write. From now on, I'll be writing books during my designated writing months: March, July and November. This will just be for books, I'll still write short stories outside of this! If needed, I'll add another writing month for an extra book if I really want to write it.

As I wrote Cloud's Core, I slowly realised that the genre was changing. It's gone from a YA Sci-Fi to a YA Sci-Fi Horror. This was unexpected, but as I was writing this made more sense. The horror elements make the book a lot more interesting and it was nice writing another horror book.

The main character, Aliyah, goes on a school trip to learn more about her city's electricity supply, which is generated by a core in a massive building. But, she and her friends become trapped inside when the building goes on lock down. They have to avoid running into Grounded, people who are now unable to fly and seem to be controlled by an unseen force.

With a flying cat at her side, she tries to lift the lock down so she can escape. But there's something else that wants to get out too. Something that triggered everything...

For those who remember my Cat Competition, you may recognise one of the winners in this book! Emmylou was the winner for Cloud's Core and is now helping Aliyah navigate her way through the events of the book.

This book has been in my ideas folder for years and I'm so glad that the first draft is finally written! I think the next book I write will be a horror, but now that I've just written one I might change my mind. I've got until March to decide, so I've got time!

That's it for this week, see you next Sunday! 

PS; don’t forget to check out this book bundle for new Fantasy books:

Brand New December Fantasy Adventures

Reasons Why I DNF Books

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about reasons why I DNF (Did Not Finish) books. I know there are a lot of readers out there who will persevere throughout books, even if they aren't enjoying them. Just so they can say that they have finished them. But if I'm really not enjoying a book, then I won't continue reading it.

Too much description.

When I'm reading books, I hate it when there are just paragraphs and paragraphs of description. I tend to skip over these parts a lot if they're excessive. But if a book starts and there's just pages of description and it doesn't improve the more I get through it, then I will DNF it. If I end up skipping most of the beginning of the book because of description, then I don't see much point in continuing to read it.

Stereotypical characters.

If all of the characters in the book are just stereotypes, I don't continue reading it. I don't want to read a book about a woman constantly having to get saved by the male main character, who she then immediately falls in love with. I want characters who have a bit more depth than that.

Graphic abuse scenes.

I don't like reading books with sexual abuse scenes in them. If I come across one, no matter how much I'm enjoying the book, it will most likely get DNF'd.

Annoying child characters.

I hate it when a book contains an annoying kid that keeps getting everyone in tough situations that then ends with people dying. Especially if that child will then do so the same thing again and again, without learning their lesson.

Very slow burners.

I'm usually okay if a book starts slow, but if it feels like a slog to read, then I will DNF it. If I have to force myself to keep reading after one hundred pages where nothing is really happening, I just put the book down.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

Have I Always Wanted to be an Author?

Hi all,

The topic of this week's blog post is something that I get asked a lot by readers and other authors. I don't think this will surprise anyone, but the answer is...

Yes! I've always wanted to be an author.

When I was little, I was always asked by people what I wanted to be when I grew up. My answer was always the same - an author. At school teachers did try to steer me in other directions, but I just wasn't interested. As a child, I was incredibly anxious to the point where I didn't speak most of the time. I saw this as a real hindrance to any career prospects I had, as I didn't want to deal with people.

Over my school years, we had to take online tests to help us decide what career path would be best for us. I always scored 90% author. The closest second was 6% translator, with the other 4% being random jobs that would equal 0.5% of the score at most. So many teachers were furious and would make me re-take the test in front of them, but it still came out the same thing. Author would always be in the top spot by miles.

My granddad especially was a big supporter of my writing. He encouraged me to keep doing it and pursue writing as a job when I got older. I can still remember the look of pure joy on his face when I handed him the first copy of Blood and Water.

As I grew older, my anxiety improved a lot to where I could handle a job that involved some interaction with people. But it's still not where my heart lies. I've always written stories, now books. No matter how hard people tried to tell me otherwise, I'm supposed to be an author.

I love writing, and I will always write. Even if it's not as a job, I will continue to do it.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoy reading! See you next week. 

The Dead Kingdom Cover Design

Hi all,

It’s time for the cover reveal of the last book in the Curse of Anubis series, The Dead Kingdom. This cover has also been done by the awesome Deranged Doctor Design! This book will be out in April 2026.

As always, I’m going to go through some of the core aspects of the cover design!

• Bastet and Tahira are once again on the cover, this time with Bastet in a different one of her cat forms.

• This time they are within the plane of the dead. As this is the last book of the series, I wanted this book cover to take place on a different plane to the others.

• The pyramid represents one of Ra’s temples, which the main conflict of the book takes part in.

• The colour scheme for this book is red.

• This book also has sand on the cover, which has been the same across the whole series.

• The typography and series branding is the same across all the books.

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.

Will I Write About Dinosaurs?

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about dinosaurs! More importantly, will I write about them?

I absolutely love dinosaurs and when I was growing up I used to love watching shows about dinosaurs and reading books about them. I still do all that today!

I've tried to plot a dinosaur book before and nothing has really come to me. Nothing that hasn't been done before and would spice up the genre. I would love to write about them, but I'd need a good enough idea to give them justice.

My favourite dinosaur of all time is the Velociraptor. I've tried to work this dinosaur in particular into books before, but it just hasn't worked out. I'd love to write a dinosaur themed book, but at the moment I have no plans to do so. Whenever I come up with a new book idea I hope that the next one will be about dinosaurs, but unfortunately it hasn't happened yet.

If I could, I would write a book about someone with a Velociraptor as a companion or pet. But that's as far as I've gotten, plot wise, which isn't enough to write an entire book about, unfortunately.

Maybe one day I'll come up with a great idea for a dinosaur book that I'll absolutely love. But currently there are no plans to write about dinosaurs.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next Sunday. 

PS; looking for some horror books to read this month? Check out this book bundle:

Horror Books for Halloween!

The Best Rewards for Writing

Hi all,

This week I'm going to tell you about my best rewards for writing. Sometimes it can be hard to get through a certain part of a book, and a reward can be a good incentive to get you through it.

Reading.

This is especially true if I'm really enjoying a book and I want to get back to it. So after I've hit my daily word count, I'll go back to the book.

YouTube.

I watch a lot of YouTube videos! What's great is if my favourite creators have uploaded while I've been writing. Then it feels like they're giving me a special reward for hitting my goal!

Playing Videogames.

At the moment I'm really into Pokemon Legends ZA, so that will be one of my rewards throughout November. I just love getting to sit back and play through a different story after adding to my own one!

Watching TV.

Although I don't do this too often, I will occasionally watch a TV show as a reward. I'm waiting for a lot of my favourite shows to release new seasons, so I might not do this as much this month.

Food rewards.

Sweets, cakes and sometimes biscuits are nice rewards for writing. Sometimes I'll just reward myself by having some extra dessert, just something to give me a little boost.

Cinema.

If there's a film out that I want to see, I make sure to get my writing done before I see the film. That way I don't have to worry about it again when the film is over. I can enjoy it in peace.

That's it for this week. How do you reward yourself after writing? Let me know in the comments. See you next Sunday. 

PS; if you’re looking for a new horror book to read, check out this book bundle:

Horror Books for Halloween!

Will I Write Another Horror Book?

Hi all!

This is question I get a lot from my readers, especially ones who enjoyed Mute. So I thought I'd give my answer...

Definitely!

I currently have a few ideas for horror books floating around in my ideas folder. But I've been doing a lot of research because I feel like horror is such a hard genre to get right, and I want to make sure my books are as good as they possibly can be. But, I'll give you a few tidbits on what I'm planning! Hopefully I'll get the chance to write one of them next year!

The clicking woman.

This book follows a girl who is being stalked by a woman. The woman mostly clings to the ceiling above the girl, and reveals herself with a series of clicking. The girl doesn't know why she's being stalked and is trying her best to lose the woman.

Puppet master.

A girl and her friends spend the night in the woods. In the morning, her friend wakes up with an entity following her around. The others refuse to acknowledge the entity, as it will attract one to them. The girl deliberately acknowledges the entity and tries her best to help her friend lose it before it consumes her.

I think puppet master will be my next horror writing project, most likely my March 2026 project. I've really missed writing pure horror books and can't wait to get back into it!

That's it for this week, see you next week! 

PS; if you’re looking for some free books, check out this book bundle:

Dark Themes in Fantasy and Science Fiction (Sept-Oct)