Greetings, Inklings!

This is Emily here, reporting to you from the, er… interesting state of Texas! Currently I am busy insulating my pipes and stocking up on bottled water, because we have a Big Freeze coming on this weekend. And well, I think we all remember how well Texas handles it when the weather gets a bit chilly! You know things might get bad when you spot Ted “Cancun” Cruz on a plane headed to the Caribbean—ruh roh!

THE WORLD KEEPS TURNING AND TURNING

While the weather here in Texas has been a rollercoaster, as per usual (December was accursedly hot!), the same could be said of the general state of the world so far at the beginning of 2026, especially here in America. More and more often lately, my mind has wandered to the haunting words of W.B. Yeats in his poem “The Second Coming”:

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world…

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand…

Yeats wrote these words a little over a hundred years ago, in a time that must have felt darker and more tumultuous than any other time in history. I think many of us feel that we’re currently living in another such time, when the old structures are falling apart, and the worst among us seem to have so much more energy and motivation than those who should be standing against them. And yet, like Yeats, I look toward the future with grim-faced hope. As dark and difficult as the times may be, surely some revelation is at hand. Surely a time of rebirth and rejuvenation must be around the corner, when all the old deceptions of the past lose their power, and humanity bursts panting and bleeding into a new, better era.

I hope for this, friends. I must hope, foolish though it may be, that darkness will give way to light, that struggle will give way to freedom. Many people will suffer; some will die. Many familiar features of the old world may be lost along the way—some which will be worth mourning, others which probably should have been ditched a long time ago. But how long have people been telling stories of rebirth, in which pain and loss ultimately lead to a brighter tomorrow?

Yes, we know how this goes.

Perhaps that’s why I still have hope for the future, in spite of everything: because all the stories I’ve ever read tell me so.

And this is one reason—just one of many reasons—why we all need stories so much! They give us hope when things seem hopeless, and open our minds to dream of what seems impossible. And dreaming of the impossible, of course, is always the first step toward making it possible.

For anyone looking for some good impossible dreams, or maybe just a little much-needed hope, I am always happy to recommend the books of Rebecca Solnit. Part memoir, part poetry, part history, part philosophy, her books always leave me feeling equal parts inspired and contemplative. In particular, A Paradise Built In Hell is a powerful account of how, contrary to media narratives, humans tend to come together and support each other during catastrophes.

WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH HQP?

Over here at Hook & Quill Press, so far this year we have had to make some changes, shuffle some furniture around a bit, reevaluate a few things. It’s been tough, I admit. But it’s also a lot of predictable growing pains for a small independent publisher! Yet we’re still going strong with our plans for this year, hoping that slowly, carefully, our own ambitious dreams will be brought to reality.

Last month saw the publication of our first book, Bludeye Beach by Eliwood S. Gheist, currently available in digital formats. If you haven’t already gotten a copy—and I would very much encourage you to do so!—you can find links on https://eliwoodsgheist.com/ or https://hookandquillpress.com/our-books/.

I was fortunate enough to beta read Bludeye Beach very early on, back when our small group of writers first gathered together on Discord almost a year ago, long before Hook & Quill Press was even a passing thought in our heads. As an English teacher, sometimes it’s hard for me to enjoy books like a normal person without immediately going into “teacher mode.” But Eliwood’s book very quickly had me attached to its lovable characters and the charming-yet-terrifying setting of its titular beach town. Keep your eyes peeled for the physical print version of this book, which will be available sometime in the near future! I know I’m very much looking forward to finally seeing it on my bookshelf.

With one book under our belt, we are looking forward to our goals for the rest of the year: publishing our zine (coming soon!), and even more importantly, a couple of new books. The next title on our list may just so happen to be one written by Yours Truly, about a legendary island best known for vanishing into the ocean thousands of years ago. In this version of the story—planned to be a trilogy—Atlantis is a wealthy society at the height of its power and privilege, which ultimately dooms itself thanks to belligerent factions of greedy imperialists and religious extremists.

Totally irrelevant to any situations today, of course. *Cough cough*

That book will also be coming soon, so make sure to follow Hook & Quill Press on Bluesky and Instagram and sign up for our Patreon. You don’t want to miss any exciting updates!

And while you’re waiting for more updates from HQP, in the meantime why not check out Rainbow Stars Unite, a new queer anthology featuring one author in particular who is totally not in any way related to our own very talented Kara Moon!

Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Rainbow Stars Unite is an anthology of LGBTQIA+ authors and their stories, which aim to capture a wide spectrum of queer identites and experiences. Writers were encouraged to respond to the theme of the Progress Pride Flag, and have developed work that is variously heartfelt, sensual, fantastical, poetic, mysterious, humorous and hopeful.

“It was an opportunity for queer writers to write in a space that didn’t censor, where we understood and accepted one another, and where we were working as one to make a taonga for our community,” says organiser and author, Hiria Dunning, a completely separate person from Kara Moon.

Book sales will raise funds for Outline Aotearoa, whose support services provide vital mental-health and identity-affirming care for rainbow communities across the motu.

This project was supported by funds from Creative Communities, and Boosted Campaign supporters. It launches on February 28, 2026, at Studio One — Toi Tū, 1 Ponsonby Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland 1010. Tickets are free with registration, and the anthology can be bought here.

WRITING WHEN YOUR BRAIN WON’T COOPERATE

I’m going to be honest, Inklings: I haven’t been writing very much lately. With all the stress of a new school year starting, plus getting sick, plus the dangerously feverish state of my country right now, it has been hard to find the motivation.

But never fear! I shall be back in the flow again soon, I’m sure. This is a rhythm I have always followed, much to my frustration: periods of exhilarating productivity, followed by the inevitable doldrums. Sometimes the doldrums happen because of external reasons, like now; other times it’s simply that my brain will not work with me. I think most, if not all, writers have had those days, weeks or months when the words simply don’t want to come.

Long ago, I heard some writing advice—I want to say it was from Stephen King, but honestly it could have been from anyone—that a good writer keeps writing even on the Bad Brain Days. Even when you really don’t feel like it, you set yourself an hour or two each day and you just write, no matter what. This, I was told, was the key to success. This is how you did it if you were really serious about writing.

I do think there’s some merit to this advice, to making yourself write even when you don’t want to. It can be a bit like exercising: sometimes you really don’t feel like it, but once you get over the initial hurdle of just starting, it ends up not being as miserable as you thought, and afterwards you’re very glad you did it!

Sometimes it’s like that. But other times, not so much.

I have had days where I tried to force myself to write just for the sake of getting something on the page, even when I didn’t feel like it. And all I succeeded in doing was writing lifeless garbage that eventually wound up where it belonged, in the metaphorical dumpster. I have learned over the years that, at least in my experience, sometimes you simply have to be still for a while and let the story cook. It could be that there is an idea—a new angle to a scene, a new character decision, a new complication to the conflict, a major plot breakthrough or just some minor tweak—that hasn’t fully germinated yet, but the story simply can’t go on without it. If I try to push ahead anyway, impatiently racing for the finish line rather than giving the story the space it needs to grow organically, I only end up blundering farther and farther down a wrong path until I hit a dead end and am forced to turn back.

Not everyone works the same way, and that’s fantastic! I have writer friends who can knock out a first draft in a month or two, where it takes me several months. I know writers who not only can stick to a consistent writing schedule, but need that structure to keep themselves going. I think that’s awesome, and honestly I envy that their brains work that way.

But for those out there who are like me, I want to encourage you to give yourself that time to rest and let the ideas cook. Don’t feel like a failure if you can’t manage to get a few hundred words on the page every day. Of course, don’t let your rest turn into procrastination either (that, admittedly, is my own pitfall). But at the same time, don’t force yourself into a mold that you weren’t made to fit. Balance is possible.

And perhaps, like me, it may take you months to get just that first draft done. But once it is done, it will be so much better than it would have been if you had tried to force it to grow when it wasn’t ready.

This year, I am hoping to finally finish my YA dystopia TENEMENT, an unsettling mystery story about a society of people who live in an infinite building. This is a story that has been cooking in my brain since—I’m not kidding—2009! Of course I only started making a genuine effort to expand it into a full novel in recent years, but I am so extremely excited to finally bring it to life in its full and complete form!

I am also hoping to finish, or at least come close to finishing, a first draft of the sequel to my upcoming novel, THE GODS OF ATALANTIS. The island won’t be sinking just yet—that’s for Book 3, heh heh—but there will be some smooching, that I can promise you!

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS QUILLBERT?

Quillbert is right here with me in Texas, hunkering down inside because it’s so cold and rainy out there! He might be an octopus, but he still prefers to be inside where it’s warm and toasty. At least, that’s what he told me. And who am I to question?

In the meantime, he’s helping me prep for my classes with a little light reading. Okay, well, maybe light isn’t the right word…