What I’m Writing Now – 1 – (Sept. 23, 2016)

Hi There!

These days I am writing the Retail Witches novel and it is really coming along nicely. Writing it is really fun and I have had the chance to travel to St. Augustine (where the book is set) and while I was there I walked and rode my bike all over that place. It is America’s oldest city and it is also one of the most haunted (if you believe in that sort of thing). Plus there are about ten coffee houses and at least three that I know of are really good.

While I was there I did research for the book and got to do some very cool stuff, like search for and find houses where I imagine my characters to live, find locations for the witchcraft shops in the story, and talk to locals about local witches, ghosts, and (gasp) tourists.

I went on a ghost trolly tour and while the information and locations on the tour were quite interesting, the tour guide was more of a peppy cheerleader than a spooky ghost tour leader. But it was still fun and I would do it again. Maybe a walking tour would be better to try next time. I heard they have a haunted pub crawl that lets you take part in a different kind of “spirits”. We shall see.

So yes, right now I am writing the first book in my Retail Witches Urban Fantasy Series and that book is called Retail Witches and the Lost Mermaid Spell. It is about a witch shop in St Augustine named Avalon Spellshop. At this store real witches work and both witches and tourists shop. The owner is named Carol, and she is the older, wise mentor to the younger college-aged kids that work for her. They include studious Brit, vampy free-spirited Nicks, and rune expert Tanner.

Across town from Avalon Spellshop is a store called The Poison Apple that sells Hexes, Gothic Clothing, and Tattoos. The witches at The Poison Apple are decidedly dark.

There is also a host of other characters such as Carmine, the Italian Strega who is sophisticated and threatening, a DJ who spins house music vinyl at an after-hours club, Dan the ethnobotanist, a few faeries, a lutin, and a society of ghosts.

So you can imagine how much fun I had creeping around Saint Augustine with a notebook and my camera searching for clues to my story and for places where these awesome characters live and walk and do magic.

Oh and there are mermaids in the bay and they have their own rich lore and history and part of it includes being attracted to witches because witches and mermaids share the same color auras and it is believed that one created the other in a spell long ago lost. It is this very spell that pits Avalon Spellshop against The Poison Apple in a Paranormal Urban Fantasy Noir Detective Adventure that will…

Okay, Im getting too far ahead for a blog post!

So that is what I am writing these days and I think I will go back to it now. I can’t wait for it to be done and published so you can read about these crazy characters that have already become as real to me as friends.

Until next time,
Rock On!
Les