With January and February gone, now is a good time to explain the long-term plan for Caimwind, ‘cos wow, it’s a long-term project.

During 2019, as I work on completing and releasing Silver Jill, I will conceptualise the world of Caimwind in daily artworks and stories. At the end of the year, these will be compiled into a nice printed volume for those who like to collect these things (me, I want one). Most of this is to build up the world, the mood, the link between familiar and mage.

But then what? Caimwind proper is… a 12 book long project. Yes, 12. Thankfully shorter manuscripts than The Naiad Chronicles, and probably all shorter than Silver Jill. I’m thinking 20k – 30k each. (The Naiad Chronicles – Messenger was 275k. I blame Angelo, he’s so dramatic.)

While Caimwind will be safe for children to read and will be heavily illustrated, it will be more of a universally aged project, with bolder storylines that aren’t always sugar-coated. Each of the first eleven books will follow a different mage and their dragon familiar, with their stories all combining into a larger, overarching storyline. Book twelve… that’s a secret.

I like the notion that not one of these mages (between the ages of about 10 – 17 years) is a “destined” child. They’re all regular kids who try their best and achieve something good. Some of these kids have disabilities. Some of them might struggle with anxiety and self-doubt. Others might be bold as brass, too cocky. There are the humans, the earthy dwarves, the selkies of the sea, and the pukas of the air. But all their stories connect, each as important as the others.

I hope to get the quick drafts of the first two books done this year, but given that I still need to finish The Naiad Chronicles – Guardian and the manuscript for the second Silver Jill book, that… might not be possible. We’ll see. Part of why I chose Caimwind as my daily project this year was because of the writing, and needless to say, writing something every day makes the process far less daunting. They’re only about 100 – 200 words a day, but they sure add up.