And Now For that Project I Hinted About

Drumroll, please…

It’s with much excitement and joy that I announce the Guild’s very first collaborative project: an illustrated anthology of short stories that we will be publishing in just a few months’ time!

For the past seven months, our Guild authors have been hard at work—brainstorming ideas, writing stories, and most recently, taking part in the full developmental editing process. Twenty-six wonderful writers (ages 15-21) submitted story drafts and gave each other extensive feedback on their character arcs, settings, plots, worldbuilding, narrative style, and story endings—working together to make one another’s stories even better!

Each author then met with me (the lead editor) for a 90 minute editing meeting where we workshopped their drafts and decided on changes and edits.

And let me be the first to say… these stories are already so good!

Starting in mid-January, we’ll go through the full line editing process (in small teams), begin working on book layout and cover design, and start actively promoting the book to the world.

At the same time, eight incredible artists (ages 15-19) have begun the work to create full-page illustrations for each and every story in a variety of styles and mediums! Even this process will be collaborative, with our artists and authors working together to find a shared vision for the illustrations.

When everything is ready, we’ll publish the book—and God-willing, it will be available for sale sometime in May!

I’m delighted to introduce our talented authors— Elsie Coppedge, Elisabeth G. Biggs, India Johnson, Claire Sims, Lily N. Smith, Romana Stewart, L.R. Sims, G. Gully, Rebecca Froyd, Addie D. Mueller, Joshua Ray Solomon Myers, C.E. Larke, Nellie Martin, Abigail Woolley, Lena Sabaka, Aubrey Marko, Ian Yenne, Simeon M.W. Dredge, Annabelle King, Eden Guagenti, Cora R. Bowen, Ella Rose Becker, Abby Talbert, Ava Berkey, Zoë Cottrell, and M.R. Linn

and our fantastic illustrators— Evie Warnemuende, Seb Burrows, Selah Myers, Clare Warnemuende, Lily N. Smith, Joshua Ray Solomon Myers, India Johnson, and Aubrey Marko. (Yes, some of our authors are also amazing artists!)

Over the next five months, we’ll be sharing updates, story blurbs, interviews with our authors and artists, behind-the-scenes accounts of the editing process, concept art, and much more!

I’m super proud of each and every Guildling’s hard work and collaborative spirit! ❤️

Please subscribe to get all the latest updates on our Guild Anthology, including where you can (eventually) preorder the book. We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Blessings and Happy New Year! 😊