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Shanna Swendson

@shannaswendson.bsky.social

1.6K followers 430 following 5.1K posts

Novelist and nerd. Author of the Enchanted, Inc. series and a lot of other stuff. http://shannaswendson.com/

shannaswendson.com

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · Oct 24

Since I've been gaining new followers and we can now pin posts, I think an introduction is in order. Hi, I'm Shanna, and I write various flavors of fantasy: contemporary humorous, portal, steampunk, paranormal mystery, and currently doing cottagecore cozy.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 13m

If I don't go, they'll tease me about keeping to myself. I enjoy the neighborhood gatherings, but on a cool, rainy evening, I'd really rather just stay in this time. Social awkwardness is fun.

Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 13m

So now I'm watching out the window, and no one else is coming up the street. I don't know whether to go back over and try knocking again louder or shouting, or what. I don't want this to be a "just come on in" neighborhood, so I'm not doing that.

Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 13m

When I ran into my neighbors downtown yesterday, they invited me for drinks on the porch this evening, or possibly inside, since it would be cold and rainy. They said to just watch for other people coming up the street. I saw someone on their porch, went over and knocked, but they never answered.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1h

This is for round loaves. The base is basically a skillet and can be used on the stove. Then there's a dome that goes over it. I got it at Aldi. King Arthur Flour has bread crocks in different shapes, and those are like a pizza stone that goes around the bread.

Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 2h

I've been using a cast iron Dutch oven, so it shouldn't make much difference, other than that the Dutch oven has a glass lid and isn't enameled. Now I can use the Dutch oven for things other than bread.

Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 2h

I made the harvest bread I pretty much live on during cold weather (it's got whole wheat flour mixed w/ bread flour, dried cranberries, golden raisins, and nuts). Maybe it's that I haven't had it in months, but I feel like it tasted better.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 2h

I bought a cast iron bread oven (basically a flipped over Dutch oven, with a skillet-like base and a dome lid, and you bake bread inside it in the oven, which gives you a crisp crust from trapping the steam) a few weeks ago and finally had a chance to use it today. Mmm, bread.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 3h

The Cozy the Day Away Sale ends today. Scoop up some cozy fantasy (and cozy-adjacent) books, including two of mine, Tea and Empathy (secondary world cozy fantasy) and Interview with a Dead Editor (cozy paranormal mystery). cozyfantasysale.promisepress.org

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 22h

I guess I saw the important part, the end of the game in which Texas won, so I got to see all the little school traditions and get a real dose of college nostalgia. I still know all the words to "The Eyes of Texas."

Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 22h

Then on the way home I ran into my next-door neighbors, the assistant pastor from church, and a friend (and her dog). Plus, the guy who gave me the theater tour lives nearby (I pass his place on the way to and from downtown). It was a nice little evening excursion.

Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 22h

The theater will have the old sound system from Skywalker Ranch when it's done, so it'll be the best theater sound in the region. The Art Deco bones are still there in the theater, so it's going to look cool when the restoration is complete.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 22h

I had a nice wander downtown. There was an Irish music group performing on the street (they block off the main street downtown on weekends), and I got a tour of the old Art Deco movie theater they're remodeling into a theater and performing arts center.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 22h

And as soon as I turned the game back on, Texas scored.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 23h

I watched the start of it, but I have very little patience for football. I can manage a quarter before I get bored. I watched enough to hear a bit of Texas Fight and have a moment of nostalgia, then decided to go out.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

What was supposed to be a cool, cloudy day has been bright and sunny. There's going to be an outdoor concert downtown, so I think I'll walk down there to have done something fun today. Tomorrow will be the rainy reading day (I hope).

Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

That book is on sale now as part of the Cozy the Day Away sale. (As is the first book in that cozy paranormal mystery series.) cozyfantasysale.promisepress.org

Cozy the Day Away Sale
A Two-Day Sale specifically for the cozy fantasy genre
Tea and Empathy $0.99
Sat/Sun Oct. 11-12th
Images show a little creature snuggled up with a pile of books and the Tea and Empathy book cover.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

And now, here I am. I realized almost everything I'd been writing (including books that never went anywhere) involved a character finding refuge in a little mountain town. Maybe my brain (or heart) was trying to tell me something.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

I'd been pondering and even researching a move for a couple of years, but writing a book about a woman who stumbles into a quirky village made me realize I was writing about what I wanted. The week the book was released, I took a trip to a place I wanted to move to see if I liked it.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

I did wrap up the series, but I couldn't go back to it. I haven't even read mysteries since then. With everything going on in the world, I needed something gentler, completely outside our place and time. One day, the story for a cozy fantasy book popped into my head.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

The person had been followed from another city, and they happened to shoot him right by my house. He crashed his car and later died on the block behind my house. A week or so later, someone I'd known since she was born was murdered. I couldn't see murder as entertainment anymore.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

While I was writing one of those books, a murder happened outside my house. I heard the gunshots, then watched the crime scene team working while I was writing the crime scene part of the mystery. I didn't know what had happened at the time. I later learned it was a drive-by shooting.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

Just before the pandemic started, I started writing a cozy paranormal mystery series. It seemed an obvious transition, since most of the "also bought" books for Enchanted, Inc. were cozy paranormal mysteries. But then some things happened.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

A while ago, I started doing posts about my books, then got sidetracked, so now back to it. I'm best known for the Enchanted, Inc. series, but my current series is the one that literally changed my life. Not because it was so successful, but because it made me realize some things.

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Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

It's not so much fear of weather on my face as it is that the road is through a mountain pass and is harrowing in perfectly clear weather, lots of S-curves and switchbacks and very narrow. I wouldn't want to do it with low visibility and a wet road.

Shanna Swendson @shannaswendson.bsky.social · 1d

Today, which was supposed to be cloudy, is as sunny as yesterday was supposed to be, but I don't want to head into the mountains because it's supposed to rain later in the day. I guess I'll do some housework, maybe take a walk in the park.

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