I'm writing to you in the midst of some catch-up pain.

What's catch-up pain, you may ask? Well, when you have to get through several tough (if glorious) events all at the same time, you tend to tense up and push all your pains and woes off to one side. I tell myself "no, you're not allowed to feel anything yet. There's the end of school, the kickstarter, and five thousand other things on your plate. Tough it out."

After white-knuckling through everything, you finally get a break, and a chance at healing. And that's when your body starts to unclench...releasing all the stress and pain you've been holding inside. And guess what? They like to manifest as muscle pain.

I'm writing this in part to explain why the last week I haven't been able to do everything I wanted to. Posting on social media, writing more lore posts. But I've been focused on figuring out what the summer looks like for three wonderful girls who need to unleash four metric tons of energy every day, and every part of the actual writing for Arcane Inkdustries (more on that below).

Everyone says that I should relax, and just focus on the kids. Which is extremely hard for me to do. I always feel like if I'm not doing 4-8 hours of work on Arcane Inkdustries every day, then I'm failing at some sort of invisible work test.

But I'm not. There's a great team behind me on this. My kids are beautiful, even if they can be terrors sometimes. And I just need to relax.

I write this because I want you to know that there's a real cost to everyone when you try to bully your way through your own body's physical, mental, and emotional limits. You need to take some time for yourself. EVERY DAY. Or you will unravel.

If you have kids like I do, sit in the yard or on the porch after bedtime. Try to play that instrument you never get to. Or video games. Read every one of my books (joking, mostly). Do what you need to do to not just recharge your batteries, but unwind your tension.

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you have a wonderful week.

And to Fathers everywhere: Happy Father's Day.

State of the Inkdustries

Believe it or not, we are still in a really good place. We are starting the process for finding our cover artist for The Shattered Wing. Yes, I know my art was super awesome, but I think everyone would appreciate a professional artist for the epic fantasy work. There will be a map, and concept art, and we are so excited about the process!

The comics are going slowly but surely. I am almost done drafting volume 2 of Legends of the Realm, and editor John Robinson and I are putting the final touches on the one-shot comics before handing them off to our art teams.

Be one of the first to read our next novel

For the past several years, I've been working on the first novel set in the world of Camriddeon, Dannisfire, and beyond. After a professional editorial assessment and multiple rounds of revision, the manuscript is finally ready for its next stage: beta readers.

I'm looking for a small group of epic fantasy readers willing to read an early version of the novel and share their honest feedback.

A few details:

• This is an Epic Fantasy novel, not comic
• Approximately 185,000 words
• Book One of a planned series (three-quarters of the way through book 2!)
• Feedback requested by August 31, 2026

I'm particularly interested in hearing from readers who enjoy large-scale fantasy series such as The Wheel of Time, The Stormlight Archive, The Faithful and the Fallen, The Lord of the Rings, and other epic fantasy adventures.

As a beta reader, you'll get an early look at the novel, help shape the final version before publication, and have the opportunity to be recognized in the acknowledgements section of the finished book.

If you're interested, please fill out the beta reader application form below:

Thank you to everyone who has followed the development of this project over the years. I'm excited—and admittedly a little nervous—to finally share this story with readers.

Where to Find Us Next

If you want to read more of our short stories, poetry, see behind-the-scenes work, or support everything that Arcane Inkdustries is doing, click the link and sign up to be a Patreon supporter now.

Thank you for reading. I hope that this sparked a piece of magic for you this week.

Until next time.

Blessings,

Jack Holder

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