Ends and Beginnings

fAngus is tired of my bullshit. I finished the first draft of my next CCB book two days ago. As of the end of today I’m on vacation for a whole glorious week. No deadlines, no work, no obliga…

I spent some time at the cabin this week with Grandma and Sarah. We didn’t melt, but it was close. I had just enough rest to feel motivated to work on unpacking and organizing the house more …

We have a lone doe hanging around in the yard this spring and early summer, ignoring the dogs barking at her in favor of ALL the available weeds abundantly thriving in the yard. It’s possible…

There’s an invisible line in many middle-aged lives (not all, but enough to become meme/cozy murder mystery/joke worthy) where the excitement of leaving behind a busy work week to let off ste…

I’m early this week because Beltane is Friday, if you celebrate, and I wanted to share an shortened version of a ritual in my book, Defying Shadows: For Witches and Pagans Battling Cancer and Chronic ...

I've been mostly posting Merv and fAngus stuff lately because my old man usually contents himself with napping in the shade (and dirt, because of course it's in the dirt) where he can see the driveway. This way, he can nap with one beady Shepherd-guard eye open as needed. My boy is always on watch. Last week, when the siding crew came to get their equipment from the dog yard, someone closed the gate but didn't latch it.

"HIGH ALERT! HIGH ALERT! HEY HEY HEY GET OFF MY LAWN!! Those yard guys are here stealing my poop AGAIN!! MOTHER! Let me out so I can attack! MOTHER WHYYYYY won't you let me out? PLEASE? I will bark and nose-boop you and growl all my scary concerned growls to save us all!" - Minerva, probably. Welcome to Wednesday mornings with the poop patrol guys. Sigh. Still one of the best services out there. Ragnar, for the record, has zero fucks to give about the whole 15 minute weekly kerfuffle.

So in this morning's neighborhood Face-space group, which is often full of the usual messy racist, classist diatribes by "anonymous123456" users and occasionally punctuated with gloriously kind or wholesome posts, a man seemingly forgot it was not a dating app. His pic was clean cut and suited, his description was vague and well written and dapper enough for a middle-aged man looking for a companion.

So I got this super cool email from my publisher today: he sent it to all the authors for free marketing. The hitch: I'd have to do a VIDEO for DS and send it to the much-better-known witch on social media, who will then post the videos regularly on their socials to market. It's a fabulous opportunity. I am a writer because I hate video.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Rubi Morningtail is a nearly powerless ribbon dancer in the lowest caste in the Silver Tyger Dominion, one of the four realms in the world based on the elements. In a world where magic rules, she has only the barest hint of yin, and she's a refugee of a dominion shamefully decimated by demons.

So, a couple weeks ago I posted I was about to have my first Zometa infusion and cross all the things and all that. The universe put together some, hmm, interesting factors the week after that appointment that led to an interruption in my regularly scheduled programming, which also (annoyingly) led to me missing Paganicon entirely. Sigh. First, this was SK's first time in the Oncology infusion area, and I think it weirded him out some.

So, a couple weeks ago I posted I was about to have my first Zometa infusion and cross all the things and all that. The universe put together some, hmm, interesting factors the week after that appointment that led to an interruption in my regularly scheduled programming, which also (annoyingly) led to me missing Paganicon entirely. Sigh. First, this was SK's first time in the Oncology infusion area, and I think it weirded him out some.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Have you ever wished you could jump into a book and be in that world? As a book witch, Rainy March can do exactly that. Rainy and her furry sidekick, Koshka the cat jump in and out of books to defend stories from book burners (the most evil of adversaries) and occasionally return a wayward character to their plotline before a beloved classic is forever changed.

Today is the new infusion day. I've worked extra every day this week so I'm done when I leave for the appointment, because if I have any ick feelings I can go to bed right after. If I'm physically fine, I have the afternoon off to read, write, play cello, or maybe walk in the golf course to dissipate the anxiety.

Jump on the bitch bus peeps, the ride's a doozy. In today's episode of why breast cancer is an unceasing ride of indignities, I give you a few details from an essay I'm working on about the definition of grit. When I finished* cancer treatment six years ago this summer. Wait. Not far enough back. Let me start again. *hahahaha finished...I was naive.

The Cancer and Chronic Illness monthly support group for Pagans (in Minneapolis, at Magus Books and Herbs) had an attendee in February, which was a wonderful bit of growth. One of the topics that popped up was how folk in this crappy club none of us want to be in have insights that outsiders just can't truly understand, simply because we have experienced things outsiders haven't.

This isn’t an Imbolc post. Not because I’d be over a week late for those who are strict about holiday celebrations (no shade, I just didn’t intend to do a specific holiday post th…

This isn't an Imbolc post. Not because I'd be over a week late for those who are strict about holiday celebrations (no shade, I just didn't intend to do a specific holiday post this year), but because Imbolc is the start of a whole slew of witchy business after months of rest. Samhain to Yule is a time of reflection and shadow work for me, and around Yule and into the cold of January is a time to rest.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. Agnes Aubert has no time for the destructive shenanigans magicians are up to in Montreal. Winter is closing in, her shelter's roof is ruined by irresponsible magic fights, and she and her rescue cats are having a hell of a time finding a new space to rent. Unfortunately, much of the city considers cats to be pests at best, vermin at worst, and Agnes's funds are thin.

I received and ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Fifteen years ago, young graduates Rhett and Lucinda are a month out from their wedding when Jenn comes to their small town and catches Rhett's attention. Unfortunately for Jenn, her arrival unintentionally sets off a series of events resulting in Jenn's death and bitter ripples for the young couple that reverberate through their relationship, their families, and the town for years to come.

At the end of last winter I bought myself cross country skiing gear. I had a hysterectomy between Yule and New Years in 2024/2025, so there wasn't any point in getting geared up during the season, but I wanted to be ready for this winter. This winter has been a little wild with house renovations and all the December madness of school things and holidays, but on the last day of 2025 I finally managed to dig my skis and poles out from the back of the garage.

It's the week between Solstice/Yule/Christmas and the New Year, which means it's that weird twilight zone time where nothing means anything, everything is dark and sleepy (at least for me), and work is a series of super productive bursts followed by long fallow periods of brain rot. So far this week I've managed to read the new Dan Brown book and discover I missed two in the series.

It's dark in Minnesota most of the time* these days. The sun comes up after 7:30am and sets by 4:30pm as we roll toward the winter solstice this weekend. Today is weirdly warm: everything is melting and rainy out, which seems odd and ominous. Not because of global warming, necessarily, although that's an overriding issue, but because this soft and melty mush will be glare ice by the end of the day.

2025 has been quite the series of ups and downs.

Ok, this book happened a bit by accident or divine intervention. I was at a Barnes & Noble looking for Yule cards and needed a quick break. The section by the restrooms in that BN is NOT poetry nor mythology: it's political non-fiction, but this book was eye level on the shelf facing me as I walked past to the restroom hallway and immediately caught my eye.

A few weeks ago I went on a quick girls' trip up the North Shore to a gorgeously quiet cabin resort. Part relaxing-few-days before the insanity of the holidays hits, part traditional fall writing inspiration trip, we holed up in a two bedroom wooden cabin with no TV, no kids or spouses, and no concrete plans. Just books, snacks, and a blissful few days by my favorite inland spooky freshwater ocean.

The other day I got an email titled "Gen X Women: The Latchkey Crones" and honestly, that sounds like murder mystery series I'd read. Or watch. Preferably set in some small village somewhere, although it'd more likely be tired-as-fuck middle aged women who add murder solving to managing teenage dramas, the usual everyday life partner issues, teaching driving, construction, getting homework handled, coordinating aging parents/grandparents/inlawparents, neighborhood to-dos, middle management work bullshit, pet disasters, school conferences, work trips, and a pile of laundry that never ends.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Powerful mortal women of Greek and Roman myth rarely fared well against the masculine prowess of the Big Damn Heroes on their divinely blessed/cursed quests, even Queen Dido, who was a legendary leader long before she had the...misfortune...of kindly assisting war refugees from Troy. In Aeneas's myth, she is reduced to a lovestruck tragedy.

Photo is the cover of Defying Shadows captioned with "Book Signing with Jessica Settergren: "Defying Shadows: For Witches and Pagans Battling Cancer and Chronic Illness" SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2025 2:00PM CT Author Event Not long ago I wrote about steps to success, and how getting a book I wrote on the shelf at a Barnes & Noble hits me deep in the feels as a "ok, real writer" step.

Photo is the cover of Defying Shadows captioned with "Book Signing with Jessica Settergren: "Defying Shadows: For Witches and Pagans Battling Cancer and Chronic Illness" SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2025 2:00PM CT Author Event Not long ago I wrote about steps to success, and how getting a book I wrote on the shelf at a Barnes & Noble hits me deep in the feels as a "ok, real writer" step.

Due to a death in the family, I'm unable to attend the Women & Spirituality Conference tomorrow in Rochester, Minnesota. I'm sorry to miss it, and I'm terribly sorry if you were planning on attending my time slot, but the funeral is this weekend. The best prepared plans are nothing to Fate, schedule. May all of you at the conference enjoy every second of it, and may your journey be full of cup-filling, spirit soothing moments this weekend.

The Women & Spirituality Conference is dedicated to deepening our connections, embracing our wholeness and awakening our wisdom.

YouTube video by Witchy Corner Productions

Twenty-*cough* and some years ago, I'd moved from my hometown to a suburb of Minneapolis for a job and desperately wished I could move back. I spent the first eight months or so leaving from work at 3:30 on Friday to drive home, coming back after 10 on Sunday night for the next work week. I still had my apartment for months: it was supposed to be temporary.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. On a dark road in the middle of nowhere, a slip of a girl in almost no clothes jumps into Jack Spinks's car. Filthy, exhausted, and obviously terrified, she begs Spinks to drive and get her away from the men chasing her. When a truck pulls up and he starts to get out to talk to the men driving it, she jumps to the floor of the driver's side and mashes down on the gas pedal.

A few years ago, I went to Hawai'i with my (then) 86 year old grandmother so I could officiate the wedding of one of my best friends to her lovely (now) husband. It was wonderful had a fabulous week (I miss the overwhelming beauty of Hawai'i). A bit more than a year after that, said friend came to my little corner of the world for my wedding to SK.