February updates // 2026

February 25, 2026

February is the smallest month of the year, but there were two weeks off from school for the little one, and a few painful days for the husband, so… Yeah, not an easy month in terms of general organisation. However, as I’m listing everything I accomplished this month, I’m kinda amazed that I could still cram a few things in there that I can be proud of.

Office update

I told you last month that my father-in-law would be doing some construction work in my office to cover the pipes and install a door. Well… that’s completed :)

The painting work is left to be done in the main office, as well as a lighting change, but that’s gonna happen later this year.

The Londoners updates

Upcoming read-along

The Londoners, my first book, celebrates its 5th anniversary on March 23rd. To mark the event, I’m organising a read-along. The concept is that we’re going to read a few chapters each week and discuss them together via emails (and videos). You can already register through the form below if you don’t want to miss it.

I already have a few people who are registered that are not family members, hahaha. So don’t hesitate to join the fun.

Random Londoners updates

Ask my author friend Kyra Gregory, but I’ve had “contacting bookshops for distribution” on my to-do list for the longest time. It’s only a few weeks since I finally sent the emails. I’m kinda proud of it, even though the answers I got were all negative. On the bright side, I now know that distribution will be key to getting my next book into bookstores. Because the main reason was the logistics: how would the paperbacks be ordered at the bookshop, and what if they wanted to return them? They preferred working with their usual distribution partners, for which I can’t blame them. So that’s my cue to add my books to IngramSpark and add wide distribution to my paperbacks.

However, when setting up my account on IngramSpark, they’ve asked for my ID so they could verify my identity. I’m not fond of sharing my ID on the internet, even more so when they say it will be “redacted” and not “deleted”. We’ll see if there’s another way.

On a more positive note, The Londoners reached €500 in royalties. That’s more than 200 books sold (paid for, I mean). It means it finally paid off its cover design, after 5 years out, hahaha. Big milestone :)

Once Upon A Sky updates

Cover Design

The biggest chunk of this month’s update. In February, I finished writing the cover design brief, and I started sending it to artists… well, let me tell you I was naive, hahaha.

If the designer is usually working with traditional publishers, the price is abysmal. It averages $3,500. Obviously, with my small indie budget, I didn’t go with any of them, haha. I’m happy I did send them the brief, though, because I dared to ask. And they emailed back! I mean, it’s already incredible that I got answers (even if they’re on the expensive side of the spectrum).

I then turned to Reedsy to get some quotes. Funny story, I almost fell off my chair when the first quote arrived: €10,000! The designer had understood that it was a children’s book and it needed 24 illustrations plus the cover. The quote was adjusted to €400 when I pointed out the mistake, hahaha.

Finally, I chose my designer among the five I was in contact with on Reedsy. He started working on the first mockup last Monday. I cannot wait to see what he will come up with, and to share it with you!  All I can say is that it’s going to be incredible!

Free short story

On the free short story side, I finally formatted Finding Maxwell in epub and pdf formats. Although it could be sent right away to newsletter subscribers, I’ll be waiting a few months before sending it because I don’t want people to be confused with too many things to do in the same newsletter. And with the read-along coming up, there’s already gonna be a few newsletters to interact with for those who’ll be interested in joining. So yeah, I’ll be waiting a little bit before sending it out. Maybe even wait until the novel comes out…

The editing phase

This one is always a bit tricky.

I recently watched John’s video on “the truth about being a writer”, in which he said people should stop complaining about not having time for writing because they do tend to have time for everything else BUT writing. And I have to admit that I did play some video games in February while also reading 4 books. I could have set time aside for editing…

So, in my next update, if you still read that I haven’t done any editing, please feel free to send me an email to scold me.