#AmWriting update.

Marcia, my writing supervisor, loves to sit with me as I write. Photo by me.

Wearing black flying leathers, black boots and an ink-dark cloak that flowed as he paced, he looked beautiful and fierce and terrifying to mortals, like a piece of lush darkness come to vibrant life.

Extract from WITCHLAND’s UNTAMED FIRE by Juno Goldstone.

With WITCHLAND out, and Book 2 TIDES OF THE HEART ready Pre Order TIDES OF THE HEART (I’ve ordered my cover and I’m excited to see what Damonza come up with) I thought now would be a good time to talk about the book I’m currently working on.

WITCHLAND’S UNTAMED FIRE is Book 3 of the Witchland Regency Romantasy series. I wrote most of the first draft in December 2025 and completed it by the end of January 2026, which is the fastest I’ve ever written a book. Usually, it takes me 4 or 5 months to write a first draft around work, everyday life and my need to rest and conserve my energy. Sometimes it takes even longer. As ever, I have to write through and around brain fog, concentration problems, and chronic fatigue.

But this story had been simmering away in my subconscious mind for years whilst I was working on the first 2 books in the series. From time to time, I’d get snatches of dialogue pop into my mind, as if the characters (well, mostly Merlin) were talking and I was just listening in. I love it when that happens.

Before I started the first draft last December, I’d written a couple of scenes but only had vague ideas of what was going to happen. I knew that this book wasn’t going to be inspired by a Jane Austen novel, because it was going to be Merlin and Lord Morgan Le Fae’s story. I knew I wanted to write an enemies to lovers story set during Merlin’s first lifetime, and a Second Chances love story set in Witchland’s present day. There would also be glimpses into some of Merlin’s other lifetimes.

I have to be careful here and keep calling him Merlin, so I don’t let slip who is the latest incarnation of the famous druid – that’s a reveal towards the end of Book 1: WITCHLAND.

Merlin and Morgan’s story has threaded through both the previous books; in WITCHLAND their tragic history is a counterpoint to Eliza’s story as she decides to sacrifice her personal happiness for the good of her sister and people. In TIDES OF THE HEART, the main action focuses on Earth Witch Anne Elliothya, with a subplot of the reincarnated Merlin who’s struggling to come to terms with the powers and memories that came crashing back at the end of WITCHLAND. I’m hoping that readers will be excited to read Merlin’s story after following the breadcrumbs in WITCHLAND and TIDES OF THE HEART.   

It helped massively that I’d booked 3 weeks holiday in December, so I could rest and write UNTAMED FIRE. So, it was wonderful that this book just seemed to pour out of me. When I was too tired to even think about switching on my laptop, I scrawled scenes in notepads, even dictated into my phone and typed it up later.

TIDES OF THE HEART ebook will be out 6 February 27 Pre Order TIDES OF THE HEART (the paperback is currently listed as out 6 January 27 but that’s purely because there wasn’t an option for February yet. I’ll be moving that date into February as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I’m working on UNTAMED FIRE. Once I’ve finished this edit of Merlin’s story, I’ll get more feedback from my wonderful writer friends before editing it again. I’m aiming to have WITCHLAND’s UNTAMED FIRE out in time for the Summer Solstice/Litha 21 Jun 27, because the first scene has Merlin standing on the battlements of the Tower of London looking out over the Solstice celebrations.