A Flaming August Summer
August 2025 edition of the Boopish Newsletter
Topics (click the link to go directly to the thing):
A recipe for sarga fruit curd (downloadable PDF below)
Indie book deal: Bodacious Creed
Indie book deal: The Returned One
The Artist’s Soap Making Workbook
This one’s a little hard to talk about. A couple weeks ago, I had sent feelers out to different soap making Facebook groups for opinions and suggestions on what they’d like to see in a soap making workbook. I got a lot of great feedback, implemented their suggestions, and even opened up the idea of shipping abroad. Many people were asking for when it goes live, etc.
When I eventually posted the campaign a week later and listed the links in the same groups, there were crickets. I got zero interaction on those posts, and zero interest. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded. So, I took the Kickstarter down… The Kickstarter I spent weeks putting together, countless hours making sure everything was perfect…
Rather than get funding for the nice, spiral bound version with low bleed paper, I’ve listed it on Amazon. Anyway, that’s my saga with Kickstarter. And while it’s not listed there, it’s now officially on Amazon HERE. See the soap making updates for more about where I’m at on that topic.
Sarga Fruit Curd Recipe
While most of the citizens of Northern Roseaarde must sustain themselves on ration blocks, they’re occasionally afforded cooked meals and fruits. Loren’s favorite fruit is the tart, yellow-skinned sarga fruit!
Much like a marriage of sour lemon-lime and sweet peach, sarga is a great fruit for making pies, pastries, tarts, jams, or just eaten plain.
Recipe:
4 Egg Yolks
3/4 cup Sugar
Juice of 2 Lemons (not bottled)
Juice of 1 Lime (not bottled)
1 large ripe Peach
1/2 stick (113 g) Salted Butter, cut into pieces
Directions:
PLEASE NOTE: don’t use metal bowls or utensils, or your curd will taste like metal.
Peel and slice the peach and purée it until smooth. Should be about 1/3 cup.
Fill the bottom of a pot or double boiler with 3-4" of water and turn heat to high. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. You can use a pot with a heatproof bowl on top instead of a double boiler.
Combine the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, lime juice, and peach purée in the top pot of the double boiler. Use a silicone whisk to continuously whisk the mixture as it cooks. Keep the mixture moving so the eggs don't curdle. Whisk until it becomes thick and foamy, and coats the back of a spoon; approximately 15 minutes. (Temperature should be around 170ºF (77ºC)).
Remove double boiler or top bowl from heat and whisk in butter pieces 2 at a time, adding the next pieces after previous pieces have mostly melted.
When all of the butter has melted, place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of sarga curd, making sure the plastic wrap is touching the surface. Allow sarga curd to cool in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. Remove plastic wrap when you are ready to use it.
Leftover sarga curd stays fresh covered in the refrigerator up to 1 month, or up to 1 year in the freezer (if freezing, thaw in the refrigerator overnight).
Use in pies, tarts, frostings, fillings, spread on toast, or whatever you like! Sarga fruit curd will bring a vibrant zing to your cooking and baking.
(by the way, sarga is a made up fruit in my fantasy world, just FYI)
I ran a mile during a 5K, Because I’m out of shape. However, I beat my own previous record, getting it done in 9:39. That may not sound impressive, but for someone with a bum knee who usually runs a mile in 15 minutes, I was pretty shocked. I also broke my Fitbit with my sweaty wrist (if you don’t follow me on Instagram, I posted a picture there).
I was thinking of starting a podcast. I know, I know, one more thing to add to the growing list of things… But, I want to at least try for a little bit and see if that takes me anywhere. I don’t like how pigeon-holed I am on YouTube right now with soap making, and I’m getting less and less interested in showing my face, but there are definitely a lot of topics I resonate with that you might also resonate with. I also feel most of the things I do just don’t gain any traction. Plus, it’ll put that podcast tab on my homepage to good use. For a little while anyway… at least until that one goes nowhere as well.
I was supposed to have a story added to a horror anthology hosted by another group, but I haven’t heard a thing about it. So, maybe the project is dead in the water? Either way, the story I had slated for that book will probably end up in my own anthology when I get that together.
Another writing competition snuck up on me a few days ago… I forgot about the Writing Battle summer nanofiction. Late last year, I signed up for every battle in 2025. I could have sworn I put this in my calendar… oh well! I got it done, 250 words, and we’ll see!
BOOK UPDATES
Reaper’s [LEGACY]
I have officially scheduled to submit Reaper’s Legacy to the editor on October 1st! I have a beta reader right now as I work through the manuscript, so hopefully that will hammer out any of the finer details before submitting.
Once in the editor’s hands, I can work on my other projects (mainly horror!), as well as more competitions. I should have the manuscript back by the end of October, and I will be opening up ARCs by mid-November.
With my work on this series coming to a close, I’d like to hear from you! I have several works in progress (WIPs) that I need to sort through, so if you’d be so kind as to cast your vote below, I’d appreciate it greatly!
LH Soaps & Sundries updates
I entered another soap competition… This time the theme was color theory. My favorite color combination is blue and orange, so I went with that. I really lost this one, which I expected, but it still kinda sucks. Anyway, check it out here:
Another bit of sad news here as well - I’m going to hang up my soap making hat for now. I will still make it for family and friends, but I’m just not where I hoped I’d be with this business. I spend too much money on supplies and too much time on something that was supposed to at least make some money to fund my hobby. It doesn’t even do that. I also realized that soap making is such a saturated market right now, that everyone and their neighbor makes it.
Anyway, I’ll focus more on writing and other things, but consider my soap making something of a past time hobby :( I still have the website, but I haven’t updated it in a while (I may update it here and there).
Just so you know, if you want soap from me, please do reach out! I’ll make batches for those who ask, at the usual price of 3/$15 or 5/$25. I have a lot to say about pricing in general, so maybe… stay tuned to the podcast? haha ;)
My Linktree —— Get my books —— Buy me a coffee —— Retro Outerworld
That’s all for now! Thanks for being awesome :)
Some amazing things are coming! Keep the momentum. The poll wouldn't let me vote, but this is mine: Apocalypse w/unique POV