June 2026 Newsletter

A Little Note from Me to You

You’re receiving this newsletter because you probably signed up to get a free book — and if that’s all you wanted, you can unsubscribe anytime, and I promise, you won’t hurt my feelings.

But if you’d like to hang out and spend a few minutes with me each month, here’s what you’ll find inside:

• Monthly updates on my comings and goings
• Links to any of my blog posts
• An organizing tip of the month (inspired by my first book, Get Organized, Stay Organized)
• A short-term rental tip of the month (yes, I wrote a book on that one too!) that expands on my book Short-Term Rental Success
• A free short story from one of my book series
• Book recommendations
• Links to free reads and special promos

Some of these will catch your interest, and some might not — and that’s okay! I’m a multi-genre author who loves sharing everything from book ideas and short stories to glimpses of my rentals and garden. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if you’d like to stick around for the fun.

Because, Why Not?

Project #1 - Mid-May, I found myself sending the following reply: Vielen Dank, Lucia, ich denke, das hat funktioniert! (thanks, Lucia, that worked!)

This, after laboriously moving my way through the Tolino website to upload a second German translated book onto their platform.

I had recently listened to The Creative Penn Podcast where Joanna interviewed an author who makes a good living on her German translated books and goes directly with Tolino to take advantage of their promotional opportunities.

Small problem for me, the site is entirely in German. And what I thought was an easy solution, to just translate it into English using the Google translator, ended up not working because it interfered somehow with the submission process, causing it to error out.

And me being me, a stubborn creature in all things who was also suddenly determined to embrace her German heritage (the Sandfort family - my maiden name - came to the U.S. in the 1880s), I figured I would just learn enough German and take copious notes and start uploading to Tolino direct for a bigger cut of the profits and the chance to promote directly with Tolino.

A cascade of issues later, the first book, Heiße Gefahr (Hired Gun) was uploaded and approved. The second book, Rauch & Stahl (Smoke & Steel) had its own particular issues. And it took an appeal for help, which I wrote in English and then had AI translate to German, to get the kinks worked out on that.

Am I an auto-didact who just wants a new challenge? Or am I particularly good at finding rabbit holes to go down? Perhaps it is a little of both.

May became my month of "summoning finishing energy" as I worked on the audio edits and continued my progress on double and triple-checking my German translations and then uploading them in batches. First the Benton Security Services series, then the G581 series, then dystopian, and so on, until the German translations were all up and active on Amazon.de, KOBO, and Draft2Digital. Next up? Getting all of it up on Tolino. Wish me luck because the site is glitchy and driving me to drink.

Project #2 - I talk about this in some detail in a blog post here, but I stumbled across my Compass of Creation Oracle card project a week ago and found myself sucked in. I've spent the past week clarifying what I wanted to put out into the world through a Kickstarter campaign, as well as ordering samples of all materials. Now comes the fun part - creating a promo video. I know nothing about such things, but I hope I can figure it out or farm it out, because this project is so cool!

I came up with it when I was at the Writer's Colony in Eureka Springs, Arkansas last year. It just grabbed me by the eyeballs and consumed my every waking moment. 14 hour days at the computer, creating, adjusting, refining, and writing. And I actually delayed sending this newsletter out just so I could tell you all about it!

Designed for creative spirits, it has an emphasis on writing, but really any creative could be inspired by it. The 54-card deck contains four suits - Planning, Creation, Obstacles, and Completion. There will be a guidebook with the box, a workbook that has exercises which expand on each of the concepts the cards give you, a spiral-bound notebook, and digital offerings designed to move you and your creative endeavors through the planning, execution, and completion of your heart's work. The oracle deck, notebook and digital offerings are exclusive to the Kickstarter and it is a one time, get it while supplies last, kind of thing. I'm currently waiting for the deck and workbook to arrive. The spiral-bound notebook looks gorgeous! I'll let you know when the Kickstarter goes up. Hopefully it will be in July, but we will see.

My life will never be just writing. And while the writing is probably what you are here for, I hope you won't mind hearing about the rest. My days are full, and I try to enjoy every one of them.

Short-Term Rentals - I've added finishing touches to this space I would have considered absolutely magical as a child. I have a hard time explaining how much these short-term rentals mean to me, but with my experiences of homelessness and poverty, to be able to turn that around into multiple home ownership and a business, still feels absolutely incredible. A gift and a joy. The month of May saw our first real month of being fully functional with both of our short-term rentals. Watching the income jump, knowing I have just a few more big tasks on the table, it all felt absolutely fantastic.

We also leveled the backyard of Cottage East, added pea gravel and pavers, and I love the look of it now! You can see more details on my blog here.

All of this is taking some getting used to as my daily schedule continues to morph and adjust since I am the person in charge of not just managing these properties, but cleaning them as well.

Chaos Gardening - We are fully in the growing season here in the Midwest United States, and I am up to my usual tricks. What tricks are those? Well, I fight weeds, mainly by planting more and more plants! I planted over 100 ferns in May. Over my 13 years here, I've planted enough trees to create a ton of shady spaces. I planted Christmas and Royal ferns, two varieties that grow well in our hardiness zone. The Royal ferns, in particular, should hopefully get quite large!

We also have a swing set to install for the Littles (ages 4 and 10) to play with this summer. I want the garden to be a sanctuary for all of us!

Audio Edits - I finally finished with the audio edits for G581: Zarmina's World and it is now being uploaded in all places, including my author website where it is only $7.99! I haven't begun G581: Plague Tales II, but I will soon. As I edit the stories, they spawn more stories, so I've been taking notes of what other short stories I want to write in that universe.

Manuscript Edits - The Glass Forest is still in edits. I'm pretty sure I have ADD as easily a get distracted! I hope to finish by the end of June, possibly sooner.

Translations - As I mentioned earlier, I'm uploading all of my 17 books that I translated into German to Amazon, and a host of other bookselling sites. And I'm already seeing sales! So if you know any German speakers, let them know I'm hard at work getting this done! By end of summer, I also hope to have French up as well. We shall see!

Organizing Tip of the Month

If you weren't aware, the first book I ever wrote was Get Organized, Stay Organized.

Since 2008, I've updated it regularly to include the latest updates in technology and also expanded it to include financial budgeting and time management. You can find Get Organized, Stay Organized on my website as well as at your favorite online bookseller.

Organizing Tip of the Month:

There are a lot of different ways to organize. For some, a drawer is a good start, for others, focusing on a certain item, like clothes, helps. I recently went through some rather (ahem) dusty areas of my office and discovered items I had forgotten were there. I looked around and realized I'd been piling stuff that I wasn't sure what to do with or where it should go. And while I don't typically recommend this, sometimes taking everything (and I do mean everything) and putting it in one room works. As long as you go back to said room! Our pool hall (yes, I have a pool table) was already filled with items (tools, supplies, things we didn't need) from our recently completed renovation projects and I figured a couple more piles wouldn't matter and it would give me a clear section to work in. So out I took anything I didn't have a home for. My office looks great! ;->

In the weeks to come, I plan on tackling it a piece or box at a time. Little bites, that's how you eat an elephant. Eventually I'll get it all cleared out.

Short-Term Rental Tip of the Month

I wrote Short-Term Rental Success in order to help future and current hosts create the best short-term rental a guest ever stays in. It goes beyond the basics and dives into the meaning behind true hospitality that makes Airbnb and other STR platforms a preferable form of travel for guests who want more than just a simple hotel room.

Short-Term Rental Tip of the Month:

Pricing is Determined by Objective and Your Home's Setup - Determining pricing can be a little more tricky than just checking the other comparable properties in the area. What sets your property as different from the others? Is it unique, artsy, quirky? Perhaps it is a luxury apartment/home that requires premium prices and is an occasional rental at best. There's also the question of how often you want to be booked. This was never more clear to me as I rolled out Cottage East's four individual rooms/suites. I live in between my two rental properties, they are quite literally on each side of me. This, combined with my experience running a housecleaning business, means that I'm usually the one handling the cleanings. And I got a taste of that in mid-April when the weekends were FULL - all four rooms and Cottage West - and I needed to clean nearly all of them in less than three hours (11am check-out and a 2pm check-in for more incoming guests). For a Saturday, it was a LOT. And I quickly realized that my priorities for the different properties varied. For my individual rooms, longer stays and NO discounts were preferable. Discounting the rooms meant money, sure, but it brought a certain type of clientele that was not the kind I was hoping to attract. For Cottage West, however, I remained motivated to keep it 100% booked. As such, my prices ranged from a mere $110 per night, up to $200 on weekends, and more with the third attic bedroom added on. I actually created a separate listing for the 3 bedroom on Airbnb and pegged it at $250 weeknights/$325 weekends. As I told my husband, "If I have to haul my arthritic hip up those narrow attic stairs to clean the 3rd bedroom, I'm getting paid the premium price to do it!" So the attic door remains locked and the door code to the attic is only given out should a person book the 3 bedroom house versus the 2 bedroom house.

Do you want to be booked only at a premium price? Then set the price and walk away. I did this with the 3 bedroom listing received a booking two days after the listing went live. However, it has had only one other reservation since.

Do you want to be booked 100% of the time? Consider lowering it slowly a few dollars at a time in the week or two leading up to it and then consider lowering it drastically on the day of the reservation.

Short Story of the Month

While I have plenty of short story ideas from my various series, this month I'm giving you something different. A standalone short story, if you will.

Years ago, I was in Arizona for a wedding. After the wedding, I drove to Flagstaff with my two kiddos, one grown, one barely started, and spent the night. I showed them all of the places I had lived in there as a child and the next morning we woke bright and early, drove to Jerome for breakfast, and ran into Maynard Keenan, the frontman for Tool, who my eldest, then in her early 20s absolutely loved listening to. Years later, I began listening to Puscifer, another band Keenan has started and describes as "less as a conventional rock band and more as a creative playground for experimentation, storytelling, and comedy-tragedy balance."

One song in particular, Green Valley, would not leave my mind. I just had to write the images and story that came to me when listening to this song. Here is a summary:

After a devastating personal loss, Ian sets out alone into the mountains, hoping solitude and distance will help him find a way forward. Instead, he stumbles through an eerie fog into Green Valley, a hidden village untouched by time and bound by strange rituals, watchful residents, and an unsettling sense of fate. As Ian is drawn deeper into the community’s ancient traditions, he must confront his grief, surrender himself to the dangerous, yet transformative power of the Verde River, and the possibility that some places do not simply find you by accident. Green Valley is a haunting tale of sacrifice, destiny, and the shifting boundaries between survival and surrender.

Click here to read it.

Specials, Giveaways, etc.

Whether you are waiting for my next book, want to dig into a new series or genre I write in, or simply meet new authors, consider some of the sales promos and giveaways below. You will find my first in series here... Hired Gun, G581: The Departure, War's End: The Storm, Winter's Child and occasionally one of my non-fiction books. It's a great way to dip your toes into a different genre and see if you like it. Or share the link with a friend or family member! No matter what, I know you will find something interesting in the links below! Click on the images below to learn more.

What is Curios?!

Well, I'm glad you asked! Do you want to support authors AND make sure they keep most of the income? Then Curios is the place to shop for ebooks, audiobooks, videos, and soon, very soon, print books!

That last one is rather exciting.

​Curios pays the author the stated price, and charges a small delivery fee on the back end of things. Now, because I want you, my reader, to get the best price possible AND for me to get the highest possible amount in income, I price all of my books and audiobooks on Curios at less than the regular price you would pay on Amazon or any of the other online retailers. I still make more than I would at the other retailers, and you save money as well.

A win all around. What's not to like about that?! Be sure to check them out!

Need Something to Read While You Wait for My Next Book?

This is going to sound absolutely shocking, but I've read maybe two books in the past two months. And I'm not going to recommend either of them. I've literally been plugging away all day every day and then falling asleep within minutes of laying my head down. I mean, this is embarrassing - a writer who isn't reading voraciously? I used to think I would die if I didn't read every day! So believe me when I say I'm as shocked as you, if not more so, that I haven't been reading as much lately.

Perhaps you can make some suggestions. What are you reading? Drop me an email at christine@christineshuck.com and tell me what you are reading right now. If this trend continues, I'll post your recommendations here!

Did you know I have an estore for my ebooks and audiobooks?

And not just that, but the prices are better than anywhere else!

• ebooks $3.99 each
• audiobooks $7.99 each
• omnibus ebook editions just $7.99 each

I get to keep more of the profits, and you get to pay less - it's a win-win!

Help an Author Out at Zero Cost to You!

I am an Amazon affiliate. That means that when anyone who shops through my Amazon affiliate portal, I earn a percentage of the sale, which is all paid to me directly from Amazon. You don't pay a single penny more for the product!

I get a little bonus check once a year or so from this and it buoys my spirits as I write away on my many projects. So if you order from Amazon, I hope you will consider adding my Amazon affiliate portal. You can do this easily on a PC, by clicking on the link below, then right clicking on the icon to the left of the URL and saving it in your bookmark manager. Every little bit helps!