Episode Details

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where hidden worlds, Celtic mythology, and suspiciously attractive strangers are waiting just beyond the veil.

This week, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan sit down with author Christine Drummond to discuss Kingdom of the Owl, a modern-day Outlander meets ACOTAR romantasy filled with portal magic, Celtic mythology, and enemies-to-lovers, where unsettling sleep hallucinations might be something far more dangerous than they appear.

Christine also takes us behind the scenes of her journey from corporate marketer to  published author, including querying, switching agents, becoming the lead title for Gilded Wing, building a street team before publication, and why she believes authors don't need to go viral to build an audience.

🦉 What if your hallucinations were actually another world calling to you?
✨ What would really happen if an ordinary woman fell into a fantasy world?
🔥 And can you trust the man you're supposed to hate when he may be the only person you can rely on?

If you love portal fantasy, Celtic mythology, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, one bed, one horse, immersive worlds, and ordinary heroines thrown into extraordinary circumstances, this episode is for you.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Christine's journey from a fifteen-year career in marketing to finally giving herself permission to pursue the love of storytelling she'd carried since childhood.
✨ Building visibility for a book years before publication and why Christine believes authors can start creating meaningful connections with readers long before they have a cover, release date, or finished product to sell.
✨ How Christine built a street team before its members had even read Kingdom of the Owl.
✨ Why authors don't necessarily need one massive viral moment to build an audience, and how consistency, community, relatability, and letting readers become invested in your journey can create momentum over time.
✨ Christine's path through querying and submission, including switching agents and learning why finding an agent or editor who genuinely shares your vision matters more than simply saying yes to the first opportunity.
✨ Becoming the lead title for Gilded Wing, City Owl Press's new collector-focused imprint, and discovering after signing her publishing deal that Kingdom of the Owl would help launch an immersive new publishing experience and Kickstarter campaign.
✨ The real-life conversation that sparked Kingdom of the Owl and transformed the eerie experience of sleep hallucinations into the seed of an entirely new fantasy world.
✨ Writing enemies-to-lovers through genuine fear, distrust, reluctant reliance, and attraction.
✨ Building her fantasy world on a foundation of Celtic mythology.
✨ Why Christine maintains a worldbuilding bible and how the realities of publishing can reshape even carefully planned series, sequels, character arcs, and endings.
✨ The changing relationship between traditional and indie publishing, why hybrid authorship will likely become increasingly common, and what authors should consider when weighing distribution and industry reach against speed, royalties, and creative control.
✨ Plus: Christine's upcoming contemporary holiday romance, why writers simultaneously want to accomplish absolutely everything and disappear beneath a heated blanket, and the rapid-fire questions every author should probably be slightly afraid to answer.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Christine Drummond – @