Tag Archives: Author Business

What I’m Reading Vol. 1

Posted on May 1, 2018 by | Comments Off on What I’m Reading Vol. 1

As a writer, I consider it part of my job to do a lot of reading. <—- Holy shit, how pretentious was that sentence? Let’s be real, I devour books at lightning speed without excuse, and I don’t apologize for it either. Sometimes the books I read are amazing, sometimes . . . not so much. Luckily for you, I’ve come across a crop of really good ones lately.


First, I stumbled upon Jessica Hawkins on instagram and had to check out her Something in the Way Series. I tore through the first two in about as many days, and started Move the Stars, but I had to take a quick break. These books are so amazingly emotional that I had to take a step back from the intensity for a couple weeks. But I’ll go back and finish the last two once I finish with these next books I’m telling you about.


I don’t usually read a lot of craft books. For one, I have a degree in Creative Writing that I like to think counts for something. And two, I find craft books to be super subjective. What speaks to one creative mind might dud all to hell for another. I still don’t think I’ll ever find more helpful writing advice than Anne Lamott’s “Butt in chair. Shitty first draft,” philosophy, but I also know I don’t know everything, so every now and then, I pick up something that resonates with me. This one did for obvious reasons. I plan on reviewing it more in depth later, but so far, I think it’s helpful for anyone wanting to get into writing.

And oh, dear readers, I saved the best for last. Juliet Blackwell’s newest book came out recently, and I have been savoring it. I save this one for special occasions, even though it kills me to read a mystery slowly. Juliet Blackwell’s books are the kind that you miss when they’re over, but luckily, even the mystery series have great reread value! I think I have read Letters from Paris (not a mystery) three times.

I found Juliet Blackwell while I was on maternity leave with Rufus. Audible had suggested The Paris Key to me a couple months before, but I hadn’t listened to it until I was off work for whatever reason. I fell in love with the narrator, Xe Sands, and luckily, she reads all of Juliet Blackwell’s books, so I also listened to Xe Sands read all of the Witchcraft Mystery series while I was stuck on the sofa nursing a baby for a month. If I ever meet Juliet Blackwell and she doesn’t sound like Xe Sands, it might take me a minute to adjust–which is a horrible expectation to hold, but there it is.

In my fantasy life, the one where I am already super successful and can do whatever I want with my author biz, Xe Sands is who I’d hire to narrate The Other Lane, and it would be fantastic to listen to. And, fun fact, Juliet Blackwell is how Juliet from my second novel, Ethan & Juliet, (coming this fall) got her name.

Right, so there’s some insight into my inner ridiculousness. What have you been reading lately? Anything good?

 

 

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How to Beat the Overwhelm

Posted on April 23, 2018 by | Comments Off on How to Beat the Overwhelm
Anybody else drinking all of the coffee lately?

I have big dreams.

That’s never been a secret around here.

And making those dreams into a reality takes work. And it’s work I’m excited to get done, even if it’s big and scary, like announcing my debut novel, which comes out in 77 days, btw.

My days and weeks are busy. I get up early. I work until midnight, and most of it has nothing to do with being an author. It’s cooking, it’s cleaning. It’s taking care of kiddos, and during weeks like last week, it’s a whole hell of a lot of taking care of myself.

If a week was ever gonna derail me from accomplishing my goals, it was last week.

I’ve been battling a virus that is mostly an annoying cold, but has really done a number on my appetite. (Read, for a few days I had none.) I slept in everyday. I came home from work early one night and laid on the sofa. I missed emails. There were days that I didn’t write. My to-do lists sat untouched.

I was frustrated. Guilt weighed me down as more and more stuff piled up.

As I’m emerging from the worst of the virus, I’m completely overwhelmed with the volume of things I need to get done over the next few days–stuff I probably won’t get done this week either, because it’s Felix’s birthday on Tuesday, and mom stuff always comes first.

But here’s the thing.

I’m OK with it.

Do I guilt myself? Of course I do.

Do I let it stop me from doing what I can?

Absolutely not.

Sure, I only got a fraction of what I wanted to accomplish done last week, but what I did do was important. Taking care of yourself is important, even if that means sleeping all days and drinking all of the kombucha and reading The Allure of Julian Lefray

Inventorying what I did helps but the overwhelm of what I didn’t into prespectived: I finished writing a prequel to The Other Lane (more on that later). I bought ISBNs, because that’s the responsible author thing to do. I posted to Instagram TWICE. All despite feeling like shit.

Badassery achieved.

Giving myself credit for what I did already makes the backlog feel more manageable.

And tomorrow, I’m baking cupcakes to celebrate Felix and not apologizing for only writing 16 words.

 

PS, you should totally follow me on Instagram. I’ve been posting a lot of pretty desk photos, but also some teasers from The Other Lane. There are knitting pictures too.

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