A little piece of advice – don’t try to revise and line-edit a book at the same time as you’re editing the formatting. #mybrainisfull
So, updates. Mom is a rock star, and breezed through her mastectomy like any of the rest of us would handle a pedicure. If there was ever any question about the level of bad-assery in my lineage, I believe she has just handed us the answer. That’s not to say she hasn’t had her fair share of emotional ups and downs, but she walked out of the hospital the day after the surgery. Walked. No wheelchair to the door like the rest of us regular people. The next day, she popped a couple of Tylenol, and got on with her day. Do you know what I did the day after I got out of the hospital? Neither do I – I was so doped up on every pain killer they had available that I have zero memory of the first two weeks following my mastectomy. My mom is a badass, I’m telling you.
Other updates, I have finally finished nitpicking the complete set of Magic Without Spells, and published it on both CreateSpace and Kindle. The learning curve of Kindle to CreateSpace formatting was steep, but worth it. The feeling of holding a real book – that I actually wrote – turned out to be an unexpectedly emotional experience. Super proud of this one. And people are actually buying it too, which is exhilarating and terrifying all at once. Real, live paperback books – that I wrote – are out there. On peoples’ bookshelves. Trippy.
Since holding one of my books in hand was so great, I decided to keep going, and have now published You’ve Got This on CreateSpace as well. I’m working toward getting The Hot Flash Relief Guide ready too, but that one is proving to be a little harder to format for print. It’ll get there, just not right this second.
I have/will have a limited number of copies of both books available to anyone willing to write an honest review. Contact me for more information.
All of this was in preparation for releasing my first novel, The Pointy Hat Brigade, which I’m really hoping (fingers crossed) to have ready by fall. The feedback I’ve gotten back so far has been extremely positive (one reader asked if I could just put my life aside and get on it already…which is high praise), so that’s encouraging. For whatever reason, however, all of the positive feedback in the world isn’t speeding up the writing process. I have the entire novel outlined, I know what’s going to happen, but the actual writing of each chapter is sometimes like walking through molasses. I’m fond of using excuses like, ‘my kids keep interrupting me’, or ‘life got in the way’, or ‘I don’t have time’. But none of those are the reason I’m having trouble moving forward. I’m really not certain what’s holding me back. I mean, obviously it’s one or more of my little mental monsters – fear of failure, fear of ridicule, fear of success…but conquering those monsters is hard. I know how to force myself into the car and through the door of the oncology office, but sitting down to write – and not allowing myself to be distracted…urgh. Anyway, my goal is to release it in the fall. You are all more than welcome to use any method at your disposal to hold me to that 🙂
On that note, I should really get back to it…
Love and light, everyone 🙂