Category: Check-in

Getting ready to switch gears

The moon keeping an eye on me during my morning walk

Did a few marketing things this week for The Pansy Paradox (out on Tuesday!), but I’m also looking ahead to what’s next. Namely, The Marigold Miracle. Because the best marketing is the next book.

Also, I’m excited to head back into the writing cave.

In other news, my daughter and I have committed to clearing out the basement. We are determined to turn it back into the cozy oasis it is meant to be. Still, we have a carpet tear-out this week. Wish us luck. But today I’m putting my feet up and catching up on the slow read of Possession.

Garden wrap-up

I’ve been feeling a bit deflated about the garden this year. Between the long stretches of rain, heat domes, and the air quality, I wasn’t outside working as much as I wanted to be.

Even so? I did plant my cottage garden this year. And it was mostly successful! It’s a bit bedraggled now, thanks to a recent hailstorm, but look at this last lovely gift:

The pretty purple and yellow asters in the cottage garden.

The asters I planted came in strong. Also? They are apparently Vikings fans. (We almost always almost win.)

Another thing I’ve noticed this year is the increase in pollinators and beneficial bugs in the yard. Actual ladybugs! Butterflies, including Monarchs (which I haven’t seen for a couple of years), and, of course, many, many of our native bees.

It’s still so mild that yesterday, my daughter and I took a tour of the yard and—with the pollinators in mind—did some planning for next year. There are some excellent spots near the pond where invasive weeds are growing. We’re going to put down some cardboard and tarp now, so in the spring, we can plant a variety of native wildflowers—and add some milkweed to the mix for those Monarchs.

Our city offers a comprehensive Planting for Pollinators program, which allows you to purchase native seeds by growing area (e.g., dry/wet, partial shade/full sun). And who knows, we might tackle the buckthorn while we’re at it.

So while not everything turned out (my wall of morning glories for the hummingbirds never materialized), all in all, it was a good year for gardening.

Wait. Where did September go?

No, seriously. How is it almost October? I don’t understand. Granted, I’ve been heads down, wrapping up everything for the release of The Pansy Paradox in two weeks. Two weeks! Again, how did that happen?

This week, I attended a book release/launch deep-dive sponsored by Becca Syme and The Better-Faster Academy. One thing I learned is that the number of “touchpoints” required to make a sale has increased from seven to twenty-one. (And a quick search tells me it could be even more, depending.)

Y’all, I feel like I’m annoying people if I mention a release more than once.

On the other hand, I don’t mind hearing news about releases from authors. In fact, I’m always happy to discover a new release.

The other takeaway was to experiment, learn, and do things that sound like fun (or are relatively easy), and don’t sweat it.

So that’s what I’m going to do.

Also, what I’m going to do, at least today, is get out of the house and away from screens. It’s gorgeous out (see the photo above), and I’m not sure how many more days like this are left in 2025.

Things that go bump in the morning

So, the other morning, I was working upstairs when I heard a solid thump come from the basement. At first, I thought it was the cat knocking something over.

But kitty is a feline of a certain age (seventeen!). While she still gets the zoomies on occasion, she spends most of her time napping on my bed.

Another thump.

I got up and peered into the bedroom where kitty was, predictably, napping.

THUMP.

This was not the sort of noise you can ignore. It was almost humanlike.

Cautiously, I made my way downstairs. I arrived just in time to see what was causing all that racket.

In the raised flowerbeds, weaving among the phlox, were two turkeys—a couple. And Tom Turkey was trying to make an impression by unfurling his tail feathers. Every time he did, the tail fan went THUMP against the window.

Let’s just say Henrietta Turkey was not impressed.

In actual writing news, I’ve been working on the print covers all week. As an experiment, I decided to try the Barnes & Noble print option in addition to Amazon KDP and Ingram. I know many people would prefer not to buy on Amazon, so this gives me an option to offer economical print versions at a different retailer (while still making a decent royalty).  

Y’all, it’s a lot. Because not only am I creating print versions for The Pansy Paradox, but I’m also doing so for the bonus novella, The Capstone Conundrum (which, oh look, has a cover).

Each retailer has slightly different cover templates (because, of course, they do). And really, you need to order physical copies to ensure everything looks like it should.

But I’m hoping to wrap that up this week, upload the final versions of everything, and heave a huge sigh of relief.

Suddenly, it’s sweater weather

Autumn decided to make a grand appearance this week. It’s been chilly enough to pull on sweaters and grab a jacket. That being said, this coming week looks like we’ll have a last hurrah of summer. And if I’m clever, I’ll get myself into the yard. The alternative, of course, is to wait until November, when I don’t have a choice and it’s nothing but a wintery mix.

This week in writing was pre-order and cover reveal week. On next week’s agenda are the print covers (each distributor wants something slightly different for each cover because, of course, they do). Then I’ll move on to getting The Capstone Conundrum on pre-order as well.

This week, I also attended a Little Free Library Steward meetup, which was a lot of fun. I left with an armful of new books for my Little Free Library courtesy of Magers and Quinn.

And speaking of books, I made good progress with the Possession slow read. I’m even ahead (page 85). I’m really enjoying the easy pace of this, and I think that I might use it to tackle books I’ve been meaning to read or reread. (Yeah, Tolstoy, I’m looking at you.)

Final page proofs and fine-feathered friends

This week, I reviewed the final page proofs for The Pansy Paradox. So, there you go. I have a benchmark of 142,000 words listened to/proofed in a work week.

I’m not going to lie. It was a lot. Mind you, I didn’t listen straight through. I took breaks every thirty minutes or so—made a cup of tea, wandered outside, touched some grass. I’m pleased that I made it through the entire novel. I’m not too worried about proofing the novella since it’s only 25,000 words. (Ha, ha. Only.)

Additionally, this week, I visited the newly reopened Barnes & Noble in our area. They recently relocated to a new space, not far from their old one. I’m not sure if there are more books now, or if it simply seems that way.

I had to wander around a bit to find my touchstones (the fantasy/sci-fi section, WWII history). The staff appeared happy and were very helpful, and everyone was having a wonderful time.

The Barnes & Noble is also right next to a Michaels. This could be very convenient or very expensive. How easy would it be to load up on supplies and then grab some how-to books (or vice versa)? We will have to resist the temptation.

When I arrived home from the bookstore adventure, I found this fine-feathered friend in my driveway:

It was supremely unconcerned, as if it knew I was going to give it the right of way. (Which, of course, I did.) It remained there for so long that I started to worry it was injured. But no, it was simply waiting on something (to eat?) across the street and flew off.

And now I’m going to fly off and take advantage of the lovely weather we’re having for this long weekend.

September-ish

An almost-September morning

It’s been feeling very September-ish for the last couple of days, cool and breezy and lovely. I love September and even October (when it’s mild). It’s the whole November through March thing I don’t particularly care for. This is, not coincidentally, when we’re on standard time. Honestly, I always feel like I should be hibernating.

This week, I completed the interior layout, which in turn gave me page counts so I could download templates for the print covers. I assigned some ISBNs, and essentially, I’m at the point of final page proofs.

The plan is to use text-to-speech to listen to the text while reviewing the PDF. I’ve already charged my noise-canceling headphones. Still, nearly 170,000 words between both the novel and novella?

That’s a lot of listening.

I may need to break it up with some other activities. I don’t want to zone out and miss something. After all, the whole point is to not miss something. But if the weather stays September-ish, I’ll probably spend some of my breaks outside.

Pink sky at morning

Our surreal pink sky this morning

Woke up this morning to this amazing pink and golden sky, accompanied by some thunder—but no rain, no storms (not yet, anyway). It was surreal and quiet, and the entire sky, east and west, was painted in this incredible glow.

This week, I think I finalized the covers for both The Pansy Paradox and The Capstone Conundrum. The latter was simpler since the books are part of a series, and many of the design aspects remain the same.

I’m not quite ready for a reveal. I’m still letting it rest while doing other things, like playing around with all the new features in Vellum.

I love this application, and it just keeps getting better and better. Also, my decision to invest in a Mac Studio was a good one. I really was working seamlessly between Photoshop and Vellum last week.

The only issue is switching back and forth between Mac and Windows. I use shortcuts for both, and mixing them up just might be a thing I do often. Then again, working to keep them straight could be good for my brain. Who knows.

Up next? Well, my proofreader returned the manuscripts. After reviewing all the comments, I’ll create the final Word versions and drop them into Vellum and start formatting the interior for both the ebook and print versions.

In other news, over on Writer Beware, Victoria Strauss highlights the possible class action suit against Anthropic (for training its AI on pirated books). You can read that post here. Yes, some of my books are in that database of pirated books, and yes, I’m thinking about joining the class action.

Yoga and throwing Photoshop pots

A bit cloudy during the thinking walk

This week, I did the Photoshop equivalent of “throwing lots of pots,” to borrow a pottery phrase. I followed along with the instructor in my Photoshop tutorials and made I don’t know how many covers. After I completed one, I zipped off to create another.

By Friday, I felt I’d done enough inputting that I decided to play around with a concept for The Pansy Paradox. And … I think I have one. Maybe. It’s not at the sharing stage yet, but I’m pleased that I have something that someday may resemble a cover.

In any case, I’m looking forward to what else may pop up in the coming week.

In other news, I’ve started up yoga again. I fell off for a bit, for a variety of reasons (balance issues, injury, Italy). But it was one of the things that helped me survive the day job. So, I wondered whether it would help me thrive in my new full-time writing gig.

So far? I think yes. It’s been about two weeks, and I already feel better physically. And, people! Breath work! I’d forgotten how important breath work is.

So today, I’m going to breathe a little bit more and have Sunday brunch with my kids. Hope your Sunday is just as enjoyable.