“The time has come!” the
walrus said. “To speak of many things…”
I feel like a circus
clown juggling chainsaws right now. I’ve come to the realization that I’m not
very good at saying NO. But I’m getting better at it. I’ve also come to the
realization that I am not a super hero, and that’s okay. I actually do need
more than 5 hours of sleep at night. Using Redbull in place of water when
brewing coffee will only work for so long, and if I don’t want to burn out or
have a nervous breakdown, something’s gotta give.
I know how many hours
are in a day, and I know where I need to be directing them. I’ve already taken
a big step by putting in my notice with my day job. That was hard. Really hard. I like my boss, and he’s asked
me a few times now if I’d consider staying. But like I said, I’m getting better
at saying NO. I did, however, give 3 months’ notice (I think I mentioned this in my last post). I just finished designing
my second to last real estate guide book. And after next month, I’ll be a
full-time writer. I’m hoping this will reduce my stress levels by about 25%.
And just maybe, this weird eyeball thing I’ve had going on for the past few
weeks (like sleepy pins and needles in my eye socket, when I’m in front of my
computer for too long) will go away. I’m also looking forward to more sleep,
and a faster computer, since I’ll be clearing out a bunch of ginormous graphics
files.
With this month’s guide
done and off to the press, I scoured over my author email account and noticed
an update from my newsletter service, telling me that a hundred new subscribers
have signed up since my last newsletter. Ruh-roh. Looks like I’ll be working on
that next. I have a lot of news to share—upcoming events, books that friends
have recently released, and other exciting things…
With spring comes
convention season, and I’m diving in this year! Here are just a few things I
have planned in the coming months:
NEXT FRIDAY, March 27,
from 4pm-6pm @ Reader’s World in Sedalia, I’ll be signing books and visiting
with readers, along with Madge Gressley and Paul Ross. You can find out more on
the Facebook event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/629253317206789/
FRI-SUN, April 24-26, I’ll
have a table at the Writer’s Corner of the Trail’s End Heritage Days event at
the Missouri State Fairgrounds. Check out their website for more details on
this huge event: http://www.thetrailsend.org/
FRIDAY, May 15, @ 2pm,
I’ll be at Club RT at the RT Booklovers Convention in Dallas, TX. Kory Shrum
and I are going to try to nab a table together, so you can visit us both and
check out the new anthology we co-edited. We’ll be giving away a few copies!
Find out more on the convention website: https://rtconvention.com/
SATURDAY, May 16,
11am-2pm, Giant Book Fair at the RT Booklovers Convention in Dallas, TX. There
will be hundreds (like, around 800) authors signing at the fair. It’s amazing!
I’ll have copies of my new book, Blood
Moon, and copies of my first book, Graveyard
Shift, available. Again, more info is available at the convention website
here: https://rtconvention.com/
There’s also a vineyard
reading in Knob Noster, MO in June, but I don’t have all of the details yet.
More on that to come!
In other exciting news,
I am now a member of HWA, the Horror Writers Association, and SFWA, Science
Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. As an indie author, without a
publishing house family, these kinds of connections are usually difficult to
forge. We indie authors have to do more research, without an agent or publicist
to point us in the right direction, and many of the more prestigious organizations
have not been open to us, until now. I’m very thrilled to be a part of these
two groups. I admire many of their author members, and I’m looking forward to
attending their events and learning secret handshakes! : )
Another group I’m proud
to be a part of is my critique group, the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse. We’re
coming up on our 1 year anniversary! Kory Shrum, Kathrine Pendleton, and Monica
La Porta, you ladies are amazing! Your work is inspiring, and your critiques
make all the difference in the world to me. I hope we have many more fantastic years
together ahead of us! ♥
I’ve also been
connecting with some local authors lately. Madge Gressley, who invited me to
the Trail’s End event, met up with me for breakfast a few weeks ago. I’ve
started reading her Inescapable series. It’s an interesting sci-fi, thriller,
romance mashup that looks like a lot of fun! In that same week, Lisa Medley stopped
on her way through Sedalia to have lunch with me. I met Lisa at the RT
convention in New Orleans last year. She writes reapers too! If you follow my
blog, you’ve probably heard me gushing about her a few other times, in
interviews and blog hops.
So that’s what’s what
on the author front. There are also some exciting things happening in my
personal life, that have been upping my stress levels, but I’m hoping those
will be resolved soon too. I can’t wait to share that news with everyone, but
it will have to wait until everything is finalized. : )
Wishing you all
rainbows and unicorns!
xoxo
-Angela
