Those who follow me probably noticed that I have been awol for a few days – nearly two weeks… That is because I went on a vacation. I visited my parents, my brother, and my son and his youngest son. The poem in the picture is one that I wrote as a child and my dad held onto. Next week I will be back to posting, and I am hoping to be back on track… But I wanted to enjoy the family time, as it is a rare beast.
The last two years have been so busy. And I am finding it hard to keep up. When I started with Coffee house writer’s I was easily able to keep up with the schedule I was on. But I have since started doing more here and with Fae Corps. We are doing more in Fae Corps. I am floundering under the weight of the responsibility… So I have made a decision. I am leaving Chw for now. I have already told my wonderful editor. There will be one more post next Monday. Then… I think that I will try to post here more. I am hoping that releasing one responsibility will ease the burden of the rest.
Due to the Holiday my schedule for updates may be a little off. I will be trying to do a couple of posts but I can not promise, I will return next week to my regular posting.
Blogging is harder than it looks. There’s timing, hashtags, content, and readers to consider. When you first start, if you are anything like I was, you think that you really are less than interested in sticking to a schedule… more that you just want to get what you have to say heard.
Then you start seeing that you are being seen more… Hence people are seeing what you have to say… And it becomes the thing to stick with a schedule (something I am still struggling with)…
So you find yourself searching through the daily Hashtags to find something that both fits your blog and is easy to do content for. You realize that the blog is in control.
I think that I am just not going to plan for Friday. If I feel like posting I will. Thursday is going to stay chaotic as a true mad tea party should be chaotic. (Even if the poet hosting the party is only half mad…). So I think that the blog posts that I share regularly will be Monday poetry, Tuesday Tunes, and Wordless Wednesday. Even the weeks where I am struggling I can usually do those 3.
It was suggested that I do a Follow Friday… Problem is it does not fit my blog. It’s too calm for my crazy
I normally juggle the balls in my life reasonably well. Author, blogger, editor, formatter, artist, friend, CHW poet, poet, game master, cover designer, mom, teacher, housewife, publisher….
These hats all are comfortable. I can deal with the multiple things happening at once. Not Today. this week has been one nightmare after another. Me making mistakes that I normally avoid.
Including missing posts on my blog. And then realizing that I am too stressed to know what to post all week. Fae corps has 4 volumes coming out at once(fae dreams, and 3 volumes of Nightmare Whispers) and one of the volumes is causing Technical difficulties.(Fae Dreams). Said difficulties are because I missed details, so I am being extra hard on myself. I am fighting those gremlins that come from it. However I am dropping balls because of it. I will try to get a couple of things back on track and figure out something to post. So please stay tuned…this may be an unusual week….but bear with me.
I may just post a couple of reviews to get me through the rest of the week….
So this week has been a disaster… And then some. I have had in my home 2 head wounds, a second degree burn, scratches, scrapes, a seizure and just general chaos. I tried to record a sketchbook tour. My phone ate the video.
I have been on the go so much that I feel like I have been awake for a week. That means that I have nothing to do the tea party on this week. And likely no idea what to talk about tomorrow. I will have to work on the idea farm.
I am a creative person… First and foremost. It is just a truth about me. And I usually have some idea of what to create… But every now and then I get the blahs. When I don’t want to do anything. I just can’t think of anything I want to make/write. Sure, I can do prompts… And I often do to break the blahs. But sometimes I just like letting the mood work itself out.
That means that I don’t have an update for a tea party. As I have been lacking in forward momentum for a couple of weeks now. It will pass. But until it does… I am just not feeling it.
Ok… I didn’t sleep well… And I have been so busy lately that I literally do not have any poetry to share… (I will be sharing a link to coffee house writers later)…
So, I was debating what to do on Mondays that are not good for poetry… Or when I don’t feel up to fighting with it… And I could not think of a exact topic or specific interest to delve into… I think that I will do a few different things. One is echoes from the void… That is where I will be letting the more philosophical content take over. Another is going to be Monday Money. It will be where I discuss both the costs and income of writing/art.
It feels like having 2 or 3 possible topics per day give me a good chance of keeping the blog active.
Hello my lovely readers. I don’t know if you missed me yesterday… I was terribly ill. My daughter had it (a stomach bug)… And apparently decided to share. So I spent yesterday in illness. Today I am doing much better, though I am still being careful with food.
This week has been a slow one for news. The preorder for Through The Sunshine and Poetic Reminders are still going. Fae Corps still has 2 anthologies that they are taking submissions for.
Now… Here’s something that I rarely do. I have many writers as friends on Facebook. I don’t promote Facebook off of there much… It just feels pushy most of the time. However… This is a story worth sharing. This is part of why I have gone almost completely to draft2digital. I only use my kdp account for when Amazon gets too picky and refuses something that I know should be publishable.
Hopefully this finds you all well. Tell me what is new in your world?
Hello, lovely readers! Today, my need for caffeine was strong, so I am enjoying coffee. Triple chocolate coffee with cinnamon creme creamer. That and the toothpicks propping my eyelids open might allow functionality.
So much news today. Two preorders… One for Poetic Reminders and one for Through the Sunshine. Upcoming events. What is being worked on now. And commentary about life at large.
So let’s start with talking about the preorders. Fae Corps is doing a party all through May. There is going to be a chance to get to know the authors in the anthology. Giveaways and just general fun. Go check it out and join us for the fun! I am not doing anything so big for Poetic Reminders…. However if I get comments on this blog post I will do a random drawing for a free ebook copy… So tell me something that makes you smile.
Coffee house writers anthology is moving right along. My submissions have been assigned to its first editor. They are going to assign three separate editors to catch all errors. That way you, the reader, get the best piece possible. With Fae Corps we have the authors read the manuscript after the final edits have been put together to make sure that there are no errors. That is often 10+ sets of eyes on the whole thing. That helps to insure quality. Quality is the best way to ensure the stories are showcased properly.
So, Serena is working currently on a short horror story for the Nightmare whispers anthology. I think that it is off to a good start. She is still working on The Kingdoms of Sin, but the short has a deadline. She is determined to get both done soon. I hear that she is hoping to release her book some time this year.
As for me… I have started a new poetry volume. The cover is above… I really love how it turned out. I still am working on heart drops, but as I don’t often write love poetry… I wanted a volume that could catch the other poems… The darker poems. I think that this volume suits that idea. I have the next Dylan book written, and am waiting for the illustrator. If I have time I want to finish Attack of Shoe Mountain. I have so much going on though that it may be a while.
Life has been chaotic for me for a bit now. Back in November we started expansion of my daughter’s room. Due to the lack of people to assist or timing being bad or just bad luck… It is still unfinished. That is changing this weekend. So next week will be me cleaning up the mess left by construction. The next project is my master bath, hopefully it will be done faster.
So I mentioned a giveaway above. I asked for things that make you smile, but I am also curious about how life has been for you. How has the current situation in the world affected your day to day life?
Pattimouse 