Newsletter | December 2018

Hello everyone! Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! Regardless of how you choose to celebrate this season there’s just something about this time of year (other than the biting cold) that feels special, but it can also be insane, chaotic, materialistic, and incredibly stressful, so I hope you found a way to be still for a moment and breathe. There’s nothing quite like taking a silent walk in the snow, away from people, social media, and demands. Just walking across a blanket of snow, between trees dripping ice, and the occasional bird startling from its branch. No sounds besides your boots crunching through white, the soft crackling of ice in the air, your breath puffing out clouds in the cold, and blessed silence. Sometimes I even lie down in the snow as if to make a snow angel but instead I just lie there until the snow becomes warm and cozily tucked around my body. A chance to be silent and to listen. There is so much one can do on a snow day but my favorite has always been the silence, the peacefulness.

Besides snow, I really love the Christmas season! It’s the month where I coat the kitchen in flour as I bake gingerbread men while jamming to Trans-Siberian Orchestra, or baking any of my other favorites such as Russian tea cakes, Italian lemon cookies, spice cookies, treacle tart, or November cakes (a recipe from the book The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater). And of course all the while I’m dancing and singing along to the radio’s rotation of classic Christmas music (none of that new nonsense for me, thanks). I know some people loathe Christmas music because it’s the same playlist put on loop for two months every year, but I love Christmas music! It’s hard for me to resist dancing down the aisles and belting out the melodies while shopping haha

Unfortunately this year I also ended up really sick and it just would not ease up! It took me a couple weeks but I’m finally over it. It was horrible though and I sincerely hope none of you got sick! Being sick is just the worst, isn’t it? *shudders* And of course I had to be sick the Sunday I was meant to sing a solo with the choir at my church. It’s wild how things can work out though. I had absolutely no voice that morning, when I rehearsed I could eek out maybe every third or fifth note, but come time to sing I somehow made it through! Aaaaand then I promptly returned to a raspy toady voice for the rest of the day haha

Another downside to this ridiculous bout of sickness that struck me is that I’m behind with my goals for Carrion Crow (Otherworld #2). It should be all set on Amazon and a proof copy on its way to my mailbox but alas that is not so. I did manage to finish the Kindle edition but I’m still trying to catch up with work and get the paperback edition formatted. My brother is almost done with the cover art too and I can’t wait!!

Are you the type of person to set New Year’s resolutions? I’m generally not because I never follow through with those big lofty goals, but I’ve found that if I break it down into manageable bite-sized steps I get a ton done and it feels fantastic! I published two books in 2018 and I plan to release three in 2019! Fingers crossed that all will go smoothly. I’m considering releasing them sooner than originally scheduled but we’ll just have to wait and see… If you are the sort of person to set goals/resolutions then I wish you the best of luck!

Christmas is a time full of gifts and to encourage this season of giving I’d like to boost a few of my author friends’ books. I’m so thankful that I met author Angie Grigaliunas and that she invited me into an online writing group where I’ve met several other fellow writers. It’s been so much fun and I’m anxious to read their stories once they’ve finished! But one thing we all know is that being a self-published author is expensive, time consuming, and challenging in more ways that we could anticipate so I really want to help boost them whenever I can. If you received any money in your stocking this year maybe you’ll feel adventurous and consider buying a book to bring in the new year! And if not then maybe you’ll please consider leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads?

10 Self-Published Book Suggestions:
(click on the cover for the Amazon link)

The books above include stories with psychics, zombies, vampires, military, dragons, serial killers, romance, apocalypse, magic, and more! They’re intriguing plots written by lovely people whom I’ve enjoyed getting to know little by little as I wade my own way through this publishing world. Having people read our books and leave reviews is the most exciting and meaningful thing we can ask for so please, if you have five minutes to spare, please leave a review for my books and any of your other indie author faves. Thank you!