A Fabulous February (except for that potential world war on the horizon)

Hello Bloglandia,

Long time no type, right?

The burnout break still continues, but I thought I’d give a little update on how the break is going.

In Case You Missed It…

January ended with me in a huge slump in regards to writing.

I covered the full turmoil in THIS BLOG POST but to sum it up, I felt frazzled, uninspired, and hated every moment I had to face any form of writing work.

Basically, I had a big ol’ case of burnout.

And I was pretty worried. I mean, I’ve never liked the marketing aspect of writing, but I’ve always enjoyed crafting stories and (sometimes) I even enjoy the revision process.

But by the end of January, I was not enjoying any part of the process.

And ideas for new stories? Ha! They were about as plentiful as those noodles in a haystack Duncan mentions in Hoard It All Before.

(Yes, that was just a shameless plug for my own book. And since I might as well go all in on this….)

 

Anyway…

At the end of January, I dug down to see what the problem was (trying to do too much) and decided I would take a break for a couple months.

During this break, I would cut out all the other “stuff” such as blogging, social media, and promo hunting.

Instead, I would focus on my novels, play with some new writing, re-learn a thing or two about marketing to help “reset” my frazzled brain, and cobble together some ideas of where I wanted to go next.

So how is the break going?

Swimmingly!

In the first week of February, I wrote and completed a short story, The Great Escape. Which is pretty good, because a short story normally takes me a month to wrap up.

I also found myself eager to work on the next revision of Tipping the Scales (the second book in the Circus of Unusual Creatures series). So eager, I completed this rather complex draft in only three weeks.

And unlike how I’ve felt about Hoard and Tipping up until now, I actually felt good about how this draft turned out.

Which after months of doubting every single word I’ve put to paper (or screen), was a welcome change.

Even better than being productive…

Inspiration has come tripping back into my world.

I’m already working on a new short story, I’ve got oodles of ideas for several more, and I took time to prioritize the next novels I want to work on. Novels I’m super excited about!

Fueled by kind words…

Part of the break also included cutting out almost all social media.

This isn’t exactly a sacrifice for me because, honestly, I really can’t stand social media and only do it because I’m told I “have to.”

Still, I did pop into Instagram a few times just to make sure no film producers had contacted me there to make blockbuster movies of all my books (hey, it could happen).

Spielberg didn’t get in touch, but what I did find were some kind words about my stories.

And since these words were from fellow authors, they really gave me a boost (we authors are notoriously nitpicky).

Kim M. Watt (who also writes about detecting dragons) gave The Great Escape a little shout out on Instagram (center photo) and she even counted Hoard It All Before as one of her top recent reads over on her blog.

And Jonathan Pongratz raved about both The Great Escape (left photo) and Hoard (right photo) on his blog (and on Instagram too).

And since Jonny is a pretty tough reviewer, every star feels like it’s worth triple!

But these weren’t the only mood boosts for the month.

A new subscriber on my mailing list recently discovered The Undead Mr Tenpenny in his local library and emailed me to tell me how much he loved it…which is always appreciated by authors, so if you find a book you like, don’t ever be shy about telling its creator you enjoyed it.

But this fellow didn’t stop there.

He got his library to purchase the rest of the series…even though they resisted at first. And to know someone took their time to get my books “out there”, well, all I can say is a very heartfelt THANK YOU.

So all in all, February was a terrific month and I’m hoping March will prove equally great.

You know, except for a minor thing like a potential world war looming on the horizon, the childish political conflicts, rampant inflation, supply chain issues…

Ugh, never mind, I’m depressed again.

What’s ahead…

The break, as I said, still continues.

But I do find I miss posting on the blog, so I may do that a bit more frequently this month, but not on any regimented schedule. (And to my blogging buddies, I have been keeping up with your words!)

I’m currently doing an out-of-order read through on my upcoming supernatural thriller Day Sixteen (this helps me find typos and inconsistencies a bit better than reading the chapters sequentially). That should be wrapped up this week.

I’ll then dive into the next draft of Tipping the Scales, which should go pretty quickly.

And I’m going to put a little effort into some Amazon Ads because I just love watching my hard-earned royalties go flying out the window…sigh.

Anyway, have a great week, do sign up for the newsletter, and I will type at you again soon!!

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