Celebrate the Small Things 6-3-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

I made it through my first week at work and am feeling okay.  I suspect I may be getting a cold, but I'm trying hard to ignore it.  Maybe if I don't pay attention, it'll go away.  Not being able to do any exercise other than walking is beginning to get to me a little - walking takes a lot of time which I don't have.

The Arts Festival I worked for in my previous job is currently on and I've been to a few shows and have a few more to go to this weekend.  Saw a very thought-provoking one-man play called Nowhere which I thought was great.  Going to music things both nights over the weekend, and hopefully to a dance show during the week.

Got another couple of rejections for Stranger this week.  Maybe it just isn't the right time for this book, no matter how good it is.

What are you celebrating this week?

ISWG- March 2026

 It's the first Wednesday of the month so it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group..

This month's hosts are PJ Colando, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, and Natalie Aguirre, so let's give them a cheer!

This month's question is one I'll be interested in reading other peoples' posts about:

What elements do you include in your book launch? Or what do you have in mind for your future book launch? Or what advice do you have to offer to others planning to launch a book?

I'm actually pretty useless at releasing my books and I'm not ashamed to say it.  I have a company I work with (Itsy-Bitsy Book Bits if you want to know) who help with social media and stuff which I'm useless at.  They also have a big stable of in-house reviewers and that helps at release time too, especially since about 90% of the reviewers I approach directly usually turn me down.

Finding reviewers is usually the biggest part of my launch strategy and I spend a lot of weeks reaching out to bloggers and reviewers who read contemporary YA.  Most never respond, and the ones that do are  usually too busy with other books to accept anything new.  But I still feel like this is probably the best use of my time because reviews are so important when a new book is released.

I try to do some interviews if anyone will have me, and write some specific blog posts.  I also try to put together some kind of social media campaign of my own that's different to the stuff the company does - usually some graphics with the cover of the book and some quotes from the story and maybe some good early review stuff.

I make sure there's a page for the new book on my website with links to where to buy it, any good review quotes and other useful stuff to know about it.

And.... that's kind of it.  I don't have the budget to invest in ads or anything like that, and my publisher doesn't do much other than a couple of social media posts, so my books end up launching into a void.  My latest release also suffered from Amazon assigning it some truly bizarre keywords that hasn't helped that one at all.  I managed to get the non-fiction tag taken off, but it's still listed as sci-fi and fantasy which, as a contemporary novel about brothers, is probably not helping the right readers find it...

I'd be very interested to hear what other authors do to launch their books, especially if, like me, they don't have thousands of dollars lying around to spend on ads or billboards or anything like that.  So tell me what you do to launch your books into the world.  I'm listening!

Weekly Goals 2-3-26

 Ack!  It's March already?  How did that happen?

I'm back at work today for the first time since my surgery, so that's my main goal for the week - to get through it.  I have a few extra things to do too, since the Festival of the Arts is on and I have tickets for a few shows.

So, I'm not setting myself any writing goals on top of that.  It seems silly when I'm likely to be pretty exhausted by Wednesday...

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 27-2-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

I'm feeling much better after the surgery.  I haven't taken any pain meds since Monday and have been doing longer and faster walks every day.  I still don't feel 100% myself, but I think that might take a few weeks - I do still have four little wounds in my belly that are healing (and itchy as heck) and things inside are probably still settling down too.  I have to go back to work on Monday, so I'm going to try and keep resting as much as I can over the weekend so I'm ready.

Had a couple more rejections for A Stranger to Kindness. No new requests this week either.  I'm getting the new book ready to enter in a contest that will get me the chance to work with an editor if I win, so that's kind of my focus for the first part of March.  I need to come up with a compelling longline for that one...  What do you think of this?

Street Smarts is a platonic love story between Arlo, a homeless rent boy and Devon, the Catholic schoolgirl he rescues when the park is raided.

I feel like it could be snappier, even if that is the essence of the story.  I'm not quite sure how to wrap in that it's told through journal entries either, or if that's even relevant when it's clear once you see the first page.

Any (and all) feedback is welcome.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Really Good, Actually

 

I picked this one up at the library because it looked like it might be funny and light, and because the author was one of the writers on Schitt's Creek.  And while it was amusing in parts, It wasn't really as funny as I think the author thinks it is.

Let me just preface this review by saying I did read a large chunk of this book directly after I had surgery and was on a lot pain medication and probably a little doolally from anesthetic... 

The main character in this book is Maggie, a 29-year-old grad student and newlywed.  She and her husband have been together since the early days of college, but only decided to tie the knot about a yer ago.

So, it's a shock when Maggie discovers her marriage is over and she's facing life as a single woman again at such a young age.  After the initial period of inertia where she can barely lever herself out of bed, Maggie starts making tentative steps toward life again.  With help from her supportive group of friends and their group chat, a fellow newly-divorced woman and her tough, lesbian thesis advisor Merris, Maggie is determined to get back out there and grab life by the horns.

The book follows Maggie through this first post-divorce year as she tries to take up hobbies, moves house, experiments with dating apps and might just find a new guy she could give her heart to.

Some of the stuff she ends up in is quite funny, but in kind of a tragic way because Maggie herself is actually a truly tragic character.  She's completely lacking in any self-awareness, even as she's so totally wrapped up in herself and her self-improvement that she can't see anything outside her own sphere.  I found myself actively disliking her in so many places during the is book, especially the way she treated her friend group who were nothing but supportive of her.

And the way she constantly texted and called her ex everyday, even when he never responded was, again, tragic.  One of the most uncomfortable scenes in the whole book is one in which she goes to a couples therapy appointment, certain her ex is going to show up, when it's so obvious that there's no way he's ever going to do that.

But really, that's just one of many super uncomfortable scenes...

I'm not saying I didn't enjoy this book, but to call it laugh-out-loud funny is a bit of a stretch.  It's a more uncomfortable, strained kind of laughter, when the odd moment of hilarity ensues.  I found myself cringing through a lot of it, humiliated on Maggie's behalf.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

A hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one woman’s messy search for joy and meaning in the wake of an unexpected breakup, from comedian, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter Monica Heisey

Maggie is fine. She’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s broke, her graduate thesis on something obscure is going nowhere, and her marriage only lasted 608 days, but at the ripe old age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.

Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4 am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. With the support of her tough-loving academic advisor, Merris; her newly divorced friend, Amy; and her group chat (naturally), Maggie barrels through her first year of single life, intermittently dating, occasionally waking up on the floor and asking herself tough questions along the way.

Laugh-out-loud funny and filled with sharp observations, Really Good, Actually is a tender and bittersweet comedy that lays bare the uncertainties of modern love, friendship, and our search for that thing we like to call “happiness”. This is a remarkable debut from an unforgettable new voice in fiction.

Weekly Goals 23-2-26

 Five days post-surgery and I'm feeling pretty okay.  I've been for a few walks - short and slow, but walks nonetheless.  I need to go to the library today, so that's a slightly longer walk again.

I'm not really setting any goals for this week other than to rest and recover.  I have this week off from work, then I have to go back, so I want to be as strong and rested and pain-free as I can be by then.

That said, there are a lot of hours in a day to fill and I can't just sit around reading and watching movies or I'll go a little crazy.  So, I'm aiming to write a flash fiction each day and to do reviews for my critique group, one a day this week.

I have a ticket to go to the ballet on Thursday, and I'm hoping to be able to go to that.  I had hoped I'd feel well enough to go to the first Film Society screening tonight, but that seems a little ambitious, I think,

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 20-2-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

I made it through the surgery and am home.  Turned out to be a more complicated procedure than anticipated - apparently I was full of endometriosis as well as all the stuff I already knew about.  But it is over now and so far the pain hasn't been too bad.  I'm just really tired more than anything else.  So, I'm taking things easy and resting a lot.  I plan to go for a walk today though.  Not sure how far I'll get, but even if it's just around the block it will be good for me.

Planning to make the most of the time off I have and do a lot of reading.  I haven't tried sitting at my desk yet, but I'll do that today and see if maybe some writing and reviewing will help fill in the time.

What are you celebrating this week?