Hi everyone,

Yes I have been a completely and utterly useless author of late and I still managed to get a book published. But don’t think “lucky cow, does nothing and still gets published” as that isn’t true at all. I got signed to have this book published back when I was still actively writing and it had to wait its turn to be published and – ta da! Here it is.

Has it made any sales or gotten any reviews? No, I don’t think so… and yet it’s been available for about a month. Why has it not taken off? Well, if you don’t shake those authorly assets folks, your books aren’t going to sell – plain and simple.

And so whose fault is it that I’ve made no sales or gotten any reviews? MINE! Come on everyone, we know we can’t blame social media, my publisher or anything but one thing. It was me. I did nothing and so nothing has truly happened. I was pretty sure this would be the case and look – nailed that theory! 😉

Okay, so why have I not been shaking those authorly assets? Many reasons. Mental and physical health of myself and my family have not been tip top this year. My simply amazing, gorgeous and wonderful mother in law – who I still think of and miss DAILY – passed away mid-January and, truly, we have not recovered from the loss. She meant THAT MUCH to us. 😦

So, with that as a corner stone, and add a new job for hubby, new school for my Eldest Horde and my other two Hordes getting to know new teachers and classrooms…. The start of our year was just… peachy. Then add my fun health issues (mental and physical) and well, being the glue that keeps everything together and the wheels that keep everything moving…. I feel they collided, the glue hit the wheels and they froze solid. And I have been slowly coaxing them apart ever since to get them where they belong so I can go back to looking like an elegant swan above water (with my legs paddling like mad below the surface). Right now I feel I look more like this….

Yup, the good old bedraggled bird pic. How did we ever live our lives without memes? 😉

But please don’t feel down and depressed for me, I am happy as I write this and am sorry if this reads like a published pity party for one. It is just life and what I like to share to let people know they, hey, no one is perfect and see – we all go through tough times. I have taken my recent experiences and have allowed them to help me evolve. I now, more than ever, embrace the perfectly imperfect aspects of life. Things happen; we accept them and move on. Dwelling, rather than dealing, gets you nowhere.

Seek the positives. And I DO have some positives… I have discovered a new love that doesn’t just combine writing, but editing AND free books. How cool is that? I still review over on my other page here. But I was recently asked to become a beta reader for some of my favourite new authors. Meaning I got to see their work in action and make suggestions, pick up those clangers and fix them before publication and so on. I would like to think I have helped… Positive thoughts here… and enjoyed this new job (unpaid… well paid in books) so much that I have changed my degree! Yes, gone are my days of wanting to be a social media influencer – goodbye BA in Internet Communication! Instead I have switched to a BA in Professional Writing and Publishing. Thankfully all the units I completed for my old degree are in my new one so nothing is lost and more fulfilment and sense of belonging has been gained. I am a writer. As I have been saying all my life – I breathe, therefore I write. Becoming a social media spruiker may have seemed like the right thing to do to help sell my books…. But it wasn’t the right thing for my constant need to write. It kept taking away from it and pushing me into situations I wasn’t so keen on.

So, I bid that degree and idea of how to make a living a fond fair well. I write, therefore I am. And so it is now time I truly embrace that love of writing and focus on all things writing. Keep going with my ‘Other World’ series. Keep writing my murder mysteries, my haunted house, keep knocking on those publisher’s doors and rolling with the rejections. It’s time to start keeping an eye on the freelance writing side of things, but I’m not really ready to start pushing myself in that direction… yet. Instead, I am sticking to my three favourite things – reading, writing and reviewing. And reviewing simply now includes beta/ proof reading. Oh, and I have to say I am sure there are friends, readers – and my publisher especially – rolling around with tears of laughter at the thought of ME being able to proof read and CORRECT people’s work.

Yeah, yeah, I know. But you’d be amazed how switched on that area of my brain becomes when it’s not my writing I am looking at! 😉 It is my area of Neuro-diversity… whether I am HFASD or not – I don’t know, as I’m not diagnosed yet. But I also don’t care whether I am or not! Reading, proofing, editing… They use an area of my brain that just FIZZLES with excitement and joy at being used. The whole book unwinds in there and I can mentally see it all, see the gaps between the writing, the knots in their flow… and then gently fix them. That is me embracing what I am and enjoying it! Not actually getting paid in such a way as I could afford food, bills, mortgage… but hey, this isn’t my job. My kids are my job and my writing, reading and reviewing is just the stuff I do when not needed by them. 😀

Oh, and I WILL still be shaking my authorly assets too. As a matter of fact, did you know you could buy eBook copies of ‘There’s no place like Hell’ at these online bookstores here?

Hague Publishing
Amazon America
Amazon Australia
Apple iTunes
Google Play
Kobo
Barnes and Noble
Angus & Robertson

I will be updating my blog pages shortly to include this and the paperback versions of ‘Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My!’ to them all. And I am pretty sure Hague Publishing is still looking for ARC readers for ‘There’s no place like Hell’… so if you enjoyed book one of this ‘Other World’ series… let me know if you want a free eBook of the second one and I will see what I can arrange. There are only limited copies and my publisher has final say.

I also have, I think, about eight paperback copies of ‘Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My!’ available. I sign it, I add a little something homemade and crafty, I post it. Want a copy? Like my author Facebook page and drop me a message. Go on, you know you want to support me as a struggling author and word waffler! 😉

Okay, I feel I have probably written enough of a catch up for you all now and you can stop using my as a coffee break and get back to work. Go on… I hope to be a better blogger and add something else for you to peruse later on. Like how a rejection from Carina Press over my ‘Minton Manor’ haunted house story has just made me want to finish it all the more…

Until next time,

Janis.