Guess Who’s Back

I’ve been MIA for a while now. Blogging always seems to get pushed aside and pushed to the bottom of my to-do list. Wouldn’t it be nice if things just took care of themselves once in a while? Ya know… like day jobs and bill payments?

But more than anything it has been my health that has been the constant battle which keeps me from working on writing and blogging. The fatigue that comes along with my Ankylosing Spondylitis makes it very difficult to focus and think clearly enough to write.

I have been getting some writing done though. Little bits and piece here and there. No major long epic marathon writing moments, but some of the WIPS are coming along. I’m trying to focus mostly on A Kiss of Betrayal: Wesley’s Story (Book Four of The Kiss Series) since I know that my fans are waiting for its release, but my Muse is as ADD as ever – jumping from one story to the next.

At the end of May, I was a part of Lubbock-Con. I had a booth where I sold and signed books. I enjoyed it just as much as I did last year. It is always a joy to meet fans (old and new). I got to meet several budding writers as well and at least one is going to be joining us at Writer’s Chapter for our weekly meetings. This year I also ran a panel on “The Realities of Self-Publishing” with fellow author Melody Robinette. I had my father record the panel, but we have had some technical difficulties since then. I plan to upload the video if I ever get it worked out.

Another exciting thing that happened at Lubbock-Con is that a lady who works for Barnes & Noble offered to help me set up a book signing with them. So, more info on that to come.

I’ve also been asked to be on a podcast. I’m recording it on June 27, but I believe it isn’t going to be released until sometime in December. I will update when I know the date exactly, and provide a link to the podcast.

Something I’ve really been trying to focus on lately is the business side of being an author. As a self-published author, all of that falls to me. I do not have an agent or a publishing company behind me to take care of things like marketing. As someone who really just wanted to write books when I was getting started the business side wasn’t an aspect that I really thought about or worked very hard at, but if I want to be a successful author, then I definitely need to start working harder on it. So, I’ve been reading a lot of books about running online businesses and books that specifically talk about marketing and self-publishing success. I also have become a part of Author’s Cross Promotion (or Author’s XP) where my books are available for readers to request copies to read and review. Getting reviews is absolutely essential to the success of authors. And for some reason it is so hard for me to get them! I have received a few reviews from the Author’s XP program so far, hoping to receive many more.

So this post has ended up being a bit of an information dump to catch all of you up on everything that I have been doing. I swear to write more frequently and update on the upcoming events.

Read and write on book worms and book writers!

XoXo

Michelle