June Posts
- Focusing on Fairy Tales: May in Review
- Get ready for The Convention of Heroes!
- ARCs are here for The Rose and the Claw: A Beauty and the Beast Novella.
A lot of time, when we talk about the nuts and bolts that go into being an author, it boils down to time spent writing versus time spent doing everything else, like admin work or marketing. But sometimes, I think that from a reader’s perspective, it looks different. First, there’s the visible writer. This is the version of the author that makes important announcements, shows up on your podcast feed/inbox, and is available to chat with on social media. Then there’s the invisible writer or all that work that happens in the background. Much like an iceberg, what’s visible on the surface is only a fraction of what lies beneath.
So for today, let’s divide my June recap into those two categories. Because it was objectively my busiest month of 2021, but it may not have appeared that way.
The Visible: Convention of Heroes
On the visible side of things, it’s hard to beat Superhero-fiction.com’s annual Convention of Heroes. After all, I was very visibly on video!
The Convention of Heroes was a virtual fan con all about superheroes. There were basically two tracks: a creator track and a fan track, and I was fortunate enough to appear on panels for both. I started off the week with the How to Craft a Hero panel that really got into the nuts in bolts on superhero character creation. Tuesday, brought things to the fan side of things with the Anime and Manga Supers panel, which is also the first panel I have ever moderated. I went into things nervous and overwhelmed, but thanks to the awesome folks on my panel, and support from the superhero-fiction team, it went quite well. My part in the conference ended on Thursday in a very NSFW panel about Romance in Superhero Media, where we got to talk about THAT recent Batman controversy.
All and all, it went very well, but the iceberg metaphor still applies here. Each panel involved plenty of prep, from conversing with the superhero-fiction team to coming up with questions and answers. I was very glad that I happened to take that week off as a vacation because I honestly don’t know how I would have had time to juggle everything had it been a standard workweek. This is likely a sign that I need to do only one or two panels next year, if for my sanity than anything else.
But let’s see how I feel about that next year.
Also, on the visible side of things, you’ve probably seen me out and about on social media talking about ARCs! The release date for my next book (and series starter!) The Rose and The Claw: A Beauty and the Beast Novella is just around the corner. So I spent quite a bit of time trying to build up hype through the use of early reviews. I still have a few ARCs available for anyone who wants to jump on board, so leave a comment with your email address if you’d like me to send you one.
The Invisible: Writing, writing, writing
It feels strange to be talking about the fourth and final book in my Twin Kingdoms series when the first book hasn’t even come out yet, but since I plan on realizing these in relatively quick succession, I need to make sure that everything is cued up properly.
And boy, has that been a challenge with this one!
Sometimes I think that, as writers, we can get a little smug over time. The things that once tripped us up as newbies don’t always impede us after several years. We’ve figured out how to maintain a writing schedule. A blank page no longer intimidates us. Unfortunately, while the fact that we are more experienced and knowledgeable can be helpful, it doesn’t change the fact that each book is going to provide us with a different set of challenges.
Part of this has to do with the book itself (a series finale!), but that’s not the only factor. Challenges can come from other places as well. As mentioned above, I had a lot to juggle this month. It almost makes me wistful for the times when all I had to focus on was writing because the more you have to multitask, the harder it can be to get that necessary momentum to see a draft to its end.
All of this is to say, I am still working on that novella and a little irked that all of these problems mean that my other projects have been inevitably pushed back. But the book is in a much stronger place now than just a few days ago, and I am confident that I can finish this draft. It’s just going to take some patience.
What’s Next?
More juggling! Between getting ready for The Rose and the Claw’s Publication, working on future books, podcasting, and beta reads, I honestly don’t know how I’m going to get through the next month without dropping something. In a way, I already have. My podcast, One for All, has gone from weekly to every other week.
Let’s hope I don’t need to cut back in other areas.
