Write the Books and Find the Readers

I missed last week because I spent the majority of it re-reading Rozmarie & Josiah. 😊 I know, rude to ditch on our date, but silly me thought I was going to just submit the book to fresh.ink without even looking it over. Rookie mistake. It dawned on me somewhere a few paragraphs in that it was *probably* a good idea to look over the story, and, well, I did.

All last week. I read every day as soon as I got home, and FINALLY on Sunday, I finished the thing. Because, I didn’t just read. I re-edited it as I went, and apparently, I missed some major typos and errors first go around. Am I going to win the contest? Probably not, but that’s okay. It’s slightly more polished, and I’m not so nervous about turning in a total piece of crap to these would-be-potential readers.

Because that’s my goal: FIND THE READERS

That, and write the books. But I feel both are equally important. Write the books and find the readers. Someone want to make me a banner I can hang above my window? I only have broken Christmas lights and an awesome writing picture my mom got me last yearĀ  (thanks, ma! Still love it!). For all the curious/stalkers:

There’s a perfectly good blank space right there. I could put a big plaque: Write the Books and Find the Readers. I feel like that’s all I need in order to break free from cubicle hell to write independently. A product I turn out to customers eagerly awaiting it. Speaking of…I really need to get back to MailChimp and figure out the whole newsletter thing. Where is my team of smart people to do this for me? Urrg. I wish parts of my brain weren’t so dumb, like the kind that deals with technology and understanding things that can’t be explained to a ten-year-old.

In better, simpler, easier news, I have a driver’s-side door handle! Look at it! Look at it in all its glory and magnificent awe:

It’s been very nice these few rainy days not having to run around the car like an idiot. I can go straight to one side and only be half-soaked instead of fully-soaked. Life is good 😊 I really do need to retire Georgie at some point, but until she completely craps out on me, she’s still my girl. And with her latest upgrade, I think she’s earned herself another year or so. That, or until something else vital falls off, or she retires to her days of seizuring which, if I’m being honest, are the most exciting.

Things to do:

  • Research Mailchimp. Again. Don’t get confused and distracted and decide no one cares so it’s not even worth it. And stop playing on your phone.
  • Be more social (stalk more) and keep putting my stuff out there.
  • Probably buy another car
  • Laundry

There’s more to the list, but I’m tired, so this will have to do. Back to writing RTD and reading other people’s books. And guys, I can FINALLY say I feel like I’ve tipped past the halfway point in RTD. I think I said this a while ago, but I mean it for realizes this time. And that means good things are coming. Good things 😊

Have a great week!

Calling For Submissions

I meant to write this post last week but then my computer decided to rage an all out war against me and my job search and everything fun I do on it (except for writing. It still lets me do that. It’d be in the trash if it didn’t.) But I’m disappointed to say we haven’t come to any kind of peace treaty because it still takes about ten minutes to load a web page, so yeah, the battle rages on.

ANYWAY.

Some exciting news for all you (want to be, should be, could be, WILL be) writers:

Contests and Anthology submissions! Hurray!

First, the lovely Joleene Naylor, author of the divine Amaranthine Series, has announced the Ink Slingers Halloween Anthology which is calling for submissions now! Story must be between 1,000 and 10,000 words and have a spooky or Halloween theme to it. Submission deadline is August 31st and… ah, you’ll find the rest of the juicy info here. šŸ™‚ I’m submitting so you should too. Come on, peer pressure at it’s finest, people.

Second,Ā I was contacted by an upcomingĀ online writer platform (kind of like wattpad).Ā It’s called Inkitt, and they’re currently looking for submissions for their “Beyond Time” Science Fiction contest. Deadline for this one is July 27 (short notice – I know. But you can do it!)Ā If interested, you can find my submission, The Simulator, here:

Human Subject Matty and Alien Researcher Pini struggle through internal logs over Matty’s first time in the Simulator, a virtual ā€œtrip homeā€ used to reward and encourage Subjects for good behavior and continued submissiveness.

Alright, I’m off to work on my spooky story.

And not kill this computer.

…We’ll see how the day goes.