Organized and Feelin' Fine...

I'm totally organized to take on the rest of the year, including projects, freelance work, and other fun stuff. And it helps to have a few good tools to stay organized--my new Sarah Scribbles calendar and organizer are keeping me motivated (and entertained).

The new Fiverr gig has been up and running for a few days now, so if you need blog editing services, you can check it out. Also, Fiverr has introduced an Available Now option that lets you tell customers you are online and ready to work. So, I've decided to hold something like office hours for the editing gig as well as my book spotlight gig--I'll try to stay available for at least an hour or two a week. It will probably be at different times, depending on what's scheduled for that week, so I'll announce my availability on Twitter.

The Patreon page is coming along. I want to get it all snazzy and looking good, so the page will not launch until November 1. I know. The same day NaNoWriMo starts. What am I thinking?! Anyway, I'll be providing more information once it launches. I'll also be providing more information on this year's NaNo project once I figure out what it will be.

I'm not sure if I announced that Seeing What Develops is now available for purchase on a range of platforms, but if I didn't, here I go. The book is now available as an ebook through Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Scribd, Inktera, Playster, 24Symbols and outlets that sell books for Tolino. I'm still working to update my book page on the blog, and that's why it's hidden at the moment. It should be back up soon.

Have a happy weekend full of writing!

Tis the Season for NaNo

NaNoWriMo, Day 1:

This is what you would call a better-than-nothing start to NaNoWriMo 2016.

But all is not lost. I caught up on yesterday's word count this morning and intend to add some each day until I totally crush this contest. As you can clearly see, the first week enthusiasm as not worn off yet. Don't worry. It will.

I can also say congrats, international readers! You now have another option for buying my novel Seeing What Develops. It's now available for purchase at Kobo and more options will be rolling out over the next couple of weeks.

And I know what you're thinking--where's your traditional Year One post about Seeing What Develops? I didn't forget about the post--just haven't finished it yet. I'll get it to you soon.

Off to more writing adventures...

On the Agenda

August is going to be a super busy month. Since everyone's going back to school, I thought I might as well assign myself a bunch of homework. That's how self-employed adulting works, right?

First up: more chapters of In Another Life have been uploaded to Write On. If you want to dive into the suspenseful world of Natalie LeBeau and her adventures at the lodge, go for it. And be sure to leave some comments and tell me what you think.

Haunting Melody (Melody of Love #2) is in the middle of revisions. I'm also working on the cover, with a bonus redesigned cover for Melody of Love (Melody of Love #1). If you want to make sure you're all caught up on the adventures of Mel and Austin, make sure to pick up your copy of book #1 before October.

Draft2Digital has partnered with Books2Read, so now I have a handy-dandy link to all the places where Unfolding Life is sold (excluding Amazon and Kobo). I also wanted to make sure all of my German fans know that I've distributed Unfolding Life with Tolino. Because Tolino distributes to multiple storefronts, I don't have just one direct link, but you can find my book at Hugendubel and Thalia. And to put my college minor to good use:

Deutsche Freunde! Unfolding Life ist für den kauf bei Hugendubel und Thalia verfügbar.

I think that's close!

When Planning Goes Awry (Or, How Not to Write a Poem)

Week two of my goal to write 30 poems this month didn't seem to go as well as the first week. It's mostly because I was removed from my notes. During the last week in March I was coming up with these fabulous ideas to poeticize so I wrote them down and kept them especially for this challenge. The problem with all of this planning arose when I went back to those notes, looked at each separate idea and couldn't remember exactly where I wanted to go with it.

I used the notes anyway to do my daily writing, but I know that these ponderings of poetic genius didn't get the treatment they deserved. They turned out poor, with or without editing. Don't fret--they won't be lost to the ages if I commit to a few hours of rigorous revision.

Lesson learned. If an idea for a poem sprouts in my mind, I sit down and I write it then and there. Then maybe I'll get closer to achieving what I want.

On to the part you all are waiting for. The poem I'm sharing this week is a haiku. It comes much closer to traditional haiku with the theme of nature.

--

Fertile air in spring

Blossoms the waiting flowers

Rain mists down on us

-- 

No National Poetry Month would be complete without a pause for some promotion, would it? If you like haiku, I do have my haiku collection Unfolding Life for sale. You can get it from Amazon, Createspace and Kobo. I have it on good authority that more places for purchase will be available soon. ;-)  As always, if you pick up a copy, let me know what you think by leaving a review.

Hello 2016!

It's officially the New Year, so I'm excited about what's coming up in my writing career. A lot of it is still in the planning stages, but I'm trying to find a way to keep myself accountable for daily word counts and give myself reasonable deadlines to get things done. I need something between a day planner and a robot that smacks me when I stop writing. I'll keep working on that...

As usual, I take a little bit of time at the beginning of each year to reintroduce myself to any new readers of this blog that have jumped on this wild ride. I'm all over social media if you want the latest up-to-date information (last year's post is still relevant, so I won't repost all of that). I'm working hard on making my other blogs just as interesting and fun as this one, starting with Showered in Beauty. If you want to see the side of me that gets all nerdy about makeup, fashion and food (99% healthy, of course 😉), then please stop by regularly--or better yet, go ahead and follow the blog so you'll never miss a post.

And I've saved the best news for last: the haiku collection Unfolding Life has been officially uploaded and is available through the Kobo store. So if you own a Kobo and want some poetry to read, go for it. You'll be glad you did.

I hope 2016 is starting out on an amazing note for everyone. I know mine is!