Sunday, April 5, 2020

Feeling the Stress of Solitude

Well, 2020 was off to a smashing start, until... PANDEMIC INSANITY!

I can't believe this is happening. The entire world has shut down. I praise all the essential workers who are braving their jobs--ESPECIALLY THANK YOU TO THE MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS!! My Army Medic son is about to go to one of the Epicenters to help. He's looking forward to it, putting his skills to good use!

I also pray for anyone who's lost their job because of this. I'm very thankful the powers that be are trying to lighten their financial burdens. I just hope this thing ends SOON! After this, people won't complain about life for a while!

I hope you are dealing with all these enormous changes and staying sane and healthy. It's been hard on everyone.

So taking a "break" from school, I thought I might get some writing done. Not so fast! It's actually more stressful for me. As a teacher, I'm preparing online lessons, trying to bring a touch of normalcy to my kids and bringing them together for lessons when I can. So many things are affected that no one thinks about...

But I've seen a lot of positives as well. Our family is spending more time together, we are getting to things we've been putting off around the house, and it's inspiring to see stories of people helping other people, tons!

To keep myself together, I'm trying to do normal activities, and one of those is my quarterly Newsletter. This helps me remember what I've accomplished and organize my future goals. I really appreciate you joining me on this journey!
Through February and March, I went back to my crusade to get BEAST WORLD noticed. The Disney/Pixar movie Onward instigated this campaign last summer with its modern day fantasy world setting irritatingly similar to mine. It was released March 6--probably one of the last new movies to be released before the theaters were shut down. And it's already on Disney Plus. Needless to say, it didn't do very well, and reviews weren't that great either. I'm not happy about it, but I'm not sad either...

The whole situation pushed me to republish my books, which I did after hours of painstaking editing and formatting. Then I started on the Ebooks...

I can now bring you the EBOOK:

Only one more ebook to go: Cradle Rock (book 2), then some touch ups on Windy Hollow (book 3) and I'll be off to republish my other series, POP TRAVEL books 2 & 3. All the while, slowly working on new books in each series. There's always work to do! But when you love it, it's not really work!

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~~ RECENT EVENTS ~~

All events have been cancelled or postponed.

But here are a few pictures of what I've been up to at home!
I made dolls of Gabe & Ona
still putting finishing touches on them
Here are the virtual places I visited on my Beast World campaign
 & the articles I wrote:

Heather Gardner 2/5 Adventure -Inside-Out
Elizabeth Seckman 2/12 HS Hi-jinks & Teens Fessing Up
Patricia Josephine 2/17 the Beasts (& Survey)
Jemi Fraser 2/24 Beast World Reviews!
L. Diane Wolfe 2/24 Nothing New Under the Sun
Alex J. Cavanaugh 3/4 Books into Movies - So many ways to watch
C. Lee McKenzie 3/5 Cliques & Bullies--It's hard to be a teen, no matter when
Sherry Ellis 3/9 Bullies Presentations & a Review
Christine Rains 3/16 Rave Review
Juneta Key 3/16 Self-Pub Notes & a Flash
Heather Holden 3/23 Books come alive with art!

Commissioned a new cartoon version of Gabe
by Heather Holden - awesome, isn't it?!


A video message to welcome my students to online learning

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Bookishness
Where I answer commonly asked questions and pass on writerly advice... lately, sharing questions from one of my sweetest fans on Goodreads, she's awesome!

BookwormNerd: What could you give a 40-minute presentation on with no preparation?

Answer: I could talk about anything from world-building, character or story development, and anything to do with writing/publishing to teaching and math strategies to family management, organization, and relationships... and probably more! I love to talk =)

My Thoughts: I also love to inspire others. I'm not afraid to get up in front of an audience and spout off bits of advice and witticisms to keep them interested, in a good mood, and hopefully leave them fulfilled, or wanting more!

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What I'm Reading...
  • Recently finished DANCING WITH DEMENTIA - to help my writer friend Jemi Fraser with this special release. It's an amazing revelation of how easily the early stages of Dementia can often be overlooked. Riveting read!

What I'm Writing...
  • Editing CRADLE ROCK for Ebook repub
  • As I said above, SIMULATION & DISPOSAL are next for edits.
  • CONDUCTION, the 4th POP TRAVEL novel is coming along slow but sure - stolen tech, murder, and of course, pop traveling all over creation!
  • GERTRUDE (the Nerdy Princess) UnPrincess novella #4, well missed a February release, but things happen. I'll get it done soon-ish. Now I'm hoping for Summer when things calm down, right?
  • BEAST WORLD #4 is HIDING in the forest... Ginny wants her story told!
Where I'll be...
    • No events for a while, as stated above, postponed indefinitely
    • Can't visit my son, can't go anywhere for baseball and visit friends...
    • Hoping this will be over by June/July and everyone will go gangbusters on getting out and traveling again! Surely we will!
    • One way or another, I'm going to Atlanta to visit my folks and people there.
    Spring has Sprung, but good.
    Stay healthy, safe, and SANE!

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    You're invited!

    When I started this weekly twitter chat over the summer, I was just hoping to rant about my writerly woes with other writer friends. I never expected it to keep going! It's now a regular release, so nice to chat about whatever comes to mind with other writers and artists.

    The #WEDWRANT -- is a way for us to get together not only to rant, but to encourage and have a few laughs. There's a regular group of us, and we welcome anyone who'd like to join in! Don't forget the silly hashtag!


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    HELP WANTED!

    If you like to read, tweet, and help others--join my STREET TEAM! I treat my team for offering their services and time to sneak peeks, and special swag. Please fill out this FORM if you're interested.



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