First, the TL;DR details:

#1

Sunday, August 13th, 10 AM – 3 PM

Come one, come all to Veronica’s West Linn, OR Book Festival!

She started the NW Book Festival, which got a little complicated, so now she’s back in West Linn where it all started.

I’ll be selling books under a tent, maybe in costume, ya never know!

Find me at 21860 Willamette Drive, West Linn OR 97068

#2

I will be joined by two other brilliant local authors to talk about writing YA-Histfic Mashup fiction on Saturday, August 19, 130-3 PM at Another Read Through Bookstore:

Kate Ristau (aka blue-haired pixie), Author of Shadow Girl and Clockbreakers

Maud Powell, Author of City of Grit and Gold

We will be talking shop, so both writers and curious readers very welcome! RSVP on Facebook.

Now, for the rest of the story…

This shot of a roller coaster inches us a little closer to the top. Rides like this I can handle. But you know those new death-defying rides, where you are actually in free-fall, and feel like you’re going to die?

Yeah. Some people enjoy that.

Some people also enjoy the editing process, but you will NOT find me getting a Fast Pass for that ride unless I absolutely must.

All the moving deadlines! All the self-flagellation to get every thing done as soon as possible! And the inevitable heartbreaking decisions about what gets first priority.

As per my usual, I try to do everything.

And as usual, something will get missed. But eventually the story will get out there, and start to put down roots…

See what I did there? Here’s a peek of the cover! (so excited)

I’ve got a handful of Early Reviewers–Thank you, Valerie, George & Gayle, Kim, Kindra, and Deb!! And because I am still editing, the door is still open…check my last post for details.

I am still editing…yes, up to page 92, and there is a LOT of new written material, which makes me a little nervous… but I’ve saved the old version and can always compare the two, scrap the new one…

This is where the Terror of Indecision/ Uncertainty tends to set in…

But that is where your attendance at events helps!

I’m excited to have a few events leading up to my Book Launch (Thursday, Oct. 12, 7 PM).

Someone asked me if they had to reread The Keening to get ready for The Grasping Root...what a grand idea! Come find me in West Linn this Sunday or at Another Read Through next Saturday, and let’s get the party started!

The cover will be revealed next…

In the meantime, I’ll be singing, dancing, making tea, selling books, and–of course–EDITING.

Thanks for all the good thoughts and wishes, everyone–it helps!

 

Images via Dreamstime and SmarterServices

***Pssst! The sequel to The Keening is coming out soon! Sign up for the newsletter to hear about giveaways and events related to the release in the next few months!***

It has been a whirlwind month, ladies and gentlemen.

Between June 17 and July 17, there was 90s Night in the Ballroom, friend visit from Japan, attending the HNS Conference, Karaoke Night, Mom visit, trip TO Japan, brother’s wedding, friend visit from NYC, friend visit from Alabama…

…plus, weekly critique group meetings, three jobs, final edits before handing over my manuscript, weekly writer dates with this talented lady, and the weekly cleaning I do for a yoga studio in return for the one class I can attend per week.

It’s time for some trimming, yes.

But all this whirligig got me thinking…which parts of my life are personal, and which professional?

The singing and dancing bits I can call personal, as well as the friend visits. And the jobs I can label professional, while the critique group and writer dates are plainly both.

But the conference for the Historical Novel Society wound the two strands together like a Susanna Kearsley story. I prepared to network, I kept my energy up to make an impression on others and engage with them on their own projects, and I took copious notes during the sessions I attended.

Some of the connections were cursory, but I thanked them for the chance to talk. Others were longer conversations or better chemistry: “OMG, you write about THAT?! That’s So AHMAZING!!” And these people I am excited to cultivate an acquaintance with.

For a writer, I think the professional can become very personal, and the personal inevitably becomes part of the professional. Wouldn’t you agree?

When I spend time to research authors, read their work, note what they do well, give them honest praise, and warmly greet them, that is an immense expense of energy. If I don’t get the courtesy back, if the person is terrible with fans, then I can analyze my actions and determine to find a better object next time. But I also feel a little bit of failure personally, to be so rebuffed.

The professional can also become personal when one simply becomes friends with professional contacts, see Exhibit C: the visitor from Alabama. He was an engineer on a project I worked on five years ago. We reminisced about a colleague’s ability to mask a hangover so well it was undetectable. I no longer have anything to say about the energy planning needs of the eastern U.S., but that experience forged a link, one that still holds us together in friendship and support. Maybe I’ll get a few new readers in Alabama! 🙂

And what about the other way around? Well, this one is more familiar for writers. Everything you go through as a writer ends up influencing what and how you write. Beyond childhood trauma and MFA program grooming, there is the Why. And there is the taste you have cultivated, influenced by all the media you’ve consumed since birth, and what people of influence told you about it.

The personal engine of personality spins all that around and expresses ideas creatively that contain opinions and prejudices, quests and rejections. I had a funny moment when I looked back at Dulci’s Legacy and realized, “Oh.”

It’s a story about a girl lost in the past who needs to free herself and others from injustice to get back to her life.

Huh.

And just like that, you realize how your personal life spills over into your professional body of work.

Have you had similar experiences? Do share in the comments!