Hi Friend!
Happy November 1st! I’m late, as you can see. I intended to send my newsletter out at the end of October and…well…here we are in November. I blame my awful allergies that had me down for the count all last week.
Things were rather hectic for me when I sent my last newsletter, namely due to my upcoming book launch. It was a huge success and I’m still riding the high. I’m pleased that life has calmed down now. We did run into a bit of heartbreak last month when our old man Moose passed away. He was such a sweet Labrador, but it was his time to cross the rainbow bridge. Losing a pet is never easy.
My weekends have gotten much lazier, packed with more reading and relaxing. I’m consuming books at an alarming rate. I even tailored my reading list for September and October to reflect lots of autumn aesthetic reads, complete with spooky moments, vampires, goosebumps and chills, and haunted mansions. With the change to cooler weather, all I want to do is snuggle up in blankets and laze around. Who’s with me?!
💫Publications: Verath the Red had an incredible book launch. Truly incredible!! I got more orders than ever before and topped all my sales records from previous book releases. I was so humbled by the outpouring of support. It was surreal in the best way. Not only that, Talon the Black surpassed 100 reviews on Amazon. 100 REVIEWS!!! That’s a HUGE milestone for an indie author like me. Number of reviews sell books more than anything else, so it’s a big success.
💫Writing: What’s next writing wise? Well, I’m working towards two big goals right now. The first is attempting to get my secret work-in-progress (WIP), an assassin steampunk Victorian era trilogy duology picked up by an agent and possibly a big publishing house. It’s gone through two major edits, and I feel it’s ready for the query process. I’ve been working on this project for over two years now, mostly in secret.
What’s the query process? Basically, its an attempt to find a literary agent. You need one if you hope to submit your work to any of the big publishing houses. I’ve got to write a query letter, possibly a multi-page synopsis, and submit it to tons of different agents in hopes that one of them will like my work. It’s difficult, sometimes impossible. But I’m going for it!
My second goal is to get the fourth book in my Dragonwall Series (Koldis the Green) written so that I can begin the indie publication process. I’ve been updating one chapter per week on Wattpad and it’s SO MUCH FUN reading everyone’s comments and feedback. I’m about 1/3 of the way through the writing process. I began writing this back in May/June and already have nearly 60,000 words! Wow. I manage about one chapter per weekend. It’s not the pace I’d prefer, but like I said, this autumn weather is making me laaaazy. November is National Novel Writing Month. In reality, I should be using this month to get a solid 50K words written. But this might be the first year in a while that I haven’t participated in NaNoWriMo. I can’t decide if I want to put myself through that stress. Probably not… But if YOU’RE doing NaNoWriMo, good luck to you!
💫Blogs: I’ve struggled to find new content for my blog. I haven’t been particularly inspired. I try to keep my New Writers blog geared towards those just getting started with their writing journeys. I did manage to write a fairly comprehensive overview for those who have just decided to take the plunge. It’s a good summary of first steps. You can read it (New Writers: Getting Started). I’ve also got tons of new book review blogs posted. I’ll highlight some of my favorite September/October reads with blog links at the bottom.
If you have any New Writers blog ideas, topics you’d like to see me cover, feel free to reach out to me! I’d love some extra inspiration.
And there you have it! I think that wraps things up. I’m really looking forward to the holidays this year. We decided to participate in a Friends-giving with some good friends of ours, since all our family is on the other side of the country and cooking a turkey dinner for just two can be a little challenging. I’m really looking forward to making a couple of dishes to contribute.
My mother-in-law will be coming out to stay with us around Christmas. It’s the first family we’ve had out in quite a while (thanks Covid!) I’ve already started Christmas shopping for my hubby in hopes of beating all the shipping container delays the US is seeing.
As always, you can keep up with my shenanigans more regularly if you’d like, by heading over to my Instagram where I poste tons of videos, book reviews, and other related content.
My final 2021 newsletter should come just before the end of the year, so I look forward to checking in with you then!
All my best,
Melissa
💫Favorite Reads Sept/Oct:
Stalking Jack the Ripper/Hunting Prince Dracula