This week life dealt me many cards and though they are all positive things, they all take time and energy to deal with. There’s the boatyard job looming, an online class I am teaching in May to prepare for, plus taking copies of HatS to two different local stores that want to sell it, while I’m trying to provision the boat for many boatyard meals, still keep up with our scheduled dentists and doctors appointments—and then I got to help out a friend who needed a chauffeur to give her a ride back from an eye appointment. Nothing major, but enough that I am definitely ready to say “T.G.I.F!”
I started the day by meeting a new local author friend and having a fabulous talk while we walked 3.5 miles. That was a great way to start the day, of course, but it meant that my work day started a bit later than usual. One thing led to another and I am still running late, though it is very late in the afternoon, and I have yet to go to the store and shop for dinner ingredients. In short, this post will be short and sweet, and will not include photos or the optional audio track, as I have been doing lately. Sorry, but there’s just so much I can do in a day. I’ll definitely add the audio later on, when I am better set up for recording (thanks for that option, Substack!).
First off, I recall that I promised you all a link to my short (15 minute) interview with my pal
from her and here it is. The two of us have worked together as Pitch Witches for many years at the Southern California Writers Conference and a couple of other writing conferences so we have some history. In fact, I edited a couple of her books—one of them, Deadly Little Secrets, is free on Kindle Unlimited right now, and the other book is coming out soon. Bottom line, we always have fun chatting about books and informative marketing stuff, too. With so many links in this paragraph, I’ll put that interview link here again.One of the things I love as a writer is being given a task and a deadline, like when Boomer Bedtime Stories said “write and record a holiday story that’s less than five minutes long.” I did and sent them the audio file and they included it in their holiday show, as you may recall. That’s the kind of assignment that makes you feel productive, because you are writing to a specific audience, and because you know what you write will get seen/heard—neither of which is an everyday occurrence in the life of a writer.
Recently,
of published a Substack essay that announced their latest theme; the piece was about her discovery, as a teenager, of a specific power song that still makes her “get up and get shit done.” And, she sent out a call for essays of up to 1500 words about “Power Songs.” Well, I didn’t have to think for long—a specific musical moment flashed before me and I knew exactly what song I would write about. So, I wrote a 1000 word essay that day, edited it the next day, and then submitted it. Alicia liked it, and will feature it on next week. If you are not already subscribed to her Substack, I highly recommend it.Finally, HatS did get review number 50 on Amazon, thanks to my fabulous fans, but I very quickly found out that the “magic number of 50” rumor was nothing more than an urban myth. It’s true—I mean, it’s false. That was just something someone said back in 2015, and it turns out there is no specific number of reviews that means Amazon does anything more for your book. I will say, though, that 50 reviews feels momentous, plus it is a lovely round number, and having that many 5 star reviews will definitely help the book sell to new browsers on the site. Thank you all so much.
hasta pronto!
And you still got all this done and your Substack out! You're amazing and a model for those of us who just can't (or don't). Thanks!
Congratulations on #50 Jennifer! Yay! A busy week but ya did it!