So Poor and So Happy

I am so happy to report that I have completed Honeysuckle Love and am in the process of editing it.  Well, a first edit.  Next it will be sent off to my critique partners.  (Girls, I truly love you and all the help I know you’re going to give me.)  Then it’s back in my hands for another round of edits and formatting before going to print.  Oh my God, that feels so good to say!  Going to print.  And as I mentioned in a previous post, HSL will be available on Amazon Kindle, Smashwords, iBookstore, the Nook, and many more e-book stores.  (I’ll include a complete list prior to publication day.) 

I cannot wait to get this book to you, and I have some great plans for contests so that you can win a free signed print edition.  Start thinking of all the people you can bug about joining my blog.  Alfred, my design guy, is working on a gorgeous book cover that I’m pretty stoked about.  I’m excited to reveal it to you once it’s complete.  And he’s recently customized my blog, as you can see, and I just think it’s the prettiest thing.

I have other really great news that I’m dying to share, but I’m forcing myself to stay mute until I set a definite publication day for HSL.  I’ll give you a hint, though.  The news has nothing to do with HSL.  Take a look at my blog header and read it carefully, and you may be able to figure it out.  And as for Hoodie, I’m happy to report that I’m averaging 1 to 2 book sales per day.  Ha!  I know you’re probably thinking that that’s lame news, but for me it isn’t.  Yes, right now I am truly a starving artist, but I’ve never worked so hard in my life to earn those few dollars a day!  It feels so good to make so little.  I know that sounds weird, but for the first time in my life I’m doing something I truly love, and every book sale, every review, every add on goodreads, every mention of my work on a blog is moving me closer to my goal.  No, it’s not to be the next J.K. Rowling (though I wouldn’t mind that!).  It’s to get my writing out there to more and more people, to share myself with others in the hopes that my stories will affect them in significant ways.  It’s a total high.  I don’t even have to do drugs.  I just have to keep writing.

I’m also starting a weekly Saturday Shout-out because there are a lot of people in my life that I need to give props to for the amazing support and love they’ve shown me throughout this entire process of becoming an indie author.  So my first is below:

SATURDAY SHOUT-OUT:

This one definitely goes out to Alfred Porter.  If you’ve been following me, you know who Alfred is.  He’s my design guy, and he’s done the most fabulous work for me.  Oh, would you like to hear?  Okay, I’ll tell you.  He designed both of my Hoodie book covers, the images for my advertising T-shirts, the image for a contest T-shirt I gave away, my Hoodie Facebook banner, my blog header, and currently he’s working on the HSL book cover.  What sets him apart as a designer is his vision.  Period.  I know designers are supposed to have vision and all, but I’m not sure that they all really do.  He does, though, and he mixes it with meticulousness.  There's nothing sloppy there.  Nothing thrown together just to get it done.  He devotes the time and care to each piece of artwork he does for me, and it shows.  So thank you, Alfred.

If you want to get in touch with him about possible projects, email him at alfredporter@gmail.com