newsletter Archives -

In March-ish, I laid out a schedule for myself. I had just left my job, and was looking to validate my decision (with the full support of Awesome Husband) to write full time. It was S-C-A-R-Y.

So off I went on my lists, and May, August, and November were set for the first three books in Sisters Of The Curse (it was at that point referred to as ToTT – Tales of The Twelve). I even had the names, although I will admit I played around with book titles a little, just to see if I liked something else better. I didn’t.

Here’s what I actually accomplished.
May – Thea’s Tale (Book One)
June – Three shorts in the Pen Name – approximately 30k words
August – One Night At The Ball (a SOTC novella)
Casimir’s Journey (Book Two – with Amazon now, out 8/31)
Part Four of the Pen Name series

And…uh…four newsletters for the writer’s org.

I am SOOO looking forward to September. I have a newsletter, as I always do. But other than some Pen Name thoughts – a new series, I’m thinking…we’ll see. New MC is in her infancy right now. I don’t have a ton scheduled.

Good thing – I have Dragon Con (WOOOOOOT!)

And then the Gold Conference for RMFW.

So September is a busy month. Almost as busy as the gifs in this post.

But I’m really pleased because I set a goal in a field that for me, up until this year, had been a hobby. I have all three of my works on Amazon right now, and there are people other than my mom who are getting them, and ENJOYING them. It’s nothing short of astounding, and incredibly humbling.

Today, I slept in after doing the morning-drop-off stuff, and I feel like a nearly new person. I’ve hit my deadlines, and I’m not in the weeds, for the most part.

It feels good, and today, on a Friday, that is something to celebrate.

So have an adult beverage, and put your feet up. For the night.

I belong to a great group. Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. I have been a member for almost two years now, and have taken the step to volunteer for more. Recently, I took over the task of Newsletter Editor.

Whoa. Whoawhoawhoa. Woe.

The previous editor let me know it’s about ten hours of work a month. She was right. More, this time. Why? Because it was my first time putting one together – the first time putting ANY newsletter together. So let’s just say, ‘learning curve‘ and leave it at that.

Well, actually, let’s not. I really like MS Office Publisher. It’s fairly easy – but – and this is a big but – the templates are NOT your friend. Maybe it’s because I am newsletter-impaired, but a fair amount of my learning curve was trying to work with the templates. Which I chose because I thought, Oh, this will make things easier.

No. Just. No. That’s where it went to Woe. Much, much woe.

Finally, I tossed the template, and started from scratch. Did it all myself. Note to self and you – look at the Page Parts section. Then look at the additional parts link offered. Parts is parts, but using them made it look better.

In a year, I’ll look back and give a scoffing laugh at my humble efforts, I’m sure. But right now, I feel pretty good. Because I taught myself something that I hadn’t done before. With only a normal amount of colorful descriptives (see previous post).

As well, as an indie author, being able to put together a newsletter that you’re not ashamed of is important. It’s one of the ways you communicate to your readers. With One Night at the Ball releasing soon, I’ll be sending out my first newsletter. Now I know how to do it. I won’t lie, the thought of building one has been rather daunting. But having put together one in a really short time frame because I tossed my initial work – I know I can do it, and it won’t be all that bad.

So there’s my PSA today. Go outside of the things you normally do. Learn a skill – and don’t be afraid to step up and volunteer to learn it. Things that confounded me – I went and Googled them. You can find anything on Google. You can usually find a video of how to do it. (Yes, I know this intimately.)

But everything you learn can be used moving forward. And we should never, ever stop learning. Something to keep in mind – because it’s easy to forget when you’re just trying to get through the day.