Lull

So now I am already looking ahead to see where I can schedule events in the new year. I have one library event scheduled in early January and applications in to be in several large book events (HOMEGROWN, the Oxford Conference for the Book, and the Southern Literary Festival).

Other places I’ll be contacting are libraries in my county, some civics groups, and possibly some business groups. I’m trying to think outside the box a bit. The only thing that makes me hesitate in contacting these groups is that I don’t know if there will be an expectation for me to bring books to sell. I’ve avoided that because I do not have the requisite tax paperwork filled out to be able to do that. But I won’t know unless I ask! So we will see how that works out.

Otherwise, the writing is going really well. I am maybe 40-50 pages away from finishing this draft of Looking For Home, then I’ll work through another draft after the new year. I’m trying to decide when to let readers see it. I am thinking that since I already know some areas where I’m going add more material, I need to wait until I finish them. That’s probably what I’m going to do.

I was asked in a podcast the other day (here) how being a debut author felt right now. I said that it was like my regular life, but shinier. There’s a deep satisfaction in having set my mind to do this and then doing it, against all odds, in my circumstances as an older author selling a collection of stories (usually a hard sell in the book world), as an author no one had ever heard of. But I did it by the grace of God. And that’s something special.