Category: business

Three Little Wins

I had a series of small votes of confidence the past two weeks, and I want to share them to show that sometimes it only takes a bit of encouragement to keep going.

I have been invited to speak at Mississippi State University on April 7, 2026, the school I got my BA and MA from. This invite was very exciting, but so was the information that came with it–I’m also going to meet with a creative writing class for a Q&A with graduate students. And they’re going to have read Hurricane Baby as part of the curriculum for the class.

My book will be a textbook for a writing class. I’ll be REQUIRED READING, y’all!

Second–my publisher put out a photo advertising the press’ books. It was labeled “Best of the Best” and captioned “Best Sellers”. And Hurricane Baby was in the shot! (I have no way of knowing if I’m really a best seller–but it looks good in my Facebook feed!)

Number three–I got an email congratulating me on my new book, and the writer said he looked forward to getting a copy and reading it so he could nominate it for the Mississippi Arts and Letters Fiction Award. I was stunned. I barely know this person–and he has this kind of belief in my work? AMAZING.

Like I said, small encouragements. And maybe I’m reading too much into them. But they helped me break through my imposter syndrome and actually write on my new work-in-progress. And that’s a big something for me.

Happy writing, y’all!

Candy-Store Problem

A candy-store problem is when you have a lot of choices, and all of them are good–or at least not bad.

I have four ideas for books–a paranormal novel, a double murder mystery with a twist, a father-son relationship novel, and a mother-daughters novel. I have been trying to work on the paranormal novel as it’s an old manuscript that would need to be rewritten, as is the double murder mystery. The other two are fully outlined from beginning to end.

The murder mystery feels the most like a conventional genre book and the most commercial. The paranormal one feels like another small press book with the twists and turns it takes. The other two feel more conventional as well.

When I set back out doing this, I decided I would rewrite the four older manuscripts first, querying indie and small presses for the first three (Hurricane Baby, Looking for Home, and the paranormal book) and query agents for the murder mystery to see if I could get a Big 5 deal. Then I’d write the other two from scratch and maybe be of age to retire if I wanted to or try to think up new ideas if I didn’t.

Now I am wondering whether that’s the proper path to take.

But at least my choices are all good because they all involve writing!

So please think about me in the next few weeks as I chew over my choices. Happy writing to you all!

Upcoming Schedule

Well, it seems for a bit that I’m back on the travel circuit–I made a stop at a storied bookstore this weekend, go to a celebration of another tomorrow, and then travel for a friend’s book launch the first of November.

Yesterday Bob and I went to Oxford, Mississippi–former home of American novelist William Faulkner and of the University of Mississippi, home of the state-supported residential MFA program. Writing is in the very air there–literally everyone in Oxford is working on a book, if the gossip is to be believed.

To that end, Oxford also features a set of independent bookstores–Square Books, featuring adult contemporary works; Square Books, Jr., housing children’s books; Off Square Books, purveyor of extra and remaindered books, and Rare Square Books, repository of difficult-to-find editions. We visited Square Books because I had talked with them about doing an event earlier this year. We never had settled out how to make that happen, but I did know they stocked some of my books on the shelf.

We went in and were greeted by owner Richard Howorth–we told him it was our first time to be there, so he pointed out the different sections of the store. I introduced myself and mentioned that I’d like to sign the copies of Hurricane Baby they had, so we hunted them up in the Mississippi authors section, and I borrowed a pen from the front counter and signed then, with my hand shaking a bit as it’s prone to do. They seemed very appreciative of that, and we spent sometimes wandering around looking at everything. So that was fun to meet everyone.

Tomorrow I go to Jackson’s independent bookstore, Lemuria Books, for their 50th birthday celebration. I’m just going to go and visit for a bit and tell them how much I appreciate their support over my author journey. Probably will also mention that I have a new book under contract and get that news out and circulating.

Then on November 1, my friend Shannon Evans is releasing a pair of new books, both on antebellum homes in Columbus, Mississippi. Wisteria Place: A House of History and Haunting and Riverview: A Monument to Greek Revival Architecture are pocket histories of these homes that came to define to cityscape of the town of Columbus. And she invited Bob and I to her event, actually being held at Wisteria Place. So we look forward to that.

Anyway. Next week I can update you all on the progress on my second book and where its development stands as of that point. Happy reading and writing, everyone!

THE GOOD NEWS!

Last month, on September 23, the day after I had a very good birthday celebration, our home phone rang during dinner. We constantly get phone solicitor calls at our house, and I assumed this would be one of those. My husband Bob picked it up and said hello.

After a second, he said, “May I ask who’s calling?”

Another few seconds, and he handed the phone to me. “Amy Wilson from something press.”

I wondered what this was about. I took the phone. “Hello?”

The woman introduced herself to me as well and then said, “You know, some information I just think ought not be in an email—the phone can be more personal. I read your book, Looking for Home, and I love it! Would you like to publish it with me?”

I sat back in my chair, absolutely floored. It had taken a solid year to sell Hurricane Baby: Stories. I’d been querying Looking for Home for not quite two months—and here was an offer! Was she serious?!

So I started thinking aloud—I asked what the terms were, how was the contract set up, etc. She gave me some information about that. I asked if I could have the rest of the week to check with other publishers who still had the book to see if they wanted to counteroffer, and she agreed to that. She said she would get a hard-copy contract drawn up, sent to me, I could look over it, and then if it was satisfactory, I could sign it and send it back.

During the whole time we were talking, my mind was yammering away in the background, “You sold your second book. You sold your second book. YOU SOLD YOUR SECOND BOOK!”

After we finished talking, I looked over at Bob, who was looking at me with an expectant look on his face. I said, “Well, I just sold Looking for Home.”

I told him what she had said about the contract. So we waited.

She emailed me on Thursday, October 2, that she’d mailed the contract in a priority envelope. I received it the next Monday, looked it over, and then sent it back with my signature.

So we’ve been exchanging emails with questions and answers and details ever since.

Looking for Home is now under contract with Red Dirt Press of Oklahoma with a tentative release date of October 2026!

Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive of my work as I embark on this new author journey! Come on along for the ride!

Meeting the Moment

I’ve started wondering what exactly I need to be writing about.

I’ve got a novel idea that excited me for a while.

But the wackier this country is getting, the more I wonder if I need to be using my voice, small as it is, to do more than just fret about that.

I was schooled on the idea of journalists as objective observers of the actions of the body politic–good, bad, or indifferent. I tried to embody that in my writing, giving readers facts to let them make their own conclusions. This tack was pretty easy when I was doing features coverage: who, what, when, where, why, and how pretty much covered it.

Then I got into investigative reporting on mental health issues in my state–a topic very close to home given my diagnosis of bipolar disorder. I wrote and wrote and wrote–exposed, exposed, and exposed–and exactly nothing changed in practical terms. A few new laws got passed about training more people and setting up a new task force to replace the last task force, but that was all.

And I got burned out.

I could not see how someone involved in mental health matters could have read my work and not come away with a resolve to do what they could to change matters. But it seems they could.

I had been raising awareness for almost twenty years. I was tired of raising awareness. I wanted action. And it wasn’t forthcoming.

Now this country is on a collision course with history. I’m in the catbird seat to watch it–older, wiser, jaded, smart enough to able to see clearly through the smoke and mirrors, and seriously wondering where all my ideals went.

If we are no longer a free society, then what are we?

I’ve skated through life being comfortable with my political ideology as a moderate–suspicious of extremists of any flavor. I still feel that people can be trusted to make good decisions when given all the facts. But the very concept of what constitutes a fact is under attack from every conceivable direction these days.

What should we, as writers, do? It no longer seems to matter if we expose corruption as there’s no guarantee it will ever be prosecuted. No one seems to be interested in reading or hearing about government malfeasance unless the content already fits their own narrative.

I believe the answer is to write anyway. At least you can go to bed and sleep soundly, knowing you did your part.

I don’t know what this means for me yet. But I’m ready to find out.

Mississippi Book Festival 2025

I went again to this year’s book festival and had a wonderful time–I met MJ there and we walked around saying hello to everyone I knew. I also met several new people that I had not before, like the folks in charge of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters, the University of Southern Mississippi Creative Writing program, the future Greenfield Residency program, and the Hancock County Library programs. Really neat organizations that I hope can continue on even as support for the arts is dwindling here.

I’m feeling at loose ends. My enthusiasm for my new manuscript suddenly disappeared last week. It was very disturbing. And I’m not quite able to figure out how to find it again. I may just have to do some for-my-eyes-only writing to figure out my why and what I actually want to do with the project. I may wait until I sell my current manuscript to start back on it in earnest since the energy is not there at this point. We will see.

But one of the sessions yesterday was very illuminating on what may have happened–the moderator, Steve Almond, said that you need to write what you’re obsessed about. When I first wrote the manuscript, I had an obsession–to explore the relationship between these two characters and see where it would go. But now I’m turning it into a very different book–about how the female lead overcomes when her life suddenly falls apart. I need to figure out why readers should care about this character. So I think that’s where I’m going to direct my efforts.

Happy writing, everybody!

First Nibble!

This morning, I got my first bite on my queries—a press sent me an email to submit my entire manuscript of Looking for Home. It’s a group in Oklahoma specializing in Southern literature. So mine may be right up their alley. Or not. We will have to see.

I sent three more queries around the first of the month–another press opens on September 15, and another one does on September 30. Then three more in October and four in November. The path just keeps rolling forward!

In other news, my last events went off without a hitch. Each one was fun and informative, and I tried to make the best case for the book I could in each interview. But the best marketing effort for the month was definitely me talking about networking helping my author journey on Jane Friedman’s site. Drove a lot of traffic to my blog and a lot of orders to my publisher. So that was amazing.

I’ve gone ahead and started my third book manuscript, with a working title of What Lies Ahead. I’m reworking yet another old manuscript from when I was writing back in the late 2000s. I’m moving very slowly writing the new first chapter that will hopefully set the tone for the entire rest of the book. I’m looking forward to feeling like I have a handle on the material. Because right now I don’t. 🙂

Oh well. We will see how it goes. Happy reading and writing everyone!

Winding Down

Well, yesterday was a great day at my local Barnes & Noble branch–I sold over half the books they ordered for me and met some really cool people by saying hi and good afternoon to everyone who walked within talking distance of my table. I also decided to create a list of everything I need to take to a book event from now on because I left half of it at home! But the bookstore seemed pleased; they let me sign what books were left over, and then they invited me back for the Christmas season to do another event! So that made me feel good.

This week I have three interviews–one with an MFA mate in the metro-DC area on Tuesday via Zoom, another with a different local TV station with local TV personality Walt Grayson, who has been in broadcasting longer than I’ve been alive, and a final one on Friday with an MFA mate and author Rod Davis from Texas who is releasing a Katrina novel in September this year.

And then I’m done for a while.

I’m not completely done with book events. Even though I’m not a panelist this year, I plan to attend the Mississippi Book Festival in September. I am going to work with our local library to start up a writers’ group for the last four months of the year and then gauge interest in continuing. And I already have three events in January 2026 scheduled and another set up at Mississippi State University, where I went to school, for April 2026. So the fun isn’t over quite yet.

But what a ride it has been. I’m hopping back on the query merry-go-round with my new completed manuscript and will see what happens from here. I’ve got another story cooking in my head, but I’m not going to actually start drafting until I get the current one sold, if ever. No use in getting ahead of myself.

New Post–BOOK BIRTHDAY EDITION!

Yes! A year ago today, on August 20, 2024, Hurricane Baby: Stories debuted to the world! My first book ever published, and my life has not been the same since that day.

I had been doing some media events beforehand and had a nice little stack of pre-orders. The actual day was a little anti-climactic–I went on with my Tuesday workday routine. I got some emails and some comments on social media congratulating me on the announcement. What really sticks out in my mind is my MFA thesis director, Ellen Ann, sent me a vase of flowers–daisies and other greenery. I think I’ll remember that forever.

But then I had my first-ever book signing at Lemuria Bookstore in Jackson, MS. A moment I had been dreaming of for literal years was unfolding right in front of my eyes. I felt like I was floating a foot off the floor all day long.

Then the Mississippi Book Festival 2024. An event I had dreamed of being a part of ever since it first began in 2014–and I made it on to a panel! I mingled with the other authors; I walked around meeting friends old and new. I had a new appreciation of the volunteers and of the visitors, who love books and bookish people enough to keep this event going for over a decade.

And my tour plan kept unfolding–at least one event a month for the entire year. Many social media postings, many, many emails to publications for publicity, many, many, many phone calls to event organizers for other appearances. I traveled mostly throughout Mississippi, with one trip to Louisiana and another trip to Alabama thrown in there.

Two events I’m particularly proud of: in September, I went to the little county library where I had checked out so many books, read so many magazines, and worked at so many Saturdays and read my book aloud to a group of family, friends, and teachers who had known me just about my whole life. And later in March, I went back to my high school alma mater, not to read or sign my book, but to tell the senior and junior classes that I had been just like them–exactly where they were, in this same exact school. And I had decided what I wanted to do with my life and that I didn’t let anything, not disability, not bipolar disorder, not anything, stop me from achieving it.

So many people came together to make this year so special. If I start naming names, I’m going to forget someone. Just thanks to all the booksellers, festival organizers and volunteers, reading series organizers, teachers, professors, journalists, editors, blurbers, librarians who put my book on their shelves, and readers who have made this year so special!

I have a few events still on the schedule in the coming weeks. But I’m querying a new book now, and that will likely take up a great deal of time in the coming months. Soon my time with Hurricane Baby will draw to a close. But this year will be in my memory for quite some time to come. Happy Birthday!