I’ll be signing copies of Stealing the Ruby Slippers and Finding the Ruby Slippers at the Judy Garland Museum during Wizard of Oz Festival in Grand Rapids, MN on June 12. Ahead of the festival, I did a little interview with the museum and learned that there is a dive planned for two days during the festival— and they think the missing shoes will be recovered! You can read the whole interview here. From everything I had heard, I thought the shoes had been thrown either in the Mississippi or Pokegama Lake, this was the first I’d learned that they might be in a mine-lake. (Although, to be fair, the mine they’ve referenced, Tioga, is also the name of a beach on Pokegama, so I don’t know that I would have known there was a mine-lake associated with it!) I’m hoping to get to attend the dives, and will keep you posted if I do!

The Thief and The Damage are becoming audiobooks!

You can check out an interview I did with the narrator in the April edition of my newsletter. He’s awesome, and he’s done a great job bringing my characters to life.

This process has been a blast, and I want you to check the new versions out. To sweeten the deal, this summer, when you download either of my books through Audible or iTunes, email your receipt (even free downloads with your Audible subscription count!) and I’ll send you the either free digital versions of either of my books or at-cost physical copies!

Check out all the details here.

It’s the end of May already, and we’re gearing up for summer here. My husband and I made the decision to save the money and keep the kids home with us, which means learning to work while they’re here, and also rearranging schedules so we each get some concentrated time.

I’ve been spending a lot of May in a really reflective mode, which makes it a bit ironic that I haven’t been blogging. I’m taking on more responsibility in my day job, which I’m excited about and thankful for, but it’s taking up a lot of my mental capacity. And there’s something about spring in Minnesota—I don’t want to work. I want to be outside. Which isn’t necessarily all bad. It’s caused me to really reflect on my goals and activities and realize some of them just really aren’t that important. You saw that a bit with the May Goals Reflection, but I’ve let things go a bit more too. I can’t do it all, and I have to do some things that aren’t entirely fun, but I don’t have to do everything. I’m learning to say no, little by little. Even to myself.

A little over a month ago, I started a new job at NoiseTrade while basically everyone else at the company, including my favorite husband and co-parenter, was at SXSW Music Festival in Austin. While the job, overall, is structured in a way that still allows me a lot of writing time, that week, it didn’t. I get a little…hard to live with…when I’m not writing, so I was a bit desperate. I took extreme measures. My good friend and amazing mentor Charlotte gave me the opportunity to write about it on her blog. Check it out here. 

We’re approaching the one year birthday of my first book, Stealing the Ruby Slippers, and like any “baby” he has grown up and is taking on a life of his own. In May he and his sister, Finding the Ruby Slippers, are going together to the courthouse to legally change their names. Henceforth to be known as The Thief and The Damage, they’re also getting a new voice…literally. In May The Thief will be available in audio for purchase from all the usual suspects (Audible and iTunes.) I’m hoping it will also go into library catalogues, but because of the deal I have with ACX I don’t have as much (any) control over distribution and pricing as I normally do. (If you don’t have an Audible account, don’t sign up…yet. You get one book for free when you sign up. Wait until mine is up there are get it for free!)

Details are still being worked out, but for now, let me just say: there are going to be some pretty sweet promo packages that I will be offering to those of you that decide to buy the audio version. And for those of you who have the original covers/titles…there will be options for cool name-change stickers that you can put on your books, fridge, or mom’s car. Whatever floats your boat.

More will be on www.stealingtherubyslippers.com as details develop.

Last night I spent a few hours (while watching The West Wing) researching non-phone alarm clocks. I got to the fourth page of google and found only 4 actual sets of results, the rest were all  recommendations for the best alarm apps for your phone. Not what I wanted.

Both Chris and I use our phones to wake up. We both spend time in bed looking at social media, reading blogs or news or email. None of this stuff needs to be happening in bed. Last night, we both put our phones on airplane mode when we went to bed, and woke up without flipping open the email right away. Small improvements.

Have you ever done the ‘Ideal Day’ exercise? Basically, you sit down and write out, from the moment you wake up in the morning, what your ideal day would look like. The things that you choose to include (and omit) are enlightening, and help you realize what is most rewarding about your day to day. Although few have the opportunity to truly live out their ideal day everyday, it still gives you something to shoot for.

I’m in the unique position that I can structure my days, with a few exceptions, however I want. My kids’ school starts at 9:10, so if I want to sleep until 8:30, theoretically, I could. I work from home, for myself, so as long as I’m hitting my deliverables, I could work at my desk, on the couch, at a coffee shop, or even from bed. I can eat whatever I want whenever I want, limited only by my grocery shopping, or lack there-of. I can listen to music and wear my pajamas. If i want to leave in the middle of the day to walk the dog, I can.

But do you think I live out my ideal day on a regular basis?

Nope.

Want to know why?

Me too.

I have the freedom and the options, but I so often choose not to exercise them. I think this a problem for a lot of people. We feel like we don’t have choices when, in reality, we do. We’re just not making the right ones. I think a lot of the oppression and stress I feel are self-created.

I don’t have a solution, other than to keep trying. Today, that meant going for a short run before Chris had to leave to teach, then going to yoga after the kids went to school. I want to run more and do more yoga. So I did. And I’m still getting all my work done. I hope that tomorrow I’ll be able to set out my daily priorities and make a plan to achieve them again. But if I forget, I’ll try again the next day. I just have to remember to make the conscious choice. Every day.

Also, lest you think my attitude is because of the gorgeous sunshine and warmth here in Northern Minnesota, I feel like I should tell you: it’s snowing. On April 21. Apparently, my calendar is broken and it’s actually February or March.

How’s your day been? What do you use as an alarm clock?

I feel like this is my quarterly apology for neglecting my blog. Each time I do one I swear I’ll be better and not have to do one again, and then…here I am.

Last week AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) had their annual conference here in town, and, as a currently-on-hiatus-student of an MFA program, I was able to get in for almost free— $45— which is incredible for a three day conference. The first day I was a bit disappointed. The “Panel” discussions were way too academic and non-interactive for my tastes, and I heard several people say derogatory things about  self/independent publishing. The more I’ve learned about indie vs. traditional publishing, the more happy I’ve been with my decision to go indie. But I do definitely feel the need to constantly defend my position. So, I left the first day feeling incredibly defensive, and defeated (you get told you’re wrong enough times, you might start to believe it.) The second and third days though, I had a great time. I went to a bunch of incredible craft workshops—because writing is writing regardless of how it’s published—and met some cool people at the book fair. Plus, I got to have dinner and drinks with friends and it was great.

The other thing that’s been taking up most of my time is my new job with NoiseTrade. I’ve been working on the books side for several months, but just took on a new roll, and learning to balance the time I need to spend on that with the time to devote to my own stuff is hard. It’s getting better though, and I’m confident that by the end of the week I’ll have a good system in place (this is truly going to be my first “normal” week since starting in the middle of March.)

All that to say, I’ll be back next week with a new Book of the Week (I have several on deck and ready to go) and I’ll, hopefully, get back on my regular schedule at that point.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed by work and life? How do you balance things?

Have you ever heard of NetGalley? It’s a website for media and bloggers to get free copies of books for media purposes: interviews, reviews, etc. In order to be a member, though, you have to go through an approval process, and then another approval process for each book you want to read. Also, from an author perspective, it’s crazy expensive. Like $399 and up expensive.

Story Cartel is like NetGalley lite– it’s smaller and more indie focused, and A LOT more reasonable. Anyone who likes to read can sign up and get books for free. Authors pay $25 (or less if you buy a package) to have a book listed. The caveat is this: by downloading, you’re agreeing to read and review the book within four weeks. When you submit your review, you’re entered into a contest for prizes like Amazon Gift cards. So it’s really a win-win-win.

At least, I’m hoping so!

I’m running my first Story Cartel promotion right now, giving away copies of Finding the Ruby Slippers through April 3. You’ll have until the 10th to post the review and be entered for their prizes. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Here’s the link— check out my book, and the other books on the site (but read mine first!) https://storycartel.com/books/finding-the-ruby-slippers