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It's July ALREADY...?

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 Happy Wednesday All,


I can barely believe it's July already! Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July American Independence Day. We didn't do very much for it, which was okay. There were plenty of people around us shooting off fireworks for 2 days (late into the night, too).

After Texas "Snowmeggeddon" displaced us from our house from February 15th to late June, we're back in our house and things are fixed. We're unpacking boxes from things we had to box up while the contractors were here putting our house back together. We had 2 pipes burst--one in the kitchen, the other around the garage. My kitchen looks so different, but I love how it turned out. We were glad that insurance covered so much of it.

While our house was getting help, we lived at my parents' house. We were lucky they're still living in the two-story I spent a lot of my growing-up years in. Except, my old room is now my dad's office so there is no sign of the pink walls anymore. Although, the memories are there. Sometimes nostalgia hit so hard I was surprised. I did enjoy sharing old photographs with my eldest who enjoys hearing stories about when I was growing up and seeing photos.

I haven't done a whole lot of writing and editing. I started working on a new story that I can't decide what I'll do with, I just know I need to get it out. I've got a ton of editing to do--the Immortal Dreams series is getting a sort-of "facelift"--I'm not changing the story, but I'm doing some re-edits and new covers (Divine Love already has had its new cover, which I revealed a while back). My business partner and co-founder/co-owner of The Author Encounter, Nan, wants to help me with the relaunch.

This one story I finished is in the editing process. I was surprised and flattered (complimented) when a freelance editor asked me if she could edit it for me. We worked out a deal and she's already seen the first 3 chapters and liked them! We've struck up a friendship of sorts, being that we're both Dan Navarro fans, and she's listened to me talk about how this story feels different to me. Sure, it's got my usual fare of magical beings and fairy-tale, but it's different. In some ways, it's a bit intimidating, but the editor says that it's good that I've gotten a bit out of my comfort zone, in a manner of speaking. She's struck at the heart of my fears and obstacles...encouraging me in spite of them. People like that are the type of people every author should have. And they're not always easy to find--someone who feel you can trust with something you created.

Having the right people and resources as an author is one of the reasons why I worked with Nan to found and now, to own, The Author Encounter. There are plenty of author groups, sure, but it works a little differently. It's a cross between a publicist and a community. The Author Encounter is not designed to teach one how to write (or what to write or any writing technique) it's designed with the author's career in mind. Working with The Author Encounter is how I found the freelance editor. It's how I've formed some networking relationships with agents, and some other writers and people I never thought I'd ever even end up in the same room with (like Shay Baby of The Brown Book Series, who interviewed me and my narrator, Chris J. Hudson for her show!) I'm excited to be helping authors, especially with some of the events we have coming up in August, September, and in November. Of course, every other month I sit down and interview someone in the industry for The Author Encounter's Behind The Page. The next one is in August (I need to work out who my guest is going to be, yikes...this decision came upon me faster than I expected--not because I haven't been working on it, I truly have, but it's not settled and I usually have these things already figured out). So, August, then October, and December, which means there are 3 more Behind The Page events for 2021.

Anyway, I hope your summer is going well. I hope I'll work out a blogging schedule, but so far I haven't come up with one, yet. You'll just have to stay tuned!

Have A Wonderfully Witty Wednesday!

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