I'm Back, With Mindless Ramblings

I've taken a sort-of blogging break the last couple weeks. I still posted a few times, but not as gung-ho as I had been for a while. And I really missed it. I missed you, lovely readers. I missed checking my email every ten minutes to see if you had posted a comment, wondering if you liked what I had to say, agreed, disagreed, etc. I noticed how much I missed you when I posted last week's blogfest entry and was so excited to read everyone's feedback.

But I definitely needed that break. I have some new ideas now for future posts, including a theme about marketing that I'm going to start. I think I'll do it on Mondays - Marketing Mondays. Creative, right? LOL We'll start that next week.

In the meantime, I have some sprucing up on my blog to do. I know I have an award waiting for me to claim from the generous Dawn Embers. I also need to update my new Contests & Blogfests page and my calendar. I have lots of events and fun things to add because, in case you didn't know...

It's release month!!!!!

Woohoo!!!! Throw confetti! And streamers! And balloons! And definitely pop that champagne for me! 'Cause I need it!

It's hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that Promise will be out there, for the world to read. At least...whoever feels so inclined to pick it up. We have tons of pre-orders (if you haven't ordered already and want a signed book, please get your pre-order in by Friday, July 9 - yes, this Friday!) and it's both heart-warming and nerve-wracking to know that many people want to read my book. Nearly 400 people have added it on Goodreads! That just blows my mind!

I remember the first time I let someone else read the very beginnings of Promise. At the time, I had no plans for it to be published and I was nervous as hell letting it go, even to those closest to me. It was like baring my soul to them. Yes, I still feel the same way. Many people have read and loved it, but my stomach still twists and turns at the thought of others reading it.

So it's an exciting yet anxious time in my world right now. And a very busy one. After all, I have another book to get out. The good news: that is going amazingly well. I'm running behind on the timeline, but this weekend has allowed me to make great progress. And Purpose, book two, is going to rock even harder than it did before! In fact, contrary to what I just wrote above, this one I really can't wait for you to read. I think. Ask me again when it's about to come out...

So, doing all the last-minute marketing and preparations for Promise, finishing up Purpose and trying to manage the dayjob, the herd of teenagers and The Man, the fur-faces and some semblance of a home...that's all going on in my world. Isn't there something about the lazy days of summer? Ha! Not around here.

I keep thinking that I can't wait for things to get back to normal. But then I'm reminded that this is my normal - my new normal. This is how it's going to be until that one day when my writing will support us all and I can just focus on that. The day I decided to start writing fiction again, the old normal blew out the window in the storm of creating, never to be seen again.

How about with you? Are you enjoying lazy days or are they just as crammed full as mine? Have you had to adapt to a new "normal" in your world? Tell me all about it. Because it'd be really nice to know I'm not alone right now. ;-)