The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.
Today is my 7 year anniversary as a published author! Woo! I stopped celebrating this on the blog because there wasn't much to celebrate for many years. But this year, I feel good about my accomplishments. I have finally figured out my “brand” of writing and what I want to do. I'm still not really making any money, but I recently realized that's not something I care about. I have my indie career in alignment now. I have a catalog I'm proud of, and plenty more writing to do! I can't complain about any of that.
The website updates are now 95% complete! There are still a few things left to do. The Hikoboshi books have not been updated yet because I recently got new covers for them and I'll be republishing them at the end of the month. So I might as well wait for those to be updated before I update the site. I have some mobile menu weirdness going on that I need to fix, but overall, I'm done and I'm happy with the design.
For those who are interested, I'm using the Neve Pro theme from ThemeIsle with Elementor Pro to build my pages. I'm super happy with both. I've now used them together on 4 websites, and the experience has been rather painless. I might try to build a whole website with just Neve Pro and Gutenburg blocks next. We'll see how that goes. I've heard pages built like this are super fast, but Gutenburg may not have enough integrations for me which is something I like about Elementor.
I've done a lot these past two weeks while the blog has been quiet. I've been working on my Skylar novella. I've been testing out a plotting tool called Plottr that I like a lot. I've been preparing my kids for virtual learning from home. I've taken them for dentist appointments and haircuts, and I've gone to Staples for school supplies. The bathroom renovation is complete (photos to come) and we spent hours putting everything back and away (and throwing away stuff we don't need). We celebrated the last few days at the pool with friends and enjoyed the good weather. All in all, I have no real complaints about family life.
I have felt like I've been drowning in work, though. There's been so much to do and so little time. Some days I wake up and my to-do list for the day is a mile long. I've noticed my executive dysfunction has been kicking in now and then, which is not something I've dealt with much in the last few years. Usually, I have a to-do list and I accomplish it. But now, I just want to stay in bed and not do anything. I haven't been this overwhelmed since my kids were small. I'm trying to be gentle with myself, but it's hard. I'm a workaholic and I don't feel useful unless I'm working or creating.
I kept the blog chugging along with content all summer, but I expect the fall to be somewhat sparse as I work on writing and re-launching stuff. Please stick around and see what I'm up to!
After that big storm we had, lots of trees have been cut down and dealt with in the last few weeks. This one was huge! These sections of log were about 4 feet in diameter.
The deer have been around a lot. I see them almost every day now.
Evidence of Lulu's right fuzzy lip. Only this side is extra fuzzy.
Lulu waits for the peanut butter sandwich remnants.
Me and the crew leaving the pool for one of the last times together.
There's been good eating around here. Fresh greens for lettuce every week, tomatoes from the garden, and a spaghetti squash from the CSA that was really good.
Friday evening is martini time!
I finally made it to the pottery studio to pick up all of my work from the winter class. I hope to be back there in the winter if my kids return to school.
I read THE RELENTLESS MOON by Mary Robinette Kowal and it was FANTASTIC! I can't wait to gush about it in a Book Chat.
I've been getting lots of work done outside while the weather is nice.
And finally a writing progress shot, though I'm past this now! Still, it's worth celebrating.
Have a great week everyone! Stay safe and healthy.
