By the time you read this, I will be long gone…
Specifically, I’m in Scotland right now. I mean, I’m writing this from Ottawa, buy by the time you read this… Well, you get the idea.
But why Scotland? Two years ago, when my Grandpa passed away, my Granny started planning. Inspired by a trip my grandparents wanted to take together but were unable to due to my Grandpa’s health, the ladies of the family are off sightseeing and scattering ashes. If you’ve been keeping an eye on my social media accounts, you’ve likely seen plenty of pictures and videos by now.
But this post isn’t about my trip – it’s about my writing. Which didn’t really happen this past month because of another death. Early this month, we had to say goodbye to our oldest cat Max. As a result, I found myself in a mental fog and struggled to write or do many of my other usual habits, hobbies, etc. Despite the start of this year’s AutoCrit Community Writing Challenge, I could not bring myself to write anything down other than the blog posts and newsletters I had to force myself to write. I didn’t find this year’s prompt particularly inspiring, and although I did manage to come up with an idea it felt too forced to write down. Perhaps I would have had better luck getting words on a page in this situation had there been a different prompt. Or perhaps not.
Speaking of the Community Writing Challenge – do you remember my story that won last year? Well this year, it will officially be published! In one month, to be exact. On June 29th, “Cold Cuts & Cigarettes” will be available for purchase as an eBook only. But why wait until then? Pre-orders are available now! Just head over to the homepage to see where you can get your copy.
But I’m not just selling eBooks these days. Although “Cold Cuts” will have to remain as an eBook due to its shorter length, my three short story collections have now spent almost a whole month on the shelves of The Comic Book Shoppe Bank. For my first time selling in a physical store, I am so thrilled to see the response my books have been getting. And I was beyond excited to learn that I needed to do a restock of all three titles early in the month. Now that I know my books will sell in a physical store, I have started researching other local stores and weekend events where I will be able to sell even more books.
So keep an eye on me this summer – I have big things planned. And yes, there will be much more actually writing to come in the next few months.
