In Like a Lion
"March was a difficult month to live through, straddling winter and spring. Her life felt somewhat like March – in transition." -- from my debut novel, An Expected End
Between National Reading Month, a trip on assignment for Cooperative Living Magazine, a book club meeting, the arrival of spring, International Read to Me! Day, two book exchanges, and a book signing, March has been an incredibly busy, incredibly literary month! It will end, however, if all goes as planned, with a lovely little ladies’ tea (and no school) on Good Friday, a quiet meetup for coffee (or, in my case, tea) with a fellow writer, and Easter. March: In like a lion, out like a lamb.
What I’m Working On
My Debut Novel: An Expected End
Exciting news: As of Friday, An Expected End is available on Kindle!
On March 14, I was the guest author at a book club meeting hosted by The Bookshelf, Irvington (soon to be The Bookshelf on Church!) at a gorgeous little boutique called Daily Magic, and the evening was indeed magical. The experience of speaking with readers about my own work was incredibly gratifying, interesting, and eye-opening. I learn a little more about my own writing every time I talk to someone who’s read it and become privy to what they took away from it, and this event was over two hours of engaging discussion and fascinating insights. We explored existential questions like: What does it mean to live each day like it’s our last?, What happens after we die?, Where do we come from?, When is knowledge power and when isn’t it?, and more. If you or someone you know participates in a book club, I’d love for you to consider reading An Expected End, and I’d be delighted to attend your group’s discussion.
A few days later, I stopped by Shelf Life Books to pick up a book I’d ordered and do a little perusing, and in so doing, I encountered An Expected End out in the wild for the first time. To say that experience was a thrill is an understatement. What made it even more special was my parents, one of my aunts, one of my uncles, and one of my best friends happened to be with me to share in the excitement.
This past Saturday, I was privileged to do a reading, Q&A session, and signing of An Expected End at local bookstore, Book People. The book people at Book People are absolutely delightful, and it was pretty cool to be a guest author at a bookstore less than a mile from the high school I attended. Seventeen-year-old me would be so happy.
An episode of the 5 Minutes of Peace podcast about An Expected End will drop Thursday.
Unfortunately, there weren’t enough authors interested to support the first-ever Ashland Author’s Faire, in which I was hoping to participate in May, but the organizer is hopeful for 2025.
Yesterday, I started a new promotional attempt on Instagram—reading a brief (roughly one-minute) excerpt of a chapter from An Expected End on the day it occurs in the book. I’m calling it “This Day in An Expected End.” If nothing else, it’ll be fun. 🤷♀️
My Next Novel: Goodbye For Now
I am still carrying the manuscript around just about everywhere I go in my “Meet Me at the Bookstore” tote, but I think I’m getting closer to a willingness to start reading back through it to mine it for the good stuff.
In fact, an accountability system occurred to me yesterday: The number of pages of reading I assign to my students for homework any given night is the same number of pages I have to read of my manuscript on any given night. Now, I do have an accommodation built in for myself: My page count can be weekly, not nightly, if needed. For example, if I assign my students 10 pages to read today, four tomorrow, and none Friday, as long as I’ve read 14 pages by week’s end, I’m in the clear. Yesterday, I assigned my students two measly pages to read. I think I can manage that. Tonight will be more…
Outdoor Writing
My next “Explore More” piece, which focuses on Virginia State Parks’ Wandering Waters Paddle Quest program, should run online Monday, as well as in the print version of the April edition of Cooperative Living Magazine.
Next up: viewing the ponies of Chincoteague from a pontoon boat next month!
Volunteering
The spring issue of the Bay Quarter Bulletin, the newsletter for Bay Quarter Shores, goes out to community members on April 1, so I’ve been compiling reports and photographs for the last couple weeks.
After our Board of Directors Zoom call two weeks ago, I began creating a new electronic membership form for Virginia Outdoor Writers Association, as well as an electronic RSVP form for VOWA’s Spring Fling event in May.
What I’m Reading
Over the weekend, I finished reading Paths of Pioneer Christian Scientists by Christopher L. Tyner, and started Nikki Erlick’s The Measure, a novel several people have likened to An Expected End and which I received at a book exchange this past Friday. So far, I am really, really enjoying it.
Links to My Latest
“Preserving the Heads of State: Abandoned presidential statues have a bright future in Williamsburg” appears in the “Explore More” column of the January/February 2024 issue of Cooperative Living Magazine.
Archie and The Littles
Archie, Soda, and Nacho enjoy some deck-sitting time on a recent Saturday afternoon.
The Littles enjoy the back patio with me on a recent morning.
Archie reads over my shoulder as I begin reading my latest book, The Measure by Nikki Erlick, which several people have told me reminds them of An Expected End. (It’s not the most flattering photo of me, but Archie looks cute.)
What I Saw Outside
One of my pineapples is in bloom out in the greenhouse.
The gorgeous magenta camellia bush in our front yard
Wild ginger beginning to bloom along the trails at Pocahontas State Park
Buds on the volunteer redbud in our backyard
Love the strategy of reading as many pages of your manuscript as you assign to your students (of course if it were me, I’d probably start assigning my students less to read, lol). That pineapple plant is so pretty! And I’ve never seen wild ginger- so fascinating.