September Review

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Welcome to Fall!

September has been a pretty okay month. I've been taking the bus to work, so I have a chance to read more. I cut my book goal in half for the year when I realized I wasn't going to reach 2 books per month. I might get in more than 12 this year, though, so I'll try 24 next year. I'll be on vacation next week, so I plan on sitting and reading, reading the first part of DP, and catching up on shows I've started and have yet to finish.

The job is going very well. With the whole department full of new people, we're all learning together, so my productivity has been higher than ever in any State job. haha The commute is draining, but we'll be moving a little further south early next year, so I won't have to get up before 6am to try to catch the bus. It's only 8-minute difference from one building to the other, but the new building would require too many buses, and I spend too much time checking routes and times for ONE bus every in-office day (anxiety is a bitch). Freelance-wise, I haven't received Fiverr requests for a long time, and Twitter won't let me send the Tweet to promote it for some reason. I'll try again soon. My other freelance proofreading work went very well this past summer. I'm finishing up a project this coming week, and hopefully I can work with the company again soon.

On another note, I'm going to cancel the Patreon. I know it's only been a few months, but it's not getting any hits, and I'm the kind of person who has no motivation to do things if no one is interested in it. I tried to hold out, but trying to drum up content for a patron who literally lives with me is disheartening. I can just tell her my updates. Maybe I can try again later when I have more engagement, but not right now.

Oh shoot, there's a 5th Friday this month. As usual, I will look back on my last goals, see what I accomplished, and also post what my goals for the next quarter will be. I'm excited for the end of the year, because 2023 means I will be free to start hyping, promoting, and SELLING Fractured Princess again. I can't wait, and I hope you can't either.

Enjoy the weekend!

June Review: I had a busy month!

 June has been a busy month for no reason.

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I only say this because I was busy every Saturday for one reason or another. Here is what I did:

On the 4th, I went to my first Pride event with my younger sister. It felt so good to see so many people out, and I saw other demisexual flags on the street, so I wore mine like a cape of honor. Next year, I have to remember to bring money, because the drag shows were popping! We spent most of our time there.

Me on the steps of the Townsend Building at Legislative Mall.

On the 11th, I had a graduation party to go to, and then I stopped by the African American Festival with my goddaughter. Then, my friends all piled into my house to eat crabs. On the 18th, Dover Comic-Con took place, and I spent two hours passing out merch bags filled with a bookmark, business card, and post card with Fractured Princess's blurb and release date.

The bag is shiny, so pictures are meh.

I had fun those two hours. I passed out all 75 bags that I had, and I even got to stop to eat for a minute before I left to get ready for my best friends' baby shower. Then, we piled into our other friend's apartment and watched Turning Red.

On Juneteenth, my sisters and I hung up textiles of our mom in the room that used to be her sitting area in her in-law suite at my older sister's. She updated it, and it's really cute (not that it wasn't before, but my mom liked cherry wood and maroon/taupe fleur-de-lis afghans, and we do not). We sat in there and chatted for a few hours. Then, I rested on the 20th, which was very nice.

Tomorrow, I have a baby's birthday party and a barbecue at my sister's, and then it will be July! Well, not right away, but it will feel like it. There is a possibility that I will take a break in July, as it's my birthday month, but I'll cross that bridge in a week. I still have to record a video for Patreon, so that will be my goal later tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Writing wise, as you saw in my post from last Friday, I have so much written down, and I can't wait to put it all together. It's for Book 3, though, so that means I need to get the ball rolling on Divided Princess. I need to figure out how to get to all the stuff that leads to Book 3. I kind of know, but I just need to sift through my jumbled ideas and make sure I carve out a sensical path. Wish me luck!

May Writing Update: Preparing for Comic-Con and Patreon!

 

Happy Friday! It is the 3rd Friday of the month, so that means it is time for me to share some writing-like updates for you all!

I purchased a new domain for an official website that's not just the blog, so if you visit debrareneebooks.com, you will see a fresh new landing page! I modeled it off of N.K. Jemisin's landing page, something simple that represents me. There is also a sneak peek of the first chapter of Fractured Princess that I added for potential new readers who I plan to meet at Dover Comic-Con!

The convention is now a month away, and I'm excited to get back out there and share some free merchandise. I purchased new bookmarks, business cards, and info cards with my Linktree for anyone interested. I wanted to create booklets with some free chapters, but the cost of that was astronomical. With that in mind, I also need to create a sign for donations, because I will definitely need some up to Launch 3.0.

I plan to start a Patreon in June to help with all of this. After creating a Kickstarter for the cover for Launch 1.0, I did everything else out of pocket, and I barely have pockets. I have a lot planned for monthly updates, and I hope to gain more attention with it, so as long as I keep on the grind, I think things will pan out well.

I also decided to release the book on my birthday again. I did say I wanted to release the book in Spring, but I am going to use that time for pre-orders and promotion. I don't want to rush everything like I did the first time. But by Spring, I do want to reveal the updated cover. I'm excited about it.

Last thing before this gets too long, I'm still writing! I'm happy about that, too. One thing I might need to do, however, is sit down and *gasp* plot out the second half of Divided Princess and the third book. I've already cut some potential scenes because of the turn the story has taken of its own volition, so I do need to write down some thought bubbles or trees, something.

Wish me luck!