April Showers Spit Out Words

Well, maybe.

It really hasn’t been raining that much.

This past month I found myself stuck underneath a computer and mounds of paperwork, tap, tap, tapping into my excel spreadsheets. That’s right, it was tax time. I finally finished my bookkeeping for the year and submitted taxes last week, and somehow, magically, the return returned (!) in less than a week. Unheard of, but thanks, Feds.

Spread some sicknesses on that slice of bread, and you’ll have my past month. Needless to say, I didn’t do much writing, editing, or querying! I’ve just submitted three queries THIS MOMENT, and while that may seem exciting, it appears I submitted the wrong title (thanks, autocorrect) to one of them. GRRRRRR.

However, I stumbled across the literary agent for the two authors whose podcast is Your Mom Writes Books. (My stepbrother told me about the podcast–I’ve definitely gleaned a lot from it. Plus, I’m a mom.) I’d been wondering if I’d figure it out!

Speaking of podcasts, did I mention one of my friends wants to do a podcast (a different friend than from before, but within the same group of the Woowoo Club)? Inevitably, we would talk about woowoo things, which would be fun!

This would also be an extension of the novel I’m querying, When Violet Got Bored (which is magical realism), and my bodywork business (no, I’m not sending you that website URL, but if you want to schedule a remote session of Reiki, feel free to email me!), and the blog I’m trying to get her to co-write with me, Swellness Vibes.

As noted on Instagram, I’m taking a deliberate break from blog posting at the moment. This doesn’t mean I won’t–afterall, here I am writing on this particular blog–but my focus is returning to my books, crappy query letters, inaccurate titles and the like. I started randomly writing another story last month, and I think I’ll revisit that story, too, especially in lieu of setting similarities I find in David Baldacci’s A Minute to Midnight. Who knew? My husband’s step-mama sent me some books to read about a month or so ago, and I’m finally delving into Atlee Pine’s life. Baldacci attended my alma mater, too, and apparently spoke at my college graduation…but that’s another story.

So official bullet points below:

• Still querying, but almost at the 30 query finale(ish)! Will have to reconsider #10 as well; dude left his agency and said I should re-query them. Perhaps that will become #31.
• I’m close to editing When Violet Got Bored again. Yay! I’m going to outline it as I read it this time. I know, that’s sort of backwards, but I fully believe that will help me with the following novels.
• This summer I plan on drawing and finalizing pictures for my children’s novel. It’s a shame I didn’t get it out years ago, we’re having a local children’s author fest here soon that would have been fun to be a part of. Maybe next year! The kid is going to help me draw… this I am most excited about. This book will be self-published for sure.
• If When Violet Got Bored doesn’t move along the query-to-publish-track, I’ll revisit self-publishing it for late summer/early fall…especially since it starts off during those seasons.
• Blogging is on hold!
• Instagram is still happening!
• Personal Life: Homeschooling my second grader is coming to an end, and with that comes excitement, sadness, and everything in between.

Happy April!

❤ allison keli