I had an idea this morning for a story in verse and I really, really want to work on it right now. Not possible though. I have a lot of writing projects in flight at the moment and I’m also trying to write a poem a day (still going strong!). On top of that, I’m super excited to be attending a virtual writer’s conference in July. I will be meeting telephonically with an agent through the conference — this is a big deal and I need to be at my best. Gulp.  

I have to give the agent my revised first chapter in a couple weeks. And Jooney is NOT behaving. We are going to have a falling out because I’m going to speak to her very sternly about her recalcitrance. Jooney is, unfortunately, a typical teenager so she’s absolutely going to half-listen to my scolding and then completely disregard everything I said. Maybe she’ll nod and agree during the discussion but I know that she’s secretly rolling her eyes, EVEN if she admits (unlikely) that what I’m saying is true. So, anyway, I’m devoting myself to polishing her story until it is so high-gloss that the agent is absolutely blinded by its brilliance. HA

It’s time to start marketing my work. Many years ago, I was a self-employed writer and editor. The work was fun and (mostly) interesting, though it was in the time of desktop publishing and every single customer thought s/he was an undiscovered design genius. The two things I hated about that life were: billing customers and marketing myself. I got lots of word-of-mouth business but that isn’t an effective operating model. The need to market myself didn’t disappear when I entered the corporate world and I was equally bad at it then! However, it is one of the most critical components of this new career I’ve chosen. 

Therefore, I’m going to market the heck out of myself in all my weird … er, glory. Yes, yes, glory. That’s what it is. Anyway, after Jooney and I have a chat this afternoon, I’ll be posting some poems to my Instagram account. If you feel some slight seismic tremors, it might just be me making a social media impact (I’m so sorry). Or, you know, it might be an earthquake, in which case you should find somewhere safe to shelter. 

Either way, I would appreciate your continued support. I hope you’ll keep following the blog and that you’ll hop over to Instagram, @BuffySlayer579, to read my poetry. (Yo, vampires rule!) Followers are important metrics in the publishing world; so, please also consider following me on Instagram if you like what I’m doing; and you know, you can tell your friends how awesome I am too, if you’d like.

I’ve got a couple new poems lined up so I can publish every few days in the beginning. Even when the poem flows out of my brain and onto the digital paper, I like to let it sit for later tweaking. I think I mentioned that one of my favorite new authors, Kwame Mbalia, (Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky) tweeted that he wrote a chapter one day and still liked it the next day. Talk about achievement unlocked; my gosh, I dream of that moment.

Okay, enough procrastinating …. Hey, Jooney, it’s time for that talk.

Much love. Be safe.