An Exciting September

As September wraps up, I wanted to reflect on the month and the wonderful events I was blessed to be a part of. Releasing two books within a week of one another was a tremendous undertaking, but I loved being able to work with both books this year. Flip-flopping between writing a novel and creating a picture book actually was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to doing it again…

…as soon as I get through event season, a book tour, and take some time to rest up a bit.

The month of September started off with a joint book launch event with my dear friend, JW Kingsley. She and I celebrated the release of my second Brekenlight novel, DRASCANDAR, and the release of her magical novel, The Bone Cottage. Her story is a fairy tale for adults, and I highly recommend it!

Author JW Kingsley and me at Libreria Books in Newton, NC

VARLANDRIA & DRASCANDAR with yummy pancakes from Lil Stack Shack in Newton, NC

My son, Henry, signing his page in DRASCANDAR. He wrote the lyrics for a song I used in one of the chapters.

My husband, my son, and his girlfriend, Peyton Judith. She’s the cover designer for my Brekenlight series.

Once the book was released, I was thrilled to add DRASCANDAR to the shelf in Barnes & Noble. Seeing three books that I’ve written lined up side-by-side on a store shelf was an exciting and surreal experience!

Our next big event took place the following weekend. My writing sisters and I set up a booth at Catawba Valley Pride, our favorite festival to kick off the season. We met so many kind and fun people and sold lots of books. It’s always a good time at this event.

I chose this day to release my new picture book, One Cat Short of Crazy, to celebrate the one year anniversary of meeting my three little kittens. The proceeds from the sale of this book will go to Fur Babies Rescue. This wonderful organization had the booth next to us at this event last year, and I fell in love with our kittens there.

My writing sisters from the Women Writers of Catawba County

Notice the beautiful sign by my cover designer, Peyton Judith, in the background

We were next door to the Fur Babies Rescue booth again this year. My three little kittens’ foster mom and I took a minute to get a picture together.

The day One Cat Short of Crazy was delivered to my house was so exciting! Until that moment, I’d only ever seen the book on my computer screen. I’d been so nervous how it would look in person, but it turned out so cute! I’m really proud of it.

Our cat, Munchy, with a new pile of picture books

It’s been a busy and rewarding month. I’ve tried sitting down to write here and there over the last couple of weeks, but right now, my brain is mush. The words just aren’t coming to me yet.

But they will.

I have the next book in the Brekenlight series to write, and plans have begun. And even though I said several times this year that I wasn’t going to write another picture book…

I’ve already got notes written down for the next one and several illustrations already drawn. It’ll be about cats of course.

And now I’m off to rest. The words will come to me again. Perhaps after a nap.