In the past few weeks, I’ve been alternately frustrated, anxiety ridden, angry, and exhausted from all of it. In retrospect, I can calmly admit that I am ridiculous. I am vindicated. And I’m totally willing to go through it all again. Well, almost all of it.

Three years ago, I uploaded my two poetry collections into e-book format. So very pleased with myself and the help of a dear writing friend, I bragged about the e-books all over the place! Then, some months later, after hundreds of copies were sold, I noticed that words had been changed. WORDS HAD BEEN CHANGED IN POEMS I WORKED MY GUTS OUT FOR! Some sort of autocorrect mishap had occurred with a software update, and I was devastated. Embarrassed. Sickened. So, I removed my poetry collections without any idea as to how to apologize to people who had made purchases. Then slunk away to allow all of my words to gather dust.

Since that horrible discovery, I’ve completed two full-length novels, and yeah, other goofy things happened. Like a New York literary agent asking to view the full manuscript of my first novel, then asking for a rewrite for chapters one and two, then retiring and never being heard from again. Goofy, right? What else could I possibly call such an experience? Then I got a job offer that I never expected …

Fast forward three years of blah blah blah, then two full weeks of freak out mode: Ramshackle Houses & Southern Parables is now available for sale on Amazon, in paperback for, $11.95 USD.

It’s done! I approved the proofs last week and have author copies on the way. As I said above, vindicated. Or at least calmer. And now I know that I can get the remainder of my unpublished work put in print in a relatively short amount of time.

I still can’t bring myself to declare the first novel READY (agent’s words are stuck in my head).

The second novel is READY, so I’ve put myself through the ordeal of finding a cover artist for it. Please read: Finding and communicating with a cover artist probably isn’t that much of an ordeal for a normal person, but apparently it is for me. I haven’t stress-sweated like this at any other time of my life. Ridiculous.

Proofs for the cover for my soon-to-be available for print full-length novel will arrive on 9/9. If the process follows the same trajectory as RH&SP, I should have a print proof of the book in my hands within two weeks from that date, and available to sell a week or so later. (Still stress sweating.)

Maybe someday I will recover from the time suck and stress of querying LOTS of agents, then the euphoria and heart dump of an agent asking for my manuscript, then disappearing. Maybe. Until then, I’ll get original art and copyrights for my work and sell it as print on demand. That’s a plan, right? Maybe not a great one, but I’m running with it.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading Ramshackle Houses & Southern Parables. I’d love to be reading your published works. Maybe that would help curb my stress sweating? Just in case, drop a link to your stuff in the comments and I’ll have a go!