Today I found this for my boy Campbell:

So I’ll just park it here because it’s a sweet accomplishment I didn’t expect.

And did you know I bought this cover back in 2015? Yup, it was one of my regular cover guy’s premade covers and the moment I saw it, I knew I had to have it even if it would take me three years to find the right hero for the story. I currently have about 12 premade covers waiting for their stories it’s crazy. And that doesn’t include the ones I’ve purchased from other designers as well as the ones I make myself like the Holiday Engagement series ones. Or the ones for my Naughty Pen and the PNR pen.

Juggling too many plates? Yup, that’s me.

But I did find time to do some reading between those two releases and having to plot and write the next book of my Holiday Engagement series. I just finished Gutter Medicine: Twenty-six Years as a Firefighter/Paramedic by Roger Huder and I really enjoyed it. It’s definitely eye-opening to read about his experiences on being a firefighter paramedic, in a way, helping it become what it is now. I loved reading about “the street” and how it gives and takes away, the calls he’s never forgotten, and how one call almost got him and his fellow firefighters, the one where they encountered “the beast.”

I also have been finding time to go back to walking with friends again even if they’re just for an hour each day and not the usual three-hour walks we used to take that kicked my butt every time.

In the afternoon, I returned close to the same spot with my Lil Dude to check out the Farmer’s Market. Now it’s back to trying to write again because somehow I’ve lost sight of my characters again.

Another book I’m really enjoying is Seth Godin’s This Is Marketing: You Can’t be Seen Until You Learn to See. He profiles the Open Heart Project that grew from a small number of students to thousands of members across the globe because of the following:

1. Start with empathy to see a real need, not an invented one, not ‘how can I start a business.’
2. Focus on the smallest viable market. How few people could find this indispensable and still make it worth doing? (Smallest viable market is the group of people that are ready and open to hearing your message versus marketing to the world – basically start small.)
3. Match the worldview of the people being served. Show up in the world with a story they want to hear, told in a language they’re eager to understand. (You’re not exactly selling a product; you’re selling an emotion. How does your product make them feel when they use it?)
4. Make it easy to spread. If every member brings in one more member, within a few years you’ll have more members than you can count.
5. Earn and keep the attention and trust of those you serve.
6. Offer ways to go deeper. Instead of looking for members for your work, look for ways to do work for your members.
7. At every step along the way, create and relieve tension as people progress on their journeys toward their goals.
8. Show up often. Do it with humility and focus on the parts that work.

So there you go. Guess I could call that celebrating the release of two books even if I somehow forgot. But anything that takes my mind off my books is a good thing. I even found myself a pair of reading glasses because apparently, I need them now! I’ve never realized how bright my e-reader really is until I put on a pair and read.

Now I need to go back to writing book 2 of the Holiday Engagement and hope I can get the book released before the craziness of the holidays completely takes over!