Christmas Vacation

We’re on our way to Christmas vacation tomorrow!

I’ve spoken of this before — I’ll be going to Starved Rock State Park in Illinois, to spend five days in a cabin celebrating the season. The holiday comes with nearby Utica (‘North Utica’ according to the maps) and Ottawa, towns that have managed to not be too touristy despite their existence as a day trip out of Chicago. I often call Ottawa a great campus town without the campus.

The park (as you can see here) is scenic in the winter, with frozen waterfalls and canyons throughout. Hiking is a little hazardous without good boots, however, because sandstone bluffs are bad to fall off of.

The area has a good Christmas feel. The downtowns don’t have a lot of missing businesses, the streets are decked with lights, and last time we were there there were ice sculptures melting on each corner. They might have snow when we arrive there Saturday.

Ottawa is a great place to eat. Among our favorites are Lone Buffalo (a brewpub), B.A.S.H. (Upscale casual fusion — the name stands for Burger and Sushi House), and Sunfield Restaurant (breakfast). There’s also an indie coffeehouse called Jeremiah Joe’s. There should be more, but there are not.

One place we’re going to discover while we’re in Ottawa is the Cheese Shop. Yes, that is its name. It is, not surprisingly, a cheese shop and deli. I encountered it many years ago on a hike on the Illinois-Michigan canal path. I dropped off the path and ended up right at the Cheese Shop. But it’s hard to find, tucked over in obscure Ottawa side streets. I haven’t been there in, say, 20 years but it’s still there. They might have the famous Polancic tenderloin sandwiches (a local delicacy) for lunch.

There’s also decent window shopping in Ottawa and Utica. I’m not much of a shopper, but I love window shopping. There’s a decent bookstore in Ottawa; a winery in Utica, various little shops.

We’re going to visit my sister and her husband while we’re there. Not a lot, because my sister is more of an introvert than I am.

It should be a busy few days, but I expect some time in the cabin to watch the fire in the fireplace, or in the Great Hall to enjoy a bigger fire and people-watching. Hopefully some time to write, as my next Kringle adventure will take place there.

Happy holidays!

My Perfect Writing Place

Daily writing prompt

You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?

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I would love a perfect spot for reading and writing. My space is not so perfect, being a corner of the living room, where I have a sofa laptop holder pulled up to a loveseat that rocks and reclines. It’s not the most comfortable, because I have to kind of hold myself in place while writing.

The ideal space would allow both reading and writing, and a sense of cozy privacy without being too small. The furniture would be a lot like the living room is set up now — a large recliner couch to read on with my feet up, and a loveseat that doesn’t rock set up with the lap desk. It wouldn’t need bookshelves, because I read exclusively on my phone. But the room would need to have a stereo and decent speakers for background music.

It would need a hot water dispenser for tea and coffee. I would make the coffee in a French press or maybe a Chemex. I would like a small refrigerator for cold drinks to complete the refreshment area.

To be honest, this is an awful lot like my living room, except for the clutter and the problem with the loveseat. Maybe I’m in the perfect place after all.

Messages from the Universe

I really wanted the author fair to go better. But the weather was abysmal, and we only had about fifteen people come through. None of them wanted to read Christmas romances or serious fantasy romance, so I didn’t sell a single book. As I have been fretting lately as to whether I should be trying to market my books in the first place, I felt this was my message from the universe telling me to quit.

Then I got this urge to go to Starbucks with my husband afterwards, rather than going home to cry (I really did feel bad). There, I ran into one of the other authors, who had not sold any books either. We commiserated with each other and talked about what we knew was true about being an indie writer — the difficulties in finding venues to sell, the role of luck in getting recognized, and the need to just keep trying.

My husband and I went to Raku for ramen after that and ran into a young woman with whom I had a wild conversation the other day, about lots of subjects including writing as a way to get your feelings in order. She thanked me profusely for getting her back into writing.

So I think messages from the universe are present. As a Friend (Quaker), I have learned to listen for them. I don’t know what to credit them to — “The Universe” seems to have the least baggage attached to it. But I’m listening.

Impasse

Today is the local author’s fair at the public library, and I am suffering from a severe case of impostor’s syndrome. This is new; normally I enjoy the author’s fair, given that it’s the only time I go out in the public and talk about my books. But this year I feel reluctant to do so.

It’s something I have been fighting for a little while, though. I’ve been wrestling with writing something new, I have been unmotivated, I’ve just been feeling blah about my endeavors.

It’s even more complicated than that, of course. I’m afraid of sinking (further?) into obscurity, and I’m equally afraid of my writing career picking up. I don’t want it to stay the same, either. I’m at an impasse where there’s a boulder on the road in front of me and a washout behind me.

Given all this, I would prefer my career to go forward, because that difficulty would come with a side of satisfaction, which is not as present in the other options. I’m all for climbing over the boulder somehow if I can manage it. There’s much I can’t manage in terms of promotion and the like; I am doing all I can within my time and money means. But I have a presence on Facebook, Threads, Blue Sky, and in this blog, and I send a newsletter to 2800 people. To torture my boulder metaphor further, what I need is a bolt of lightning to pulverize that rock so I can climb over it.

I guess what I want is for the effort to be worth it, because I’ve written 9 novels (plus one that didn’t survive) and I feel foolish writing another. If you have a moment for good wishes, wish for me to find a way over the boulder.

The Challenge

I have a bit of a reprieve from grading today, and I need it. Three classes plus an internship graded, one to go. And that one is coming in on Thursday, not Friday, so I will grade it on Friday.

Which brings me to the big event this weekend — our local library’s author fair. I sign and sell a few books there every year. It’s my experience to feel like a real author and talk about my books with people. It’s actually a bit difficult for me to talk about my books, because I have that midwestern female tendency not to want to “brag”.

If I ever get that lucky break, I’ll have to get good at talking about my books, because more people will ask. This would be a challenge for me, but a challenge I’d willingly accept.

Quick Post

This is a contractual obligation post so I don’t lose my posting streak. I have a final exam to give this morning at 7:30, so not much time to write. I might write again later today.

Here’s a picture of a kitten.

Talking About My Books

I haven’t talked about my books in a while, and it’s an exciting season.

Kringle Through the Snow, my latest Kringle Chronicles book, came out on October 1. It is a Christmas romance involving Sierra DuBois, an energetic event manager and Wade Nelson, an affable engineer and nerd. They bond over his selection for the Chamber of Commerce’s first Annual Grinch, and his inclusion into Sierra’s highbrow charity ball. Sierra has a secret that very well may derail the relationship, and she runs away to hide it. They will have to weather some storms if they want to walk in the snow.

The other book coming out on January 1st is Reclaiming the Balance. This is the latest in the Hidden in Plain Sight series, which is either contemporary fantasy or magical realism depending on who you ask. In this story, Janice Wilkens flees Chicago by teleportation with two strangers who know more about her abusive ex-boyfriend than they should. At her refuge, Barn Swallows’ Dance, she finds out about the immortal Archetypes like her ex, and their half-human Nephilim offspring. While plotting for the return of her Nephilim son from her ex, she grows closer to Amarel, an androgynous Nephilim. A journey of transformation beckons both of them as they strive to remedy the collective’s prejudice against Nephilim and rescue Janice’s son.

Both book series have other books published. There are five total books published in the Kringle series: The Kringle Conspiracy, Kringle in the Night, It Takes Two to Kringle, Kringle on Fire, and the current publication. Hidden in Plain Sight series has three published: Gaia’s Hands, Apocalypse, and the upcoming Reclaiming the Balance. There’s also a published short story collection based on the Hidden universe, Stories Within Stories.

There are three upcoming books in the Hidden series: Avatar of the Maker, Carrying Light, and Whose Hearts are Mountains. Those are waiting to be published in the future. There’s also another short story book coming.

There’s also a standalone book waiting to be published, known as Prodigies.

Of course I would like you to pick up one of my books and read them. That’s what they’re there for.

End of Vacation

My mini-vacation in Kansas City is coming to an end. It was our kind of vacation — Thanksgiving dinner at the Savoy, Hotwire lodging at the 21c Art Hotel, breakfast at Broadway Cafe, Black Friday people-watching at Oak Park Mall, lunch at Choga, cats at Whiskers Cat Cafe, and another breakfast at Broadway Cafe.

We bought this year’s Hallmark ornaments at the mall, and these set us back a bit because each of us had three ornaments in the series we collect. I’m not really a Hallmark person, but I do like Mischievous Kittens and Birds of the World. Not so much the dominant culture tie-ins. Richard collects Star Trek ships.

Sunday is my day to recover. Next weekend will be brutal with a lot of grading to do before finals. And then there are finals to grade, so expect me to be scarce. But after these two weeks, I’ll be free for about 3 weeks. Maybe it’s time to write again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been doing nothing productive these past few days– no writing, no grading, just reading Regency Christmas romances. The next couple of weeks will be brutal so I need the break.

It looks like I’ll start rewriting the Kringle novel when I’m on Christmas break in a couple weeks.

Today is Thanksgiving lunch at the Savoy Grill, followed by Wicked at the Screenland Armour. Very Kansas City.

Have a very good day, whether or not you celebrate.

Something Accomplished

I’m sitting in the controlled chaos of our living room next to a framed poster of the latest book in the Hidden in Plain Sight series, Reclaiming the Balance. It’s due out January 1st, with the usual little fanfare. I am thinking of having an online open house for people to drop in on, but the last time I did that nobody showed up. It is a bad time to expect people to show up, in the US at least.

The posters are a ritual, driven by the fact my cover artist, my niece Rachel, is quite talented and does iconic covers. I give her very little to go on, and it’s like she reads my mind. I have aphantasia, or the inability to picture things in my mind, so it’s very hard for me to imagine how she does this.

I write and I publish. I don’t have too many readers, so I feel discouraged at times. But I know there are so many indie books out there, and I can’t afford expensive marketing that has no guarantee of working. I have to accept things as they are, which is why I print the covers as posters. I want to feel like I’m accomplishing something.