What's Been and What's to Come

Hi Friends!

Long time no see! Sorry that it's been a while since I posted anything here. It's been a busy couple of months, and that's okay. I hope you've all been happy and healthy. Are you reading anything good?

So anyway, here are a couple of updates. 

Firstly, I'm really excited to share with you that The Cryptid Chronicles: Here Be Monsters is done! It's back from my amazing editor, Janel and it's polished and ready! (Honestly, if you're a writer, I suggest working with her. Cryptids would be utter crap without her!) So a couple of things to look forward to about Here Be Monsters. First, I'm really excited to reveal the cover for Here Be Monsters on Tuesday, March 15th at 6:00pm (eastern). I haven't decided yet if I'm gonna release it as a single whole, or put out squares of it throughout the day.  But you'll have it all at 6:00 either way. 

The next fun bit of Cryptids news is that you can start looking for it in June! That's right, after it being a file on my computer (okay, lets be honest, it's been on two desktops and three laptops) it's finally coming to you. It feels so surreal to say that. Anyway, an exact date will be announced soon, but June it is!

Next up, I've got a couple of events this year!

On April 9th, I'll be at the Dreaming Dirty in Michigan convention in Ann Arbor. I'm really excited; this will be my first, in person convention. It promises to be a lot of fun so if you're in the area, (or you travel for that sort of thing) search me out! Find me! Say 'hi.' I'll be happy to see you. (I'll be the one with the pride flag, rockets and a crown on the table!)

Then in July, I've got another convention. It's in Michigan again (what is it with Michigan and book cons?). This time it's the Once Upon A Book convention at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth on July 22nd and 23rd! I'm super excited about this one with the 'Monster Ball' theme! 

I'll be attending both cons with another author friend of mine, Victoria Perkins. Victoria's an amazing author who I've known for years. I highly recommend taking a look at her work! Janel is also gonna be with me too, so if you're looking for an editor, that's a great opportunity (see what I did there?) to chat with her face to face! 

I'm so excited to get the chance to meet people face to face so if you have a chance, come out and see me!

Now for some things I've been working on. I've been super busy writing. In November, I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). If you don't know, NaNoWriMo is a great challenge for writers where you try to write a 50,000 word novel over the course of the month of November. It's a really fun experience and it's got a great and very active community. I tried something new for this one; I tried a first person, sci-fi. Much to my surprise, I've actually really liked it. I didn't think I'd pursue anything with it, just use it as an exercise, but I'm really liking it. Enough to actually come back to it and fully develop it into a novel. Which is really exciting, so keep an eye open for some information about that.

On top of that, I've been doing some notes and reworking for my project The Greatest. Some of the premises have changed a bit, but over all, it's the same story. 

Finally, the last few months and weeks have been tough for us all. The world is a frightening place, from the ongoing pandemic, systemic racism, a slew of ultra anti-trans laws (because let's be honest, this isn't a phobia, no one is actually afraid, they're just hateful bigots), and the situation in Ukraine, it's more important than ever that we stand up for what we believe in. But it's also emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausting and painful, so it's also okay to take a step back and let yourself recover a bit. Every few weeks, I like to take a day and have a complete news black out to let myself sorta detox from the world. And sometimes, it's going to take more than a day. There's a lot going on, there's a lot of people who need to have their voices amplified and advocated for, but you can't help anyone else if you aren't in a place mentally to do so. So be kind to yourself. Give yourself some grace. Talk to friends about what you feel, seek out a therapist you like and trust and if you get told by a doctor that you need medication to help you cope, then by all means, take that damn medication. Above all take care of yourself so that you can take care of others. 

We've heard the refrain of "we're all in this together" a lot these last few years. It's sorta been a mantra for getting through the pandemic; but I'd encourage you to think about this in a broader way. We really are all in this together; not just the health crisis, but in this life and world together. We need to remember that. So be kind to others, be kind to yourself, and above all remember:

You are seen. You are loved. You matter. 

Mark