Since I have bribed y’all with free fiction last week, you will now have to suffer through my whining.
- Prerelease publicity started 2 weeks before the release, so June 1st. Two packed weeks of look at this ad, look at that ad, do this, make sure everything is set up here, what is going on with the audio, why are the books available here but not there, etc.
- Then we had release publicity with zooms. It is always lovely to spend time with the BDH but we are introverts.
- And the store orders came in simultaneously. Enough for the store company to assign us our own special sales rep. He keeps trying to get us to keep the store open. We have gotten through all of the requests with exception of a couple of broken mugs, on which I will catch up today.
- Throughout all of this we were helping Kid 1 close on her house, because our market is insane and she needed a cosigner. (We closed in less than a month. If you need a good mortgage lender in Austin area, AJ Miller Group. AJ is amazing, and his team will take care of you.)
- And then Kid 1 packed. At some point, there was no house. There was a labyrinth of boxes.
- And then Kid 1 moved last weekend. She realized she had underestimated the amount of stuff, so we rented a van, and we had made several trips before the truck even came. I carried way too many boxes up the stairs in the heat.
- We have had 6 dogs for two weeks now. The eternal vigilance of making sure Mona and Coco do not kill themselves by chewing on some random stick has worn me down. They should be picked up today and once they are gone, I will clean everything. And vacuum. And mop. And it will be clean. Our pantry is a wreck, and we still have random moving-related things everywhere.
- Our temperatures have hovered around 98-103 F and our heat index climbed into 120F. Weeks and weeks of hot and humid. The heat is smothering. Punishing. Heavy. Running out of adjectives.
I am so bloody tired.
Day before yesterday
Kid 2: Mom, when was the last time you had a day off?
Me: Uhhhh.
So yesterday was my day off. I did nothing. Nobody came over. It was lovely.
Nancy, please don’t read this: The only things we wrote throughout all of this are the two freebies we gave you. It’s been very hectic. We are behind schedule.
We are going to take this week regroup and then dive back into writing. The blog is going back to 2-3 posts a week. We need to figure out if we can come up with some sort of fun summer event or theme, and Mod R and I will brainstorm on that subject later in the week. We will do some Q&A and there may be some free fiction here and there, and we have a surprise or two planned, but overall we will take it nice and slow over the next couple of months.
Writing fiction will be a priority.
An aside: There will not be an innkeeper this summer. We just delivered an Innkeeper novel in December.
So we are here. We are just working.
I, too, am self-employed.When I want to take a vacation, my patients act like I’m never returning and book me so solidly I’m still exhausted when I get back. Please take care of yourselves. Take some time and go somewhere. Anywhere that doesn’t remind you of your real life. Breathe. I don’t care when the books come. I know we will buy them and it will be fine. Just do the self care. Thanks for your efforts to keep us in the loop. Also, I’m glad I don’t have kids or pets because that sounds like more work than I have energy for. You are so generous with your time and energy. I’m sure your kids appreciate it very much.
My mug and t-shirt arrived and I love both of them! I’ve taken my mug to work and every time I use it (which I several times a day) it makes me happy!
Thank you so much for opening a European store! House Andrews goes above and beyond for the BFH, and this is just one of the many ways you bring us these moments of joy! Hope the regrouping goes well, and may there be many moments of joy in there for you too!!
As for topic/theme for the summer, would like to add “top 10’s or top 5’s” to the list of ideas/options. (Examples: MOD R’s Top favorite charters, Ilana Andrews top favorite lesson learned over your time writing, Ilona Andrews top favorite yarns in craft area, Ilona Andrews top favorite video games, etc.)
I struggled with fatigue and working full time and I gotta say, hiring cleaners to come do my 2bed, 2 bath apartment was amazing. They will customize to do as little or as much as you want, as deep or as light, and price it accordingly. You can do quote comparisons on Yelp from different agencies. They can come 1 time, or on a regular basis. TOTALLY WORTH EVERY PENNY.
I think your boss should put you on a 4 days on- 3 days off schedule.
Seriously.
Thank you so much for opening a European store! House Andrews goes above and beyond for the BFH, and this is just one of the many ways you bring us these moments of joy.
I’m definitely thinking you could use some pool time — maybe at night because the days just sound too hot down there. Or whatever you use for cooling off. I didn’t organize myself properly to get a real pool installed yet, so we got an Intex pool. Awesome thing for the garden.
I am rereading some of my House Andrews favorites, and I came across this passage:
“I ate little, slept less, and this evening I had reached a kind of weird, depersonalized state, where I was still sort of me, but mostly I was Gertrude Hunt, frantically shaping rooms out of nothing.”
Since I’d read your blog post on July 5th, I had it running around in the back of my brain…
So I recognized your lament in both the fantasy world and the real world.
Thank you for all your hard work, sleepless nights and wonderful books.
-Jenna
I’ve been doing a Kate Daniels world reread and just finished Magic Claims this morning. I LOVE IT. I just started a new job and have been utterly exhausted as well. The series reread has been so wonderful and I didn’t realize how much I missed all the characters until I jumped back into the new book. Congrats on the new release!
Your books are awesome, and you’re my favorite authors which is how I stumbled upon your blog. But this is another reason you’re my favorite. You keep it real and don’t mind sharing.