As the year comes to a close I realize I am past due for a blog. It has been a very busy two months.
I spent the month of November participating in NaNoWriMo. For those of you that don’t know what it is, Na- National NO-Novel Wri- writing Mo- month. It's a competition with yourself to write 50,000 words. Between my handwritten chapters in my notebook and my typed word count, I made it to 50,000 words. But I was very burnt out by November 30th. When I agreed to do the NaNoWriMo competition I wasn’t aware of how sick I would be in November. The first 25,000 seemed to be kept on track and then from there, it was a struggle to keep my daily word counts. But I have completed 16 chapters in the first draft of the Many Hearts Of Winnie The Pooh. That in itself is fantastic. I will resume that manuscript in the spring of 2023. Please note the above image is an AI-generated image to give you a feel of the story and not the actual cover.
I also participated in an art competition with Indie-It Press called the "Applaud Art
Contest". I submitted 2 digital art submissions. Although I did not win, I did come in the top 6 receiving a small monetary prize and honorary mention. This was my first year participating and it is not easy to win even an honorary mention as so many talented artists enter. I am completely grateful. Below are images of my two submissions the first is called The First Women’s Literature Club (this earned me the honourable mention) showcasing current women authors that have inspired me in my journey, dressed in victorian era clothing. It was inspired by the concept of what if all these women came into my life in a past life? How could we have been connected? I don’t believe every person in our lives is completely by chance. Some people you feel like you’ve met them before and you can't place how or when. That is the connection I have with these women. The women authors featured are K.C Loesener, Zoie Seay, Sonja F Blanco, Melissa Roberts, Danielle Paquette Harvey, Julia Slack, Lanie Mores, Myself, Chelsea McKenna, Liesa Green, Danielle Marietta, Rebecca Lange, Heather Grace Stewart, M.K Wood and Nic Winter. The other digital Painting is called The Harvest Witch. I love the fall and am a fan of witches. This was the perfect choice to submit a representation of art for children. You may see this little witch re-designed and used in a future story. Because she’s adorable.
Before I knew it December was in full swing. I knew I had a full plate this month however,
certain things had to be done. I had to fix my e-book for I Am Going Camping with Mom and I also had to fix the cover of the paperback for I Am Going Camping with Mom. I had intended to sell my e-books for .99 cents in the week leading up to Christmas, but Amazon wouldn’t allow it until mid-January. So I did something else. I dropped the price of my ebooks to almost half! This would allow me to get the attention of those that were by passing it because of the price. The e-books weren’t selling. So I figured the first thing I would try is dropping the price. And the other thing I did was enroll my e-books in the KDP select program. Which means that I can't sell my ebook elsewhere. But I came to terms a while ago that the I Am Going Series would be exclusively published through Amazon. The changes went live on Monday and already 1 e-book has been sold, 1 paperback has been sold and 18 people viewed my book in the KDP select. So was it worth it? Yes. More people are reading my works, and I am gaining new followers because of the KDP select readers. I can only hope it continues to grow. I will be working on the German versions in January because I need a break over the holidays.
Also, in late January my talk show with Melissa Roberts, called Tales From The Coffee Table Will be returning to Instagram! A brand new season with new and returning guest authors to chat and laugh over coffee and books with.
Margle Fargle: I am plugging away on story illustrations. I had to put a ton of time into advertising. Including a Where’s Waldo-style game, called Where is Margle Fargle? posted weekly with lead-up ads. I will continue to work on the Margle Fargle illustrations. I love them. They are so colourful and I am so proud of the quality of the illustrations. More about Margle Fargle in the new year, so stay tuned.
I have been completely blessed this year. Thank you to all of you for reading my blogs, following my journey and enjoying my books. You're making my dreams come true just by being supportive. Happy Holidays Everyone. All the best this holiday season and I’ll catch up with you again in 2023. Good things are coming!
All my love
Happy reading
Sherry Shearhart.