Well, that didn’t work. What now?

This wasn’t the post I intended to write. Turns out, I couldn’t even write any post when I planned because my FreeWrite machine I’d brought to write filled the screen with a string of 222222s on its own while I was stirring my coffee. (Hopefully, it just needs a battery charge, an update, and a good air burst through the keyboard. Either that or a character from Between was trying to get my attention. 😉

I had meant for my first post from Texas to have stories of my adventure back, a link to a short story, and to introduction to my other site. That post may still come soon, but not yet.

“Not yet” has been a theme ever since I got home. I need to do this, but I have to do that first. I need to do something else before I can do that. Yesterday was the first day that I felt like I was making more “forward” progress than “backtracking” my lists of tasks.

Have you ever felt like that? I feel like we all go in phases but you know those times when literally every section of your life feels like a tornado blew threw but time didn’t stop in the “outside” world so you’re left meeting deadlines, paying bills, and carrying on “real life” in the midst of the chaos? It’s one of those times for me. Hopefully, it’s not for you.

So a quick summary of my work at Ever Ink Press.

I am working with my editor, Jami Doddroe, to go back over the Between Series books before publishing them on Amazon and updating them on Barnes and Noble. Swing has a new front cover and is awaiting a full cover before it’s updated across the platforms.

The first few hour and half of the morning are dedicated to the final revisions for Carter’s story, the third book in the Between series which acts as a companion novel. The second hour and half are spent on “The Called” which is the first book of The Secret of Sentarra Series. Since the books of Sentarra are three times as long as my others, I’m hoping to release some shorter works between. If you’d like to read about the queen who is a side character in The Secret of Sentarra stories, I featured her backstory in a short story for my apprenticeship which was published on “The Pearl.“

I’m working on the new/old website. When I didn’t renew my site while working at “The Company” in Zanesville where I had to use a different platform, I failed to renew my website name and my host company released it. When I got my site back, the powers-that-be said it was in a “redemption period” and could be bought back for a substantial fee or I could wait until it was released to the market. They they bought it.

Long story short, using my name for the address of my website isn’t going to happen. One is being held for ransom. The other version is incompatible with the software I’m using. So I am working on rebranding the site as Ever Ink Press and its address as www.everinkpress.com. I expect it will be finished and live soon, but at point, I’m making no promises.

But isn’t that how all of us are doing? Things don’t go as planned and the only thing there is to do is take a breath and take the next step. Sometimes those steps are backwards to finding the actual starting point. Sometimes they are a series of tiny steps forward. Sometimes a friend (here’s looking at you, Jami) shows up and helps you take a giant stride forward.

Sometimes the best thing to do is make four wall charts and record all of those steps in order so you can figure out what you need to work on. That’s what I did. What about you? What steps are you taking today to get you a little further from chaos and a little closer to your goals? Anybody else out there wearing out their metaphorical shoes? I’ll bet I’m not the only one. 😉

Hang in there, my friend.

Love, Lindsey