Andrew McDowell's Blog, page 4

Open Mic Annapolis M.W.A.

Here’s my reading at this month’s open mic at the Annapolis chapter of the Maryland Writers’ Association. The poems are four of six featured in the new anthology Honesty in Verse. YouTube made it a short for some reason instead of a traditional video, but at least it’s up.

And many thanks to Sally Cronin for featuring Beneath the Deep Wave in her Christmas book fair:

Smorgasbord Christmas Book Fair – #Fantasy Beneath the Deep Wave by Andrew McDowell, #Historical #1920s Jazz Baby by Beem Weeks, #Thriller #Mystery, Bad Boy: (Jason Davey Mysteries Book 5) by Winona Kent, #shortstory A Christmas Homecoming by Yvette M Calliero

Happy Holidays, everyone! If you’ve read something of mine and haven’t rated or reviewed it yet, please do. It would definitely make the season brighter for me.

Honesty in Verse

Here’s a new anthology from Fae Corps Publishing featuring six of my poems.

Barnes & Noble has it for preorder in paperback and available now in Nook. Other book vendors can be found on Books2Read. Amazon and Goodreads links will be posted to my Poetry page when they become available.

Stay tuned also for another anthology coming from Fae Corps, featuring one of my poems, titled Fae Speaks.

If you’re still looking for other reads this holiday season, or for next year, you can see all my work from Fae Corps on my Books2Read author page.

Author #Interview: Let’s Chat with #IndieAuthor Andrew McDowell!

Many thanks for author, blogger, and book podcaster Jean Lee for the opportunity to do this interview!

Author #Interview: Let’s Chat with #IndieAuthor Andrew McDowell!

Author #Interview: Let’s Chat with #IndieAuthor Andrew McDowell!

Many thanks for author, blogger, and book podcaster Jean Lee for the opportunity to do this interview!

Author #Interview: Let’s Chat with #IndieAuthor Andrew McDowell!

Books Make Great Gifts II

Welcome back, prospective holiday readers and buyers! Here are anthologies available in hard copy only, featuring either my poetry, short stories, or essays.

This journal includes my micro memoir about my grandfather’s billiard table:

Amazon | Goodreads

This journal includes my essay about my experiences at the St. Mary’s River during my college years.

Amazon | Goodreads

This anthology includes my short story about how one boy’s Christmas changes.

Amazon | Goodreads

This anthology features five of my poems with fall and winter holiday themes:

Amazon | Goodreads | BAM!Waterstones | Foyles

This one includes six of my poems on water and the ocean:

Amazon | Goodreads | BAM!Waterstones | Foyles

This anthology includes a poem I wrote about crickets:

Amazon | Goodreads | BAM!Waterstones | Foyles

This anthology includes a sonnet I wrote about knights:

Amazon | Goodreads

This journal features one of my free-verse poems:

Amazon | Goodreads

This journal features one of my poems (which I mistakenly labeled as a kwansaba):

Amazon | Goodreads

This journal features two of my haiku poems:

Amazon | Goodreads

This journal features my essay about my experiences in my college’s fencing club:

Amazon | Goodreads

This journal features my sonnet about my favorite childhood stuffed animal:

Amazon | Goodreads

And this anthology features my essay about my diagnosis of Asperger syndrome, which was 2nd place in a contest.

Amazon | Goodreads | BAM!

Waterstones | Foyles

Ratings and reviews are always appreciated. And don’t forget, books make great gifts!

There’s also an anthology from the Moonstone Art Center featuring five of my haiku poems and an issue of the And I Thought literary magazine each featuring three of my poems. Though it doesn’t look like either can have reviews posted, if you decide to buy them, I hope they are enjoyed.

Books Make Great Gifts

With the holidays now approaching, whether you are looking for yourself or someone you know, books make great gifts! So I wanted to re-share my published works that are available. In this first post, I’m highlighting my work available in eBook and print.

These are my novels, which feature magic, adventure, good vs. evil, forests gryphons, dragons, unicorns, and much more:

Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | BAM! | Books2Read | IngramSparkWaterstones | FoylesAmazon | Goodreads | B&N | BAM! | Books2Read | IngramSparkWaterstones | Foyles

And here are all anthologies available digitally and in hard copy that feature my poetry and/or short stories. This one includes my poem inspired by a real black cat:

Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | Books2Read | IngramSpark

This one includes four of my haiku poems:

Amazon | Goodreads

This one includes six of my poems as well as six pencil drawings of mine:

Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | Books2Read

This one includes my short story about a monster-sized hammerhead shark:

Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | Books2Read

This one includes a poem I wrote inspired by the COVID pandemic:

Amazon | GoodreadsWaterstones

This one includes two of my poems and my fable about a mouse and a frog:

Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | BAM! | Books2ReadWaterstones | Foyles

These two include a psychological horror story involving knives and two of my poems, one of which is in the style of “The Raven.”

Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | BAM! | Books2ReadWaterstones | Foyles Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | Books2Read

And this one includes five of my poems:

Amazon | Goodreads | B&N | BAM! | Books2Read | IngramSparkWaterstones | Foyles

Those available only in print will be featured tomorrow. Stay tuned. Ratings and reviews are always appreciated!

Feeling like a Fraud

Imposter Syndrome is something that’s been discussed many times by writers, and it is something that I wanted to talk about. Like so many others, I’ve been a victim of this. It’s a vicious cycle of looking at stuff I’ve done, hearing others praise it, and it all feels empty, like it isn’t really that good, or not good at all. At such times, I convinced myself that what I have done, what I’ve written, wasn’t worth the merit it’s received.

Typos have been a big source of that, more so because I began overanalyzing everything from word choice to sentence structure, even formatting. I decided I needed to change some internal formatting factors like margins and font size before Beneath the Deep Wave was published, and for the sake of consistency, to change them in Mystical Greenwood as well, resulting in a roughly 40-page deduction for both. It seems Mystical Greenwood was destined to have a checkered history, similar in some ways to films that have had decades worth of production behind them.

Another example of this feeling happened when, in recent years, I’ve seen books appearing on Amazon with people who have the same name as me, such as an academic book by an anthropologist and a short memoir by a British man discussing a traumatic childhood. At times, as a result, I’ve regretted not choosing a pen name or what I referred to as a “writer’s name,” meaning a different way to write my name.

Yet at the end of this regret and anxiety, every time I am reminded why I didn’t go that direction. My full name, Andrew Michael McDowell, is long, and there was a writer named Michael McDowell (not my dad). As for Andrew M. McDowell, well, because of the sound with which the letter M ending and beginning a name being the same, when said aloud, it’s as if they fuse and can’t be differentiated. Plus, before I became a writer, I’ve always introduced myself, and signed my name, as Andrew McDowell. And, at least, I’m currently the only Andrew McDowell in the Poets & Writers directory.

As for errors, well, I must remind myself that you can always fix them; everyone’s been printing them forever. I made the decisions I made which, at the time, were the right ones. Judging them by what is happening at present only causes anxiety, unless we can learn from them. But I cannot fault those decisions for being the right ones at the right time. At least I have let go…for now. Besides, imperfections show that I’m human, and if I look at famous movies and TV shows with goofs, continuity errors, etc., those haven’t prevented them from having the cultural impact they’ve had.

Worrying about things I’ve done is ultimately meaningless. I know I should be proud of all that I have accomplished. I am not perfect, nor do I need to be. I need to see both the trees and the forest. But still, sometimes, I worry. I’ve tried to be more positive, but I’ve not succeeded yet. I guess it means I’m learning and that I care. But I also cared enough about myself to know that I needed to let go of chasing perfection and just be happy. I still need to work on self-love. It is apparent to me that something I write someday could not be as favorably received (like Charles Dickens experienced with Martin Chuzzlewit), but I hope that won’t stop me from trying better next time. The key is to let go and move on.

I’ll be at a local author showcase sponsored by the Maryland Writers’ Association next week at Savage Mill. If you’re going to be in the area, I hope you can stop by.

Available Now! Nightmare Whiskers

Nightmare Whiskers is now available!

Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Books2Read

Wishing you a Happy Halloween, Samhain, Dia de los Muertos, Guy Fawkes Night, or whatever it is you celebrate at this time of year!

“White Death” by Andrew McDowell

Many thanks to Barbara Leonhard of MasticadoresUSA for publishing my image poem, “White Death.”

https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/2024/10/25/white-death-by-andrew-mcdowell/

Smorgasbord Book Promotions 2024 – Share an Excerpt – #Fantasy – Beneath the Deep Wave (One with Nature Book 2) by Andrew McDowell

Many thanks to Sally Cronin for featuring an excerpt from Beneath the Deep Wave on her blog.

Smorgasbord Book Promotions 2024 – Share an Excerpt – #Fantasy – Beneath the Deep Wave (One with Nature Book 2) by Andrew McDowell

On a side note, I had a wonderful time at the Maryland Writers’ Conference this past weekend. I learned a lot about public appearances and signings, which I hope to put to good use in the future, and I sold six books!