Chantal Boudreau's Blog - Posts Tagged "self-published"
My Hurricane Season
Every year when we start to hear hurricane warnings, like the current one for Hurricane Leslie, I’m reminded of where I was when we first got word that Hurricane Juan was on its way. I was at Word on the Street, but only there to buy books that year. I had a completed manuscript, very rough, for Magic University at the time, but the concept of being published seemed well beyond my reach. I was of the opinion that someday, when I had retired from my day job, I would start putting in the effort to make my dreams of being a published author happen.
I guess I wasn’t prepared to wait, and now I can proudly say that in addition to having four of my novels published, I have even had some of my short stories included in anthologies alongside writers I greatly admire.
But the weather isn’t the only type of hurricane I seem to face this time of year. My life becomes a tempestuous mess from the end of August to the end of November every year. Part of it is my day-job work schedule. Overtime this time of year is unavoidable, my work weeks often running into six days with some extended into evenings. My kids go back to school, which involves preparation and adapting to new teachers and agendas. My daughter’s birthday is in September, which demands more of my time. And I spend September and October revving up for NaNoWriMo in November. But that’s not all...
This year, it seems that after a brief dry run, I have a deluge of my writing work being released in the September to November stretch. I addition to that, my first self-pubbing efforts have finally culminated in a finished product. The first in my Snowy Barrens Trilogy will be hitting the market in e-book form shortly, with the print version soon to follow. My novel, Transcendence, is scheduled for a September release and I’m slaving away over illustrations while waiting on edits. I’m also working on the fourth novel, Providence, whenever I can squeeze in a few words. October is even crazier, with the release of my short story collection from May December Publications, the Fear anthology with my short story “Octavia” from Crooked Cat, the Mistresses of Macabre anthology containing my short “Orbs” from Dark Moon Books and Tales for the Toilet featuring my short “And then the Crow Said Henry...” from Crowded Quarantine. Then in November, the third in my Masters & Renegades series, Prisoners of Fate, is slated for release.
And I’m expected to help promote all of this – writer interviews, teaser tales, guest posts, and much more. I’m lucky I don’t need much sleep or I’d probably have an anxiety attack at the thought of all this work. The storm is on and I’m hanging on for dear life, hoping I won’t be blown away.
It turns out, I’m actually thankful that the invitation to return to Hal-con as a guest this year proved to be a dud (either the result of poor communication or the result of being bumped by higher status guests, your guess is as good as mine.) If I had to prep for a convention stint on top of everything else, I think I’d be rocking and gibbering in the corner, pulling out my hair. As is, I will be headed to the con for a day, to hand out business cards and network a little.
For now, I plan to weather these storms the best I can...and if Leslie shows her face in Nova Scotia, I’ll do my best to tackle her too. Such is my hurricane season.
I guess I wasn’t prepared to wait, and now I can proudly say that in addition to having four of my novels published, I have even had some of my short stories included in anthologies alongside writers I greatly admire.
But the weather isn’t the only type of hurricane I seem to face this time of year. My life becomes a tempestuous mess from the end of August to the end of November every year. Part of it is my day-job work schedule. Overtime this time of year is unavoidable, my work weeks often running into six days with some extended into evenings. My kids go back to school, which involves preparation and adapting to new teachers and agendas. My daughter’s birthday is in September, which demands more of my time. And I spend September and October revving up for NaNoWriMo in November. But that’s not all...
This year, it seems that after a brief dry run, I have a deluge of my writing work being released in the September to November stretch. I addition to that, my first self-pubbing efforts have finally culminated in a finished product. The first in my Snowy Barrens Trilogy will be hitting the market in e-book form shortly, with the print version soon to follow. My novel, Transcendence, is scheduled for a September release and I’m slaving away over illustrations while waiting on edits. I’m also working on the fourth novel, Providence, whenever I can squeeze in a few words. October is even crazier, with the release of my short story collection from May December Publications, the Fear anthology with my short story “Octavia” from Crooked Cat, the Mistresses of Macabre anthology containing my short “Orbs” from Dark Moon Books and Tales for the Toilet featuring my short “And then the Crow Said Henry...” from Crowded Quarantine. Then in November, the third in my Masters & Renegades series, Prisoners of Fate, is slated for release.
And I’m expected to help promote all of this – writer interviews, teaser tales, guest posts, and much more. I’m lucky I don’t need much sleep or I’d probably have an anxiety attack at the thought of all this work. The storm is on and I’m hanging on for dear life, hoping I won’t be blown away.
It turns out, I’m actually thankful that the invitation to return to Hal-con as a guest this year proved to be a dud (either the result of poor communication or the result of being bumped by higher status guests, your guess is as good as mine.) If I had to prep for a convention stint on top of everything else, I think I’d be rocking and gibbering in the corner, pulling out my hair. As is, I will be headed to the con for a day, to hand out business cards and network a little.
For now, I plan to weather these storms the best I can...and if Leslie shows her face in Nova Scotia, I’ll do my best to tackle her too. Such is my hurricane season.
