Amy Laurens's Blog, page 7

How We Ended Up With Extra Books This Year

As a quick aside, the Kickstarter for And Then I Shall Transform is going brilliantly! It’s funded, we’ve hit the first stretch goal (which means I’ll spend at least some time over the Easter long weekend doing some artworks for the book, hurrah!), and we are closing in on the next! If you’d like to jump in on an early copy of my next collection of short stories, now’s a great time. Come take a look, or share it with someone you think might be interested

AHEM.

Okay. So. This is a celebra...

In Which Leaves Have Common Sense: A (temporarily) free short story

Hello! Hurrah! We are celebrating!

What are we celebrating, you ask? Well, I’m not sure about YOU, but *I* am celebrating the launch of my latest Kickstarter, which is for the collection And Then I Shall Transform! And as part of this, I am offering the first short story from the collection here ENTIRELY FREE for your viewing pleasure – but only until the Kickstarter ends on April 4

Enjoy!

In Which Leaves Are Common Sense

Most people think leaves fall in autumn because they die, ...

Made-It Monday: Random Sky Artwork

Welcome to #MadeItMonday, where I post something I’ve made in the previous week, and where you can join in and post something you made too! The rules are easy: post a pic somewhere of something you’ve made in the last week (ish; let’s say in the last month as the hard-and-fast) and tag it. Sit back and enjoy scrolling through all the beautiful things we’ve collectively created, and celebrate the fact that humans can be awesome!

So I’ve worked really hard to clear more space in my schedule th...

In Which Best Selves Are Overrated. (Petition to use ‘favourite self’ every time instead.)

This one hit me hard at some point last year, right in the middle of trying to heal from burnout, trying to slow my life down so it doesn’t always feel like a breathless, frantic, slightly panicked rush. Therapy is great. Journalling (to my eternal irritation) works amazingly. Learning growth mindsets and cognitive behavioural therapy techniques and meditation and deep breathing and and and and and…

Look, it’s all great, right? But it’s also a slippery slope to More Things To Fail At. And...

Made-It Monday: Another Book Cover! :D

Welcome to #MadeItMonday, where I post something I’ve made in the previous week, and where you can join in and post something you made too! The rules are easy: post a pic somewhere of something you’ve made in the last week (ish; let’s say in the last month as the hard-and-fast) and tag it. Sit back and enjoy scrolling through all the beautiful things we’ve collectively created, and celebrate the fact that humans can be awesome!

So working on these two books (i.e. this week’s book and last we...

Friday Gratitude

This week, here’s what’s keeping me going:

Tea, obviously. I’m trending towards toffee again this week, with pops of the classic favourite Jaffalicious, and a new discovery that I adore, Strawberry Sweetheart.Bunny! *hearty eyes* I’m too lazy to post pictures here generally speaking, though JUST THIS ONCE I’ll throw a few down the bottom of this post so you can be convinced as to the adorableness that is Crystal Bunny (also known as Crystal Bistal, Hip Hop Bunny Flop, BunBun, BonBon, Bu...

Throwback Thursday: For A Little While

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, where I pull one of my books/stories out of the archives and reintroduce it to you! This is fun because it means I get to revisit my past work and remember a) why I liked it and b) that I’ve actually written Quite A Few Books Now Thank You Very Much, which is useful to combat the ol’ Urge To Be Productive that says I haven’t gotten Enough done (with today, this week, my life… ha), and also because you get to hear about books you might have forgotten or not known I...

On Dropping Balls

Oof, this one’s rough. But it’s *worth* it. I remember too clearly that heading-for-burnout mental state where everything felt urgent, everything felt critical, nothing felt like something I could afford to drop. I used to make records of my time, trying to justify (to who?) why I felt so exhausted: See! Look! No spare time, not even 5 minutes! I *can’t* employ XYZ strategy, I don’t have *time*!

And, to be fair, the things I’m talking about weren’t all of my own making: hard deadlines for...

It’s About Time For A Writing Update!

Wow. Okay. A writing update seems to be in order, right? With a note that if you’d like to be kept apprised of writing developments in a live(ish) fashion, Instagram is the place for that. Because my account is public, I think you don’t even need an account to view? Not sure, will have to double check that. Anyway, my stories* on Insta is where it’s at if you want regular writing-and-life updates-with-pictures on a near-daily basis Just in case you were wondering

* You probably already kno...

Made-It Monday: It’s A Book Cover!

Welcome to #MadeItMonday, where I post something I’ve made in the previous week, and where you can join in and post something you made too! The rules are easy: post a pic somewhere of something you’ve made in the last week (ish; let’s say in the last month as the hard-and-fast) and tag it. Sit back and enjoy scrolling through all the beautiful things we’ve collectively created, and celebrate the fact that humans can be awesome!

This is all very out of order – actually you know what, no, okay...