Happy Friday, y’all!

With May (slowly) coming to an end and another weekend coming, I just wanted to give y’all an update on what’s going on.

Doesn’t Remi look cute in his little booties? They are there to protect his paws from the Arizona heat!

Fun fact: the special leash he’s wearing keeps him from pulling against his handler and is not a muzzle.

First off, an update on Remi, my service dog in training (SDIT). What with COVID-19 and restrictions on public places such as restaurants, stores, hospitals, etc., he hasn’t had that much time spent in those environments. However, he is still being trained to get used to those areas along with unfamiliar sounds, places, and things touching him such as clothes racks and walking alongside buggies. It’s important for him to get used to these things so he won’t react or become afraid and bark at them and think they are normal. He is also continuing his training with nudging in order to interrupt bad behavior such as scratching and interrupting nightmares. Due to my anxiety, I have a bad coping skill that makes me scratch my left hand, which has left me scarred around my wrist and knuckles. Remi will be trained to stop this behavior by nudging my hands or shoving his head into my lap if I’m sitting down. I also have terrible nightmares that I have hard time waking up from, and while I take medication for them, Remi will be there to act as my alarm clock when I toss and turn in my sleep or if I’m crying in my sleep. Having him there even if I wake up on my own will be reassuring and comforting.

Second, my debut poetry collection, Hurricane Vignette, publication has been moved up since the last I talked about it. So, mark your calendars for May 27th for the cover reveal and June 18th for the release day! I’m so excited about this as the collection is a personal diary of my struggles with depression and anxiety and a marks my journey to recovery. Writing the poetry book has also been a great piece of therapy for me and allows me to spread awareness about mental health. It’s important that we talk about mental health because this disease is just as serious as COVID-19 and shouldn’t be taken lightly. There, I said it. That’s my opinion and you can take it or leave it. Whichever you choose is fine, but I won’t change my mind about this—not after living through it.

To move toward a lighter subject, I have booked a PR Company for both Hurricane Vignette and A Stream of Darkness! I’m super excited about this and can’t wait to work with Bewitching Book Tours and Roxanne Rhoads! Expect a lot of promos and graphics coming your way starting next week with the cover release of Hurricane Vignette. Also, I have some exciting giveaways that I can’t wait to announce when it’s closer to time for them! So, pay close attention to the website, my Facebook page and profile, Twitter, and Instagram for news and updates. And if you haven’t yet, sign-up for my monthly newsletter. The first newsletter is set to go out in the beginning of June and it will include news and updates about my author life and important dates! Also, because I know a lot of you love animals, it’ll include a pet’s corner! You might even get exclusive content such as giveaways and cover reveals! You can sign-up here.

Leave a comment below about what you might want to hear from me next!