Another month gone by in a blur! I thought I would grace your inbox with a quick follow-up to all the excitement and fun that transpired since last month’s post…

My very first big author event in three words: so very enjoyable!

On Saturday, June 25 I made the trek to Elyria, Ohio to join over 50 fellow authors at the first North Coast Indie Author Book Expo event. I got to chat with interested readers, which I enjoyed very much, met several very cool and creative fellow Ohio writers, and got my feet wet lugging books and merch and using the point of sale device (first time in action)! Thanks to my wonderful family I had lots of help and support, and also big thanks go out to author/artist Wendy Fedan for all the planning and organizing that precluded a super event!

Above right: sitting at the event with my daughter and son, who helped me man the table! Mia has been my co-conspirator with marketing and sales as well as my in-house (literally) proofreader and editor, and Tom is not only the book’s cover illustrator but also artist and illustrator for the merch and additional story illustrations!

A personal aside, I am happy to report after being overly nervous about being part of a sizable event for the first time ever, that it was way more enjoyable and far less stressful than I ever imagined, so much so that I will be looking for more events to take part of in the future (something I never thought I would find myself saying), and I am so glad I, on an impulse, pressed send on the “join this event” button when I came across it. A grand life lesson is in there—perhaps I’ll do a post in the future about pushing ones’ self to doing things that seem hard but are so worth it to open doors for themselves…

Meanwhile, while I was off galivanting at the Book Expo in Elyria, across the country in Washington, DC, where the 2022 American Library Association Annual Conference was in full swing, The Way of the River joined other books from members of the Independent Book Publishers Association in Booth #1246 for our collective exhibition! IBPA is a truly amazing organization and resource for indie authors and publishers. They offer an abundance of very useful membership benefits and opportunities, not to mention the organization is run by incredibly friendly human beings. I’m truly proud to be a member!

I wasn’t able to attend in person, so I was thrilled to receive lots of photos from the event, many of which include The Way of the River and promo cards I sent over to be included in the exhibit!

All photos above courtesy of the Independent Book Publishers Association.

To see a whole gallery of images through the lens of IBPA, check out their Facebook photo album IBPA at ALA 2022.

The thought that my little book would go on to make an appearance at an ALA Conference is a bit mind boggling, and really a thrill when I think back on where this all started, me, a green, flailing and floundering newbie author (gotta start somewhere…and I still flail!), once upon a time ago.

The Learned Owl The next in-store appearance scheduled is at The Learned Owl Bookshop in Hudson, Ohio where I’ll be signing copies of The Way of the River on September 10, 2022. If you’re in the area please stop by and say hi and support a great local indie bookstore in the process!

I’m still working on another appearance which I will detail once it is confirmed. Meanwhile, I recently received an invitation from the wonderful folks at Loganberry Bookstore in Shaker Heights to join their Author Alley event this year (woot!!) and I would have accepted enthusiastically were it not for prior commitments (man! But I’m hoping for next year!) that made it impossible. However, for anyone in the area I highly recommend attending! Click here for more about the 2022 Loganberry Bookstore Author Alley event.

In a nutshell, I’m still at it and going strong! Writing and outlining is coming in big waves of days or weeks of writing fury, followed by days or weeks of rest, and back again.

Currently, I am celebrating finishing writing chapter one in its entirety, which was completed this past Monday! It’s was a bit of a twisty surprise (for me, funny how that works…) compared to how I had originally planned the opening of the book, but you know, it’s the characters that rule the story, not the author! One of the major characters has spoken, and placed themselves front and center in the opening of the book (I couldn’t stop them!), and I have to say I’m loving how it feels!

No spoilers but I will continue to share bits of what’s to come as time goes by and I cannot wait to share book two once its done.

Look out for more updates, give me a follow on social media wherever you can, and if you’ve read Book One and feel like sharing a review here using the Contact form, or elsewhere where you can leave a review, please do! Thank you as always, for your support!

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