She's Baaack! IWSG and Being Thankful

Hello, it's me! (Shades of Todd Rundgren.) Yes, I'm back and I couldn't ask for a better day to return to blogging because I'm full of insecurity.

Posting the first Wednesday of every month, The Insecure Writer's Support Group, is  the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Let's give our co-hosts  a warm welcome! 
Murees Dupe, 
Alexia Chamberlynn, 

Chemist Ken, and Heather Gardner!



To my utter amazement I got done those things I wanted to get done, despite a few storms both physical (rain, hail etc.) and emotional.

In my last post I announced I was sending off my latest novel (The Bowl and The Stone: A Haunting Tale from the Virgin Islands) to my editor (I worked with Chrys Fey and she did a fine job) for final corrections and suggestions. Got those back and have plugged them in. Plus, my fabulous cover artist, Adrienne Saldivar, is working up a cover. I was totally stumped about what to do, but Adrienne has, yet again, come through with a concept I know I'm going to love.

Something else that happened is that I was interviewed by Andrea Milam (she's a free-lance writer and editor) for St. John Tradewinds a local St. John (Virgin Island) newspaper. Couldn't have happened at a better time!

So what do I have to be insecure about? Well see, it's like this . I'm going to have to ask people to help spread the word when it's cover reveal time and when the book is released. (Because it's a ghost story I'm aiming for October.) I'm also going to have to ask people if they'd be willing to review it.  Plus there's promoting, which means being prepared to write guest posts and maybe do interviews. Oh, and I still have to write an author's note, book blurb for the back jacket, get it formatted, make sure I've got all the right ISBNs and... and... try to remember what the heck I'm supposed to do next.



So, my quote for today is from the one and only great Mark Twain. Yes, that's him as a lad. He's holding a printer's composing stick containing the letters SAM. He looks spunky, determined, and bit mischievous to me.

To succeed in life you need two things: ignorance and confidence. 

This could easily be changed to say: To succeed in writing you need two things: ignorance and confidence.

Therefore, even though I've gone through this process twice before, I'm still ignorantly confident of what it takes.

***
Being Thankful

Today I'm still thankful for RAIN!

During the month of May, traditionally our wettest month, we had over 10 inches! 

Year to date: over 23.

The river that runs through town is finally up and has even left it's banks a couple of times

(though not seriously.)

Yes, yes, yes. 

Very thankful for the rain, 

for the lush green the likes of which we haven't seen in 5 or 6 years,

for a yard busting at the seams with flowers, 

for the aquifers being recharged, 

for wells filling, 

for the river and creeks flowing.

***

What are you thankful for? Is there anything you're ignorantly confident about? Are you forging ahead to do something even though you're scared or... insecure? Any suggestions about what I should do when it comes to promoting?