bits again

Here are the links to the books I finished editing  this week. I'm glad I've gotten these two short books out in a little under a week, as they were waiting with just bits and pieces that needed to be finished.  I know I won't have that sort of rapid-fire on anything I might try to write from scratch - so I'm using up my stack while I can.   

Mikki Mack book : 

Kindle link 3.29 (with color illustrations)  -- Paperback link 4.99

"Mikki Mack is a little cat with a lot of attitude, and a lot of heart. She tells the story, from a particularly cat point of view, of how she came to be living at the little house at 67 Maple Street and how things look from the viewpoint of a quite pretty small grey cat (with a gloriously long fluffy tail). Mikki recalls how she was found on the Lost Day, adventures with the mechanical mouse, smiling ceramic duck, a perfect sock and the very special thing she did to help when Mr. Mack got a cold."

 

Salt Magic book : 

Kindle link 2.99 (with b/w illustrations) -- Paperback link 4.99

"Day after day was exhausting. The future was so bright, graduating from Divination school. We were supposed to have all the answers, right? Hindsight is all 20-20, and even those that study the Future don't always get it right. But it takes years and the realization that this magic is not what it seems - it is tearing every cell in your body apart, because you are not built the same way everyone else is. In fact, very few of your kind ever survive. This, is salt magic. And knowing that, makes all the difference. A thinly veiled fantasy story of my experience having Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, otherwise known as POTS"

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I went to sleep last night knowing I had to be up early today to go cover a postal route.  But then, I woke up way too early, and decided not to go back to bed, got ready instead.  I made my thermos of coffee.  I planned what I was supposed to do, in what order, to get the day done.  And then, at 5:30 am, the carrier texted me saying she is 'going to go in anyways'... so now I don't actually NEED to go anywhere.  I did water the garden, and take one bag of trash up to the road in the sled.  *blows air up forehead*

 

So I was left a bit hanging.  I went and edited a twelve page story into a thirty-four page book, and got it ready for publication.  It probably won't be available for purchase until tomorrow.  

 

Then, I sort of fell out on going to town.  And here I am writing this, a drop in a puddle far from any river that will take it to the ocean.  Caught between wanting to curl into a ball because of the economy and knowing that I need to keep doing things and getting things out and taking chances and it isn't going to get better by itself.

Did some Japanese, and some Swedish.  Put out a promotion post for my little cat book.  The books I brought to the gallery are slowly selling now, and the rest of the toys that I made a few years ago.  I do mean slowly.  I got a check in the mail yesterday that will help a little bit with gas, but I haven't knit more toys, and I'm not sure if/when I will order new copies of these two small books to put in the basket there.  The cat book is cute, has illustrations, and might do well.

I'm just trying to stay optimistic but all of that uses social energy, too.

 

Later : we made dinner,  finished the rest of my Japanese lessons, and drew some more digital illustrations that might be used in my novela. 

 

Mikki Mack book released for sale

Mikki Mack!

 I released this book on Amazon today, It is available for sale in paperback and in Kindle.  

I had been working on it since last November, but mostly in fits and starts.  Esme made the beautiful cover image, which continues to the back of the paperback with a glorious long fluffy tail, just like the description says.  I didn't feel, at first, that I could do anything to match her talent on the digital images - but I pushed myself to go out there and do something, so that the story could get out.  Mikki is a very sassy little cat - and she tells the stories of several cats of our own, and of friends, all wrapped up in one fluffy gray ball.

I am spurring myself to put out more of my stories just to get them OUT - I have so many just sitting here that I don't feel are good enough, or were waiting for some larger anthology... but in this day and age... getting it out and into the world is more important.  You never know when 'someday' isn't going to happen at all, for one reason or another.  Especially when you have social anxiety in general.

*sigh*  so yes, today is an 'oh my introvert' day.  I'm going to have to drink a lot more coffee and finish my Japanese and see where my brain is at before continuing with either : the little pig story, loosely based on a story Esme told me when she was a toddler, or setting up one of the House of Sunlight stories to edit separately and see where that gets me for page count.

I could comb through the Pinocchio's Grandniece is a Dachshund story sometime soon.. but as I said, I have so many things piled up that I freewheeled and had a great time writing, and then put in the drawer and said no one will like it.  They won't get a chance to like it or not like it if it never goes anywhere other than the drawer.  (That's easy to say, not easy to do).

And I did a video interview for online tutoring.  Another 'oh my introvert'.. but I just went and did it - because I do feel the experience was important and that I did have something to say about what I could do to teach words and reading.  I have a lot of experience with learning not only English, but other languages - and with having the kind of brain that doesn't immediately get it from the regular perspectives, so I can see lots of ways other people might get lost, and try to help them get to the goal.

1.)  Duolingo Japanese profile on level 20 : done

2.)  Duolingo Japanese profile on level 11 : did some but then I fell over for a nap

3.)  babadum to 50 cards at least : done

4.)  Baltoslav to 25 or more : 90 done

5.)  Clozemaster Japanese and Chinese 10 sentences each (that is their free daily limit)    : done

//I went and did some WaniKani - it's been such a time since I did that.. and I've forgotten so much of the onyomi and konyomi spellings but not doing it isn't going to help me get them right.

6.)  work on some more book stuff

:: started a Kindle Vella.... based on a writing prompt I have in a file.  It's called 'Tiger Stories' and it says it will take up to 72 hours for the first chapter to become live online

And I made lasagna - I'm about to go check on it in the oven right now.

Recipe at Patreon Neurodivergent Cooking : warning, it's leftover meatloaf in there... but you use what you got, use what you keep, keep what you use, that's one of the mantras of this style of cooking