It’s Been So Long!
Vintage woman at writing desk
Author Journey
Welcome back, readers! I can’t believe how long it’s been since I sat down to write to you. I always put it off and I don’t exactly know why. However, I’ve recently been dealing with a whole plate-full of things. I’ll explain a little more about some of what I’ve been dealing with later on.
Knowing that, I’m sure you’ve guessed already that the editing of Surge isn’t going as well as I’d hoped. I haven’t touched it at all this year. I did some writing work on a shorter story I’ve been playing around with, just to try to keep the creativity flowing.
The shorter story is more of a futuristic combo of diesel punk and cyber punk. It’s turning out to be something of a slow burn romance, but I’m really uncertain this is how I want it to go.
As for Surge, I still plan to release it this year. I know there have been some who’ve been waiting quite a long time for it. I may have lost a few readers because of how long it’s taking me. That’s OK. I’d rather put out a quality work at a pace that works for my odd way of life. I just perceive things oddly sometimes and unexpected happenings tend to throw me for a loop. If a lot of those happen in rapid succession, then it’s even harder to get back into work mode.
Good news! Smashwords is once again hosting a sale. And once again, you can get my books at Smashwords for 25% off. I wish I could offer a better sale, but writing cost me quite a lot this year. I do have a goal, though. Keep on reading to find out more about that.
Smashwords Read An Ebook Week Sales Event March 1-7, 2026
To go to general sale page for free fantasy books, click on the photo above. I saw a few I would love to check out. Their Christian selection looks promising, too, though the covers need work, IMO.
To purchase Ripples at the sale price, click here.
To purchase The Tale of Outh’n Durr at the sale price, click here.
If you don’t care about that 25% discount and want me to get the full amount of royalties, then click here to go to my home page and click the respective link for the book you want to purchase. Then you can choose whichever store you prefer.
Another bit of good news… Bookshop.org is now working with Draft2Digital and you can order my ebooks there and help out your favorite indie bookstore!
Challenge Accepted
You wanted to hear about my goal, right? You’ve made it to the right paragraph.
My oldest daughter and I made a deal. When I reach 100 books sold, we’ll get matching tattoos of my Y’Dhanndrya symbol. I hope it’s soon, though. I’m not getting any younger and neither is my skin. (she chuckles) You can see the image below. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent working on it. I’m sitting at a whopping 30 right now. If you haven’t purchased one of my books yet, why not help me reach my goal by grabbing one today at the Smashwords sale? I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Suns and Moons of Y’Dahnndrya image ©2018 by Melody R Kittles
I haven’t even told y’all how the Author Spotlight event at the library went yet. It went very well! I read a couple chapters of The Tale of Outh’n Durr since it was my newest book. Besides that, I’ve been working through Ripples during the library’s Open Mic events and many attendees had already heard the first two chapters of that story. A few readers asked questions. Some of those questions were really good! I gave away two books and sold the rest of those I’d brought with me. Everyone who attended seemed to enjoy it. Overall, it was a great way to end the year. My thanks to the Eunice Public Library for hosting this fun event!
I’d love to have more live events, but I’m going to limit them to no more than two per year. Selling physical books myself creates a lot more work hours and expense for me than I can usually handle. Small and self-employed businesses don’t find much kindness in the Louisiana taxing system. If I sell physical items one month out of the year and no other month results in physical sales, I still have to file tax paperwork every month. And this year, they decided to make the push to file digitally as well as filing both state and local sales taxes together. The system is not in working order yet, so I have to take extra time to run my paperwork down to the parish office. I don’t really drive, so that is another set of problems to tackle.
Writer’s Life
I promised to give you a little more info about what’s been happening over the last three months.
My daughter and her boyfriend decided to go ahead and set a date for their wedding. It’s months in advance of what they’d previously talked about. We have less than six months to prepare. Things are coming along nicely, I think, but it’s still quite a lot to tackle. We’re so happy these two have found their match together. God is good!
We just hosted a huge gathering/birthday bash for our oldest daughter - her last one before she becomes a Mrs.! The event was a big success. Everyone seemed to have a good time and it was great to finally meet some of her coworkers.
Both my grandmother and my youngest cousin have had some serious health scares over the last few months. The latter is fighting a mysterious nerve disease which the doctors believe they have finally pinpointed. I’d love to say they know with 100% certainty, but… Well, in any case, it’s presented a few scheduling issues with regard to care for my grandmother.
Our youngest daughter finally took the plunge and started college this semester. Getting her ready for that took a bit of time and effort, though she dealt with most of it on her own. It’s great to see her stepping forward despite anxiety and uncertainty. We’re so proud of her!
Moving things from our house to our oldest daughter’s new home is going to present scheduling issues, as well, though we’re trying to manage as much of the prep work as possible now.
I will personally be working on the minimal floral decorations for our daughter’s wedding. That will take up a chunk of my time. A lot of it will be trial and error for me. It helps that we found quite a few premade items at craft stores. All they need is a little fine-tuning to be ready to bring to the church. I’ll also be making gifts for the bridesmaids and flower girl. I’m thankful that’s a small number, but I look forward to that part of the preparations. Crafting is my third favorite hobby.
Vintage Lady - Is she asking, “Who me?” Or maybe she’s asking, “You mean you haven’t heard?”
Conclusion
Thanks so much for stopping by the scenic route today! I hope you saw something to pique your interest. And I hope I’ve put your mind at rest concerning the publication of Surge. It is coming.
Have a comment or suggestion for further blog topics? Drop it in the comment section below.
Until next time…
Keep turning pages.
