Survival Mode: Engaged

With all my projects happening at once, I'm head-down at the moment.

My winter is bananas. I had 20Books Vegas (now Author Nation) in November, the holidays in December, my book launch in January (it’s in a little over a week), and then my own writing conference in February. I also came home from Vegas with some kind of bronchitis that has clung on all winter.

In short:

Kermit gets me.

Surviving all of this every year — I do it to myself, really — is a challenge. I manage, but also there’s a lot of screaming and flailing that happens. I’m also legendarily bad at asking for help, so most of the time I get quiet and stop talking to anyone for three or so months of the year since I release a book every January, run my conference every February, and hopefully the Author Nation conference will become a yearly thing for me.

When I’m in this kind of mode, I am learning to be gentle to myself. I am also trying to be more forgiving because I always forget just how much it is until I write it out. Honestly, it’s the same with my credentials. I often forget just how much I’ve done until I write out my bio for the purposes of something and go, “Wow, I really am impressive sometimes, aren’t I?”

That said, sometimes you don’t know what you’re capable of until your limits are pushed, and every year this time of year is a reminder of just what I’m capable of in such a short amount of time. The ADHD emergency mode clicks on, and the autistic focus and organization manifests, and bam the things get done. Granted, they should have been done far earlier in the year, but here we are. I can do pretty good work fueled by Twizzlers, Coca Cola, and Lofthouse cookies.

It’s brain food. Hush.

Speaking of brain food — I mentioned my book launch above. If you haven’t heard about it yet, it’s the third in my Boston Blight universe. This novel follows a former CIA operative named Liz Snow as she deals with a problem brought to her by an old friend. That always goes well, right?

An urban fantasy spy thriller, this is the first in a new series in that universe. Why a new series? Well… you’ll see. I promise, there’s method to the madness.