My fair share of tribulations

I have fibromyalgia. I'm in chronic pain every day. My starting pain number is a 5, on a non-chronic pain patient's numbers. Mine runs from 5-12.

I had a book event Saturday in Waukomis, Oklahoma. My God, it was so much fun and truly amazing! What fell far short of that is how my body felt about two, of the four, hours in. I hated the chair I sat in. My spine, right hip, and both arms began to flare. Fibro speak for throwing a fucking tantrum.

Fibro causes severe pain in muscle and joints. And there's no rhyme or reason, IMO. My worst flares occur, usually, in my arms. It feels like someone slit the skin open from shoulder to elbow, reached in with both hands, and are wringing the muscle like a wash rag. Then there are the sharp pains, usually my legs and feet. Burning and tingling, also feet but add hands. Dull and throbbing could be, and is, everywhere. 

I've been diagnosed nearly two decades. 

Monday, I went with my middle child to clean out a storage locker which needed to be cleaned out years ago. I put stuffed animals in a plastic bag to wash. I moved a few things, nothing heavy, around, and threw some books, in an old crate, into the backseat of my car.

I didn't know if I was going to make it home. It was an hour drive back. I barely made it. Had to take a shower. Vaguely remember that. And then I crawled into bed. My body gave the "we're done" order, and I...was...done.

I've been in bed the past two days. Monday and Tuesday are a wash. I only got up today to take another shower and grab a WM pick-up. 

I spent the time in bed, in great pain. We're talking a 9-10 on my modified scale. I would've gladly harmed someone for a pain pill. (I only take ibuprofen and acetaminophen.) This is the time I consider pain management because there is NO managing this shit.

I don't medicate until I feel better. I medicate until I can function. 

My back, right hip, feet, hands, head, and arms absolutely shut the fuck down on me. I couldn't sleep because of the pain. Random sharp shit in my extremities. Throbbing aches in my arms. Painful vice grips on my right hip and my lower spine. 

I hurt right now, but I can mostly deal with it. I'll make sure and take my OTC drugs every however many hours. 

This is one of my big tribulations. Disappearing from social media, even for a couple of days is nearly the kiss of death. Especially for someone in the writing business. Add in the fact I'm releasing "Canary: Out of the Shadows" on November 14th, and you have yourself a shitshow. 

I am truly, TRULY, the star. 😬 

To tie it up with a bow, we all have our shit we go through. Try not to be so hard on yourself during these times. We tend to beat ourselves up over the smallest slight to ourselves while gladly forgiving others of the same.

Be kind.

And pass me a fucking pain pill...😄

If you believe it, you can achieve it.

Hokey as hell, right? I mean, I identify as a realist. One would think I would dismiss this as New Age bullshit. Au contraire, mon frère. I'm a free-spirited little manic psycho who believes in a bigger world than the one we see. I believe in speaking things into existence. I believe words hold great power. 

I believe in my goals.

Remember them?

I posted earlier, um--sometime 😶, about my goal list. I believe I may have went into how the first three quarters of 2025 were a depressive shitshow where I couldn't leave the tent. I didn't want to check out, per se, but I surely didn't want to check in.

(Med explanation on a later post.)

But I stated I achieved some goals in the last quarter. Didn't touch any of the assholes through August, but with a new med and whatnot, I could mark a couple off my list.

One of the goals is: Speak at 3 Author Panels. 🥳

There is NOTHING better than talking about writing. Nothing. I could go on for days. It's a never-ending kinda love I got.

I spoke at the Lawton's Farmer Market. I will speak again at the Sapulpa Library on November 15th. And today, I found out that I'm giving a talk at the Bethany Library, on November 8th, about Plotting/Outlining/Organizing Chaotic Thoughts.

Am I not the poster child, or what?

Three. Three talks. ah ah ah

I'm so damn excited.

But there it is. Three author talks. Like in my goals. 💖

Dream it. Believe it. Achieve it. 

I have a four line mantra I repeat to myself every day, sometimes more than once. It's inspiring to me and aligns me with my goals. 

Three speaking engagements. 

Oh, but I have to pass a background check first. 🤔

Maybe I should wait for the paperwork to come back. 😂

Live events

I had the BEST time at the 2025 Books & Brews in Lawton, yesterday! 🥳

The people were fantastic, and it was a nice venue. 

It was a little over four hours, and I sold a book every 12-15 minutes on average. And I say unto you authors...DON'T SLEEP ON SMALL VENUES.

They are more intimate. They invite conversation. Whether people buy a book or not, I simply enjoy being there and interacting with everyone. But massive appreciation from Vanessa to Taylor to Dev to Shari for purchasing my books. You made it an incredibly wonderful day!

It was a family friendly event, and I only took "Canary"-both, "Over Her Head", and "Dream Walker". I WILL be in Waukomis, Oklahoma, this Saturday with my erotic romance offerings under my pen name, C'ann Inman.

It's hard to know what to take when you're unsure about it. I brought the romance on the off-chance there might be a reader or two interested. But my big sellers were my urban fantasy and supernatural thriller. 

As my catalog grows, it's going to be up to me to decide what I want to haul with me to these live venues and figure out what works best. 

I usually brought sixty books--a nice cross-section of genres, but I don't necessarily want to haul around eighty. 

And there's no precise gauge to use. "Chimera" sold big at Book Me Romance in August. 

I'll continue to fiddle with numbers and see what works best. 

Next month finds me in Oklahoma City for "Socially Booked" and the 2025 Authors Showcase at the Sapulpa Library.

Then I'll wind down the year and start up again with "Flirty in Kansas City" 2026.

It's not work when you love what you do.

💖

Time Travel Romances

Are these going out of style? You know, like "secret babies" a couple years ago? "Secret babies" are back, by the way. Vampire romances are making a comeback. And the spicier side of life--think "Why Choose" and "Monster Romance" are incredibly popular.

I'm immensely glad the romance genre and its subs (so much pun intended) exist. 

I received my rights back to a Time Travel Romance I published back in the day. I'm editing now. It's longer than I remember, around 77,000 words. It's contemporary. And I feel as though I simply don't see as many of these as I thought.

Needed to reclassify a couple of my stories to "Romantasy"; a word which didn't even exist when I wrote the books.  

This ties in to "writing to market."

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  It's impossible. The writing market ebbs and flows. A genre breaks out as popular. Authors flood the market with the genre. Market is saturated. Sales decrease. Rinse. Repeat.

Write what you want to write. Need to write. The market, and its readers, will catch up. 

Good books always find a home.

I'll keep that in mind as I edit "In His Own Time". 

And the heavens opened...

Working on "Canary: Out of the Shadows". No. That whole sentence is NOT a typo. 😂

Let's face it. I've been about as excited as a child getting their first shots. Sidenote: received the flu, pneumonia, and COVID vaccines yesterday. Put my short ass into bed at three in the PM. My arms still hurt like a bitch, and are still swollen, today. 😑

And my body revolted, Oh...dear GOD! Arms, hips, right foot, left side. It's all some bullshit.

Moving on.

Today is OOS, and I AM excited about it. (Mostly.) More than half my tie-ins left actually happen in Hell, and I'm sadistically ecstatically erratically HERE FOR IT!

Been building up to this showdown and the big reveal for 2 1/2 books. 🥳

I think readers will really enjoy the end of Ray's story and understand all the consequences which take place. 

As for me? I love Ray. Love her damaged little soul. Her audacity. Her morally grey morality. I don't know I've ever created a character I've enjoyed so much. Ray is top tier.

Also, check this out! It's 59 degrees here! 👏👏👏

Ya girl ran to WM for like, five things or so, and opened up her moonroof and the back windows. 

OMG...heat destroys me, and this cooler weather is AMAZING.

(not for my fibro...but whatevs...)

That's it from my desk. 

OOS has 36,453 words. I hope to have it released November 14th.

Need to finish it first.

ha

ha

sigh

2025 Books & Brew Author Festival in Lawton, OK!

 Hi all!

Just a reminder:

Tools of the trade

I don't even want to discuss what time it is. 😑 

Considering I rolled into bed 12 hours ago, I suppose I shouldn't complain.

But I will. 😂

At this godforsaken time in the AM, we're going to discuss some tools of the trade.

Yesterday, I spent a great deal of time adding titles in Kindle Direct Publishing and https://draft2digital.com/. As I went to grab the link for the latter, I'd already sold a book I added. 🥳

But let me back it up.

LONG GONE are the days of simply whipping out a story and doing a bit of publicity and marketing. Back in the early aughts, I'd write a book. Submit. We'd edit. I'd fill out a form for the cover designer. Publish. Market.

Rock on.

Yesterday, being an Indie Author, it looked a little like this:

pulled older work I recently received the rights back 

open in Word

delete previous publisher info and add mine

FORMAT (format is now one of my "f" words 😣)

Edit

Purchase more ISBNs from Bowker at 29.50 a pop. I'd still suggest buying your own ISBN for your works. You WILL need a separate one for mediums i.e. digital or print.

Fill out ISBN information for digital book

Run my manuscript through Kindle Create program to check for formatting errors. It'll kick out a Kindle and ePub copy that should be clean to use in Kindle Direct.

Format, when needed, and curse fluently

Go to Kindle Direct, fill out data, upload manuscript.

Add cover design.

Launch previewer to check for errors.

I use Canva Premium to design my covers, except the explicit ones because Canva is a prude. If I want spicy, I use Shutterstock.

I design my covers around the time I finish, or I'm about to finish, my work. Then, because I'm rowing this boat solo, I actually design a page with the cover and tropes. And now, I design a third page I can add to Insta and TikTok and Threads. 

I throw this reel soup together in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2023 with the Video Editor. My only complaint being the music selection for the background is LIMITED.

I used CapCut Web on some previous works, better music, but you have to renew yearly, and it's an expense I didn't want or need.

After adding eBook to KDP (Kindle Direct), I go back and add the ISBN for the print project.

Then to Kindle Direct. 

This time, I need to design the entire cover flap, as the digital copy only needs the front cover.

 

One of us, me me me, nearly went mental designing the full flap for "One Enchanted Evening" because I needed to find a color to complement the gold and cream colored invitation. If I didn't try every fucking tile on the massive color square, TWICE, I swear to you...

Moving on.

Also, you need keywords to add to your manuscript file. I opened my handy, dandy Publisher Rocket and opened my "keyword search" where I found similar titles and looked at their keywords to get ideas to use for mine.

If you can afford it, BUY THIS!

They're going to move to an annual subscription, eventually, and the one-time payment for access is well worth it.

I could continue to gush all about it, but we've work to do.

Add keywords and genres to KDP files.

Shuffle over to Draft2Digital to add eBooks there. 

You're not paying for any of this. Draft2Digital will take a percentage of sales. They make your book available to: 

Apple Books

Barnes & Noble

Kobo (including Kobo Plus)

Smashwords Store

Tolino

OverDrive

cloudLibrary

Everand

Baker & Taylor

Hoopla

Vivlio

BorrowBox

Odilo

Palace Marketplace

Gardners

Small caveat, some of these distributors will not accept spicy content. Roll with the punches, darlings.

Still a hell of a deal.

Then I move onto the next.

I WILL say I do Canva in blocks. I designed Insta posts for four different books, one after the next, and then threw them into Adobe to make reels.

I find this easier to keep my train of thought, hard on the best days, when I'm doing something repetitively.

I think that's basically it. 

Minus the blood, sweat, tears, and profanity.

Gotta love what you do. 💖

Combined ADHD brain

I'm fifty-three and diagnosed this year. A lot of people ask if it's even worth being diagnosed at an advanced age.

I believe so.

My wee grey matter has days like if you went to a Fourth of July fireworks show, and they set all of them off at once.

I'm nearly manic.

For those old enough to remember, it's like Alex Keaton in "Family Ties", high on amphetamines, studying for a test and rolling back and forth in his chair from question to answer and acing it. 

That's me.

In the chair.

Except, there's like twenty desks.

And I'm not acing it. 😂

Last night, I couldn't go to sleep because my mind filled with everything I wanted/planned to do today. I honestly thought about getting up and starting those, even after I took my night meds, which includes a sleeping pill.

I finally drifted off, only to wake at 4:30 this morning (have I told you I HATE mornings???) and begin again.

With a mental list. For my mental self.

Knowing I have ADHD helps. It makes sense of things I do and how I do them. It's wanting to be organized but struggling to be. It's trying to research and ending up in a rabbit hole or holes sixty-five tabs in.

It's a hundred and six post-it notes of a dozen colors atop my desk. 

It makes SENSE now.

I've always accepted and embraced my quirks. (I have my share and probably yours, too.) But it's good to know I was made this way. 

It's my vibe. 💖

It's the small things

Like trying to match the color of cover font to spine and back pieces of the book. Was I driving myself absolutely batshit attempting to do so?

You know me too well.

😂

Lordt.

I made a list, on my trusty post-it note, of the four stories I needed to revise/edit/publish.

I've finished THREE.

🥳🎉

I am SO excited about it!

*deep breath*

Now, I'll be editing/formatting (😡) "One Enchanted Evening." Not sure whether to keep the title as is, or use another one. 

I wrote "Perfect Timing" (the time travel romance) before there were 800 books of the same name. You know, back in the mid-aughts. Twenty odd years later, and I've changed it to "In His Own Time." Revisions should be SLAPPING.

What will I be doing this weekend??? WRITING ON CANARY: OUT OF THE SHADOWS if I have to duct tape my short ass to my desk. 😒

Me and my issues.

Think I may have pulled something last night when granddaughters climbed all over me. Have additional back pain on top of the usual suspects. 

ffs

And that's my world this Friday morning. Back at it. Head first into the craziness that exists in my wee grey matter. 

Need to calm down with the new and shiny and get back to the older and forgotten.

Have a great weekend!