#WIPWednesday

That exciting announcement I mentioned last week will be shared, first, in my upcoming newsletter, scheduled to be delivered on June 5th!

I've had an amazing quarter and I've been busy this week putting together this newsletter – my second ever newsletter – to share it all with you.

I also submitted 4 poems for consideration in a literary journal, completed edits on a flash fiction story, submitted two essays to be considered for syndication, and shared a micro-blog (AKA: short essay or long social media post) inspired by my daughters' birthday to Facebook, Instagram, Medium, and TODAY Parents.

To top all that off, there was the holiday weekend, it is the last week of school, and I've been preparing for our upcoming vacation.

It has been years since we took a trip where we'd have limited internet access via our phones and no computer access. I'll admit that as excited as I am to get away from it all, I struggled a bit with what to do with my social media while we are away. I've put way more energy than I should have into slowly building my page's followers.

At first, I worried that if I simply stopped posting for a week, my accounts would quickly shrivel up and die from inactivity. I seriously toyed around with the idea of just scheduling my one post a day on Facebook and letting it run on autopilot. But, then, I worried about having things post and not being able to check in to make sure there weren't any troll comments, or even having nice comments sit without interaction, and what if there was a major tragedy in the news and my scheduled post would appear insensitive. *sigh*

Have I mentioned I tend to overthink everything?

The solution seemed simple enough but I was struggling with that a bit, too, because I usually steer clear of publicly advertising when we are away from home. I know I'm not the only one who worries about this, though it often feels like I am when nearly all the social media accounts I follow have no hesitations about posting in real-time while they are on vacations.

I am not one to post in real-time anyway. With my anxiety, my usual routine is to plan and schedule the next day or two's posts in advance so that I don't waste an entire day feeling pressure to post something and over-analyzing it. But in this case, with our limited internet access, it wouldn't even work to post real-time. In fact, since we know we won't have much reception, we've decided to take this opportunity to completely detox – we are going to turn our phones off and put them away. We'll even use a stand-alone camera.

So, it came down to whether or not I'd be comfortable announcing that we'd be away.

After way too much back-and-forth, after scheduling, cancelling, rescheduling, and re-cancelling posts, and after talking it over with my husband, I finally decided that I should just be open and authentic and, well, really take the break.

So, I'm planning a post to explain that I'll be away and my social media will be silent for a week. And I'm sure all will be well when I return.

#WIPWednesday

My anxiety, self doubt, and insecurities often tell me that I'm not good enough, that I'm doing it all wrong, that my attempts at furthering my writing career will be fruitless, that I am a fraud and have no business even dipping my quill in the same well as the "real" writers.

Thanks to all of all the work I've been doing to better my mental health, it is becoming much easier for me to recognize why these thoughts manifest and to push back against them.



Scary Mommy ran my first piece again, this week. That brought the social media reactions for that link to 100,370 (according to Muck Rack)! That same piece was syndicated on Her View From Home last month and received over 15,000 page views (5,507 social media reactions), earning me a bonus compensation and throwing this piece back up to my top-earning spot. It also had 5,431 social media reactions from its syndication on That's Inappropriate last year. My first piece is still, by far, my most widely read.

This week, I worked on a composite piece combining a Facebook post and a published poem into an essay which was syndicated on InspireMore.

I also finished the essay I mentioned last week and submitted it for consideration in a book. I likely won't hear back about that until later this summer.

I received a rejection for a poem I submitted back in February.

And I received an exciting acceptance this week which I am not yet at liberty to share publicly – but stay turned for that announcement!

#WIPWednesday

If you found your way to this post from my Facebook post, you already know that things are not going as planned here today.


This sentiment can be applied to so many of my works-in-progress, as well. In fact, it is part of the reason I have so many works-in-progress!

But, still, I will keep trying and trying again.

While I did not work on any of my major projects this week, I did start drafting an essay I plan to submit for consideration in a book.

Also, this week, InspireMore syndicated my piece about celebrating Sarah (our gestational surrogate) and featured it on their Facebook page and in their newsletter.

#WIPWednesday

I am pleased to announce that I've signed a contract with Stormy Island Publishing Company for my poem, "In My Dreams," to be included in their upcoming poetry anthology.

The anthology is a collection of poems relating to the themes of love and the sea. When I saw the call for submissions, this poem of mine immediately came to mind as it touches on both. I am thrilled that it was accepted and I am very much looking forward to its publication.

The anthology will be available in both eBook and paperback formats. Its release date is yet to be announced, but estimated to be late this summer.

Also this week, I submitted a set of poems for consideration with another publisher, worked on a few images for Instagram and shared a micro-blog about our uncharacteristic "last minute" change to our vacation plans for this summer.

#WIPWednesday

I share my truths.

I value honesty above all else – both personally and professionally – but knowing I am sharing my honest truth doesn't prevent me from worrying if, in doing so, I am "too much" for some people or even "not enough" for others.

I need to remind myself, often, that it is only my responsibility to be who I am; how others respond to me is not within my control.

I've also refrained from reading the comments sections of my published pieces, lately. ;)

This week, I had another piece from last year syndicated on Scary Mommy. I've had such a great streak with syndications this past month!

I also had a brand new piece published on Twiniversity! This was actually the piece and the cold pitch I mentioned a few weeks ago; I am thrilled they wanted the piece and, even more so, that they asked me to pitch some more ideas.