There's Enough Room For Us All

This is how I feel when I see that people have observed my work, but just ignore it. It hurts my feelings a little bit because I always try to be supportive of my friends, and I am always genuinely happy to see them succeed at something that they've dreamed of! I just wish someone would feel the same way about me and my works. Just because I'm prolific doesn't mean I don't need support.

Word of mouth or sharing my posts is a great way to start because I feel like despite my many books not a lot of people know about me or my writing. I would rather stop slipping through the cracks and find my audience because the silence I hear right now is a bit disquieting.

Making Some More Noise

No one's made much noise for my latest book faerie witch queen so I thought I'd make another post. There's a whopping six likes on my personal Facebook account and my other social media isn't doing much better. I had zero likes on both Bluesky and Twitter. The algorithms are really kicking my butt on social media, but I'm doing my best to promote my work.

So if you happen to like poetry, Sleeping Beauty, and Maleficent maybe check out this new collection of mine! I would truly appreciate it.

Being an indie author is hard, but I'm trying not to let it get me down! I love writing, I love my books, and I can't imagine a life where I wasn't writing and dreaming and simply creating. I hope you lot enjoy my creations, too!

letters to an old friend

Sorry for the mopey last post. I just wanted to be honest. I sometimes feel like I am a failure in comparison to my other writer friends. I know comparison is a thief of joy, and I should just focus on my own work; but sometimes I can't help but notice. It makes me wonder if there's something wrong with me. But maybe my supporters are just more silent. If you're one of my silent supporters, could you please make some noise? It would be nice to know I'm appreciated.

In other news, I have a new book coming out soon. It's titled letters to an old friend, and it's a book of epistolary poems (poems written in the form of letters for anyone who may not know). I like to challenge myself, and I thought it would be a fun way of writing poetry in a way that's different from most of the other poems I've written.

What makes this a wee bit awkward is the person I wrote this to recently added me on Facebook after we haven't spoken in years. I'm going to let them make the first move, though, because I feel like that's what makes the most sense. After all they added me and not the other way around. So far they haven't said anything to me so I'm in this strange sort of limbo of are we actually friends again in the traditional sense or was it just an add for nostalgia's sake. I guess time will tell.

Be Better, Please!

This has been bugging me for a while, but I didn't know whether or not I should verbalize it. I figured that maybe just getting it out of my system might be a good thing. Maybe I'm not alone in my thoughts and someone could relate.

I've been writing since I was a child. I am always so happy when I get things published and out in the world, and to birth a new book baby into existence. It makes me happy to see my works out there in the world. Although, I do get a bit down about the so-called "lit community" or "writing community". It really does feel like a clique sometimes, one that I will never fit into. There are some people who I really like and have supported me back.

However, on the whole I feel really unsupported and unseen. It makes me sad because I see my friends getting put on indie books you should read lists, see people promoting my friends books, and see my friends getting opportunities. I am happy for them. Yet, I never see myself on any of the indie books you should read lists and I rarely see my friends promoting my work yet promoting the works of others. I probably won't say anything, but I definitely notice. It makes me feel small and unwanted as I did in junior high school when I did everything the popular girls told me to do because I thought they were my friends, but they were just mocking me and made a fool of me.

I think, as a collective, people need to do a better job of including everyone on their lists. I know there are many indie authors and inevitably some people will fall through the cracks sometimes, but I also feel someone as prolific as I am should be on some lists. It's really discouraging to be excluded all the time. It's just like when I was picked last in gym class or the games in elementary school, and it hurts every bit as much. Please try to do better. This is all I request!

I really feel like being included on these lists would help me sell more of my books. I also feel like if you're friends with someone you should try to help them, and not simply watch them struggle which is what it feels like some of my so called "friends" are doing to me. I probably shouldn't take it so personal, but it's hard for me not to. I've been getting published since 2011 and I feel like no one knows me or my work. It's frustrating!

New Book Dropped!

My new collection faerie witch queen is out! It came out yesterday.

It's a poetry collection centered around self-empowerment and women empowerment, in general. It is a collection based off of Maleficent (my favorite Disney villain - although she's more an anti-hero in the live-action films [which I also love]). So if you love Sleeping Beauty, but could never relate to being a princess this collection is for you because I was a little girl that felt that way, too.

I thought by being someone different that people could love me, but all I could ever be was me. I am no longer ashamed of that, and neither should you be. The world is a vast, beautiful place full of diversity. It would be boring if we were all the same.

mantle lake

My latest book was published in February of this year. I just realized I hadn't said anything about it here yet, whoops! So without further ado, here's the link where you can purchase mantle lake. I originally had the title as mantle lake, to echo a poem in my book but my publisher changed it. It irritated me a little bit, but I didn't say anything about it from the get go so I just have to suck it up and deal with it.

My collection mantle lake is a hybrid collection of photography and poetry about one of my favorite places to visit when I was living in Maine. It is also about the season of my soul and my favorite season: autumn.

I will try to be better about updating this blog. No promises, though. Life is constant and very often hectic for me between work, life, and writing.