Welcome to my blog titled ‘Five Things’ where you can expect just that - five random musings or reflections from the previous week or so. I’ll also share a quote I find meaningful as a point of focus for the week. For a photo gallery of our life on the road, our pets, and miscellaneous things I find interesting, you can follow me on Instagram @tabithalord.
So here are this week’s five things, starting with the quote of the week…
“Everybody matters or nobody matters. “ - Harry Bosch
In celebration of Black History Month, I want to call out an author whose work I admire and enjoy. Angie Thomas’s #1 New York Times bestseller The Hate U Give left its mark on the young adult literary world for sure, and she’s now ventured into writing middle grade fantasy. Our class just finished reading her latest novel Nic Blake and the Remarkables, a fun, fast-paced adventure featuring an adorable hell-hound puppy, an array of magical beings, a group of kids seeking justice, and a dragon, of course. Pass this one along to the young readers in your life!
I returned from the amazing Superstars Writer’s Conference in Colorado Springs with a to-do list about a mile long! Conferences like this fill my well, so to speak, from both a creative and a business perspective. I’ve tried to immediately implement some of the best marketing and promo tips into my overall plan, I’ve pitched one of my books to a cool publishing house, and I’ve been inspired to finish my fantasy novel ASAP and perhaps consider a Kickstarter campaign for it. The conversations and connections, new and old, were invaluable, and as a bonus, about half my classmates were there!
Unfortunately, I returned home with a particularly nasty strain of ‘con crud,’ which knocked me out of commision for a few days. Needless to say, between the weekend away and the recovery time, I’m feeling a little behind. We’re about to start workshops in class again, though, and I’m really excited. Instead of creating a new short fiction piece, we had the option to use the first few chapters of a fantasy or science fiction work-in-progress. I have just such a project underway, so I’m looking forward to getting some solid, early feedback on my new fantasy manuscript.
Our trip back was delayed slightly while I battled the con crud, but we’re back in the desert now, and I have to say, the sunshine is doing wonders for my overall recovery. The east coast is inundated with snow, and the west coast was pretty wet and rainy while were there, so 70 degrees and sunny is looking pretty good right now!