I’ve known my entire life that I was a writer, but, like so many artists, I chose the practical path of expanding my skills and education to have a career that paid. Fortunately, I was able to create a successful non-writing career that was also very meaningful…and still is.
I always kept writing though.
I wrote for my “paying” career and I wrote for my love of writing.
Now, I have positioned myself to consult for college and universities in meaningful work AND write and publish my fiction.
I’m so glad I never quit my dream – my purpose in life – to write.
Sitting outside, or at my local cafe or at home with my cat on my lap and my family in the next room and writing is my bliss.
My words want to be read by others and so I’ve gone through the process of queries, rejections, traditional versus indie publishing and finally deciding a hybrid publishing model i s the one for me right now.
I have been accepted to my first book fair. It’s in Houston and there will be more than 100 authors of all genres! Exciting.
Please come see me in Booth #78. We will have fun and can talk about Lexi and Paddy in “Under The Autumn Moon.”
I was not a person who read romance books but two years ago a character, Lexi Maxwell, presented herself to me while I was on holiday in Ireland. It was chilly, windy, wet day as we rode through the rolling hills of the country. It is true that Ireland has more shades of green than anywhere and the dots of white sheep sprinkled in the fields made everything feel quaint and cozy. After the rain, rainbows appeared everywhere I looked.
That was when Lexi started talking to me. It’s how all my characters present themselves to me. They just show up in my “mind’s eye” and start telling me their story. You will hear some creatives refer to it as a download. “The music is in the ethers and I just capture it,” to paraphrase Bob Dylan when asked how he write his songs. Elizabeth Gilbert and Rick Rubin have discussed this experience as well. In fact Gilbert talks about how she sits at her desk every morning at the same time to “receive” her stories. Paul McCartney admits that is how “Yesterday” came to him. It was a complete song in a fast download. Such a complete song that, at first, he thought it surely must have been someone else’s song that he’d just heard on the radio.
Lexi kept talking to me all day in Ireland and, by the time I arrived at my hotel, I told her I’d write it. Four months later I completed her story and Under The Autumn Moonwas published the next year.
Under The Autumn Moon has been described as “Finally, an adult romance. This isn’t puppy love. It’s a deep fulfilling love story.”
Another romance story immediately started “talking” to me and so, this fall, another romance novel is on its way to you.
What I’ve noticed about myself now that I’m writing romance, is that I have more scented candles in the house, I now have flowery bed sheets, I wear lacey tops (NEVER would I have done that before), my playlists I listen to while writing are love songs from all ages and cultures, and I seek quieter spots to sit alone or with a small group of family and friends.
The other delight is how many men, of all ages, have said things to me like, “I’ve never read romance and didn’t know I needed it!”
Maybe we all need a little more romance in our lives.
I never imagined that reading, writing and watching romance would have such a powerful affect on my appreciation of WOMAN in the world.
We need this balance of the female more than ever. In fact, I believe the world is in the mess it is because we have not honored the Female the way way we honor the Male.
We need both. Balance.
Separate AND equal energies for creating a world wwhere we treat everyone and everything with kindness and respect.
I thought I was signing up for a different book fair held on the same day in my community so I didn’t really know what I was getting into when I realized I was heading to a small town I’d never heard of to participate in my first ever book fair at a new bookstore I’d never heard of.
The place was overflowing with vendors so Leather and Bound Bookbar had to set us up in the adjacent cross fit gym. It was unheated and the side garage doors were open showcasing the vibrant sunset.
I relaxed into my new adventure and had a GREAT TIME!
The people were warm, kind, fun and genuine.
Venders supported one another with conversation, professional advice and manning one another’s table if needed.
And I sold several books.
What was so fulfilling about the sales was that my future readers wanted to talk with me about the book. Several have already started following me on socials, giving sweet shoutouts.
What started as an uncertain journey ended up a meaningful adventure.
Well, here I go with my first bookstore appearance.
I thought I was signing up for a similar event in downtown Dallas on the same day, but am not.
I’ll be in Fate, Texas just thirty minutes east of Dallas and am very happy to be part of the new-ish independent bookstore. They will have everything- books, authors, tatoo artists, candle-makers, mysteries and all.
There’s a reason Amazon is so popular. It’s convenient, fast and easy. It literally took minutes for my publisher to upload to Kindle and Amazon.com. Getting my book onto other platforms and into bookstores (still in process) is taking five weeks and counting.
However, you can now find Under The Autumn Moon by me, Betheny Lynn Reid, at Waterstones.com, barnesandnobles.com, TheStrand.com, Bookshop.org, etc. You can ask the bookstores, Waterstones, Barnes and Nobles, The Strand and other, to order it for you. That might encourage them to add a few copies for in store browsers to discover it.
Also, if you like my book, please place a review on their sites and any social media. It does make a difference, especially for new authors.
Yesterday was the first day I visited bookstores to introduce myself and ask for them to carry Under The Autumn Moon and schedule in store appearances.
I had my book, a bookmark and a promotional flyer to provide the decision-makers. I went to two bookstores. One asked if I’d been to their website and registered my book. “Yes.”
“Good. That’s the first step because we have more than one hundred authors apply every month.”
“That’s why I also wanted to stop by in person to introduce myself.” (hoping you’ll like me)
The second bookstore was more disappointing as they couldn’t find my book in their system. I googled it for them and showed it was in their system.
“Hmm. Well, let me give you the email for the person who can help you better than I can.”
On and on.
Writing a book is the easy part. Promoting it is rough.
This morning though, I was fine-tuning, probably for the seventeenth time, my next book. I felt very good about my edits and realized I was done. It is ready to send to my editor and publishing partner.
Then I felt tremendous sadness. The loss of not being able to sit every morning and listen to what my characters want me to write about their lives. We have completed that part.
Now I need to do all the things that have to be accomplished to share their story with the world.
Already the next lead character is whispering in my ear, “Can you please tell me story now?”
I’m exhausted by noon most days, just like my cat, Panda, pictured above.
By noon most days, I’ve been on my bike to the nearby cafe, checked the news (briefly), posted on social media promoting Under The Autumn Moon and then settled in to work on my next book (which was actually drafted before I ever thought of Under The Autumn Moon).
This pattern actually worked very well with Autumn Moon and the book flowed easily.
It’s not flowing as well with this story and it’s because I feel I’m on the hamster wheel of marketing/promoting, marketing/promoting…
The energy is completely different. I’m not living with my characters, I’m watching them. I’m thinking how they will be attractive to readers rather than just capturing their story. I’ve apologized to these “people”multiple times. They have trusted me with their tale and I keep saying, “But what about if I do this and change that.”
Tori (my son’s beloved) told me I need to find a cabin in the woods and sequester myself. A sleep, eat, walk, write pattern sounds appealing, but I’m not confident I would stick to it. A strange doubt because I’m very goal oriented and driven to meet deadlines.
As I write this, I keep glancing at the clock as it ticks toward 3 PM and I think how I haven’t done any exercise today, just a couple of short walks which don’t count as exercise, just movement.
I’m still thrilled to have published a book now, along with some previous poems and short fiction.
I just want to cloak myself in my writer’s world again.
