I hope you’re having an awesome week! I have exciting news. I’m working with a voice artist who is reading my books on recording and posting them online. He has a fantastic voice and I’m really happy we crossed paths. He’s a nice guy who’s just starting out. I’m new too so it’s a good fit. We’re learning as we go. Since he’s using my copyrighted books, we had to develop an agreement allowing him use or a license to use my copyrighted works without me losing my rights of ownership. It’s been an interesting experience so far. My husband is a contracts expert, and my daughter is an attorney, so I had some expert input. I used some forms I found online to Frankenstein the agreement for our specific situation. He lives across the country, so he'll take his copy to a notary where he lives, and I’ll do the same where I am.
While I’ve been ironing out the details with my new colleague my husband and I have been talking about it, a lot. My husband says if he read smutty books, which he doesn’t, except mine, he wouldn’t enjoy it with a male voice narrating. I think if it’s well done, it doesn’t matter the sex of the narrator or the characters. So, I asked on some of my bookish groups online what they think. The answers are interesting, but definitely mixed, but about even with male vs female narrators.
I got results from two writing competitions. The Writer’s Digest had 1600 entrants and 3 winners. I wasn’t one of them, with my story, Twenty-eight Years. I did get an honorable mention in the Writer’s Weekly 24-hour competition. With the story, My Grandma Marie. I win a book from their publishing house as my prize. I’m going to hear from Writing Battle next, then A Twist in the Tale. Wish me luck!
Something else exciting happened too. I saw a post in a new group I joined, and they were offering one-hour takeovers to authors. I immediately signed up on the form, then I had an idea. Why not ask my author friends to join me. I first asked Louise Glass, author of Dream Lover. She wasn’t sure what I was asking, when I was finally able to explain it correctly, she said yes. Next, I asked my new author friend, Miranda Page, author of Soren. She also said yes! We’re doing this together on April 24th at 7pm, eastern time. The group is $mut $luts on Facebook.
In case you don’t know what, a takeover is, here’s my explanation. The group admin gives someone else control of the group, in this situation that would be an author, me. I will be in charge and during my one-hour time slot I will make a few posts, hopefully intriguing posts that rally a response from group members. Then I’ll chat with the people who respond to my very exciting post. I will also have a giveaway. I'll ask the group members to do something, probably subscribe to my newsletter. Then everyone who subscribes will be entered into a drawing, I will raffle off my books and some merch, possibly a gift card. Since I’m sharing my hour with Louise and Miranda, we can do a joint drawing, or we can each do our own. Since we all do things differently, I'll probably have us each do our own thing. But if the ladies want a joint drawing, I’m fine with that too. I'll let you know how it all turns out.
Sorry this blog is a little short. I ended up being admitted to hospital last week. I realize I said that phrase in the U.K. way, I prefer it. Same with University. Something about phrasing it that way just tickles me. Because of my autoimmune disease, I am taking intensive medication that suppresses my immune system, in turn I’m much more susceptible to infection. I spent almost three days on IV antibiotics and another ten days at home on the strongest oral antibiotics. I’m exhausted and in some pain, but no more fever so far. Fingers crossed it doesn’t return. I also had to stop my autoimmune medication while I’m trying to fight off the infection. I’m experiencing worse autoimmune symptoms without the medication. By next week I expect to be recovered and back on track. I haven’t been able to read or write during this time. I can’t focus and I can’t stay awake long. Plus, my wrist is horribly swollen and painful. I’m typing this with one finger very slowly to avoid aggravating my wrist further.
I’m planning to speak to my voice artist friend and see if he’d like to read some of my competition short stories. If he’s interested, ill add an addendum to our contract allowing the same rights for those stories.
One last thing that happened at hospital, the night nurse asked what I do for a living. Without any thought, I replied, “I’m an author.” She got so excited it was like I was a rock star, and she was a fan. She asked me a ton of questions and wanted to purchase my books. I’m going to sign a copy for her and bring it to hospital tomorrow. I figure it’s the least I can do for someone who took excellent care of me and loves books and authors. She was funny, she said she can’t wait to tell everyone that she cared for a famous author! I got a good laugh from that. I’m far from famous, outside of my friends and family I think there’s about two people I would call fans of my work. Definitely no where near famous. Most days my mother doesn’t even remember I’m an author, and she doesn’t have dementia or anything.
I’ll keep you updated on the progress of the recordings, if they get posted, I’ll share the link in a future blog. As always, thanks so much for taking time to read this, have a lovely weekend!