I was sucker-punched by the holidays. A blanket of exhaustion has settled over me, but it’s a comfortable one because I’m not under any stress. I’m grateful to God and my husband for letting me be a stay-at-home mom and lead a life that allows me to rest when I need it.
And I am resting, even though things crunch under my feet and my kids have no clean socks. I’m taking a sabbatical for about a month to listen to God more closely. I’d like to know how he wants to use my writing, and I have a few personal goals to discuss with him as well. Yes, I will clean my house but I want to wait until my arms stop aching and I can get up from the couch.
It’s been over 2 years since I published my memoir on Amazon and it’s nearly ready to be republished in abridged format. Did I tell you the new title yet? It’s from one of my chapter headings. Stars Upside Down: a memoir of travel, grief and an incandescent God.
Here’s the new cover.
I’m excited about this new version. It’s more readable because a lot of the unnecessary details have been cut out (and the font on the print version is bigger). The title makes it clear that the main theme is Christian inspiration / memoir so I won’t get any more negative reviews from people who expected a Regency romance or something.
Speaking of which, I am dying to move forward on publishing the romance, but need to wait until the memoir is out before I focus my efforts there. I wanted to set a better foundation for my literary career. (And I’m not even going to smirk when I say those words as if I were insecure. Pshaw!) I want none of my work out there if I think it can be much better.
The good news is that I’m never short of ideas – at least not for blog posts. Book plots are much harder to come up with, which is why I’m still going to polish up the Viscount even though I’ve learned a lot about writing romance since I wrote that. Plots are not for the plucking in my brain so I need to use what I’ve got and hope that I’ll only improve.
But you probably don’t care about all that, right? 🙂 (chuckle)
Otherwise, this is what I’ve been listening to lately. (It’s from Instagram, so if you’re reading this on e-mail I think you have to click over to the blog to see it).
And this is what I’m in the process of doing (tree still up, but at least it’s naked).
I’m taking down the tree, sipping peppermint tea and listening to Turandot. No winter doldrums here.
A photo posted by Jennie Goutet (@aladyinfrance) on
And this is what I’ve been concerned over.
And then this was us on New Year’s.
A video posted by Jennie Goutet (@aladyinfrance) on
Happy New Year, by the way. May it be filled with blessings and hope and love and joy and all good things.
I love the new title of your book; it’s more assertive. Happy New Year, Jennie!
Hillary recently posted…Joy
Ooh, I love the cover and the title!
I’m definitely over here trying to figure out what my writing is going to do with my life. Or what I’m going to do with my life with writing! Same thing.
Tamara recently posted…Winter Skin Pampering With Jergens.
Excited about your new book! (Hoping if I ever see you in person again you’ll still sign my old one.)
Korinthia Klein recently posted…Mini Costume Box