Nobody’s Perfect

Sometimes our shoes come untied

Welcome Friends and new subscribers!

Way back last summer (it was only four months ago, but it feels way back), I received my editorial schedule. It was like getting an unexpected present, yet another symbol of “this is real!” I carefully curated my calendar with due dates and backtracked to mark the preparation start dates for those projects. The train was rolling, cover sheet ✔️, tip sheet ✔️, copyedit ✔️, proofreading ✔️. I could see down the tracks to the next stop, first pages, and soon after pre-orders! August 2024 wouldn’t be that far away. And then the brakes got pulled:

“Effective August 1, 2024, the sales and distribution for all She Writes Press title formats worldwide will be handled by Simon & Schuster.”

This is fabulous!! But with this announcement, comes schedule delays. The new publishing date for my novel, Not Yours to Keep, got pushed back to October 2024. I’m not unhappy. It’s a great month to publish, and so worth it to be distributed by S & S. But the August publishing date I’d diligently prepared for and delineated in my calendar, and the launch I envisioned—ugh! My perfectionist personality couldn’t absorb the shift. I’m okay now. A few days of all-things-writerly paralysis revived me.

So I’m reissuing my exciting news: Not Yours to Keep, my debut domestic suspense, will publish on October 8, 2024! You’ll be the first to get book and launch details, and the pre-sale links, too.

Go Ahead, Make a Mistake. I Dare You!

I had a favorite sweatshirt when I was young, maybe middle school age. It was white and on the front it said “Nobody’s Perfect” in a colorful and messy style similar to what we’d consider a handwriting font today. But it was the graphic next to the text that was, in fact, perfect—a drawing of a sad little girl looking down.

Were you to follow her gaze, you’d see one of her cute shoes had come untied. Unless you were a keen observer, as I was then, it was easy to miss the visual message. No one’s perfect, it’s okay to make a mistake. The statement was poignant and meaningful yet delivered with an underlying humor. Somewhere, tucked away in a box, I still have the now discolored sweatshirt with the over-washed crinkled picture.

When it comes to writing, however, it’s super hard to apply the reminder, not to be perfect. Perfection slows the process. Perfection can keep you from getting to your goal. Maybe you’d already have my book in your hands, had I not analyzed every sentence, scrutinized every word as I wrote them.

I tip my writer’s hat to any of you writers who wrote your beginning, middle and end before editing, and same to those of you who start and finish a personal or business project before critiquing and polishing. I’m working to improve my imperfect perfection seeking self. I make no promises.

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What perfectionist hang-ups slow you down? I know you have at least one, otherwise you’d be perfect, and if you are, then you need to go back to the beginning of this newsletter cause ya missed the lesson 😜

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Just A Note:

“If you are a writer who is concerned about all you need to do for your next book launch, consider this strategy: DO LESS. Instead of doing 1,000 things half-way, what if you just did three things really well? How could that not only increase effectiveness for connecting your book with readers, but also just feel better?” —

Dan Blank

The Creative Shift by Dan Blank

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And Now For Something Completely Serious…

Brain Aneurysms. It’s a topic I will discuss to no end.

So, what’s an aneurysm? I’m so glad you asked.

At any medical consultation about brain aneurysms, the doctor will roll or pull their chair closer to you. You’re at the same level now. You’re in this together. They will hold out a pad of paper, or a clipboard, or even their prescription pad. In a well-practiced move, they will face it towards you, like a pre-school teacher at reading time, so you can see their drawing as they explain. In some version, they will tell you:

“A brain aneurysm is a weak, bulging area in an artery in the brain, analogous to a thin balloon or a weak spot on a tire’s inner tube. Because its walls may be weak and thin, an aneurysm is at risk of rupturing.” —BAF Brain Aneurysm Basics

Your eyes will fix on the sketch, which will look something like this:

They will use their pen as a pointer, making random dots and underlines as they keep throwing out words you’re too overwhelmed to digest, so in your head you see this:

There will be an explanation of the different types of aneurysms. Some have necks, some look like berries and their shape is important. And, in the world of brain aneurysms…

Source: Giphy.com

You might leave the appointment and Google brain aneurysms to figure out what was just told to you. Maybe Siri will help. But here’s the non-medical explanation I came up with that I could comprehend:

Think of a road with a cul-de-sac. The road is the artery and the cul-de-sac is the aneurysm. The cul-de-sac is flooding and needs to be closed off for repairs before it bursts apart.

Or, if you have a flair for the dramatic, once the shock wears off, you can go with my more hysterical version—there’s an effing grenade in my brain and someone pulled the pin, but no one know’s if it’s live or a dud!

So there’s a bomb in my brain. Now what?

Stay tuned….

P.S. this emoji—🤯—not a fan

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Last Licks

Strudel’s been framed!

Who doesn’t love a good suspense? Strudel’s as eager to know when Not Yours to Keep will be available as the rest of us. Keep reading Sometimes Snarkastic and you’ll know when we do!

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