Write You a Newsletter

Well, you asked for it

Oct 26, 2023

Welcome To Issue #1 of Sometimes Snarkastic!!

Exciting news! Not Yours to Keep, my debut domestic suspense, will publish on August 13, 2024! You’ll be the first to get book details and the upcoming pre-sale links, too. In the meantime, there’s a surprising amount of work and deadlines over the next ten short months.

Current Task At Hand: Launch My Substack Newsletter:

Simple, right? <Big sigh> I’m stymied. I feel the same when people hear I’m funny and they’re like “say something funny.” Impossible. “You’re snarky? Snark!” No can do. Someone once told a group I’m a great singer and they begged me to sing. Did my voice croak? You betcha! And now, I’m staring at the computer screen as if it’s saying “You’re an author? Write something.”

Write A Newsletter?

As a soon to be published debut author, the dictate demands a newsletter. How can I do that when I am only just discovering who I am as an artist? I can’t quote classic literature, or relay rules of grammar or punctuation. I certainly can’t solve the mystifying quagmire of how to get an agent. What would I possibly say of meaning or inspiration? And maybe that’s the crux of it—maybe I don’t need to.

The chorus of Sara Bareilles’s ‘Love Song’ is stuck in my head:

‘I’m not gonna write you a love song

‘Cause you asked for it

‘Cause you need one’

It was (falsely) rumored that the lyrics were a rebellion against her record label’s demand for a love song she didn’t want to write. In a long ago interview with the Huffpost, Bareilles explained she wrote the song after difficult co-writing sessions and wasn’t certain she “was ready to collaborate.” She felt she was still “discovering who she was as an artist.”

Now insert “newsletter” in place of “love song.”

I came into writing with no formal education in the field and, in learning the craft, my co-aspiring authors and I constantly heard, “oh yeah, if you want an agent/publisher to consider you, you’ll need a platform, and substantial followers on social media.” So, we did that. Some better than others. I, for one, created a social media presence, but have never mastered the art of interacting.

Then the industry said, “go forth, and blog if you want to attract agents/publishers/readers.” And I thought, I’m a social media ‘liker and lurker’ and you want me to make a public personal diary? Nope, not doing that.

So I am going to write you a newsletter

‘Cause no one asked for it

‘Cause I need one

You see, I’m gonna write you a newsletter

‘Cause you tell me it’s make or breaking this

Did ya notice how much I said when I had nothing to say? Heads up readers, you’ll get used to my brevity disability.

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And Now For Something Completely Serious…

As a survivor of an unruptured brain aneurysm, I’m a dedicated advocate for brain aneurysm awareness and research. This October marks 5 years since my surgery. In the following months, I’ll start at the beginning of my personal experience and share resources because I hope you’ll want to learn more. But for now, since we’re just getting to know each other, I’ll leave you with this:

It was summer of 2018 when I knew I needed surgery. The doctor left it up to me to decide when. I was probably in some understandable state of shock and denial, or maybe I’m a lunatic with skewed priorities, but I was taking a fabulous ‘complete your novel’ workshop, and lest I died, or lived but wasn’t myself, I refused to have the angiogram before my book was done. The course ended in October, and at that point I figured, if there were going to be knives, ghouls (sorry Doc) and gore in my head, surgery had to be scheduled on Halloween, didn’t it?

Want to know what happened next? You’ll just have to keep subscribing to find out…

Last Licks

October is also special because it’s Strudel’s birthday!

Go on, wish her a Happy Birthday—you know you want to!