Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Two Years and a New Book Later

Hello Everyone,

It's been an awfully long time. Again. I have wanted to start a post so many times, but then just felt overwhelmed with the task.**

First of all, for those of you who haven't heard, YES! Copper, the second book in The Glister Journals, is at long last out and available in both ebook and paperback. Why did it take so long? That's harder to explain.

Second, as many of you know, I am autistic. I make no secret of this and I don't use it as an excuse, but if you know anything about autism, it might help in understanding my difficulties.

Bronze, the first book, was written and edited in just over three years. It was my primary focus (okay, obsession) for that entire time and beyond, and seemed so easy to write. For reasons I don't remember, I didn't start on Copper right away but continued to make notes and do research as I also continued to tweak Bronze; nothing major but tightening up and cutting somewhat. Marketing and promoting took up most of my bandwidth in the years following and is still a very difficult to understand topic for me. I wish I could afford to pay someone else to do it, but I can't.

Once I finally put pen to paper (yes, I like most of my first draft to flow through an actual pen), Copper also flowed easily, for the most part. But Copper goes a little more deeply into difficult topics, which I'm still conflicted about. Did I handle them okay? Will people understand? I had a fantastic critique partner for the first half of the book, where most of that difficulty lay, and their ideas, reactions, and opinions helped immeasurably. Then stuff happened and I wasn't able to write much and time kept going by and I lost them. I also had friends who were able to correct and clarify some things for me later, but for the most part it felt a little like writing in a vacuum, which is never good. The second half of the book was actually finished many years ago, but then a series of protracted events prevented me from doing anything about it. I simply couldn't focus at all.

**I'd forgotten I'd already written about most of the things that happened from 2019 to the beginning of 2021 in another post, and I wrote about them all again. So I'm glad I checked on previous posts! If you didn't read that one and are curious, it's HERE.

Catching up to today: Summer 2021 I was packing and planning for the move. My daughter chose to move to Seattle, so we got her situated first, then I was driving with my cat and a car full of instruments cross-country to Minnesota.

That was November 2021. I began riding again that December, but otherwise I really just tried to relax and recover from years of non-stop, overwhelming stress. And just make it through my first Minnesota winter. Last fall I began substitute teaching (because I still need to work) which is incredibly tiring and very stressful, so I'm looking for other options. I still have music students I teach online but I'm working on something completely new because I'd really like to be able to only work from home.

I'm determined to start the first draft of Silver, the 3rd Glister Journals book, before summer is over, and if possible concurrently write at least parts of book 4. What I really need right now are reviews for Copper. If you've read it already, would you consider leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads and/or other booksellers? If you haven't, I'd like to make this offer: If you have read and reviewed Bronze and would like an epub of Copper, please send/leave me a link to the Bronze review and I will send you a free copy. If you are someone I've gotten to know a bit better, you can just ask and I'll gladly send you a copy.

If you can afford to buy either book, that helps even more. Bronze is available right now for only .99 cents. It's not the money involved, but each sale makes the book more visible and will pop up on more searches for new readers. THAT is what helps the MOST. If you read and like either book, please spread the word. I care about these books deeply, but promoting and marketing is a language I just don't seem to be able to understand. I desperately need some grass-roots help!

So that's where I am today. If you've read all the way to the end, thank you. If you've skimmed to the end, I totally understand. I know a lot of people only followed me because of giveaways. I may do some from time to time, but I won't be able to all the time. If I review a good book on Goodreads, I'll post it here. Otherwise, I will try to update on at least a semi-annual basis. Also, apologies for not updating the The Glister Journals website. It just takes a level of time and concentration I simply haven't had. I will get to it eventually.

For those of you who have hung in there with me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Every time I hear of someone liking my books, it encourages and inspires me so much and makes it all worthwhile!

Sunday, April 18, 2021

The Midnight Library

I can't believe it's April already. Where did January, February, and March go?! Anyway . . .

Let's have a giveaway!

I just finished this book and would love to give away a (new) copy. Have you read this one yet?


 Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”

A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

My Review:

The Midnight Library

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nora is giving up. It seems like nothing in her life is going the way she thinks it should, or wants it to, and she has no hope for the future.

The Midnight Library tackles the big question of "what if"? What if you'd made different decisions at certain points in your life? Would things really be better? What if you had all the things you thought you wanted? Would you be happy? What is necessary for happiness anyway?

Nora gets to explore some of these other lives she might have had, had she made different choices.
I absolutely loved this book! It was a page-turner for me, wanting to see what would happen to Nora next. The ending was somewhat predictable but in the best way possible.

View all my reviews

Open only to those who can legally enter. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. United States residents only. You must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, January 2, 2021

Hello 2021!

How's everyone holding up? I hope the past year hasn't been too hard on you, but I know a lot of people have had very difficult times. I can't remember ever looking forward so much to starting a new year!

First I'd like to let you know that Copper, the second Glister Journals book, will be published sometime soon, hopefully February if I can stay focused enough. So I will be doing as many deals on Bronze as I can. This weekend (actually through Monday the 4th) it is FREE on Kindle through Amazon.

Bronze on an iPhone next to a coffee cup, outdoors
 

I am also resolved to post regularly this year and do as many giveaways as I can. But I'll confess, the blog/giveaway landscape seems to have changed in the past year or so, so I'll try to figure that out quickly. If you host giveaway hops, please let me know! (Is that even still a thing?)

Okay, let's back up a little bit. I barely posted in 2019 and not at all in 2020. Apologies! So much happened in 2019, I found it impossible to devote any time to anything beyond just coping every day. Here's a few of the things that kept me overwhelmed (very briefly, so you'll need to read between the lines):

My younger daughter moved into my one bedroom apartment, very closely followed (a couple of days!) by the birth of her first child.

Word that my aunt, one of my few remaining relatives and the only one in this country (besides my children), was extremely ill. This began a series of back and forth flights to Los Angeles from the Bay Area.

My younger daughter, the newborn, and myself moved into a slightly larger apartment.

The death of my aunt and dealing with all her stuff (formidable!) I was blessed that my older daughter was able to fly in from Minneapolis and be with me, but it was very difficult leaving the younger daughter to fend for herself with the baby.

This was all within two months, and all while continuing to teach full time!

That June I was still back and forth to Los Angeles, tying up my aunt's business matters and arranging a memorial for her friends.

Some good news through all this was gaining a couple of new friends (of my aunt's) and inheriting a car and some money . . .

. . . which got me thinking about the best way to invest it. So I began researching buying a house (I've never owned one) . . .

. . . which led to me flying back to Minnesota a few times (where my son and older daughter live) to look into buying a home to retire to.

That got expensive and difficult once school was back, so my daughter continued house hunting for me and found the perfect one. So my aunt's money was used as a nice down payment on a cute little house just outside of Minneapolis, and by December I was the thrilled owner of a house I had never actually seen in person! (Yes, I trust my daughter!)

Spent my first Christmas away from home. That shouldn't have been a big thing but it kind of was, especially as I found driving in snow (in Minnesota) stressful and had a little accident in a rental car (not related to the snow). Also, the baby contracted foot, hand, and mouth disease. I'd never even heard of it!

So that was 2019.

And you all know what happened in 2020. All of the things.

2020 started out with me catching the baby's infection and it was pretty horrible, much worse than it had been for him. It meant I had to stay home the first week back to school and not teach as it's highly infectious. I haven't realized before just now how prophetic that was!

March 13, about midday, we got word to leave school premises immediately and indefinitely. It happened right after one of my classes and I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to any of my students.

My daughter was furloughed indefinitely from her restaurant job that same week.

We (other teachers and myself) spent a week or two scrambling to figure out how to teach remotely. Teaching ANYTHING remotely is challenging. Teaching instrumental music to elementary school students is extremely challenging! I found some things that worked and others that didn't, but was able to keep most of my students involved and engaged, which was all we were really trying to do back then. What made it especially hard was teaching twenty separate Zoom classes from my home.

Summer was difficult and super stressful for all kinds of reasons I won't go into detail about, but in a nutshell: politics; Black Lives Matter; protests; mental health issues; fires and worst air quality for weeks and weeks; more politics; stuck in a small apartment and not being able to GO anywhere!

When school started back I was able to teach from a school site which has been great. Not so great was not being able to start new students. It's just not possible to teach classes of students who have never even held an instrument before. This is going to affect class size and playing levels next year, but there's nothing we can really do about it. What has surprised me is how well most (almost all) of my continuing students have been doing. My advanced strings and winds students are in about the same place we would be this time of year under normal circumstances. Not normal is the inability to truly play as ensembles, so we will be doing some projects and trying to do some virtual ensemble performances. I just have to figure out how to do it!

And almost a year after buying my house, I finally got to see inside, walk around, take pictures (to daydream about and plan), etc. There's a few things I'll need to do before moving in, and a LOT of work I'll want to do after, but I'm so pleased with it. I especially love the yard - it's huge!


The final major thing this year was receiving an invitation to a voluntary retirement incentive from my district. I wasn't planning on retiring until 2022 at the earliest, but this came at just the right time, for SO many reasons. So this will be my last year teaching in California. I will still need to teach or work somehow for quite a while, but I'm excited for this new start. I'm especially excited to be able to live closer to my son and older daughter, have more room, spend more time with my other grandchildren, and get to know them better!

So that's me up to date. If you've made it all the way to the end of this post, thank you and please leave a comment with one good thing that happened for you or your family in 2020. If you want to, tell me what what was the most difficult. If you've blogged about it, feel free to leave a link to the post and I'll come and read it.

Thanks so much for your continued support. I'm hoping and praying for a better, kinder year for us all in 2021.


Saturday, December 14, 2019

Midwinter's Eve Giveaway Hop


Welcome to the Midwinter's Eve Giveaway Hop
Enter for a chance to win a $15 gift card to the bookstore of your choice! This giveaway is hosted by Bookhounds. Please stop by each blog!
Warmest wishes to you all. Merry Christmas!

Open only to those who can legally enter. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Bronze can be ordered through any bookseller (ISBN 9780982893678) or order now at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.
Visit theglisterjournals.com for news, excerpts, and more about The Glister Journals series.
Reviews for Bronze

All original text and materials by or commissioned by B. B. Shepherd are copyright 2012-2019 to B B Shepherd.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Gratitude Giveaway


Welcome to the 2018 Gratitude Giveaway!
This is one of my favorite giveaways of the year - a special giveaway to say THANK YOU for following. I'm giving away a $15 gift card to the bookstore of choice for TWO winners, and there's just one easy entry for followers!

This hop starts at 9 am Pacific on November 15th and ends November 30th

A Big THANK YOU to all of the bloggers that participate in these hops! There are many blogs participating in this hop, so be sure to stop by each and enter to win! Each has their own entry rules and geographic limits, so be sure to read the rules for each one.

Open only to those who can legally enter. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW
a Rafflecopter giveaway




It's my tradition to post this giveaway with a Switchfoot video, so here you go. Have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop 2019


Welcome to the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop!

This is one of the biggest hops of the year, so stop by each blog! Make sure to check for entry rules and geographical limitations.

Open only to those who can legally enter. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW
a Rafflecopter giveaway




Bronze can be ordered through any bookseller (ISBN 9780982893678) or order now at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.
Visit theglisterjournals.com for news, excerpts, and more about The Glister Journals series.
Reviews for Bronze

All original text and materials by or commissioned by B. B. Shepherd are copyright 2012-2019 to B B Shepherd.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Dreaming of Books Cash Giveaway


Welcome to my first give away of the year, and it's a big one!

To one lucky winner, $250 in Paypal cash or Amazon gift card. This giveaway is hosted by I Am A Reader. Thanks to all the sponsors and please stop by each one!

Sponsor List

I Am A Reader
Clean Wholesome Romance
Author Kim Cresswell
Magical Cool Cat Mysteries
All the Ups and Downs
S.T. Bende - YA Fantasy
Coupons and Freebies Mom
P. Creeden Author
Every Free Chance Books
Lucy McConnell
Renee Riva
Carolyn Miller
Cherie Mitchell
Marie Higgins
Literary Gold
Lucinda Whitney
Laura D. Bastian
Cherry Christensen
Taylor Dean Books
Jody's Reviews, Book Tours & Giveaways
Kari Trumbo
Author Inger Iversen
J.E.Grace
Glistering: B's Blog
Skyrocket Press
Abby Tyler
My Life. One Story at a Time.
Kimberly Krey
Traci Wooden-Carlisle
Meg Easton
Taylor Hart
Cheryl Wright
Tina Dee
Christy's Cozy Corners
Win Book Money
Heather Horrocks
Victoria Simcox
Carly Morgan
JeanBookNerd

 

Giveaway Details

$250 in Paypal Cash or a $250 Amazon.com eGift Card

Ends 1/31/19

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use money sent via Paypal or gift codes via Amazon.com. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. This giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the authors, bloggers, and publishers on the sponsor list. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Bronze can be ordered through any bookseller (ISBN 9780982893678) or order now at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.
Visit theglisterjournals.com for news, excerpts, and more about The Glister Journals series.
Reviews for Bronze

All original text and materials by or commissioned by B. B. Shepherd are copyright 2012-2019 to B B Shepherd.