Visiting the creek

It’s that time of the year, the weather is warm and the sky is blue and it’s time to go see what the winter rains did to the creek. Every year it’s a little bit changed. But every year we love it all the same.

This year wee made our first trek through the brambles on a Sunday afternoon. The dogs came with us. It was our very on tiny slice of heaven. We found new growth like this little fern in the middle of a stretch of rocks. We found deer tracks from a momma and a baby.

The water was freezing but it didn’t stop my daughters from playing in it, swimming where they could, and splashing where it wasn’t quite as deep. The dogs had a blast, I had a blast, my daughters had fun. It was lovely. We even had our own little blessing in the form of a gorgeous green and blue dragon fly landing on my husband’s chest for a few moments.  (Also, he took the pictures. The man is a genius with a smart phone camera)

Our creek is one of my favorite places on earth. It’s fun for exploring and for daydreaming. And I really think everyone should get to play in a creek, it’s good for the soul.

#AuthorLifeMonth: an Instagram Photo Challenge for Authors

I found this on facebook and love it, so will be participating, but on my author page not insta 🙂 Source: #AuthorLifeMonth: an Instagram Photo Challenge for Authors

Why I write

This month a few of the writers who are with the same publisher as I am, Booktrope, are doing a sort of media blitz with, #WhyIWrite

See, that there is my mug. It’snot the picture on the back of my book because, well, my hair changes too often for me to have  a new picture for each book. So I picked an old one before playing with my hair became a monthly thing.  But that is an aside, and not at all what this post is about.

#WhyIWrite is a way for us authors of many different genres to talk about why it is we write. Why that genre. Why that kind of story. It’s about giving you a slice of who we are as a person. Now this isn’t the only reason I write. But it is the reason I write mid grade books. I write characters that are not “normal” (by the way I hate that word). I write characters who are flawed and look and act different, they just happen to be kids. Kids who have a lot going for them, no matter if they are not what their society accepts. It sounds a bit heavy handed when I write it out, but I also try to write happy, and funny, maybe that balances it out.

Either way, I’ll keep writing these flawed but awesome characters, and maybe you’ll read one and fall in love with their stories like I have.

Cheers!

 

 

I need a magic marketing pill, do you have one?

I write books because I love to. I love the random plot bunnies that dig in and won’t let go until I figure them out. I love to meet new characters. I love to have other people read the things that come out of my imagination. The sticking point on that last one is: I need to sell books.

I have no idea how to do that.

I truly don’t. I feel like marketing and then selling is like wandering in a cave blindfolded. I suck at it. No seriously, I do.

On Black Friday I was part of a promotion I hyped up for like a month. I dropped the price of my book. I sold 3. 3! It makes my head hurt.  I do everything I’m told to do; I tweet, I fb, I blog, I network, yet still I sell no books. I know I could say that I’m the common denominator and maybe my book sucks, but I just can’t accept that. Not yet. So I’m left to wonder just what I’m doing wrong.

It’s not a fun place to be let me tell you.

And now, because well, I’m marketing still, I’m part of this big Rafflecopter giveaway with a small group of fellow authors. It’s a chance at two great prizes, a gift basket full of goodies (signed books, swag, a gift card or two, even some boxers!) or a $60 Amazon gift card. So be sure to click on the word –> Rafflecopter <– and follow the link to enter. The more things you do, the more chances you have!!

 

 

**photo credit to morguefile.com

It’s a rambling blog post kind of morning.

It’s bright. It’s early. I have had only one cup of coffee. My oldest daughter is off for the first day of the last week of school, and my youngest has cuddled with me before leaving me for a mouse named Mickey. I settle in to write a blog post, as I am supposed to do every week, and I am absolutely drawing a blank.

Have you had that happen?

It’s been happening more and more lately. I’m not sure if it’s a natural break in momentum since it is nice and sunny and I’d really like to be out in the yard, my hands in the dirt. Or if the stress of the project I am working on, which has bled over into my writing (nothing for a week!), is now bleeding over into the rest of my work.

It’s moments like this when I question myself. Am I really ready to attempt to be an author? I have the words written, I have the publisher, but do I have what it takes to put myself out there in the world to sell those words?  And then the even bigger fear, what if I have no more words. What if the past two years of feverishly writing is all I have?

Then I wonder if that fear is what makes me work harder, push myself harder,to keep going. Despite the stress of my life, and the block in my head, I will still push. I will still embrace social media, I will still market myself and make connections. Because, and this is a big because, BECAUSE I AM WORTH IT. Because the words I have written, while maybe not the next great american novel (I wasn’t trying for that, I swear), they are good words. With a good message. And I am proud of them. They are different than anything else I have ever done before, but that doesn’t make them less. Just different. And different is good. The world needs to embrace different more.

So, today, I will embrace my different. I will make another cup of coffee. I will hug my girl. And then I will write words. Because even if later I erase those words in favor of better (or different) ones, then at least I had those words to work with. And that is a powerful thing for a writer.

about me

I’m not great at blogging, I like to, but I’m pretty awful about coming up with something to write about every week. Well, something interesting that is. So I was given the idea to do an about me post, my author friend that suggested it, said to do 18. 18! I don’t think there is 18 interesting things about me, so I’m gonna go with 5. A nice small number.  So to start,

1. Before anything else I’m a mom. Not always a great mom, but a do-my-best-every-day-mom and that is okay.  I have two daughters and every day they amaze and annoy. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

this is my youngest. still sleeping on her momma.

2. I think tattoos are an art form. I love them. I have them. I want more. I have a few that as an adult I may have done differently back when I was young, but I still wear them with pride.

3. I have a severe case of wanderlust. I was born and raised in Connecticut but live in Alabama. In between I have also lived in Idaho, Massachusetts, and West Virginia. After high school I moved on average, once a year. The only reason I’ve lived in one place this long is cause it’s hard to pack up kids and go. But I want to. All the time. My feet get itchy.

4. I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. There are enough things in life to feel guilty about, things you enjoy should not be one of them. I say “live boldly” !! You want to listen to The Spice Girls on high while you clean? Own It! (yep that’s me) You want to watch cheesy 80’s action flicks? Do It!! Read romance novels like they are your only vice? Read On!!! Never let anyone tell you your thing isn’t cool. I swear, it’s made my life so much less stressful 🙂

5. I watch cartoons even when my daughters are not around. My favorite? Phineas and Ferb.

So that is me in a nutshell. (help, I’m in a nutshell, how do I get out?) How about you?

A little bit more about me

Hey there! Glad you could make it. Hope you stay a while.

You and me we’re friends right? You want to hear a secret? Ssshhhh, lean in real close and I’ll tell you.

My name really isn’t Sherilyn Putnam! What you ask? The disbelief, I’m sorry. It’s a pen name. A carefully crafted alter ego so that I could publish books of a less adult nature than my normal fair.

You see I didn’t start out my writing journey to write mid grade or YA books. I started out in the adult genres. As I went along though, these stories, they crowded my brain until I got them out. Then I had a dilemma. What to do with them? I couldn’t very well publish them under the same name as my adult stuff, so the search for a pen name began. Earlier I called it carefully crafted, that might be a fib. If you know me, you can guess where the name came from. It’s not a real hard stretch. And that is fine. I wanted the pen name I choose to have meaning to me.

I know for some it might be a tad annoying to have to follow me under two different names, and for that I am sorry. I truly hope that if you follow my main writing attempts, then you will stick around for this new venture I am taking. I am quite proud of the work I do. It might be a bit before the first is out, bu I am continually working, and hope to have some news on that soon.

I guess this is all for this Monday morning. Time for a second cup of coffee and to play Frozen with my toddler. Hope y’all have a great day, and week.

Cheers, Sherilyn

Hiya!

Hi there. This is my new website. I hope to talk mainly about books, mine and others, that fall in the mid-grade and YA genre’s. I’ll most likely also talk about my kids (two amazing daughters), my geekiness, and probably other stuff, as I do like to talk. My first mid grade book, which is tentatively titled The Dragon Boy, was just recently accepted to be published by the UpDrift Imprint of Booktrope.  Their goal is to publish books with a message. To print books for kids that parents would love as well. And I am so over the moon that they accepted mine.  I hope to add to my backlist with other titles later on. Thanks for checking out my new site.