So I love my job. I really, just love it.
And a while ago I wrote that blog about taking my time with release dates and the support from you guys was AMAZING. Seriously. You people are the best people in the world. I just love you all to bits and pieces.
Truth.
But I don't want anyone to have this bad impression of me now!! I really, really don't mind you asking me for release dates or even getting upset with me when a book is not out. That is all GOOD NEWS for me because it means that you are excited about what I'm releasing. And your enthusiasm is the best gift you could ever give me!
So please don't think of me as this untouchable author. I really try to make an effort to be approachable. I ADORE interacting with you all and hearing from you. I love your comments and posts and listening to your opinions on my characters.
Even when you hate them. :)
Just know that that's not why I posted blog. That was seriously just an explanation of what was going on in my life and why all these books are not in your possession.
But they will be soon. Like, really, really soon. (Ahem, especially Sunburst....)
It's just that... ok, here is the truth. I am the WORST author ever. I really, really am.
Ok, before you think I'm super insecure, let me explain. I'm not talking about the actually writing that goes into my book. I mean as a profession, the job apart from writing- that's what I suck at.
Sometimes I'm just amazed I still have a career to go to because of how truly terrible I am this job.
Want proof??
Here is my list of 5 reasons why I make the worst author alive.
1. I never respond to emails. Never. If you've emailed me recently and never heard back from me and now every time you see me you think, "YOU BITCH!" Let me explain... I have 30,000 unread emails in my email box. Yep. You read that right. 30k. And it's not even good, fan-related emails. It's all because Old Navy sends me four emails a day, or Zulily wants to remind me what's on sale at three different times every single day. I even get emails from the Post Office. I mean, really?? And now my poor email box has just stacked up and stacked up to where it's OUT OF CONTROL. 30k??? How do I even have that much storage???? And I should go through it and delete everything I never plan on reading. Or make files and place emails accordingly.... But who has the time for that??? Not me! It's too overwhelming. In fact, it's so stressful that I've actually moved beyond stressing out about it and just hit this Zen point in my life where I allow myself to shrug it off. And by Zen, I really mean apathy. One day I'll get to it... one day.
Ahem.
2. I hate books.
Ha! Ok, not all books. But real books. The eBook revolution was the greatest thing to happen to me. Which I think makes me Enemy Number One. But here's the thing. We moved like a year and a half ago and at our old house we had an entire room equipped with built-in book shelves. So all of my books- and I do have an insane amount- had a home. Now, in our new home I don't even have a ledge to put them on!! And I could go buy bookshelves, of course, but I don't have room for those either!!! And so, with the invention of the eBook I can keep ALL my books in digital places that don't take up space, or are in danger of having little kid hands destroy them! All of my real books are in boxes in my garage and they might never see the light of day again. Not ever. I LOVE eBooks. I love them. And I HATE regular books. I've been conditioned. I'm sure I'm part of some super terrible problem and will somehow be responsible for the destruction of future generations. But until I have a house with a place for these space-suckers I am sticking to my guns.
Viva La eBooks!!!
3. Along those same lines I don't even have most of my OWN books in print!!! It's seriously a problem because I really do understand that other people like regular books- that they don't mind all the space they take up. There's not even a reason I don't offer them in print. I just haven't done it yet!! Story of my life... believe me. I've even paid for most of the covers!! They're just sitting on my computer. Abandoned. Lonely. Neglected. So sorry if you're looking for Starbright, The Rush, any of the Love and Decays- including the big book, or Bet in the Dark in print!!! I'll get to this. One day. Probably around the same time I get to my email.
Just kidding- hopefully way before then....
4. I don't take myself very seriously. Um. At. All. And that makes signing books really, really hard to do. I know I'm supposed to say something inspirational or smart or catchy. And I try... but what I really want to write to you are ridiculous cliches that in fact mean nothing!!!
So while in real life I write "Live fearlessly, Love endlessly" (my go to book-signing phrase. real inspired. ha.).... What I really mean is "Abandon Ship!" or "Smooth Operator."
What do those even mean?? I have no idea. But there it is, whenever I write something inspirational to you, I'm really thinking, "Rock out with your...." well, ahem, you get the idea.
5. This is probably the worst thing that I do. And luckily it doesn't affect you. Much... But I'm horrible with the whole marketing side of my books. I mean, straight up terrible.
And part of it is because there's a little bit of hippie in me. I'm all.... let's just find my books together, experience them organically, if you stumble upon them, fantastic! If you never find them, then may your journey in fiction be fulfilling anyway. :)
Ok, it's not really that bad.
But still, I had never done a blog tour or a cover reveal until Striking. And that was only because Lila is sooo much more on top of things than me! I saw the other day that someone did a "Title Reveal" for one of their books!!! I was like what??? Now this girl has it TOGETHER. Me on the other hand, on the far, far, far other side of the spectrum, is still mulling over title names and characters even AFTER I push publish. For real. Reckless Magic was originally titled Reckless. And I published it that way and it stayed that way for months. (It's how I still think of it to this day.) And I currently have THREE characters with almost the same name. Ty from Bet in the Dark. Tyler from Love and Decay. And Ben Tyler from the Five Stages of Falling in Love. Don't think I'm not tempted to go back and change all three of those.
I won't.
But I'm tempted.
Also, I didn't even know I liked that name so much. These are the things I find out about myself when I write.
Anyway. I promised myself that I would get organized. I can't exactly remember when I promised myself this... but it seems to be a recurring theme in my head. Get organized. Get organized. Get organized.
But let's be real.
I'm almost thirty. This is NEVER going to happen. I'm set in my ways. This IS who I am.
I'm the girl that buys a daily planner every single year. And then uses it for two days before I either lose it or forget about it.
I get really excited if I'm able to get my girls to school on time TWO days in a row. As a side note, this week it has been three days in a row which is thus far unprecedented this school year... I can't keep deadlines. I can't keep release dates. I've been trying to read over a FINISHED first draft of Sunburst for the last week and I've only made it forty pages!!! This is my life. I'm just.... a mess.
A hot mess.
And I will fight you over that hot part. If I have to be a mess, I'm darn well going to be a hot one.
So why am I telling you all this????
Mostly because I haven't blogged in like weeks and I've been meaning to. Also, I have a cover that I have been DYING to show you and I keep thinking I'll do a cover reveal- but I just don't have it together enough to organize that. And I feel like I was going to do this whole Waiting on Wednesday theme thing where I'm all, Are you waiting on The Relentless Warrior??? But I forgot about it and gave you a Top 5 instead. Aren't you lucky....? :)
And just think, we didn't even cover my inability to send out give-aways, my forgetfulness, my inactivity on goodreads, how I purposefully ignore authorgraph, the fact I've only ever done one book signing and the list goes on and on and on.
But enough about me!
Don't you want to see the cover for The Relentless Warrior????? During the worst cover reveal ever....?
I do!
The cover was created by the insanely talented Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations.
Jericho Bentley is disillusioned by life. He feels lost in a world of peace and restless in a time threatened by war. He has given up on love, forgotten how to trust others and decided a lifetime of bachelorhood is all that remains for him.
Olivia Taylor was struggling to find her way in a human world. Now taken from the only life she’s ever known and changed on a molecular level, she is more lost than ever. With her sister struggling to survive the after effects of one of Dmitri Terletov’s experiments, Olivia sets off with Jericho to find a cure for both herself and her sister.
Together, Jericho and Olivia find more than vengeance and answers, they find a deep friendship that might teach them both to trust again. Maybe even to love again. As long as they can both put the hurt of their past behind them for good.
Who is Rachel?!?
Rachel Higginson is the author of The Five Stages of Falling in Love, Every Wrong Reason, The Star-Crossed Series, Love & Decay Novella Series and much more!
She was born and raised in Nebraska, and spent her college years traveling the world. She fell in love with Eastern Europe, Paris, Indian Food and the beautiful beaches of Sri Lanka, but came back home to marry her high school sweetheart. Now she spends her days writing stories and raising five amazing kids.
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Oh. My. GOOOODDNNEESSS!!!! Yayayay!!! Love it! And, Rachel, just fyi - YOU ARE THE BEST AUTHOR EVER! <3
ReplyDeleteAgreed^^ And dont worry about the rest. They say admitting u have a problem is the first step...lol! Love the cover and cant wait for RW and Sunburst
ReplyDeleteThis is so incredible :) cant wait to read it. Rachel you are AMAZING and all that other stuff doesn't matter because when write I am transported to another world with people I would LOVE to meet :) and for that I cant thank you enough. I adore your disorganization because I am right there with you (not an author but a working mom of 5 so I'm lucky if I know which way is up most of the time) lol thanks again for such fantastic stories and characters that I feel all the way in my heart! Girl you rock!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell I think you're awesome Rachel! Maybe you do need to hire a personal assistant though to make things easier for you. I am volunteering! LOL
ReplyDeleteWhaoo! Can't wait for this book. Haha- I love the way your write your blog. I can hear your voice/personality every time I read a post. You are amazingly talented. And I get it- we all want the best of both worlds. We want people to love and accept us (weakness, flaws and all) and we really don't want to hear when people (especially people we don't know, ahem, internet friends) disagree with us or are disappointed with us. I get why you were so defensive about release dates- I do. Your blog post made it very clear that you were offended and needed us to UNDERSTAND where you were coming from. But when I went through and read the comments that made you write that post- I couldn't figure out where it came from? People weren't "hating"- no one attacked your character, your talent or even called you names. There were suggestions, disappointment and a few people expressed "frustration." And now your saying that you really don't care if people ask or are frustrated because it means they care? All I'm saying is at the end of the day you are an amazingly talented author who writes and SELLS books. If you keep writing good books, people will keep BUYING them. It's a complicated relationship, but we'll all get the hang of it.
ReplyDeleteThis is all great, you are a lot of fun. Perfection is for heaven so you are fine for now, just strive to be the best you you can be. Ok, when does #6 come out please ma'am?
ReplyDeleteSo hoping it was already out. I thought it was going to be in Nov. So I went and read the series over this week(which i've read this series 5x) hoping that it would be out. Do you have a release date yet?
ReplyDeleteLove the fact that Jericho will find love. I did really feel bad for him in the sense that he fell in love with the wrong girl.