Big Week!
Do you remember finals week from your last week of school? Or maybe a particularly tough week of military training right before graduation? The “stressed but excited” and “I just have to make it through a few more days!” feeling? That was this week. It was a big week.
On Sunday, my friend and fellow writer/blogger/awesome human, the one and only Angry Staff Officer, was kind enough to let me pontificate on two of my favorite subjects: Star Wars and strategy. Or rather, the inaccurate depictions of strategic writing in Star Wars. Yes, I’m a nerd. Yes, I’m 100% ok with this!
Some fluke in the algorithms cause Google News to pick it up and thousands of people read it! Given that I’m pleased as punch to have 50 people read a “Confessions From The Trail” post or 20 people reading “Born, Not Bitten,” I was floored.
Not long after that article started going off the charts, I learned that some of my lucky readers got their paper versions 3, 4, and 5 days ahead of the official release! Very cool and it was a real treat to start seeing that book cover out in the wild, especially later in the week when the Kindle version was available as well.
On Tuesday, I had a birthday. I figured it would be ho-hum, nothing major but my family and coworkers really made the day feel special. I even got a custom Pantheon mask from my Mom. If that doesn’t scream 2020, I don’t know what does!
And of course, on Wednesday at midnight, Pantheon released.
I woke up to some positive feedback on Twitter from some of my kind readers. When I took a quick lunch break, three of my closest friends got almost identical texts:
Yup, in just over 10 hours on the market, Pantheon was the #85 Superhero book for sale on Amazon. At one point, as you saw in “Welcome to the Unreal,” it was the top 0.5% of book sales on Amazon.
By some stroke of luck, my box of books shows up a few hours before the release party. My spouse was kind enough to capture the moment. I thought I would be happy but mostly stoic. I did not think I would cry. I cried.
We cruised through the virtual release party and the lucky few who joined us got a chance to hear what it was like writing the story, my character creation process, the joys of running through the night, and more. It went more smoothly than I would have thought, so in the future, I might do virtual book signings and author meet ‘n’ greet events. Then, maybe once COVID is over, I can get out and meet you all in person!
Honestly, the rest of the week has been a blur. I turned off my social media apps while at work to keep focused there, but it as a struggle! Now I’m bringing my heart and mind back down from the stratosphere to sea level and the real world:
I’m doing Sober October with a friend. I ran a virtual 10k on the road last Saturday and I’ll run even further on the trail this Saturday. I signed up for the Mississippi 50 again, as the full 50k course. I’m determined to finish the distance this year! That means keeping on my training calendar and watching my nutrition.
But I’m still writing! I have an unrelated project due at the end of the year. I’m working through Act II of “Born, Not Bitten.” And of course, I’m doing my final edits of the next book in the Pantheon series, which will be titled…
…just kidding! You’ll have to follow me a little longer before I release that!
So, I will wrap this all up with a huge “thank you!” Thank you to my friends and family who have supported me. Thank you to my new friends, followers, and readers for taking a chance on this book. Thank you to everyone who has dropped a review at the purchasing source or on Goodreads. I feel so honored and lucky to have you all on this journey with me.
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Just looking for wild stories of cave diving, ultramarathons, blacksmithing, or powerlifting. Yeah, I’ve got those too!
Congratulations on your huge week. I have finished Pantheon, and now the hard part of loving a series comes. I will continuously be telling myself that good books take time, and to hold my horses and wait patiently. It is so hard!