Indie Author Goes Rogue on Release Day

Hey everyone.

I'm releasing a new book today, but I'm not going to blah-blah-blah to you about that.

Yep, I'm doing it all wrong as a newbie author. Instead, I'm gonna get real.

Things around here have been a bit chaotic and stressful.

You know that feeling like, "how am I ever gonna get all this sh!t done and not drop the ball on SOMETHING?!"

That's me right about now.

I've been panicking about my book release, that I've forgotten something major. (Too late now. It's live.)

NaNoWriMo starts today. I signed up...I think. Signed up or not, I'm attempting a first draft of my next book by month end.

I barely made it through Halloween with my two littles under age 10, who were hopped up on sugar and fighting about who gets what from their neighborhood begging spree. (We fared okay. Only one skinned knee and two lost costume pieces during trick-or-treat.)

Thanksgiving is coming, when we'll host 50 of our closest family members at our home (we truly LOVE doing it), but it's MADNESS...before, during and after.

Don't even get me started on the chaos of the Christmas season...which Hallmark Channel insists began last week. (My Golden Girls are on hiatus until January. Sigh.)

And as my latest novel is born today, it's also my husband's birthday. He's turning...(nevermind).

I've been stressing about what to do for him, because it is a big one. It ends in a zero, and he's not a spring chicken anymore. I didn't plan a surprise party for him (heart attack risk?), or buy him a big ticket item (I wanted to...but what?)

Truthfully, I think he'd rather let this one slip under the radar, and I get that. I wasn't too happy about my last milestone birthday, either - and he's got a few (okay, 9!) years on me.

But we started celebrating Saturday night, because who wants to do it up if their actual birthday is on a Wednesday?

I planned a surprise day trip to a Classic Car Museum (he loved it), and then a stop at a local brewery we'd never been to (big hit!). The party ended in the wee hours of Sunday morning after too many beers (maybe a couple shots, too). We kicked ass at a karaoke bar with one of our best friends, and she drove us home.

We are just recovering from this outing...and it's Wednesday.

The actual birthday-day.

I'm making a big dinner for the family coming to celebrate, and I hope he knows that even though I didn't get him a fancy gift or throw him a party with a thousand of his close friends, I could not do this life without him.

He designs my covers, and navigates me through technology, and is honest with me when my hair looks bad or I have zits on my face that happen to be symmetrical. (Thank you, stress!) He's also an amazing dad and sings Sinatra like nobody's business.

Happy Birthday, hubs! Thank your lucky stars no one believes you look the age you are, including me. And if all else fails, remember the sign my great-grandfather kept at camp:

Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.

MJW