August 2023
In this month’s newsletter, scroll down to find:
- FREE Book Club Kits
- Upcoming Ebook sale
- Travel Log: Happily Ever After
- Review Corner
- Bookmarks and Playlists
Book Club Kit
Are you hosting a Book Club for Contest of Queens? or Queen’s Catacombs?
Are you more interested in planning the snacks and feature cocktails than you are in planning the discussion questions for the books?
Fret not, I have you covered!
If you’re lucky, you might have this much fun:
Ebook Sale
Exciting news!
CONTEST OF QUEENS ebook is going on sale for the month of September for $1.99! Mark your calendar for September first and pick up your copy wherever you buy your ebooks, or click the image below.
Travel Log: Happily Ever After
Oh nelly.
If you’re new here, the only context you need is that I’m an author who has taken a year off her job in Canada as a Speech Language Pathologist to live in Scotland to finish writing my trilogy.
This year I’ve taken to love, to dream, to write, to explore is swiftly drawing to a close. As you can imagine, I’m feeling a little emotional and reflecting on all I’ve done.
In the book world, I have accomplished so much more than I could have imagined in one year:
- Published Queen’s Catacombs
- Signed the French translation rights of Contest of Queens to Lux and Nox publishing house (release date: 2024)
- Signed Queendom Come with CamCat publishing and begun concluding my first trilogy (release date: 2025)
- (almost) finished my mysteriously titled pirate novel
It’s incredible, and I don’t for a moment want to diminish these accomplishments because it’s a nasty habit I’m trying to break, but I do want to acknowledge the proudest achievement of mine this year: That I answered my call to adventure.
It can often be easy to escape into my own or other authors’ stories. To hide between pages, or behind a computer screen, but this year I lived my adventure, and I am so proud of that. I’ve shared a lot of my travels in this newsletter or on my Instagram, so while a part of me wants to provide a colorful recap of my year-long quest, I won’t. This year was mostly for me, and in my heart it will stay.
Instead, I want to say thank you. Thank you to my hustling nose-to-the-grindstone past self whose hard work, resilient mental health, and frugal saving made this year financially possible. Thank you to my parents for giving me wandering feet. Thank you to my dear friends and family who have opened their doors to me when I came knocking and taken the time to show me snapshots of their lives. Thank you to new friends who helped me create such wonderful memories. Thank you to my writing buddy who became so much more. Thank you to fleeting love interests for keeping this year spicy. Thank you to my job for providing me with the security and deadline to return. I am forever grateful for all the many factors and people that made this year possible.
Thank you for this year, this heart, this life.
And like a new convert or newly wed, I feel myself compelled to share advice that might lead you, dear reader, to a similar state. Answer your call to adventure, and if the air is still and silent- be your own call. We are here for such a short time.
Live magically.
13 Countries explored: England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Germany, France, Malta, Sicily, New Zealand, Canada (Alberta and BC), and USA (New York).
Review Corner
Reviews are so helpful in getting word of Contest of Queens and Queen’s Catacombs out there. If you have time, and if you’ve read the book, I would be eternally grateful if you could leave a star rating and/or a written review on Goodreads or Amazon.
Thank you to all the wonderful people who have left a star rating or review! Here are some lovely reviews:
Bookmarks and Playlists
I love recommendations and you may be interested in mine, so here’s the book I’m reading, the songs I’m listening to, and any thoughts I have of them.
Bookmark:
Incredible. Absolutely loved this and now I’m kicking myself for not looking into Anne Bronte’s works sooner.
Playlist:
I will listen to the same few songs on repeat until I’ve drained every last drop of serotonin out of them so these are the three song’s I’ve been wringing out this month:
Lara – The Arcadian Wild. There’s something about the melody that is so soothing.
Wild Uncharted Waters – Prince Eric from the live action Little Mermaid. Yes. Come at me. This song is fantastic. They decided to give this cape wearing flautist a solo worthy of kings and the way it mingles with Ariel’s siren song is just poetry.
I’m a Rover – Great Big Sea. With my move looming overhead, this song has been a beacon of light and hope. It’s fun, jaunty, and a love song to boot. I’ll be using the tune in a shanty that will pop up in my pirate novel.
Jordan H. Bartlett 