This time last year my tenth book (Qubyte) was about to launch.
A month ago today my eleventh book (Cryptobyte) launched.
Could try harder could be my catch phrase.
Although I do try hard, I’m just not getting anywhere. That’s frustrating, really frustrating. There is only so much I can do on my own and I reached that point about a year ago (maybe longer?) – so now it’s basically treading water trying to figure out the point at which I drown.

I don’t feel like the author of 11 books. I’m still struggling to find readers and get some traction. I learnt a long time ago that comparing yourself and your journey to others is insanity. Sometimes it’s hard to avoid though.
Our brains do like to toss shit around every now and then.
Mine likes to say:
“You should be making real money by now.”
“Nothing sadder than a failed author.”
“What’s the point of putting so much effort into your work if no one reads it?”
And my personal favorite, “Ellie deserves better than this.”
Maybe I do too, brain, did you think of that?
No, you did not.
I hear regularly from people saying things like “I hope your books get the recognition they deserve”, “These stories are amazing”, “I love this series so much.”
Nice. And yes, comments like that give me a much needed boost.
But really it needs to happen out in the world, not in my email or messages.
How do you make that happen?
Buggered if I know.

Seriously, it’s hard enough getting readers to take two minutes and write a review (and we all know how important they are!). I don’t even ask now because the request is ignored 99% of the time. Everyone has good intentions it’s the follow through that needs work. 🙂

So anyway, it’s a stormy Sunday – was a stormy night and I was trying to sleep off a weather induced migraine during a thunder storm. Fun, right?
The weather is utter shite. But it’s not unusual for this time of year. yes, it is supposed to be summer but summer in New Zealand never really kicks off until Jan/Feb.
So there is hope that summer will emerge from the drippy grey clouds.

This coming week is my birthday week. The last couple of birthdays have been fab because My Knight was here and we celebrated. This year, we’re not spending December together (and yes, people, that sucks BUT we did just have about 10 weeks together so I can’t be complaining too much about missing out on December – but it still sucks).
I am not looking forward to my birthday.
I did get a fabulous birthday card and some money from Superman. The money came in super handy and bought THA and Actorkid a Christmas present each. 🙂
That’s the kinda shitty thing about Dec birthdays as an adult. (But it’s also super handy, so, there’s that!)

In other news: last week I did a giveaway via Facebook. It was a total waste of time.
This coming week, if you’d like a free digital copy of killerbyte, I will generate a coupon for Smashwords … all you need do is contact me via the CONTACT form with ‘Birthday Giveaway’ in the subject field.
I’ll reply with a link and code as soon as I’m able.

Stay safe.
Cat xx