Distracted By Something Shiny

From Westword Books FB - it’s my book-birthday!
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Today is a very special day - Sunday, February 9, 2020 is the one year anniversary of our first book release, Terrific Tails: Stories From A Pet Guardian. In publishing circles, this is called a “book-birthday”, because to writers, their stories are like their children. Which is why you never ask an author to pick their favorite work, any more than you’d ask a parent to pick their favorite child - (even if we all know they have one!).

We checked in with our author, Adie Weston, to ask her how she feels about it all one year later.

“To be honest, it’s still surreal to think that my words are out there in the form of a book. I don’t know if that feeling will ever go away.”

As for what she’s been working on lately, Adie says, “I admit to taking a break from Book 2 over the holidays to write a few short stories for my niblings. Every writer has to have priorities and for me, my monkeys are always my priority.”

We prodded just a little to see if we could get anything out of her about this so-called Book 2.

She laughs. “The working title is Roller Kids and that’s all you’re getting out of me!”

And then we broke protocol and asked the forbidden question - does she have a favorite child?

“Of my original work, obviously Terrific Tails is my favorite. I adore the subject matter of course, as well the way the project brought my family together. And it certainly has been my biggest labor of love. But in my late teens and early 20s, I went through a phase of writing short plays and there are a few of those I’m still quite proud of.”

We asked her if she had any closing thoughts on Terrific Tails’ first birthday.

“Just how grateful I am to everyone who helped me with this project, especially my older brother and sister. And how grateful I am to every single person who bought and read my freshman book. I’m so happy I was able to do this, not just *for* my Grandma, but *because* of her.” She smiles softly and adds, “Miss you, Grandma.”

You can celebrate the one year release of Terrific Tails: Stories From A Pet Guardian by buying a copy on Amazon today!
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Can’t believe it’s been a year! Wish I was further along on Book 2, but also...omg, I have a book-birthday! That fact alone is mind-blowing! Thanks to all of my LJ writer friends for your support - wouldn’t be here w/o the fanfic community, for sure.

On Sunday my family held a celebration of life for my Uncle John. He left a hole in this family & I am heart-crushed at the loss. I am eternally grateful though, that not only did he get a chance to read my book before he passed, but that he also thoroughly enjoyed it! It gave me a lot of pride to have his stamp of approval. I was literally busting the day my aunt sent me this pic of Uncle John reading my book. It doesn’t get much better than that.



Rest well, Uncle John. Rest well.



But the other thing his memorial had me thinking of - the thing I wished I’d told him - was that his fight in life was an inspiration to me. And I don’t mean against the cancer - though that too - but I mean through every struggle he faced since Day 1 and his ability to get & stay sober, to turn his life around...it inspired me beyond measure when I was getting my own life back on track. I’m not one to talk about emotional family things, so when I get asked on my inspiration for staying sober, I say things like Robert Downey Jr - and that’s true too - but also you, Uncle John. Always you. So thanks for that. I’ll miss you.

I keep trying not to interject (Self) Published Author when I say it, bc fuck it, I worked my ass off, I don’t need no qualifiers! Ya’ll my book is out in paperback! MY BOOK, MINE! I did it, I’m an author. Omg. I’m stuck alternating between running around screaming excitedly at top of my lungs and flopping down boneless & relieved of all cares in the world. And bonus, now I can focus on other things for a change, like disability blogging more, art projects, answering journal comments lol, and idk, writing my next book. Anyways, here’s the write up for those of you *not* following my professional FB - why aren’t you? It’s Westword Books on FB, go Follow! - ...

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And...it’s RELEASE DAY! As I type this, Terrific Tails: Stories From A Pet Guardian has officially been out in paperback for nearly 8 hours! At last! 3 years & 2 months for this project, which not only included the book itself, but also the beginning of this fun, family charity project, Westword Books! What a ride! And it’s just the beginning.

( Under the cut for spaceage. )

Terrific Tails: Stories From A Pet Guardian on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Terrific-Tails-Stories-Pet-Guardian/dp/173093112X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

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Thank you to all my DW/LJ/Fandom peeps for all of your support over the years with my writing. You helped guide & nuture me and I will *always* be grateful for that. Now...GO BUY MY BOOK!

Guys, it’s up!! It’s up! My book is officially released! Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!

It’s up in ebook form now and paperback in November. If you are an animal lover or want to hear funny stories about my life - some you may have heard on here before - check it out! And also, the paperback makes a great gift for Christmas!

Sorry, not sorry, for all the exclamation points!!!


Also, I did this cover art myself!

Buy it here for US or search your country’s Amazon - I know for sure it’s up in the UK & CA.

https://www.amazon.com/Terrific-Tails-Stories-Pet-Guardian-ebook/dp/B07JM6S6BC

Omg, I have a release date for my book! You guys!! Friday, October 26th. Just 11 days. I’m freaking out. I never thought this day would actually come. I started this project by writing a single chapter for my Grandma Ava for Christmas, 2015. Nearly three years ago. And now…just 11 days to go.

I simultaneously feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, as well as feeling like my chest is caving in on me. I have never really shared my writing with people in my ‘real life’, but so many of them are going to buy this book, it’s kind of nerve-wracking. Of the few that I have shared my work with, it has been a divide between very supportive and whatever the complete opposite of that is. So you can see why I’m slightly flipping at having more ‘real life’ people read my stuff. The thought of ‘outsiders’ finding it and reading it though is actually exciting!

Anyways, I have been so preoccupied this last year with editing, formatting, designing, setting up accounts, figuring how to upload a fixed layout, figuring what fixed layout even is - all of those things have consumed my last year and I’ve not written a thing. My word muscles are going to need some stretching. So I think, once the book is up and running, I will flex them with some short fics. The Nephew has requested a Nightcrawler fic from me and I have an idea for a Supergirl fic for his little sister – her first fanfic from me. Maybe I’ll do some for the Canadians too.

Also, there has been some issue with the paperback version – mainly that we realized the pdf my brother made would amount to an 8x11 sized book and that is weirdly too big for this type of book. We want something closer to 8x6. But when he tried to resize, it messed up the photos. (yes, there are photos in this book, of my sweet furry babies!) I didn’t want to make him redo everything, but he was insistent. He said if we are gonna do this, let’s do it right, And that an 8x11 would be a weird size and he’d rather do the work than always look at the book and feel like we got lazy. I agree the size would be wrong for a book of this type – non-fiction anthology of pet stories, not like a children’s book or a cookbook or something. So the e-book comes out first, then the paperback, once he’s fixed it up.

Look, you have all been so supportive of my writing, and I never would have made it here without the support of fandom, and all of you in particular. So thank you. Really, thank you.

Now, go follow my professional FB page! Westword Books If you aren’t on FB, don’t worry, I will give the major announcements here, but if you can follow me on FB, please do so. Soon I will make announcements on Twitter, Tumblr, other authors’ blogs who are going to interview me – and if people who find me through there, ‘outside’ people so to speak, come to my professional page and see only 30 people follow me, it’s gonna look kinda lame. Help me out, ya’ll! Plus you’ll get exciting content like an early chapter release. ;)

October 26th – mark you calendars!