The Emotional Roller Coaster
This time of year is an emotional roller coaster for me. There are a lot of different reasons, seasonal depression and “pre order depression” are two of them… But! I have good news! I got in an order of books *drum roll* for my first ever convention! Read on to get the details!
here we have Max and his shadow, Astrid. showcasing their height differences.
Author's Life:
First, the old business! I’m finally getting over this sickness! The antibiotics have helped me kick it, though I have had a few issues with my knees this week, unrelated to sickness and more related to the thawing snow. I also didn’t get to read “Faeries & Frost” last weekend, because I got started on some stuff for another art project…
Now, the new-ish business. I had a bit of a depressive spiral this week because my normal people to talk to about books are either busy with out of town stuff or are worried about upcoming operations (see the Editor Update for that), so I felt like I couldn't bother them with book stuff. I quickly got told otherwise, but I still had another day of "I need to sit in my feels and process them" because the reason I wanted to talk books wasn't readily apparent until Thursday... when I was reminded that I'm in the depression part of my Book Writing and Publishing cycle where I've put in all the time and effort to write, edit, format and promote but the pre order only had 1 sale (thank you Aunt Denise, I know you read these and that honestly makes me smile), and it was getting me down.
I am doing better now though. Because of a few things. 1) I got in an order of books that will be my stock for my first ever book convention as an “Attending Author!” I am excited, nervous, and all the things for Book Bash 2026 which will be held in Cleveland, OH at the New Leaf Event Center on Saturday, April 25th from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. and my friend, Beta Reader, and fellow upcoming author, Slade will be going with me to help me stay sane. This is a HUGE undertaking, but together we got this! 2) I finished writing BALLAD OF THE WINGED WRATH!
The promo for the event, which has all the details.
The second shipment of "stock"
Lastly, a little note, this coming weekend, the Newsletter will be later in the day (possibly Sunday morning) as I have my sister-in-law’s wedding on Saturday (the 28th) and we will be driving to Michigan on Friday the 27th for pre-wedding shenanigans. We’ll be driving straight home afterward, and I will get the newsletter posted as soon as we get home.
Editor Update:
A little change from last week, Matt (My manager, friend, and Emotional Support Australian) is having open heart surgery on the 2nd of March instead of the 26th of February. He has to travel 2 hours to have the surgery with admission on the 1st. He'll be there for a bit, so please keep him (and his wife) in your thoughts and prayers. He’s quite nervous, so are his wife and I. So, send some of those thoughts for me as well... mostly because I will be “unsupervised” for the time he is gone, which means productivity may hit an all-time low as he’s the one who helps me stay on track, out of spiraling thoughts, and focused at night, which is when I write most.
The work Life:
Writing:
This week, BALLAD OF THE WINGED WRATH is DONE🎉! It finished at 77,135, which is 12,635 words more than last week. I also wrote some side projects for my art site, which ended up being a total of 6,328 more words. This week marks the 2nd largest word count of the year… so far. 😅 Now, it’s time to start DIRGE OF THE BETRAYED… or write Kalista book 10, which takes place right around the same time.
Total word count for the week:
18,963 words
Editing:
Editing is taking a back seat at the moment, as Matt is worried about the surgery and I’ve been busy writing or sick… I may have to go through the rest of Fated Angel on my own and just have him read it later. I don’t want to, but it needs to be beta ready by September…
I am now up to Chapter 10 of AN ANGEL ENRAGED, which means I only have 14 more plus the Epilogue to go! Nearly halfway there!
Publishing:
✨Beta Reading Continues!✨
Beta Reading for COOKIES & RAGE is underway, and I have some venting to do. If you don’t want the tea, skip the next paragraph. 🫖
I had 4 people sign up to beta read the book via email and all four turned out to be “professional” beta readers who decided to use a very unprofessional business model and give me a few chapters of “feedback” that was actually more like developmental edits and NOT beta reading work before saying “I usually charge for it, so I’ll continue to read if you pay me.” Even though I have outlined here on my website what I look for and that I cannot afford to nor will I ever pay someone to beta read. I do however offer my beta readers who complete the book, a free eBook of the published version, or a coupon for getting the signed copy for the pre order of whatever book they happen to have read.
The Discord *clears throat* I mean RootApp chat betas, however, are great! I’ve had 4 surveys turned in for chunk 1 (some people were a bit busy or sick this week, so didn’t get to read/fill out a survey), and 1 for chunk 2 which only dropped yesterday. They’re loving it so far, and I’m happy for it.
🌙 Deadly Sirens Pre-order🌙
Ebooks Available on:
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble
itch.io
Kobo (and Kobo Plus)
Smashwords
And on my Website too!
A special Thank you to Nora for being my second pre order! 💗
📚Reserving books for the Convention📚
If anyone plans to come see me at the convention, I will have a limited supply of books (all paperback) and I will have a form/item in my shop this week where you can pre-order/reserve books. Also, if you're coming and want Hardcover books, I will have that available on there until the 25th of March so I can have time to get the hardcovers in before the convention. I will post the link here when I get it posted, hopefully by Wednesday.
Art Feature:
I have been doing art "for fun" this week, none of which is appropriate for showcase here on my newsletter, so instead you get this requested (by Matt) art of what he calls the “Ginger Mafia.” On the far left we have Sonya Stryker (Jael, Kort, and Michael’s daughter) with 2 of the 3 Drascul Triplets, Ashalynn (middle) and Flynn (right).
Feel free to leave me a comment at the bottom of the page about what you thought or if you had a question. I'll have a question and answer at the end of next week's newsletter.
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Thanks for reading!
~Jenn (aka Born Angel Author)
Mark Your 2026 Calendar: 4 books!
~ January 1st: C🍪🍪KIES & R🤬GE Cover Reveal!
~ January 24th: DEADLY SIRENS Preorder drops here and across all platforms!
👉🏻February 13th to March 20th: Beta Reading for C🍪🍪KIES & R🤬GE
~ March 1: ARCs for DEADLY SIRENS go out.
~ April 9th: DEADLY SIRENS Release day!
~ May 1st: ARC Signups for C🍪🍪KIES & R🤬GE begins!
~ May 8th: Beta Signups for AN ANGEL ENRAGED (Kali book 7) drop
~ June 1st: ARC's for C🍪🍪KIES & R🤬GE go out!
~ June 12th to July 17th: Beta reading AN ANGEL ENRAGED.
~ July 20th: C🍪🍪KIES & R🤬GE RELEASE DAY!
~ August 1st: AN ANGEL ENRAGED Arc Signups open and THE FATED ANGEL beta reading sign ups.
~ August 15th: Preorder for AN ANGEL ENRAGED begins!
~ September 4th: AN ANGEL ENRAGED ARCS go out!
~ September 11th - October 16th: Beta Reading THE FATED ANGEL!
~ October 31st: AN ANGEL ENRAGED Release Day!
~ November 13th: Cover Reveal THE FATED ANGEL!
For more information and little updates along the way
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