Hi, everyone! Thanks for being here. I just wanted to provide you with some quick updates about what’s coming up here on my site and with respect to my writing.

Merging Blogs

To simplify my life a bit, I am going to be merging three of my passions and areas of interest from three separate blogs onto this one website.

If you’re unaware, I run a book review blog called After Midnight Book Reviews, and I’m going to be transitioning my most recent book reviews from that blog over here. I have deleted posts here on my website where I shared directly from my review blog and am going to be re-sharing them as original posts. After Midnight Book Reviews will still be accessible for a while longer.

I also ran a mental health blog for a while in combination with a mental health-oriented Facebook page. At present, that Facebook page and blog have both been deactivated.

I have not lost my passion for helping educate and give a voice to those who feel they need one, but it is simply too difficult for me to run so many blogs and social media accounts with the way that my own health and mental health have been lately.

Also, not to put too fine of a point on it, but there is a lot going on in the world, and I am going to be focusing very heavily on the concept of community and community-based support for mental health (as well as mental illness and chronic illness management) going forward.

A lot of what we are taught about managing our health is meant to be done on an individual level. We are expected to manage our symptoms and day-to-day lives largely on our own in the absence of what many professionals would refer to as severe illness, but at present, that is becoming increasingly difficult for most of us. I have to re-think how to approach the subject of mental health, illness, and disability for everyone, but especially those being the most heavily impacted by current events.

I greatly hope that you’ll enjoy seeing more posts with more diverse content.

Poetry & Poetry Readings

Next up, I’m going to be sharing more poetry and more poetry readings. I enjoy doing the poetry readings a lot. I would appreciate any interactions on these posts. You are always more than welcome to share it if you love it. Sharing buttons are at the bottom of every post. Some will be from my published book, I Will Rise: Poetry on living with mental and chronic illness, and some will be brand new.

Editing & BETA Readers

Currently, I’m editing my story Love, Cori. I am more than halfway through, but if we’re being perfectly honest, it is slow going due to my own health limitations.

Once editing is completed, I am going to be posting in some groups looking for BETA readers to help me get the book ready for publishing. After making any needed changes, I will be in search of ARC readers.

How I am planning on self-publishing remains somewhat of a mystery. I believe I may go through Lulu again, as I enjoyed most aspects of publishing through them. It is unlikely that I will create print copies of this story.

Next Projects

While that story is in with the readers, I am planning on beginning work on my next story. I find it good practice to step away from the projects I’m currently working on in order to work on something new between drafts. It helps keep my eyes and mind fresh when I look at the work in progress I’m trying to finalize.

I am going to be putting together a second collection of poetry as well, the theme of which I will be revealing very soon.

Kudos

Kudos to you for making it all the way through this long post, and thank you very much for reading!