Whether you've always wanted to write your book but just can't work up the courage and motivation to do it, or you've written a book (or several) but struggle to market it, welcome to the scaredy cat club. 

This year, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and a lot of trying new things when it comes to my books. 

The biggest thing that has always gotten in my way, of course, is me. I was always afraid of what might be waiting for me if I simply put myself out there. I was afraid of what would happen if I tried… and the thing I created wasn’t perfect. 

I am quite fond of thinking deeply about the human condition; pondering the things that make us who we are. Our longing for connection, for recognition, for meaning. It’s one of my favorite things to think about, honestly. I may have mentioned once or twice on this blog that I am also quite a fan of horror. One thing that I’ve always adored about immersing myself in horror stories and movies is being able to pick things apart and understand why we are afraid. 

Well, for as long as I can remember, I have been equal parts motivated and terrified to achieve more with my writing. I feared not being good enough. I feared writing the same dang thing that someone else out there has already written. I feared doing it wrong. I feared rejection. I even feared what being successful as a writer might change about the way my family perceived me. 

Over time, I started to realize something: It’s perfectly okay to be afraid of something. The fear, truly, is what makes doing the thing so absolutely exhilarating. That’s why people skydive, isn’t it? The big thing I needed to change in the way I looked at everything I wanted for myself is this: It doesn’t matter if you fail or succeed, as long as you learn something, you apply what you’ve learned to make yourself better, and you keep going. Toward the thing that you want.

It’s okay if people don’t like your stuff. It’s okay if someone says no to you. The important thing is that you’ll never know unless you try. 

I released Bound at the very end of September 2024. I was terrified. I had done a lot of things differently with this book, and I found myself equally excited and worried about releasing it. Little did I know that releasing that book would set me on the path I had wanted to be on all along, but was so petrified to set foot on.

I started asking bookstores if I could do book signings with them. I started regularly posting on social media… something that still scares me like crazy. This year, I set some goals. I’ll share more about these goals as we get a little bit closer to the end of the year, but two big goals I made were to publish 4 books in one year, and to do at least one author event every month. 

Setting those goals was the first step I took into something wonderful that would snowball and gain momentum throughout the year. 

Like I said, I’ll share more details when I do my end of year wrap-up post, but really, the message I wanted to share with you today is you can do it. 

Whatever dream you’ve had up on the shelf, the one you look at longingly but think, “That could never happen for me…” I dare you to take it down, dust it off, and give it a whirl. You never know what might happen. And I implore you, please, whatever the outcome, learn from it, make yourself better, and keep going.​

It's been an interesting few weeks, my friends, and I'm so sad that I haven't been posting on this blog. I wanted to take today's post and share a bit about what life things have been happening, what's new in my book world, and explain my plan moving forward. 

Three weeks ago, I sold my house and moved. There were a lot of reasons why my husband and I decided to sell when we did, and we were able to find a place with a lot more space for a very similar monthly price to what we were already paying, so we went for it. The moving process was simple enough, but it was pretty stressful. We had 48 hours after our sale was recorded to be completely vacated from the premises, and we weren't able to get into the new place until the house actually sold. So, in essence, we had two days to do everything - moving, cleaning, all of it. 

And, thanks to the help of some truly magnificent family members, we did it! 

Five days after we moved, I had a surgery consultation appointment. I have had carpel tunnel in both wrists for over three years (without being able to figure out what it was), and I had finally gotten some answers, including a solution. 

After my surgery consultation, I scheduled to have both wrists taken care of in the middle of November, but by that Friday, they called me back and asked if I wanted to fill a cancelled spot the following Monday. It was sooner than I had expected, and we still hadn't finished unpacking everything, but it actually worked much better with my work schedule. 

So, I had surgery on both hands. 

I'm still very sore, and I've had to limit the amount of things I do with my hands (who knew we do SO MUCH with our hands?), but I'm getting there. I can now type pretty well for short amounts of time with little discomfort or soreness. 

So, I'm very sorry it's been so long since I wrote any blog posts. My plan now is to take a little bit of time each day over the next couple of weeks to build up a content store, so I have posts to share with you even when life gets unpredictable. 

Now, what's going on in my world of books?

Joyful, Grateful, Hopeful has been out for almost a month already (WHAT?!) and it has definitely been most popular among an older female audience. I'm not certain yet how many sales it has had so far, because some of my paperwork is still packed up. But I should know in the next week!

The final book in the Bound Trilogy just came back from a developmental editor, so implementing the suggested edits will be my large writing time focus for the next several weeks. I am SO excited to get this book ready to release, and I've got big plans for the trilogy once it's completed. 

In the little bit of time I had for writing between moving, working, and getting surgery, I have outlined my next novel, and I'm so bummed I haven't had time to actually get into writing it yet, because I think it's going to be awesome! 

What's on the docket to release for the rest of 2025? 
AzureStar Press is releasing The Little Red Fergie by author Gary R. Motte (and illustrated by me) THIS SATURDAY, November 1st. It's a children's book about a little red tractor who experiences all the ups and downs of life as he ages. 

I will also be releasing one more children's book this year, one that I wrote early in the spring of this year and have very slowly been chipping away at illustrations for. The story is titled The Boy and The Stone and tells of a little boy who finds a skipping stone that catches his attention on his walk by the riverside. This book should release in paperback, hardcover and ebook on December 1st. 

That's it for now! I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week, and I'll see you (more frequently) as the year winds down. 

Keep writing. Stay awesome. 

Hello everyone! I hope your weekend is going well! I know I missed last week’s blog post, but I had a trip to Idaho for a book signing event at Hidden Pages Books in Kimberly, and I am also in the process of moving, so sitting down to write has been a little bit lower on my priority list than it normally is.

But! I wanted to share some really cool news that I’ve been sitting on for a while now. 

I started my own publishing imprint! 

I have a lot of reasons why I did this, and I’d like to share some of them with you today. First, I have been publishing my own work for the last eight years, and I absolutely adore the process. I love to get my hands in the different parts of the publishing process, and I love challenging myself to learn better ways to do things. 

Over the last few years, I have had the pleasure of working with other authors in several different parts of the process, and it has been a dream come true! I’ve also had the opportunity to expand and get in touch with bookstores, and this has launched my author work into areas I only ever dreamed could happen for me.

So, a few years ago, I started using the imprint name AzureStar when publishing my own works. Since I published Clairvoyance back in 2022, I knew I eventually wanted to expand this into something bigger. 

Then, toward the end of last year, I had a family friend come to me with a written manuscript for a children’s book, and this person wanted me to help make this piece of writing into a full, illustrated children’s book. I was able to spend some time every week throughout the last year illustrating this book for them. As the illustrating process progressed, I worked with this author to figure out how they wanted to publish, and they wanted me to do it for them. 

This was so special, and I was honored that they trusted me to help them through the publication process. 

So, I got to work and was able to register AzureStar Press as a business, and I set to work writing up contracts, designing logos, and more. I’m still in the process of putting things like a website together, but if you’re interested in learning a little bit more about the way I designed this publishing imprint, you can view AzureStar’s temporary webpage located on this website. (I’ll put a button at the bottom of this post if you want to check it out). 

The big thing is… I really wanted to design the business so that I have the ability to support authors with any part of the process (if they just want an editor, an illustrator, a designer, or a book coach), or through the full publication process. 

I am so excited to have this publishing imprint officially started! I will say that, as of right now, I am going to keep this business small. I have a job that I absolutely adore and have no intention of quitting, and I want my parenting and my writing to take my biggest attention in the time that I’m not working, so at least for now, AzureStar Press will mostly be focused on publishing my own work and limited other authors. I hope that as the business grows, I will be able to hire people to help me and I will be able to take more submissions. 

Now! The last tidbit that I’d like to share with you today is this: 

AzureStar Press will be releasing author Gary R. Motte’s wonderful debut children’s book, The Little Red Fergie on November 1st this year!