Mindful writing and upcoming Harlow Mystery playlists
Hello, readers!
June is coming soon - in only a few days from now!
As I mentioned in the past newsletter, I participated in a “Mindfulness For Writers” event at my local library, which is a two-part workshop talking about mindfulness and how it can help you become a better writer. I attended part one a few weeks ago, and part two was last week!
I said last that if anything interesting happened, I would write about it. I learned two things:
Mindfulness and writing together are great! Combining both can help you develop your skill in sensory writing, thus making you better at writing things like physical description, or a more in-depth meaning to events in your story.
If you don’t introduce yourself to your fellow event attendees, there’s a possible chance that NO ONE will introduce themselves to anyone. This will result in all of us being all strangers in the same place leaving the event knowing nothing about our fellow writers.
To once again repeat, and I’ll keep repeating this over the next several weeks:
My upcoming murder mystery book and the third book in the Harlow Mystery series, “Bloody Fantasia," will be released on June 24th, 2024!
Preorders will be available starting June 10th, 2024.
Make sure to save the dates so you don’t forget, and share the news with your fellow murder mystery readers! I cannot emphasize enough how much this helps other readers see my work, so I really appreciate you all bringing attention to this upcoming release. Thanks in advance for your support!
Also, I just released the official book trailer for “Bloody Fantasia” yesterday!
A Playlist Is On The Way!
Heads-up, fellow music listeners: I’ll be sharing a playlist dedicated to the main heroine in the Harlow Mystery series, Aubri Harlow, in the Freebie Library on May 31st, 2024!
I also will be sharing playlists for the rest of the main cast - Aria, Nick, and Bastian - in the Freebie Library over the next several weeks leading up to “Bloody Fantasia”’s release day!
This will also mean that yes, you’ll get more newsletters than usual in June. You’ll still get your regular newsletters every 2nd and 4th Tuesday, but you’ll also have more emails from me than usual since “Bloody Fantasia” is releasing soon.
I hope that you enjoy listening to each of the playlists as they’re shared. These are all songs that I either feel fit each of the characters’ personalities, or are songs I think they would enjoy listening to.
What Have I Been Writing Lately?
I shared a new book review last week! You can click here to check it out.
You can also expect a new writing progress post to be posted on June 1st, 2024, which is at the end of this week! The post will appear on my main website as usual, so keep an eye out for it!
I also spent the past two weeks freewriting more poetry, doing more preparations for “Bloody Fantasia”’s upcoming release, and freewriting fiction.
Whenever it gets close to a book release, I feel like I’m doing a lot, but also not a lot. It’s a situation that involves scheduling all the necessary emails, socials, etc. so I can spread the word about my next work. This is my third time promoting a book of mine being published, so you’d think I’d be used to getting it all perfectly planned out. However, the reality is that it’s quite different every time so far.
Every time, I’ve experimented with what kind of social media ads work - how frequent I share them, what kind of formats work best, etc. I didn’t even have an Instagram account until this year! Now that I do, I want to use Reels and more visual-oriented posts to my advantage.
Despite hearing other writers worry about marketing, I actually found the process really fun this time around. I think it’s because I’m experimenting with what works well that makes it fun, because I get to express my creative abilities in another way.
What Have I Heard Lately?
For my audiobook and/or podcast rec this time around, I recommend listening to this recording of “Strawberry Spring,” by Stephen King.
The narrator does a good job of, well, narrating the story. I’ve read some of King’s works before, but I’ve never read this particular story until recently.
Listening to this story as an audiobook, versus reading it as a written story, made it a bit easier for me to immerse myself in what happened during the story. I’m glad I chose to listen to this audiobook!
What Have I Been Reading Lately?
I haven’t done as much reading this month, mainly because I’ve been occupied preparing for “Bloody Fantasia”’s release day. However, I did try to read some nonfiction and fiction whenever I could as a break.
Recent reads include:
“Wild Horses” by Jenny Oldfield
“On The Savage Side” by Tiffany McDaniel
Thank you for following my writing journey!
I hope you look forward to seeing more of my writing process and work. I also look forward to giving all of you more frequent updates as well, so stay tuned for more!
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at clarislamauthor@gmail.com! I’ll respond within 48 hours (except on weekends and holidays).
Access the Freebie Library! (Password is "Buttondown")
Thank you for following my writing journey!
I hope you look forward to seeing more of my writing process and work. I also look forward to giving all of you more frequent updates as well, so stay tuned for more!
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at clarislamauthor@gmail.com! I’ll respond within 48 hours (except on weekends and holidays).