Tag: newsletter

Song of the Week

Allison Russell, “Persephone”

Good morning!

I had a lovely time at the Spooky Frog Book Fair! Thanks to everyone who climbed the stairs to see us. I hope you enjoy the books!

The newsletter will go out on Friday, so if you haven’t signed up yet and want to (there are bonus cat pictures in it), you can put your email in the box at this link. Be sure to check your inbox for a confirmation, or it won’t add you to the list. If you signed up at the book fair, I’ll be adding you today; no need to do anything.

On Wednesday, the next episode of The Well Below the Valley will be up on Patreon! We’ll get to know some new characters and solve the puzzle the late professor was carrying around in his briefcase. I’ll be working on Episode 5 this week, as well as the first issue of the comic. I’m hoping to finish the comic script soon and get started on storyboarding, which is a much more interesting thing for you to look at, but I’ll see if I can post a bit of the script on Friday as a fun teaser.

Couple of petitions for this week:

Via Left Click: Stand against the expansion of Guantánamo Bay for immigrant detention

Via Native Organizers Alliance: Stop racist mass deportations

Via Our Revolution: Stop weapons sales to Israel

That’s all I’ve got for today. Take care and have an excellent week.

Journey to the Water Update, plus some other things

Pages: 152 Words 92,362

I’d say I’m close to three-quarters of the way through my rewrites. I appreciate your patience as I’m working to get them done! I know it’s taken me forever and a half to come up with a release date, but I should be able to give you one soon.

I’ll be absent from the blog and my social media for a week, as I’m going on vacation. I will return Monday, October 7, and get back to regular posting as well as finishing this book.

The Figuratively Speaking Mermaid Tarot Kickstarter has reached ALL its stretch goals! There are still a couple of days left to back: it will close at the end of the day (midnight) on Monday, September 30. Thank you so much to everyone who has pledged so far and made this beautiful project a reality.

The newsletter will be going out tomorrow at noon my time (CDT), so if you haven’t yet and would like to, put your email address in the box at this link to sign up. You’ll then need to check your inbox for a confirmation.

I’ll see you on October 7. Until then, take care!

Song of the Week

Agnes Obel, “Familiar”

Good morning!

It’s Monday again. Scheduling content last week went…okay. Instagram ate one of my posts, but WordPress performed adequately. I’m not sure if it’s actually saving me any time or just rearranging the time it takes.

On Saturday, I went to the Feast of the Goat Queen! It was fantastic. If you’ve made your way here from there, hello! Our tent was right across from the wrestling arena, and I really haven’t interacted with any pro wrestling in my life, so this was a first for me. It was deeply silly and I can see why people get into it. There was a great crowd, the food was good, and I sold TWENTY-FIVE books, smashing my previous record of eighteen. I am now nearly out of books and am not looking forward to having to order more.

My next event will be Anime 414, the 10th and 11th of August. More on that later.

The last chapter of Journey to the Water will be up here on Wednesday, completing the serial version. If you’ve been following along, I appreciate you, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it. While I work on editing it, the plan going forward is to have more blog posts about writing and editing, as well as the opening chapters of a couple of new projects so you can eventually vote on which one you’d like to see next.

In the meantime, the entirety of Journey to the Water will be under the Stories tab above (under the Menu if you’re on mobile).

Also, before I forget, the newsletter will go out on Wednesday, so if that’s something you’re interested in (it does contain cat pictures), you can sign up at this link (be sure to check your inbox for a confirmation email afterward).

The world keeps turning, and injustice continues. Here are some petitions to try to turn the world a little more toward justice:

Via Demand Progress: End support for the atrocities in Gaza

Via Youth Mandate for Education and Liberation: We believe in young people’s goal of a liberatory education system (in honor of Sonya Massey)

Also via Demand Progress: Permanent ceasefire now

That’s all I have for you today. Stay safe and have an excellent week.

Song of the Week

Birdeatsbaby, “Mary”

Good morning!

I spent yesterday in the cold and rain at the Kenosha Book Festival. I’m glad I stuck it out, because I met some cool people and got to talk about books!

The writer, a medium-sized white woman with her hair in a braid, wears a jean jacket and a brimmed black hat. She sits behind a table stacked with books, with a banner with scenes from Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea hanging from the front.

Journey to the Water is almost finished! I have one chapter left. You, dear reader, are quickly catching up to me. I’ll have a new chapter up on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be here on Wednesday.

The newsletter is also coming out tomorrow. If you’re interested in that (it includes pictures of my cats, updates on what my business partner Brooke has been painting, writing updates, and upcoming events all in one place), you can put your email into the box at this link. Be sure to check your inbox afterward for a confirmation email.

I am Going Places and Doing Things in May, including an Author Night at Studio Moonfall where the Book Festival was held (in case you didn’t want to brave the cold this past weekend, and I don’t blame you). I’ll have a full post with all the information later this week (probably Thursday).

The war continues, and so do we. A couple of petitions I’ve rounded up for you this week:

Via Win Without War: US Support for Netanyahu’s war must have limits

Via Jewish Voice for Peace: Don’t attack the student movement for Palestinian rights

As always, thanks for being here. I hope you have an excellent week.

Newsletter News, and a domain!

So, last month, new regulations went into effect that made it so I couldn’t send my newsletter from my Gmail account. As I understand it, the major email providers changed how they determine what is and isn’t spam, and sending a mass email from a free account made it very likely that said email would end up in the spam filter. The service that I use to format and send my newsletter, MailerLite, wouldn’t let me send out the newsletter until I registered a domain, created an email address for that domain, and verified and authenticated both the domain and the email.

After much deliberation, I upgraded my WordPress account. You may notice that there are no longer ads on this page! You may also notice that your bookmark or link to cranewrites.wordpress.com automatically redirects to spacewhalespress.com. You don’t need to update your bookmarks, unless you really want to.

Without further ado, the March edition of the newsletter is coming out at noon my time (US Central Daylight) on Sunday, March 31, and should continue to come out at noon on the last day of the month for the foreseeable future. If you aren’t subscribed yet, and need more cat pictures in your life, you can do so at this link. There’s another link down at the bottom of the page, under the WordPress subscription button (bottom right on desktop, all the way down on mobile).

Thanks for your patience! Have a good weekend.

Song of the Week

HIM, “Venus Doom”

Good morning! Something a little heavier for you today.

I’m going to try to figure out how to get the newsletter out this week. If all goes well, it should arrive in your inboxes (if you’ve subscribed) on Sunday the 31st.

In the meantime, I’ll have a new chapter of Journey to the Water up on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter here on Wednesday. I have 11 chapters left in my outline, for a total of 68 + 6 interludes. (I’m about 6 chapters ahead of what’s posted at the moment.) I probably won’t finish them all this week, but I should be done with the draft by mid-April. Then comes editing. I’m not going to lie, it’s a bit of a mess right now, but I’m trying to enjoy the process.

Some more petitions:

Via Rep. Ro Khanna: Support Funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency

Via Win Without War: Call on Pres. Biden to pressure the Israeli government to increase aid now

Also, be sure to check your voter registration! In Wisconsin, our next election is April 2.

As always, I appreciate you. Thanks for being here.

Song of the Week

Tori Amos, “Black-Dove (January)”

Good morning!

Please send good vibes/prayers/etc. for the Covid test I’m taking later today. I was still positive on Thursday. I haven’t left the house in almost two weeks, and I’m very sad.

I’ll have a new chapter of Journey to the Water on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be up here on Wednesday. I’m still deciding what I’m going to do about the newsletter and a possible paid domain, so I’ll let you know when there are any updates on that.

A couple more petitions. I get them in my email, and they’re thinning out, which concerns me.

Via Rashida Tlaib: Halt weapons exports to Israel

Via Just Foreign Policy: Cease military aid to Israel & protect lives

Via People Power United: Starvation should not be used as a weapon

I appreciate you and I hope you’re staying healthy. Have an excellent week.

No newsletter this month

I am working on getting the newsletter back on track, but for now, I’m unable to send it. Google and Yahoo have changed their policies, making it more likely that emails sent from free accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) will end up in a spam trap. MailerLite has made the decision to ban free email accounts from sending emails with their service. I thought I had managed a workaround by using the account the university gave me back in the day, but that is no longer viable. I have to 1) purchase a domain, 2) use that domain to get a new email address, and 3) register and verify all this with MailerLite. At this point, I’m reluctant to add another recurring charge to my budget, but it looks like I’m being forced to do so in order to keep the newsletter running. Prevailing wisdom says that authors need to have a newsletter. Who am I to argue?

In any case, I’m not going to be able to get this sorted out before the month ends in…fifteen hours? So I’ll skip this month and hopefully have a newsletter to send at the end of March. Thank you so much for your patience! In the meantime, MailerLite is maintaining the subscriber list, so you won’t need to sign up again.

If you’d like to help out with operational costs, and are able to do so, I have a Patreon and a Ko-fi. You can also buy one or more of my books! In any case, I appreciate you.

Song of the Week

Enya, “May It Be”

My husband and I are almost done with our annual Lord of the Rings rewatch, so here’s a song for you. (Fun fact: “May It Be” is also super easy to play on the piano, even if you haven’t touched a keyboard in years.)

Preorders of The Book of the New Moon Door are open through Friday, December 1! I’ll be closing them first thing Saturday morning, so if you want an autographed copy and some bonus bookmarks & stickers, be sure to order this week. You can find the link to the shop, and the first chapter of the published version, under the Buy My Books tab above (under the Menu if you’re on mobile), or you can click here and save yourself a step.

I’ll be sending the newsletter out tomorrow, which is earlier than usual, so that newsletter subscribers who don’t also read here have a chance to get a preorder. If you’re not subscribed and would like one email a month that does contain cat pictures, you can put your email into the box at this link.

The last two chapters of the serial version of The Book of the New Moon Door will be up on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be here on the blog on Wednesday. I appreciate everyone who’s been along for this journey!

There has been a temporary pause to the violence in Gaza, but a permanent ceasefire is needed to save civilian lives and ensure hostages are returned. Keep pressuring your representatives! Here’s Amnesty International’s petition.

I think that’s it for this week. Thanks for being here.

Song of the Week

Al Stewart, “Roads to Moscow”

Good morning and happy Monday! Here’s a little historical journey for you.

The newsletter goes out tomorrow at noon my time (US Central). If you aren’t on the mailing list and would like to be, put your email in the box at this link. Don’t forget to check your inbox for a confirmation! (I’ve tried to embed this form, but MailerLite and WordPress don’t play nice together.)

There will be a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be up here to read for free on Wednesday. Part Three is undergoing the most changes as I work on rewrites, and I hope you enjoy both versions.

I plan to open preorders for the third and final time (with the fancy packaging and everything) the week of November 20. I’ll keep you updated as my files get approved and I can start ordering.

As always, thanks for being here, and have an excellent week.