February Blues: Overwritten

Alt text for photo above: a bright pink and orange sunrise, with trees shooting up through the horizon, taken on the morning of February 1, 2024.

February 1, 2024

My original intention with blogging was to publish a post once a week; however, last weekend there was no particular topic calling out to me. (That could have been because I was amped up for the NFL conference championships.) I didn’t want to post just for the sake of posting, so I’ve adjusted my intentions. My plan now is to post every other week, or 2-3 times per month. I think this is feasible, and not overwhelming for you or me!

Updates

The Way of the Wielder, book three (WIP): I took a couple of days last week to rework the outline for the latter half of the book, which had been nagging at me for some time. Now, I’m now 2.5 chapters into part two, and am pleased with how things are progressing!

The Way of the Wielder, book one: I should be seeing the 90% design for the cover any day now! Also, now that it’s February, it’s officially release month! Which brings me to the topic of today’s post.

February Blues

I have never been a fan of the month of February. Even though my mother’s birthday is today (Happy Birthday, Mom!), and my mother-in-law’s is later this month, I just don’t like February. In New England, we’re in the heart of winter. Everything’s snow-covered, the skies are gray, and the air is cold enough to hurt your face. The days are getting longer, which is a plus, but once we hit February 1, I start counting down the days until spring (47, in case you’re wondering).

Specifically, there’s one day that bothers me more than any other: February 27.

The Past

Many years ago, I had a bad experience happen on February 27. The details aren’t important, but suffice it to say that it was bad enough where that day was forever tainted in my mind. And because it’s so close to the end of the month, the entire month was tainted as well.

There’s no doubt that this experience is the main reason why I dislike February. The things mentioned above are annoying, but those same things can be said of January and much of March. That experience ruined February for me—but this year, I decided to do something about it.

The Present

When I began taking steps toward self publishing, I knew I wanted The Way of the Wielder to be released in Q1 2024. That would give me enough time to get it professionally edited and get cover art, and hopefully release Mysteries of the Material later in the year. It was achievable, and after a year of querying without success, I wanted achievable.

As the months wore on, I realized February was going to be the month when everything was ready to publish. And when I realized that, I uttered the following words: “Ugh, there’s no way I’m publishing in February!”

I told myself March would be better. “Spring starts on March 19. That’s a Tuesday. Books are usually released on Tuesdays. It’s perfect!”

Except it was nearly six weeks after I knew everything would be ready. I didn’t want to wait six weeks! So I looked at February’s calendar—and groaned. February 27 (about two weeks after my cover would be ready) was a Tuesday. I agonized over it for a few weeks, until one day my husband said, “Just overwrite the bad experience with a good one.”

Long story short, that’s what I decided to do. I’m replacing a negative experience with a positive one, and will be releasing The Way of the Wielder on February 27, 2024. It’ll be a day that’s both exciting and terrifying, and I sincerely look forward to it!

The Future

February is truly a gloomy month in New England, but this year, it will only be meteorologically gloomy. After nearly two decades of dreading this month, I’m looking forward to the weeks leading up to my debut novel’s release. And in the years to come, I’ll remember that February 27 is not a day to be bitter, but a day to be joyous and proud of everything I’ve accomplished.

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Thanks for reading! Until next time, be well, and stay creative.

~Sarah