Updates and Recaps

Hey y'all. This blog post is coming to you from my parents' house where I am laid up in bed with a turrible sore throat. Hooray for travel.

Wanted to update everyone on the latest with everything, and provide some general thoughts on how the Empath release went.

Moving Update:

First and foremost, I'm back in Pensacola and this is my permanent home base. I say home base because I'm still traveling-both back to DC for clients, and around the US for conventions. I am in the process of buying a house down here (that's a blog post for another day), and getting settled in. It was a rough couple of days when I first got here, but I seem to have let go of most of the anxiety.

I was up in DC/VA for a week and a half last week to attend the VA Comicon in Richmond, see my clients, and attend the Tidewater Comicon in VA Beach (in that order).

VA Comicon:

While I love Brett and Dan and the crew there, I'm not sure it's worth it for me to drive from P'cola anymore. The shows are so hit-and-miss, and this weekend was definitely a miss. I believe it was my worst show ever, sales-wise, and I didn't even make enough to cover expenses, which were minimal.

TW Comicon:

I think I expected this one to be a lot bigger, and so while I didn't do terrible, I didn't do as well as I thought. I didn't make costs here either, but that was more my fault for not looking harder for a cheaper hotel, and deciding to drive down Friday instead of Saturday morning (long, long story there).

I was really happy to see a lot of repeat customers, though, and even more excited to see folks really take to Empath. I'm going to have to lower my expectations for Double Life and raise them for Empath from now on, since it seemed that the books were in competition with each other for cash.

S. Usher Does Amurica Status/WorldCon Status

I have decided to cancel my cross-country driving tour this year. I'm just burnt-out yo, and being on the road for six weeks straight is not my idea of a fabulous time right now.

I am still considering attending WorldCon via flying, since I have a table and a hotel, but I might not. I have until Monday to make my decision, so I'll let you guys know when/if it happens. I need to do some more local-ish events so I can catch up.

Or you can all buy my books so I don't have to go to conventions to sell them. Either/or. ;) 

Conviction Status:

One of the very nice things about having no internet/tv at Grandpa's house (where I stayed while visiting my clients in DC) was that it forced me to read some books and to lay down the big rocks for Conviction (that's Razia Book 3 if you're just joining us). 

I'm happy to say that I passed 60,000 words and have filled in most of the blanks in the book. Now I'm just going through and either leaving notes to fix small wording things later, or fixing them. Hoping to have it to the betas by the end of the month.

Blog Status:

Lots of things are happening in my personal life at the end of May, and so I am taking the time to shut down the blog and social media activity from May 25-June 7th. During that time, I'll be putting the finishing touches on the update to the website design, which will go live on Double Life's (and my) birthday, June 12th.

Also, fair warning: If you're a KU subscriber and you haven't grabbed Alliances, you have less than a month to read it for free! And if you are not a KU subscriber, you can grab Alliances on B&N, iTunes, etc. starting June 8th.

Empath Release:

I just wanted to say thank you for everyone who has bought the book, read the book, cried over the book, and/or reviewed the book. I was so freaking nervous about it, wondering if I was the only one who felt like this, but to see that my own fears are universal was such a relief.

Thank you to everyone on Twitter and such for sharing the book and for spreading the love. You guys are the best. 

I will say that this book didn't get the kind of attention from me that Alliances did, and I think it was to its detriment from a presales perspective. That being said, I think that this one might be one of those books that people read and share. So we'll see what happens.

~*~

I don't have any more blogs planned until the drawdown next week, but I'll be around when I'm not asleep. Or at the beach. Or cuddling with my dogs.

Life is good.

Selling Houses and Dating Boys Part Deux

This week, I threw it back to a post on selling houses and dating boys. In it, I wrote about how I felt that "I don't get perfect," in either real estate transactions or in dating gentlemen callers.

At the time I wrote that post, I was actually seeing someone quite lovely. Like, "Oh my god, where have you been" kind of lovely. Like "Came over and helped me get my house ready for sale, mowed my lawn twice, cleaned my kitchen, helped me put a door on my cabinets" kind of lovely. Kind of looked like Sage Teon kind of lovely.

And it fizzled out in the way that most of my relationships nowadays usually do: he just stopped calling and texting about two weeks ago.

Womp womp.

Interestingly, I actually have a little bit different opinion about things now as February. What I have since realized is that I tend to hold onto what I have versus taking a risk on the unknown. And when I lose something, my initial reaction is that I won't ever get something that good again so I hold onto it in my mind.

What I am beginning to understand is that "Holding onto the past because I'm afraid of the future is no way to live."

This is not a new discovery, because I wrote that in Empath almost six months ago. But it's taken a while to sink in.

So bringing it back to the TBT post, I did end up getting another offer on my house. The funny thing is, if the first had gone through, I actually would have made less money overall because I would have had to do a rent-back agreement and pay for two months of their mortgage so I could stay until May. Even now, the deal includes a 1.5% assistance on closing, but I still walk away with more money.

With the guy who stopped calling, while he's a lovely human being, I also know that the right place for me is in Pensacola. And if you aren't from there, it's really hard to adapt to that lifestyle. Yeah, beach and sun and fun, but it's also a small town with rednecks (I use that term with love). I couldn't ask anyone to be miserable on my account.

Honestly, the hardest thing for me to do is to accept that the universe has better things in store for me. Nothing, it seems, happens to me because of pure luck or happenstance. My career, my books, everything happened because I did the work. And I always feel like the universe is out to get me, so I'm always working extra hard to keep ahead of Plethegon it. So for me to accept that the universe is taking away something because there's something better down the road is hard, because it would mean that I'd have to accept that the Great Creator universe doesn't hate me.

Yet the proof is in the pudding. None of this - S. Usher Evans, Razia, Empath, any of it - would have happened had I not let go of my old relationship. I wouldn't be moving home, I wouldn't be happy, not really. There is always something else down the road - maybe not better, but different.

A lot of this boils down to perspective, as well. If you described the person I am right now to the person I was in June 2013, Whitney of 2013 would never have believed that this lifestyle would have made me happy. And yet, it does.

Perfect, then, is in the eye of the beholder.

Namaste.

Who I was and Who I am

My parents are downsizing and selling the house I lived in from ages ~12-20 (although I was mostly at college for the last 3 years of it). So, Terry was all, "MEH YOU NEED TO CLEAN OUT YOUR CLOSET!"

And I was all, "Gull Mah, just get rid of it, yo."

And she was all, "MEH!"

And we're going to be living together.

Book Release Hot Wash

So, I published a book last week...

Yeah, I know I'm super late blogging about it. One should probably write a blog on the date of such an important event. But, to be honest, I didn't quite know what I was going to want to write until it happened. Then it was a busy weekend marketing and all that, then it was Father's Day (apparently, I made my daddy cry, which is no easy feat #rightinthefeels).

First of all, thank you to the ~50 folks who've bought my book so far. Per the latest stats from le Amazon and le SmashWords, I'm looking at about 24 online purchases (mostly ebooks). The rest of the books I've sold from the copies I ordered directly from CreateSpace. I've still got about 20 or so in my car to sell, which means I might actually make a bit of profit this go'round. (Yeah, it's not a lot. But it's a looooooong game.)

Second, thank you to the folks who have cracked it open so far, and I know at least one of you has finished it already (besides my amazing beta readers who are incredible). Thanks for going on a journey with me and Lyssa; hope you enjoy it :) (And, you know, I'd LOVE it if you'd leave me a review on GoodReads or Amazon or whatever...but no pressure).

Okay, so the thank yous are out of the way. But how was my birthday/release day?

Amazing, incredible. I've been feeling lonely lately, whining to myself and all that. Needless to say, I definitely ate a lot of crow on Thursday. I felt all kinds of loved and appreciated from people near and far.

I got a bunch of facebook well wishes (responded by book!spam, but c'est la vie)

I got the best lunch ever from Wegmans

I got cupcakes from my fun runners

I got unexpected gifts from my best friend in the mail

Lastly, a bunch of people bought my book, which was the best birthday present ever.

In other news, I wanted to share the results of my GoodReads giveaway. I had over 700 people enter to get my book.

SEVEN HUNDRED.

Not only that, but over 300 people have added my book to their "to-read" queue. I know that many of those folks have over 1,000 books in that queue and may never get around to my book, but still. Wow.

700 people know I exist!!

I'm waiting to get approval for yet another giveaway - this time 3 books/2 week time period. The giveaway itself is actually kind of expensive (the $10 cost me ~$100 to produce and ship to contest winners), but I can't argue with that kind of exposure. So far, it's the best investment I've made.

I've also got a Facebook Ad running, which, last time resulted in a 100% increase in fans. Since Thursday at midnight, total fans have grown by 13%, but the total number of books sold has been pretty stagnant since Thursday. Once new fans = new sales, then I'll celebrate.

I'm planning on doing some more giveaways and free book days over the next few weeks. But you know, I'd *love* it you'd actually pony up the $4 instead of waiting for the free giveaway ;)

Which you can purchase here: http://www.susherevans.com/book-info

Mikey

​My dad and I didn't used to have a good relationship. I won't go into specifics, but he was always the "mean" one, whereas mom was always the "nice" one. Dad would yell at us, Mom would comfort, etc.

It wasn't until I was an adult and had my own kids dogs that I actually began to see my dad and understand how he showed affection. It wasn't through hugs and kisses and all that - he showed affection through action. He volunteered his time to build the sets for the drama - like the time he made it rain in the Saenger theater or the time he built a two-story wooden ship that I danced on top of. This was after working all day out in the Florida heat.

Two years ago, when I bought my first house, it was barely even a question that he was going to help me remodel my kitchen - in DC. I don't remember even asking him, it just sort of naturally evolved out of conversations about the things I wanted to do. The man drove all night - again, after working all day in the June Florida sun - arrived at my house at 9am, then proceeded to rip out my cabinets. He worked for a week and a half straight, me with my head down, trying to do whatever I could to be helpful, because I could *never* repay him.

Suni is a lot like my dad, I think. She can dive into a project and not realize it's been 12 hours. She likes the manual labor, the rhythmic and repeatable efforts of laying tile or painting. She's the one who doesn't care what time she arrives, and is perfectly capable of saying no to people. She's not overly concerned about money, either and has a real bad temper. She's the storyteller, the life of the party, the selfish and self-centered one (an Evans trait to be sure, not shared by my father). Whit is, of course, my mother.

Right now, my dad is reading my book. I was actually a little worried about his reaction to the prologue. If you've read it, you'll note that Lyssa does *not* have a good relationship with her father. I won't lie and say that I didn't pull from some of my own childhood memories to construct some of his yelling at her, but I will say I did embellish handily. When I first wrote this book, I did not understand my dad, and so as per usual, I used my writing to help sort through my complex emotions.

If you've finished reading the book, you may notice that I try to weave in deeper themes in all of my writing (try and fail? your call). I think the relationship we have with our parents is one of the most intriguing and interesting relationships that we have in life. Nearly every book I have - actually written or mentally written - has some kind of mommy or daddy issue. Something that I tend to write over and over again is the idea of a daughter feeling left behind or just not understanding her father. Because that's something I felt for a very long time.

When we're kids, we see simplicities. Mommy is the nice one, Daddy is the mean one. Chris is the butthead (couldn't resist <3). As we grow up, I think things become less clear and we begin to see our parents as actual people. For me, that meant recognizing my dad in my own thoughts and emotions, and coming to see that he communicates in a different way. Once I understood him, I was blown away with how much my Daddy loves me, and began to feel incredibly guilty for not being more appreciative sooner.

Today, my Daddy and I have a great relationship, one that I would not trade for anything. I'm thrilled to be moving closer to him and my mom (as in, up the stairs) so that we can continue to deepen that relationship. I'm really looking forward to Saturday morning bike rides and Sunday morning fishing trips with Richard, or going stand-up paddle-boarding on a beautiful summer day. More than anything, I'm just happy to be able to spend more time with one of the most incredible men that I have ever known. 

Love you Daddy.

Mawwage

​Mawwage is what bwings us togevah todaw.

Oh not mine, obvs. But a blessed union that resulted in the best author ever in the history of the universe thirty-six years of love and devotion. Thirty-six years of coming home to a Miller High Life (the champagne of beers) and a chat about the latest bullshit at the hospital. Thirty six years of early morning coffee dates in the living room. Thirty six years of my dad hastily picking up flowers from the grocery store and mom complaining because she didn't get a new vase. Two houses (that dad built), two kids, five dogs, and a whole lot of bickering and making up.

Damn, I'm a lucky kid.

My parents met on Pensacola Beach in 1976 or '77. My mom was very recently out of nursing school and my dad was working on the beach as a contractor-type person. They met when an ultralight aircraft crashed on the beach. My mother (always the helper) came rushing to the scene to see if anyone needed help. I'm sure there was a little bit of, "I'm a nurse!" She was a babe, too.

My dad was there with his sister Trish and my mom was probably like, "Screw the plane, who's this hot piece of man meat?" Then she noticed Trish and for some reason missed the Evans' trademark cheeks and thought Trish was my dad's girlfriend. The mistake was shortly cleared up and the two started dating. My dad's proposal was something along the lines of, "Hey, you wanna get married or what?" He's still that romantic to this day. /swoon.

They got married June 10, 1978 at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Gulf Breeze, even though my mom wasn't really Catholic (though apparently we neglected to tell my Catholic grandfather for about 20 years). My mom wore a rented or borrowed dress because she couldn't afford to buy one, and my dad helped pay for the wedding. But thirty six years later, they've accomplished so much together - and still actually love the crap out of each other.

Do they fight? Oh God Yes.

But it's amazing to me to watch how they can pick at each other, walk away and calm down, then come back and decide to forgive each other and move on to something else. The marriage that I saw growing up was about mutual trust and understanding, about maturity and recognizing when a fight is worth fighting and when it's just easier to forgive and forget. It's about the every day moments - like bringing home a phallic-shaped cactus (or Cocktus, if you will) because you know your wife loves plants and rocks, or keeping a set of beer mugs in the freezer because Florida is hot and Dad's been hard at work all day. It's about carving out time with the person that you love every day, bringing her coffee and the paper, and making him breakfast - even after the kids have been gone for 10 years. It's about the quiet conversations that you have with your daughter about how you're trying to do things for your wife to make her life easier, and about how you really, really wish he would get his knee replaced (HINT HINT DAD.)

It's about not killing your daughter for blogging about your marriage and having patience when she moves back in with you because she's trying to figure herself out.

More than anything, I think marriage - even just relationships - are about recognizing how your partner communicates their love. Some people demonstrate by flowers or flowery words. Others by small, simple gestures that show that even as busy as you are, your partner was simply on your mind. Sometimes that gesture is a text message of a very inappropriate cartoon featuring an inside joke that makes you smile, other times it's a Cocktus.

After all....Mawwage is a dweam wifin a dweam.

 

Love you both. Happy Anniversary.