She Done R.U.N.N.O.F.T.

I have to tell you, if you have any interest in actually hearing from me, you should subscribe to the newsletter.

It is the first place I go when I realize it’s been too long since I last talked to my readers. The newsletter is where I share thoughts and ideas about what I’m working on, what I plan to be working on next, what I think I want to be working on instead, and various anecdotes and nonsenses about my personal life…and my personal life is very anecdotal and nonsensical!

Greetings from (checks map) somewhere in Oregon! Here’s a picture of today’s office.

If you aren’t up to date on Real Life Rocklyn, here’s a little info: I am officially living the life nomadic now! (Cue confetti and steamers!)

No, really, I have wanted to live on the road since I was four. Yes. Four years old. My mother says I take after my dad.

I’m excited to be back at the keyboard, making imaginary people fall in love again– and with any luck, making them feel less than imaginary!

I have a long to-do list for getting back to work, and the blog was a good starting point–If you have something you’d like to say, send me an email! RocklynRyder@rocklynwrites.net Tell me whatever!

Unfortunately, commenting is off on the blog due to intensive amounts of spam that comes through and I just don’t have the time or desire to moderate all those fake comments.

Remember– if you really want to keep in touch, the best way is to subscribe! Not only am I bad at blogging, I’m even worse at posting on social media.

The focus is on writing more books.

 

~Rox

Every New Year

Every new year I sit down with my notebooks and my pens and a slew of new ideas and thoughts on how I’m going to use what I’ve learned in the past year to do better in the new one.

2021 is no exception.

Like most of us, I’m just so danged glad that 2020 is over, I’m scibbling madly in my journal about all the ways 2021 is going to make up for it.

That might not be very fair to 2021– that’s a lot to ask of any year!

Honestly? I can’t really say that 2020 didn’t have its good points– I’m starting the new year (and the new decade, mind you) with a new laptop (ooooh, fancy!) a cute little trailer that I’m tricking out to be a badass little camper (because this nomad soul is getting long in the tooth and is tired of living out of the back of the car most of the year,) and a new tow vehicle for said trailer…which wasn’t on the to-do list, but a work truck from Oregon wasn’t up to date on the plan and totaled my hand-me-down baby one sunny August afternoon.

Ultimately, I ended up with a replacement vehicle that I expect will take me through another 10 years and another quarter of a million miles…if I stop driving so much, that is.

And naturally– the 2021 To-Do list includes plenty of writing-related items as well!

In addition to updating my mailing list service, finishing this website, and remembering to post to the social media accounts, I have books to write, series to finish, old series to add to, and new series to start!

And with no personal life to whine about at the moment, I really have no excuses for dilly-dallying.

Don’t worry…I’ll come up with some new excuses.

I do get easily distracted!

 

Happy New Year, Rockstars!

2021 is in the house!

~Roxie

And THIS is Why I Ignore my Site

A long long time ago, back when I was just getting started with self-publishing, I happened across some discussion between other authors and readers who minced no words in declaring that they were turned off by indie authors who used free website hosts such as blogger.  

So I spent time and energy on finding out what, exactly, constituted a “professional” website for an indie author– especially one that was just barely starting out– and wasn’t going to cost thousands of dollars to have someone else build and maintain the dang thing.

I ended up frustrated and in over my head and by the time I had books published, I just went with the free wordpress option.

I hated it.

The plan has always been to upgrade to a “real” website someday.

Back in June, when I was on a roll with a new writing project (I’m finishing it soon, really!)  and the day job was on hold due to the pandemic, I got it in my brain that the time had finally arrived to tackle a new website build.

Have I ever mentioned that I am a stubborn, independent, only child, control freak? Now might be a good time to point that out.

And, I still don’t have thousands of dollars to pay a professional web designer.

I asked around, I checked the budget, I watched some tutorials. I thought I was up to it.

I wasn’t.

This dang interface makes little sense to me.

So I got frustrated and decided that the project was just keeping me from getting back to writing more books (that was before so much other stuff got in the way of writing more books!) I put the project in the corner to let it think about what it did, and tried to get back on task.

If you are newsletter subscriber, you know I’m prone to distractions and that the years since I started my writing career have been fraught with…erm, shall we just leave it at, “drama?”

So I finally got it in my head to look at the new website again.

I couldn’t even figure out how to LOG IN. (headdesk)

I’m still not sure how I finally got into this page so I can write a blog update.

Eventually, all those sliders on the home page will get moved to the BOOKS page and will include all the books by series, appropriately linked to their store pages.

The links to all the bonus material will get set up and I’ll start blogging (a little) more regularly– just to share all my excuses for not writing (a lot) more regularly.

In the meantime, I’m directing my energy into finishing the Do-Over Pact series so I can get started on some other stories I’ve been waiting to tell and trying to figure out what state I want my license plate to be registered in.

Bear with me, folks: I’m working on it.

~Rox