Hello Lovelies, 

Sorry no interview today. I had sent out requests to tons of authors before I went on vacation, my goal to have plenty of content for ya’ll while I had family in town. However, not enough authors got back to me, and I was pretty busy the last month with family, and other work.

So here we are, on a Monday with no author interview and me having had some time to reflect. 

When you take a break, you have time to breathe and to ask yourself questions that you might not give yourself time for in the moment of the mad rush of daily work. And man, I slowed down A LOT the last month and had a lot of time to ask myself a lot of questions.
Good questions. Important questions. 

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Just some of the questions I asked:
1. What do I want in life? 
2. Am I happy? 
3. Where is my life going?
4. Why do I do what I do? Working 16 + hours a day, never slowing down, never taking vacations? It’s not like I can justify it because I’m making so much money that I’m going to be able to retire at 65 and live comfortably. Heck, we don’t even live comfortably now. Most of my ventures barely pay for themselves, let alone a living wage. 

I told myself when I started this blog that I was building my audience, but after 7 years, I am no more likely to get book sales than I was when I started out. This blog, social media, and all the free author content I create for readers, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. 
I do like supporting authors. I do like sharing all this fun content. But it takes a lot of work to maintain, plan, schedule, and now with Booktube, record, edit, share, build an audience. 
And you know what? After 7 years, if I haven’t built an audience this way, I’m not sure that I can. 
I spend more time on the blog and on social media promoting other authors’ books, than I spend writing my own books, never mind promoting mine (which has basically come to a painful standstill.) I have published 8 books in the last seven years, am running 4 different series now, and still am not making enough to pay off student loans.

So, I am taking a step back from social media. I am taking a step back from the blog. I’m not going away completely, that would be crazy! But this posting 5 blog posts a week, recording 3-5 videos a week, running all over social media for two hours a day (or more, TBH) trying to cultivate an engaged audience? Yeah, I can’t do all of that anymore when I am not getting any returns.

I will still have at least one bookish post a week on each platform, but it’s time for me to focus on writing. I was supposed to publish 5 books this year, but sales from the first two weren’t enough to cover the cost of producing the next books and I don’t have a full-time job to fund my writing dream. (I have to stay home to take care of my special needs kid.) So, as much as I love supporting bookish love, I need to focus on supporting my books through marketing and advertising.

If you would like to see more bookish content, let me know by supporting me on Patreon. Even as little as a dollar a month, if shared by enough people, would be a big help. Plus, I’m giving away books over there every month as a way to continue supporting the bookish community. 
If you cannot commit to monthly payments, feel free to leave a one-time tip in the donation jar on the site. 

Until next time, 

Keep Reading!