September Ishness

September was quite the whirlwind around here! But I, for one, am quite happy it is October. It's fun having something to look forward to every weekend, but it's also nice to have the schedule wide open again with room for some margin.

Ishness is a monthly blog-theme created by Deborah @Road of a Writer

Life

Of course the big excitement of the month was the Expo. If you signed up for my newsletter, you've already heard about it, but let me explain... no, there is too much, let me sum up. *grins*

There's my snazzy set-up! My awesome husband designed my beautiful banner and bookmarks (you can't see them real well in the picture, but they're cool), and my Daddy built the book display stand. The rest I threw together from some fun items I had.

I've never been to a comic-con before, so I had no idea what to expect. But it was a total blast. I even sold a few books, so that was a definite bonus! And now I'm all set up for the next one (no plans in the immediate future, I need a bit of a breather) but having things like the banner and the bookmarks and a square-up device so I can take cards are all good things I've been needing whether we sold anything or not.

If any of you are curious about any tips/tricks I learned, I figured I'd share the ones I put in my newsletter:

• Bring a cooler full of food and beverages - especially if you don't have someone with you who can run and get real food! I had a constant supply of snacks, water, and gatorade under my table so I didn't have to worry about getting too hungry or thirsty
• Do your research - make sure that the event you want to vend at lines up thematically with your own content
• Host a giveaway - even if it's just a giveaway of an e-copy of your book, this can generate interest in your product, and gives you something to offer to anyone who passes by
• Have some free items on your table - for example, I had a bowl of chocolates and bookmarks. By the second day of the Con, I started asking anyone who passed by, "Want some chocolate? It's free! All you have to do is take a book mark!" This generally led them to ask how much the book marks were, to which I responded, "They're free, too!" Most of my longer conversations started with this hook.
• Leave your introverted side at home - you might have to step out of your comfort zone a bit, but being a vendor means that you are going to have to start a lot of the conversations. For some of you, this is not hard... but for this very shy introvert, it was the hardest part of the weekend!
• Take what wins you can - despite all the research, despite all your preparation, you may end up losing more money than you make... but if you can say at the end of the Con that more people know who you are as an author than did before... well, that's still a win in my book!

Let's see, what else? We celebrated Brantland's 2nd birthday, that was super fun.I sent out my very first-ever Newsletter! I plan to do that once per season - and it will include some fun content I won't be posting on the blog - and will also be the first place you can hear about any upcoming new releases, so if you're interested in getting those, make sure to sign up for it over in the side-bar.My brother and sister-in-love came out for a visit and we enjoyed hanging out with them and watching silly tv shows and generally just laughing a lot.The school year is chugging along, and we're staying on track for the most part and having fun learning.We announced the up-coming release of our FOURTH child, expected sometime in April. So that was exciting.ReadingDidn't have a lot of time to read in September. The only thing I read for fun was When Calls the Heart by Janette Oke, a reread, but still a good one, and a fairly easy, light, charming read.... which is pretty much what I was in the mood for, so that was good.WatchingThe Cubs mop the floor with just about every team they played. So excited about the post-season!Watched through the entire two seasons of When Calls the Heart on Netflix. Super charming. Very little resemblance to the book, but extremely sweet and well-written.Couple of episodes of various shows: Chronicles of Shannara - I enjoy the premise and love the books, but the MTV creation bleeds through a bit too much every now and then. Supergirl - starting out okay, but the jury's still out. Stranger Things - not sure about this one, but I do love all the hat tips to the 80s. Heartland - pretty cute, not super deep, but charming in its own way... and horses!!!!Rewatched Batman V Superman, and enjoyed it even more the second time through.Watched The Secret Garden and A Little Princess with the kiddos. They enjoyed both movies, which made me happy.WritingZilch.Seriously. Not only did the blog suffer, but all writing attempts on my part fell into the realm of lackluster, half-hearted, and boring. I tried to write during some down-time at the Expo... and... it did not go well, to say the least. I've been dealing with some serious writer's block this past month, and it is no fun at all. I've also been struggling with motivation and any sort of desire to write, so I kind of ended up accidentally taking the month off.I did have a break-through recently, but it was technically already October, so it can't count for September Ishness.BloggingAs you already noticed, I kind of went on a blogging hiatus, as well. Sorry about that. Just participated in the Small Is Beautiful blog tag, and finally wrote up my numerous and muddled thoughts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which has been a very popular post - not my most popular by a long shot, but already in the top 50 most-viewed posts, and it's competing with some posts that have been around for a very long time, so that's actually more impressive than it sounds.October PlansI am not sure what October holds, to be honest. I have a nice big stack o' books on my shelf to read, but I have no ability to determine how many of them will actually get read this month. I had a bit of a break-through on the author front, and am hopeful that it lasts. I am starting to feel a little bit better on the morning-sickness front, so maybe that will help. At least, I hope it does!I definitely plan to be around the blog more frequently.But mostly, I am hoping to just enjoy the beautiful Autumnal weather and relax after last month's whirlwind of craziness.

I'd love to hear from you, Dear Reader. How was YOUR September? Any fun October plans? Are any of you planning to do Nanowrimo this year? How are you preparing for that?