Sleepless — Monday, June 23, 2025

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Populated (Tales from the Sheep Farm Book 2)

Cover for Populated, written by Susan Helene Gottfried

Delia’s my most sleepless character, and if you haven’t read Populated, you don’t know how that factors into the story. Grab a copy; it’s a moment that I particularly love because of how it changes everything for her.

Like a huge chunk of the country, I’m caught in the heat wave. The house has been cool, I don’t have a lot of reasons to go out, and it’s all been good until…

Okay, lemme put it this way. My old roof had an attic fan in it. You know the kind: The attic temperatures would hit 100, the fan would turn on and suck the hot air out. But when I put the new roof on, they told me that a well-constructed roof would make that attic fan unnecessary.

They lied.

I spent a sleepless night, the first of what I’m sure will be four or five. Because my upstairs? It’s better than it was before I put the attic fan in, but it’s not as cool as it was with that fan. And that makes sleeping damn near impossible.

Going sleepless tends to leave me with migraines. And I have a busy day today, of course.

editing

I was at my desk yesterday, working; Friday turned into a not-great editing day for me. So I have about 100 pages left in this second read-through, and I’m eager to start collecting my thoughts. I’ll finish this in a day or two and get started on the next.

writing

Doug and I were at the Butler City Farmer’s Market on Saturday, and he was on FIRE. It was wonderful to see; Doug’s a fabulous writer and just a good friend. I’m super grateful to have him in my life.

And speaking of Populated, it may or may not be related, but I was talking to a reader at the market, and they took my postcard, saying they wanted to buy the book on Kindle. Okay; works for me. But also, I have these conversations a lot. But when I checked my dashboard, yep, there was the sale!

Now, maybe it was coincidence. But I’m choosing to believe it wasn’t.

In terms of Authentically Alyssa, I’m still not caught up to my goal, but I cut 2k more words, and I’m narrowing the gap. Slowly. Very slowly. But… slow and steady wins the race, right? I sell books in drips and drabs, and gain newsletter subscribers in drips and drabs and… when I look at the overall gains, they’re not insubstantial.

Book of the Day

The Island of Forgotten Gods, by Victor Pineiro
That’s an affiliate link — the drips and drabs of the pennies I get from your purchases all go toward operational expenses here at West of Mars. One thing I’m saving up for? A website redesign.

So when you book my editing services, buy my books, or just stuff my ko-fi, that’s what you’re helping with. The monthly costs, my annual business insurance, moving the books into audio, and yes, a long overdue website redesign. And that’s just some of my wishlist! I also want bags to use at vendor shows, and I need to pay my cover artist and proofreader and my developmental editor…

Wishing no sleepless nights for yinz and y’all. I’ll be back tomorrow with another Book of the Day.

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