Quenby Olson

I mean, not quite the takeaway I intended, but... okay!

A Threads post from quenolson1121 that says: Please buy my books about a middle-aged woman in Regency England who inherits a dragon egg. I have daughters who need new pointe shoes. *jazz hands* Marketing!

Anytime I panic that I'm not being creative enough with my marketing or spending enough time on it, I remember that these are the kind of posts that get the most sales and traction for me, and they take about 0.3 seconds of thought before I post them.

For the first time in over a year, we are completely paid up and now paid ahead for their dance lessons and I don't even know how to wrap my brain around that.

Just found out that both my girls won a teacher-nominated dance scholarship that will pay for their first few months of ballet tuition this fall and I am in tears.

I am currently prepping for homeschooling four kids next week, shifting one kid over to an online charter school (so paperwork, transcripts, evaluation reports, etc.), while also trying to keep the house from falling into chaos, take care of myself, etc.

Every word written in there is a win.

Me: I am a paragon of homeschooling moms. My children are little geniuses! They are going to conquer the world with the skills and intelligence they gained under my tutelage!

My 14yo: Do rats lay eggs?

I have no where I HAVE to be today, for the first day in weeks.

I think some coffee shop writing might be in order.

Yes, this is the rom-com that I speed-wrote something like 30k words of in a few weeks, and have already added several more thousand words in the last few days. You might be getting a rom-com from me next year!

Every time.

Reading over an unfinished wip I set aside in June because I thought it was terrible, and it's actually decent? Like, maybe even good? What is this sorcery?

A 14yo girl with long blonde hair, in jeans and a blue tank top, sitting on a stool with a glittery gold bass guitar, in front of a pile of amps and cardboard boxes.

A 12yo blond-haired boy in sweatpants and a t-shirt, holding a brown and white bass guitar, next to a large amplifier and surrounded by lots of electronic equipment.

My 14yo and my 12yo have begged their dad to teach them how to play bass, and this fills me with so much glee.

Mildly frustrated by the fact that I put aside the story I wanted to write because I thought it wasn't the story that I should be writing (the sequel to a book currently on submission) and opened up the first story today and wrote over 4k words.

Dagnabbit, I guess I have to finish it now.

And it's finished! 1773 words. The most I've written in a day in weeks and weeks!

Woke up to a short story idea, and it feels wonderful. I've had trouble getting some words on the page lately, but this feels cozy and fun!

Oh, nice!

I've loved this series since it was first published, and now this is such a fantastic way to enjoy it again!

We had an hour and a half of driving today and that book made it go so fast!

It's also a full cast with sound effects and some light background music, so it's the full experience!

If I had known, I would've been listening to these YEARS ago. They are stunningly done. Just gorgeous.

Ooooh!

Yes! I already read through them with my oldest kids years ago, so we've been listening in the minivan while doing errands, and they're full cast with sound effects and music and they're just great!

Started listening to the Series of Unfortunate Events audiobooks with my kids and WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THEY ARE NARRATED BY TIM CURRY???

THE Tim Curry.

They are fabulous and I HIGHLY recommend!!!

I remember someone telling me that trad publishing is a lot of "hurry up and slow down" and it very much feels like that right now!

I think one of the harder parts of having a book out on submission - having come from self-publishing - is the wait. If I had decided to publish this book on my own (and I still might if there aren't any bites) it would likely be up for pre-order already. There'd be a cover. It would be ready to go.

I have two girls in pointe shoes. And they dance five days a week, almost all of those day with at least one class on pointe. *sigh*

Oh, and the Etsy! www.etsy.com/shop/Quenbys...

(Also, special orders are always welcome! I love doing things in different colors and variations!)

A crocheted dragon in rainbow colors resting on the back of someone's hand.

A crocheted dragon in light green with darker green horns and ridges.

Several stacks of books, including Miss percy's Pocket Guide, Miss Percy's Travel Guide, Miss Percy's Definitive Guide, and The Half Killed, on a chevron patterned afghan.

A crocheted fingerless gloves in a dragon scale motif, in rainbow colors.

So we're still working our rears off to make sure my kids keep up with their ballet training. We're not as behind as we were! But fall classes are starting soon and pointe shoes are being run through faster than ever.

IN RELATED NEWS I have an Etsy shop with cute dragons and books.

There's one in the comments now!

Miss Percy's Pocket Guide (to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons) (A Miss Percy Guide Book 1) Amazon.com: Miss Percy's Pocket Guide (to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons) (A Miss Percy Guide Book 1) eBook : Olson, Quenby: Kindle Store

Okay, there's a link! www.amazon.com/Percys-Pocke... (It's also on Bookshop dot org!)

The hardest part about being an author is figuring out how to market your books in a social media post with a character limit.

Cake.
Baby Dragons.
Found Family.
Middle-aged main characters.
Bonnets.

And... done!