Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller

Happy (Belated) Fall Equinox. I realize the equinox was a week ago, but I have been taking a much needed break the last few weeks from all posting things. My brain needed an actual break from thinking and creating and posting and sharing about book stuff, and though I didn’t take an actual vacation, unplugging and forcing myself NOT to think about book stuff for a few weeks helped my mind rest, so I guess my brain at least got a little vacation :). But I’m rearing to go and get back into it.

Biggest update. I had been so, so, so hoping to have my fourth Solstice Chronicle, Beauty Revealed released at (or near) the Fall equinox. Beauty Revealed is my Fall equinox book and when the year started, I had been on track to finish the first book in my new series and get that off to publishing so I could start work on the fourth Solstice Chronicle. Unfortunately, Life (GOD) had other plans. This year started out insanely busy and hasn’t stopped or slowed down. I had scheduled my first book signing and it was out of state to boot, so there were a lot things to prepare for for that. A lot of people don’t realize what all goes into being an author after you hit that publish button. You become a one man band basically, especially when you self-publish, and you’re basically starting your own business from scratch. You become marketing personnel, social media director, event planner, PR person, all rolled into one, all while continuing to write and edit and get things published. Finances play a lot into it too, especially when you don’t just publish for free or cheap on Amazon just to get it out there. That may work for some and that’s great for them if they’ve figured out how to do that, but when I was figuring out whether to self-publish or submit to traditional publishers, self-publishing was the more appealing route. Not that I can’t maybe get picked up by a traditional publisher down the road, but to start, my books, I’ve discovered are a unique genre that don’t seem to fit into a lot of the pre-determined boxes for traditional publishing or the traditional market. The fantasy/fairy tale theme, though inundated with Biblical themes and messages, wasn’t a fit for Christian publishers, and I really wanted to get my books into Christian streams. The self-publishing company I chose is an imprint of Thomas Nelson and Zondervan and they do all of the back work for you in printing, distribution, design, etc, so that is what appealed to me most when I first started the publishing journey. My Solstice Chronicles have too much “fantasy” to fit in with the Christian standards at the company I chose initially, but I’ve been able to publish those through their sister company which is a division under Reader’s Digest. Anyway, all that said, there is a lot that goes into publishing and even more that goes into making it on your own as a self-published author.

So, first book signing, delays in finances(weirdly you have to have books to sell books at a book signing and you have to have book signings to sell books and get your books out into the world so you have to buy books….yeah, the catch 22 of starting your own business…..), and other things in life pushed getting my other book Heart of God published back. What I had hoped to have published and released in May didn’t even start the publishing process until after the book signing I had in May. Publishing process takes about 3 months for me from start to finish and having done several now, I have more insight into the length and process and can better predict when things will release once it’s started. Getting it started because of finances is sometimes the struggle, but other time constraints or things that happen in life also play into it. This year, all of that played into it, and kept culminating in big ways in every area of my life it seemed. So, Heart of God was delayed. And once I started the publishing process, it seemed to just take longer than it usually did for each of the steps in the process and things weren’t getting back to me for approval as quick so they could move onto the next step. I know from publishing my other 3 books prior to this that they are rarely released in, or where I want them to be in the process and God usually seems to have other plans. His timing is always perfect, but my human finite mind feels the road rage of getting stuck walking or driving behind a really slow person that you can’t get around when things aren’t happening in the timing I wanted for my books, even though it works out for God’s favor in the end.

The delay in getting Heart of God out there in turn delayed my fourth Solstice Chronicle. I have wondered more than once if I should have put the new series on hold and finished the Solstice Chronicles, but I also know that Heart of God was the story God put on my heart and mind at the time and was something I needed to get out there. Like everything I’ve written, whether in blog or in book, the message I am sharing is what is needed most at the time, whether in my personal life or in the world, and when God leads for certain things to be said, I try to follow His leading and share what He has asked me to share. Trusting that it is His timing is always the hard part though. All that said, I am in the final chapters of Beauty Revealed: A Fall Equinox Chronicle. If you’ve seen some of my posts on social media, you know that a small, pinhole leak in the pipe in our foundation caused a HUGE mess in our basement that took 2 months out of our lives to get fixed and taken care of (I’m sure there is some sort of lesson here about the damage a small leak can do over time–who knows, maybe it will be blog at some point). But, our lives were pretty literally on a hold in all aspects for 2 months as we’ve had to rearrange the house and sleeping quarters and living space and keep rearranging or shifting or getting ready for whatever the next team to come in and do their part was, so very little writing has been happening for me. My mom had started doing the voice over recording for my first book, Beauty Restored, right before all this happened too and her office space where she has her studio set up has been inaccessible with everything for the last 2 months too. She got the Prologue done before this all started and it sounds AMAZING!! Can’t wait to share about it as she gets more recorded, but getting back to normal has only just started to slowly happen this last week and we are still working to get back to that place. With everything that had been happening this year, I really was to a point where I needed a genuine break from life and writing and posting about my books, so I did take a few weeks off these last few weeks just to give my brain and body a rest.

As I said, Beauty Revealed was not ready to be released at the Fall Equinox, but I am in the final chapters and it usually goes pretty quick once I get through that and start the editing/publishing process. Just getting everything lined up and seeing where it lands in the coming month. Even though I wasn’t able to release my Fall book by the Fall equinox, I am still going to have a sort of “pre-lauch” party for it. When I realized that Beauty Revealed probably wasn’t going to get out there this fall, I debated whether to have a party now since it’s fall and the party would be fall-themed to coincide with the book, or whether to wait and have a fall-themed party in the wrong season. I held off for a while on the decision because a part of me still hoped it might still possibly happen to get Beauty Revealed out by November, but I think it’s safe to say that it probably won’t release until the new year now. I still really wanted to have the fall-themed party to celebrate and couldn’t get over not having a fall party, so I have decided I am going to have a launch party for my 4th book on October 28th! Part of this decision was weighted by the fact that with all the busyness of life over the last year/months, I never got to do a party for my new book and series, Heart of God, so I wanted to be able to celebrate that, and Beauty Revealed is my Fall book so I had to do the party in the Fall. You can check out my Events page for all the details, but I’m doing it! I’m having my party and I’m gonna enjoy it :). I’m excited to celebrate the first book in my new series as well as the completion of my first series, The Solstice Chronicles. Just as the equinoxes and solstices are dual celebrations–the saying goodbye to one season and the saying hello to another season, I think it is perfect to be celebrating both series and books as it is kind of an equinox/solstice in my writing as well. I will have a lot of posts/games on my social media platforms the week leading up to the party and participants both online and in person will be entered to win a little Fall gift box and a free copy of Beauty Revealed (Honesty time–part of my motivation behind having the launch now was so whoever wins the gift box can enjoy their fall decor now instead of in January :). I may also have a virtual launch via Zoom that morning before I do the in person launch so that those out of state can join me in celebrating and ask questions about either book, but that is still in the air. I will definitely keep everything updated with information for both parties as well as updates on Beauty Revealed. Since I don’t have a lot of shareable content for Beauty Revealed as of yet, I will be sharing some info on my Spring Equinox tale, Beauty Redeemed, in the coming weeks, so be sure to check back and learn more about my 2nd book! If you haven’t bought or finished reading the first three books in The Solstice Chronicles, now is a good time to do it so you can be ready for Beauty Revealed when it comes out in a few months!

Thank you as always for your love and support. Please continue to share with others and bathe these books in prayer. Pray for those who read them to be touched and encouraged and be drawn to Christ through them and pray that more and more people will read them. Blessings in this Fall season!