Parisian Phoenix Publishing

As publisher here at Parisian Phoenix, my days never quite go as planned. But I thought I’d take a moment to describe a recent approximate 24-hours-in-the-life.

Let’s start roughly at 5 p.m. last night. I had completed a project earlier in the day for a client, and sent it to them, and was finishing season one of In the Dark, Netflix wants me to watch all the blind programming. My daughter was sharing her photography project with me– a project she did to highlight disabled individuals for their personality and wholeness not their difference. It featured myself, Nancy Scott and Darrell Parry.

Personally I love that Nancy’s new astronaut made the final project as did my novel Manipulations and my cat, Fog.

Around that time, I received a text from a client/former work colleague asking if I intended to head to Noble Quills Poetry Showcase at the Barnes & Noble at the Southmont Shopping Center in Bethlehem Township, Pa. I had just said to Eva that I should go as my fellow member of Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group Robert Martin was one of the featured poets and I wanted to support him as he attends every meeting of the writers group.

By 6 p.m. I had changed from cat-printed lounge pants to jeans and headed out my door. I filmed some video when I arrived at Barnes to promote the event on TikTok and pondered the great placement of wedging poets between religion and diet. Nothing says sharing your written work is food for the soul like that placement does.

Scott, who is always behind the counter at the cafe, managed to sell me an extra pastry when I ordered my decadence, a grande flat white and a pistachio blondie.

For a few minutes around 6:15 p.m., I worked on a client management spreadsheet that I had to create because I’ve reached the point where multiple clients and my own authors all have me working on projects. Some of my clients also owe me money so I need a place other than my mind to track such things.

My client/friend arrived at 6:30 p.m. and we had a chance to chat before the program started at 7 p.m., hosted by the talented Magnus, whom I first heard read at the Easton Book Festival/Stick Figure Poetry Showcase.

The wonderful part of participating in a mixed ability, mixed age poetry open mic is that it allows you to deconstruct what works and what doesn’t work in the work of others, which, in turn, allows you to see the issues in your own words.

I didn’t get home until 9:30 p.m. as I stood in the parking lot talking with my client, and then I talked Eva into a trip to Sheetz where I grabbed a snack and a cheap cocktail in a can.

10:30 p.m.: Therefore, when I got home, I started writing and reading Laurel Wenson’s second Caldwell book, A Heart to Heal.

Uncharacteristic for me, I got to bed around midnight.

7 a.m.: I woke and thought I’d head downstairs and have some coffee and work on the fifth novel in the Fashion and Fiends series that I managed to get 2/3 done during NaNoWriMo.

I got sidetracked by chores like taking out the trash and talking to the college student before she headed out to the last day of classes of her first semester. I decided next to prepare a rough contract of sorts for my upcoming ghostwriting client when Eva left at 8:45 a.m.

My traveling companion M called a little while later, so we caught up and discussed possible travel plans that could lead to a very exciting travel memoir. We talked and I cleaned while on the phone.

Meanwhile, I also kept checking my email as I’ve been trying to get some information on some missing books that Ingram has not printed yet. I also noticed that since Olivia‘s blog post yesterday, Juicy Bits has sold two more copies.

Around 11 a.m., I returned to my work on the ghostwriting proposal, which I finished at 12 while nibbling on some cottage cheese right out of the container. I took a moment to clean cat boxes and open packages– including a cool new expandable desktop bookshelf– and received a Google Doc share from a potential new pro bono non-profit client.

At some point today, Joan is stopping by to see Eva’s photography project. It’s 2 p.m. now and I still need to shower and put “real” clothes on before we visit Ralph Greco Jr. and Joseph Swarctz at their Echo City Capers book signing at the Barnes & Noble in Center Valley, Pa., part of the Promenade Shops. That event is 4 to 7 p.m. and the venue is about 30 minutes away.

Tomorrow, Ralph and Joe will be participating in the Moravian Historical Society’s Christmas event 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Nazareth, Pa. where there is also a witchy store that came recommended, a 7-Eleven Eva always likes to visit, and the home of our own Larry Sceurman, who has a pile of books in my car that I need to deliver.

For more information about the Nazareth Christmas event, click here.