Hey, Book Lovers! Happy Cyber Monday!
I hope you are having a wonderful kickoff to the holiday season! In this blog post, I’ll share some information and events with you, including some important news about the future of this blog. Read on!
Does someone on your gift list love Shakespeare, modern love stories, witty and humorous books, poetry, and/or memoir?
This year, give the holiday gift of Two Novembers: A Memoir of Love ’n’ Sex in Sonnets to a friend or family member. This candid and humorous book chronicles my love life in Shakespearean sonnets. The book has a five-star average customer rating on Amazon. I’m sure your gift recipient will love it as much as those happy customers did!
Two Novembers is available at all bookstores, including online and brick-and-mortar bookstores. It’s available at Politics & Prose, The Ivy Bookshop, Bookshop, Beltway Editions, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Your local bookseller can order it in for you even if it’s not currently on the shelf.
You can find physical copies on the shelf—until they sell out!—at Wonderland Books in Bethesda (Maryland), Kramers in DC, and Barnes & Noble in Alexandria / Potomac Yard (Virginia).
For some reason, Two Novembers has started showing up in databases as Young Adult. This is not a young adult book. It contains mature themes and subjects, and its intended audience is adults or, at the youngest, upperclassmen in high school. (Oddly, it’s also showing up as Erotica. It’s very strange that someone thought my book should be categorized as both YA and Erotica. These database mishaps are almost impossible to correct once the data gets populated into the vast network of systems that make up the publishing industry. I’m not even trying to fight with it this time!)
Give some swag along with the book.
Give your loved one or friend some swag to go along with Two Novembers! The image above shows what’s available. Buy $25 or more of any combination of books and swag, and I’ll ship it anywhere in the U.S. for free!
Two Novembers Book: $20
Writing Therapy Journal: $15
Inspirational Post-It Notes: $4
Inspirational Stickers: $2
The journal is blank and lined, and it comes with a very nice pen that writes extremely well. It has lines of poetry from Two Novembers on the cover.
When ordering stickers, please specify whether you would like the oval (on the left in the photo) or rounded rectangle (on the right in the photo) version.
To place an order, send me a message on my Contact page.
My Patreon account is a thing of the past.
I ran a fundraiser for several weeks. Some wonderful donors stepped up and supported me. However, I ultimately failed to get the funding I needed to maintain this blog and my Patreon account. I wrote an extensive article for my Patreon supporters explaining why—it’s all in the numbers. Statistically, it was a Hail Mary move for me to try to get enough funding.
Statistically, a certain percentage of free subscribers tend to become paid subscribers. I will need to triple my free subscriber base to make this blog and Patreon financially viable. Would you like to help me work toward this? Invite your friends to subscribe for FREE at lizaachilles.com/newsletter!
As a result of not getting enough funding, I have shut down my Patreon account. I can revive it in the future if I would like, but in the meantime I need to focus my time and efforts on my novel writing and freelance clients.
I will be cutting back on blog writing.
There are only so many hours in a day. I absolutely must dedicate a large percentage of them to my novel and my paying freelance clients if I am to survive in this new career. If I had more free blog subscribers, and thus more Patreon supporters, this would not be the case. Alas, it is what it is. I’m definitely going to work toward more and more subscribers. But in the meantime, you may not see a blog post from me in your inbox every Monday. Instead, I will aim to post once or twice a month.
Support my novel-writing efforts.
I am in the process of applying for grants to support me as I finish my novel. Applying for grants is a long and complicated process that is gobbling up lots and lots of hours of my life. I’ll let you know if I get funding! I will say that the grant-writing process has been helpful in crystalizing my vision for my novel and creating a written timeline. Also, it has really brought home to me how long it takes to produce good literary writing, and how far I still have to go in this project.
I am writing a literary/autobiographical novel. I’m getting close to halfway through. It’s a lightly fictionalized memoir that spans my whole life thus far, from my early childhood through 2026. It’s about the intersection of philosophy, psychology, spirituality, and consciousness—and a secret I kept for 30+ years. (One of these days I will have to publicly reveal what my secret is. Today is not that day.)
If you are in a position to financially support a working artist and writer, I cordially invite you to visit my GoFundMe page. I will need several sources of financial support to complete this project in such a way that I am being adequately paid for my time, which, as I have learned, is important to grant boards. It’s important to me, too—but I’m also determined to finish the project one way or another, even if that means I’m working without financial support.
If you are a donor who wishes to pledge significant support that is specifically earmarked toward me completing my literary/autobiographical novel during the grant period of May 2026 – April 2027, send me a message on my Contact page. I’d like to include this information in my grant application, which is due on December 12. If you wish to pledge support, I am happy to have a conversation with you about the specific subject matter of my novel, where I am in the writing process, and what my goals are for this project. If you would like, I can also send you my grant application materials.
I have some VERY good news to share.
I have exciting news to share, which is that I am finally earning enough as a freelancer to make a living! I started freelancing back in March, and it took a while to build up a client base. But I did so, and now I’m as busy as a bee! I do copywriting, manuscript editing, web design, and graphic design (layout of book pages and covers and social media marketing). If you’re interested in my services, send me a note on my Contact page. Please note that if you are a new client, there may be a small delay before I can assist you, as I’m quite booked at the moment. (If you are a current client, I can accommodate you right away.)
Hear me speak in person or on the internet.
I was recently featured on a podcast episode. Look up the A Book Finds You! podcast on your favorite podcast app! Or listen online here. This podcast is hosted by Rob Jolles and sponsored by the Maryland Writers’ Association. Our conversation is about my writing process for Two Novembers.
I’ll be reading sonnets from Two Novembers at a poetry reading event in Towson on December 14, 1-3pm. This event will be at The Palisades of Towson, Fifth Floor, 212 Washington Ave., Towson, Maryland. There will be an open mic, so feel free to bring your own poems to read!
I have several exciting speaking and teaching engagements lined up for 2026, so keep a lookout for future events, as well. I’ll be teaching a class on the sonnet for a lifelong learning community, doing workshop presentations on how to have a successful book launch, and presenting readings from Two Novembers. If you’re reading this in an email newsletter, you can scroll down to view events that are coming soon. And you can always learn about all of my future events on my Events page.
I have questions for you.
Please take a moment to leave a comment on this post and answer the following questions. Your responses will help me as I plan for the future of this blog. Even a short answer helps me—thank you so very much!
- Do you want me to incorporate previews of classics in the blog (as I used to do long ago), or stick to previewing only modern books?
- If I created a book of inquisitive one tales, including tales already on the blog and new never-seen-before tales, would you be interested in purchasing a copy? (I would make sure it was available as a print book, audiobook, and e-book.)
- What is your favorite thing about this blog, the aspect you would most not want to disappear?
Happy Holidays!
xo
Liza
