Planet Tash

I’m playing Santa, myself, through January 1, 2023:

Click here to download the free ebook

In otra news…

Welp, it’s almost Christmas. I’ve been making good progress on recording Miss Fitz Discovers Midlife Magic as an audiobook, and I’m truly glad I’m doing this one myself, for a couple of huge reasons:

1. Ideas! Ideas for book three come flooding in as I revisit where the characters were in book one. I look forward to recording book two for the same reason. Yes, I know it’s making my timing for book three sort of drag out there, but you know what? I’m trying to enjoy the process of writing in a way that I haven’t been able to for over fifteen years. The last time I really REALLY took my time with a book was… *counts on fingers*
   
   (I mean, don’t get me wrong. I always try my best. This time, though, I’m trying to downshift away from the all-too-common trend of writing more, faster. In the past, I’ve given up on stories before because I felt like there was no way I could get them finished fast enough. Essentially, I branded the books as failures before they even got a chance to be read. Now that I have played the field in so many different genres and settled back on witchy/fairy/magic stuff, I just want to relearn how to love the process. That love of getting my hands dirty got lost along the way. It feels good to take my time.)
   
2. Quality control! I’m finding issues with my manuscript that weren’t caught by editors or editing software, and weren’t flagged by helpful readers. As I read this book aloud into a mic, you better BET I notice these. By the time I listen through the post-production copy of the audiobook, I hope to have finally caught ’em all, Pokemon style.

Typos! Gotta catch ’em all!

Ironically, I have told writers more than once to read their work aloud, when I’m certain they are going to catch their own mistakes that way. I suppose from now on, I’ll record my audiobooks (or have them recorded, if I choose to go that route again) before I publish the ebook/paperback. It would just save so much time and embarassment. Hopefully.

In otra otra news, I’m still creating shows on AMP. It’s a lot of fun. I don’t know if I will slow down, but if I need to, I like that I control my own schedule. Right now I’m working on a playlist with the theme Wight Christmas. Definitely want it to be metal AF.

Tomorrow I should be able to do my 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame show. Dec 21, I have a Solstice show planned. I’ve also got a show featuring famous drummers lined up. My most popular shows so far have been theme at my imaginary Indie Bookstore, as well as the I Miss Art Bell shows, and the Dr. Demento-inspired shows full of silly songs.

Rock out with me on the free AMP app, or listen live via your Amazon Echo device by saying, “Alexa, play Leslea on amp.” Listen through your browser at Live.onamp.com/Leslea

New! Subscribe to our email list, and you can get a free ebook copy of Witchy Wanda Season One, for a limited time.

Tick tick tick…time’s a-counting down on the old grandfather clock.

Not really! Not really.

I don’t hate Morrissey, but I’ve never been a huge fan.

Enter AMP. I’ve played and listened to more Morrissey lately than I ever would have dreamed. And it’s fun!

But it’s optional. All Morrissey/Smiths is/are optional. Phew.

Today I did my first show in several days, and had a nice intimate crowd of listeners join me. So much fun, truly.

I love music, but over the years it has gotten harder and harder to carve out time just to enjoy it. Now, thanks to AMP, I’m making time to not only play old favorites, but to discover new (and new to me) artists. It is lovely, and although I don’t think of myself as super social, when it comes to talking about music with other AMPers, it’s effortless.

Feelin’ happy, post-show. 🙂 I’d love for you to join me sometime. I don’t have a regular schedule, but if you follow me, you’ll get a notification when I go live. (And I do try to schedule shows in advance when I can.)

If you want to join me on my next show, download the app and follow me (@leslea).

If you can’t run the app on your phone right now (sorry, Androids), then you can still listen through your Alexa app or Echo device by telling it to play my show. (Alexa pronounces my name “Les-lah” because she’s dumb, so my listeners tell me they typically use the title of my show…for instance, today’s show was “Back on the Chain Gang,” so they said, “Alexa, play Back on the Chain Gang on AMP.”) Whew! Hope that wasn’t too taxing to figure out.

On your iphone, it’s just click and play, no sweat. There’s even a chat where you can socialize with other listeners.

In other work news, spent the time between songs working on the ebook/audiobook script of Witchy Wanda Season One. The first three episodes are free on Kindle Vella, and sometimes Vella gives away coins, so you should check it out if you like 1960s ghost stories and urban legends.

Today was a very productive work day. I also got two chapters of Miss Fitz book 1 recorded for the audiobook. It’s a slow process because there are only so many hours a day I can speak before I feel like “Enough of my own voice, already!”

But that’s how it is right now. Editing and voicing things. And vibing to the music.

Catch ya on the flippity jibbit.

It’s that, and so much more! All in the October Newsletter.

Wow! You can catch up on all the published episodes of Witchy Wanda through the eleventh, for free!

Go get spooked!

Read Witchy Wanda on your Kindle app, or online!

The faster you buy, the more you save.

That song never gets old!

Well, today’s only the 17th, but I’m going to do a post, anyway.

Tim and I have been up to SO MUCH in the past month. Where to begin? Oh, I know. Let’s start with new releases!

Witchy Wanda launched on the lucky 13th. It’s a Kindle Vella story, which means you get to read the first three episodes for free. After that, it’s a few cents per episode. You pay with tokens. If you enjoy SHORT episodes (think–half the length of a regular book chapter), then you would enjoy Kindle Vella. I’ve been including polls at the end of the episodes, too, so readers can give me feedback on what they think is going to happen next. Reader interaction is freaking awesome.

To keep up to date with my writing projects, including progress on Miss Fitz and the Hard No November (working title), make sure you are receiving our newsletters! Check your spam box, trust our address, mark it as important or add a star, whatever you do to make sure we don’t go to spam, okay? SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER LINK Go click it! You won’t be disappointed. Guaranteed to always include at least one meme.

What else is new? Oh, geez, so much. Right now I’m typing this blog post while listening to Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever,” from It’s a Kind of Magic. I’m about 25% through my radio show du jour, Bookworm Radio. Yep, I am playing DJ. Today’s theme is Magic & Whimsy. Yesterday’s theme was Harry Potter. Before coming up with Bookworm Radio, I also did a few episodes of a show called I Miss Art Bell, because, hey–I do. So, yeah, I’ve been enjoying this experiment with DJing! If you want to listen along, call in and make requests, or even start your own show, go here: AMP app for iPhone

Yep. It be that way, too.

So, funny story. Trying to sell this house kind of set me into a hyperwork-work-work mode. In between herding cats, writing books, and cleaning, I started looking for jobs. I realized I should probably update my title from “Writer” to “Content Creator.” Wouldn’t you know it? I even landed a few interviews. On second thought, though…I don’t really have time to do all the things I like to do, plus drive my kid to school when the bus driver has Covid (several times this year) AND clear out the house of kids and animals when the realtor has showings (we had six in six days once, and that was exhausting!).

You guessed it, I’m not taking a job outside of Planet Tash. It would take too much time away from recording audiobooks and everything else I’ve been up to…but since I am an unabashed “Content Creator” now, I thought I’d go ahead and share with you my super secret project. Back in May or June I started this channel. Tim was knee deep in side-hustle research, as per usual, and he was thinking of starting a channel, himself. Now, I don’t want to be in front of the camera, so I had never considered starting a YouTube or TikTok channel for anything other than personal videos or book promo. I realized that I could use my graphic design expertise to make little “seek and find the difference” puzzles for YouTube, for eventual monetization. I say “eventual” because I need 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours to qualify for that. I expect it to take about a year or organic growth.

But, you know what? It’s fun. I usually make the puzzles while I’m relaxing for the day. I think of it as my version of counted crosstich or other needlework. It’s just fun for me. Here’s the latest puzzle:

I think that’s all the news that fits.

Oh, speaking of Fitz, don’t forget Miss Fitz Discovers Midlife Magic, a light cozy fantasy mystery paranormally thingie. It’s free to read through Kindle Unlimited or a whole five dollars to buy. It’s set THIS TIME OF YEAR on days JUST LIKE THIS BEAUTIFUL DAY here in Indiana! It’s a kind of magic!

I know, I remember when mid-August was still the height of summer, too. I miss those days. My kids have been back to school for a couple of weeks now, which means even if I beg them to go swimming with me, they’re going to refuse on the basis of “Summer is over, Mom!”

(“But not technically,” Mom replies, her voice falling on deaf ears. “Labor Day’s not ’til September…”)

So, what’s a Mom to do?

Well, this Mom is trying to sell the Treehouse, so chaos rules around here. Tim and I have to drop what we’re doing and herd cats–literally. I wrote about this in the latest newsletter–if you didn’t get it, go look in your spam folder. I’ll wait. Not there? Sign up here.

Now that you’re back, we can “oooh” and “ahhh” over some inspirational artwork I included in that email:

These pieces are for and from a Kindle Vella series I’m working on about a Brown County witch in the 1960s. I shan’t say more.

But I will say this: you may have noticed in the newsletter that I asked for reviewers at NetGalley for the second novel in my Miss Fitz at Midlife series. I’m still taking requests there through the end of August, but I’ve also opened up some review opportunities via BookSprout, as well. In total, I’ve got three novels and one non-fiction audiobook available for free, IF YOU WILL REVIEW IT.

I know, I know, these uppity upstart authory uppy-ups are always asking for reviews. Who do these authors think they are??

We struggle, dear reader. Even those touched by the golden sceptor of Big Publishing are forced to grovel and beg for the only thing that sells books besides a perfect cover: reviews. The computers that run the internet just don’t recommend your book to new readers until those who have already read it come back and bless it.

So, if you want to read and be part of the blessing/annointing of these latest witchy books, here’s a BookSprout link. The NetGalley link is in the newsletter. This opportunity is slipping by like what’s left of August. Dive in and splash around while you can, y’all. Everything currently free won’t be, come fall.

And do watch for Witchy Wanda. (Say that three times fast.)

New audiobook: