The one excellent development in February, which I didn't see coming at all, is that I got inspired to do adult gymnastics! This is not a totally out-of-the-blue interest, mind you. I did competitive gymnastics until I was 16, then broke my ankle, which sadly stopped me in my tracks and I never went back.

I happened to see a reel of a former gymnast restart her gymnastics journey in her forties and that TOTALLY gave me permission to get back in there too, at 41.

On the editing front:

I copyedited a cozy speculative novella (the food descriptions were out of this world and made me so hungry while editing). 😄
I proofread a 300-page legal report (with tooooons of footnotes).
I also booked a story database for June; it's for a space opera I had the privilege of copyediting a few years ago (and that was eventually picked up by a publisher!). I'm stoked about diving back into that universe and cataloguing all its details.
I did my first "talking head" reel in forever: all about when you should get a story database made.

On the Blog: My Editing Process

Not precisely a blog post, but I'm counting it. 😅 I've documented what you can expect when working with me: from reaching out to booking a spot.

How to reach out
Sample edit and making sure we're a good fit
The booking process
Invoicing and payment schedule
Typical turnaround time for projects
My included clean-up pass

Author Resource Round-Up

And now on to some resources worth sharing this month:

Promoting books without social media (webinar, Authors Guild): For more ideas on non-social-media channels for promoting your book. See what's possible beyond chasing algorithms. I also enjoyed the Off the Grid podcast episode "100 Ways to Share Your Work & Life Off Social Media").
SEO for authors: This FriesensPress blog post is a good primer for learning basic SEO or diving back in. All about the long-tail keywords over here! 🤓
Ideas for using Pinterest as an author: I know firsthand how Pinterest can really drive traffic to blog posts (something I pinned in 2019 still drives traffic to my blog to this day!). Check out these ideas on how you might use Pinterest as an author. One of my goals this year is to get back into Pinterest, so expect more related link round-ups as I research what the platform is like these days.

What I'm Reading & Watching

Still working on LOTR, but I'm simultaneously on a series of nonfiction side quests. Currently enjoying Rising Strong by Brené Brown, and just getting started on Your Brain on Art. I'm also excited for I Don't Want a Job by Amie McNee to arrive.
As for shows, I'm watching an oldie but a goodie (2016 seems like a lifetime ago): Baroness Von Sketch Show. It's a 4-woman Canadian comedy sketch show. Fricken hilarious.
I'm on the tail-end of my obsession with Tiny Book Shop, as in I'm close to finishing the game! Next up is Palia, thanks to my BFF Sarah who showed me around her epic witchy house.

See you next time!

- Erika

👉P.S. If you want to work together in July or beyond, get on my waitlist! I email once a month on new spots opening up three months out.

Erika Steeves
Fiction & Nonfiction Editor
www.erikasteeves.com