2022 Reader Survey

I’m excited to announce the return of my annual Reader Survey! Woohoo!

Nearly every year the team and I conduct a reader survey. We try to keep it short–each year it’s approximately 10 questions long so it only takes a few minutes to fill out–but the results are absolutely vital to me and the team! While Myrrhlynn, Meg, and I put our heads together to design the survey, the results teach us a lot about you Champions and the community at large, like: what book genres you’re interested in, where should we focus on growing our community, and more!

Meg and Myrrhlynn go over the results extensively before using graphs to explain to me what we’ve learned, and then we use that info to plan out the rest of the year, and–more importantly–the following year!

This year, as my thank you for filling out the survey, I have a Magiford themed short story bonus link at the end! A link to it will pop up AFTER you complete the survey, so don’t exit out of the window until you click that link. (And if you want to read it more than once, I’d suggest saving it to your phone or computer. I’ll put it up on the website eventually, but it probably won’t be until December!) I hope it makes you laugh! Now, what you’ve been waiting for–CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY!

Once again, I can’t thank you Champions enough for filling out the survey. It helps me so much and it’s the best opportunity we have for you to give us feedback. Thanks for taking the survey, thank you for reading, and enjoy the short!

Discord Tips & Trips

Good news, Champions! Vin–our Director of Discord–is back with some general Discord tricks and tips that will hopefully make your time at Sheacon easier/more enjoyable. During Sheacon you will be able to ask for help at the server “help desk” (which you’ll see once Sheacon starts on the 29th) but you might want to refer back to this guide for extra help.

Now, then, take it away, Vin!

Hello, Champions!

I am back with my tips and tricks for Discord. The most important thing that I can say for a newcomer is to join Kitty’s server before SheaCon. You don’t even have to talk to us if you don’t want! (Though we are pretty amazing.) Joining early will give you time to see how Discord works without the pressure of figuring everything out that weekend. Trust me, it’s going to be a fun packed but CRAZY BUSY event filled with author panels and activities. The last thing you need is to feel overwhelmed because Discord is a different platform than you have used before. SheaCon will take place on a separate server (think of servers like different Facebook groups), and the link to it won’t be shared until July 29th.

My next tip is to read up on the basics of Discord. It has its own “Beginner’s Guide to Discord” webpage. I use it ALL THE TIME, and I’ve been on Discord for almost four years. I used it just today. From that one article you can find more advanced articles like how to do text markdowns (making words bold, italics, underlined, etc.). Bonus points to them for keeping it updated with every new feature they add.

Each server is different, so read the server rules and channel descriptions. The rules will make it clear how to conduct yourself on a server should you eventually join one that is not Kitty’s. Channel descriptions will let you know what the channel is about if the channel name did not clearly communicate its purpose. Kitty’s Champion server and the SheaCon server share most of the same rules.

On a more sensitive note, I’m going to talk about GIFs. Now I love to use GIFs! But I’ve had to tone down my usage because I have learned that a lot of flashing GIFs in a row will over stimulate some Champions. How did I learn this? The hard way, unfortunately, when those poor souls had to reach out to me about their troubles. Talk about a moderator fail. This is not a rule, more of a guideline in being considerate of the hundreds of Champions that are on Discord, but please try to keep GIF usage minimal. A few here and there don’t hurt anything, but an entire conversation held in just GIFs can be crazy. Fun… but crazy.

Now, you have joined Discord, you have looked over all the how-to articles, and you are familiar with the server. What next? That is completely up to you! While it can be intimidating at first, if you want to talk, the easiest way is to just jump into a conversation. We’ll think nothing of it and keep talking to you. Or you can ask book questions. I’ve seen that nothing is more effective at getting conversation started than theorizing about Kitty’s books. However, you don’t have to talk to us at all! I can’t count the number of silent members on Discord… because they are silent. They are active, they read everything, but they choose not to talk. And that IS FINE!

My last thing: If you are lost, please ask for help. We are very friendly and want other Champions to feel welcome in our server and in the SheaCon server. Champions will gladly help answer questions, but if you are uncomfortable asking them, you can send me a personal message. I will either know the answer or find it for you.

I hope these tips help you have a great weekend during SheaCon or help if you just want to check out this Discord “thing” we keep talking about. I’ll see you there!

-Vin

Health Update v 2.0

I figured it’s about time to give you all an update on my health, so we’re all on the same page when it comes to my workload this year. I’ve got a case of bad news/good news, so let’s start with the bad news first.

Since I made the initial announcement in spring, my health took a nosedive for months, particularly since I’m dealing with some severe anemia. The good news is, I’m going to get a major surgery done in September to fix the issue, and my doctor estimates that by December I should be doing much better!

I knew I was eventually going to get this surgery. Initially the doctor was hoping I’d be able to hold off for a year or two, but my health problems are so bad the surgery is necessary right now. (The only reason I’m not getting it done sooner is I have a vacation in August that I couldn’t reschedule and I’ve been planning for it since 2019.) The anemia is bad enough that it’s throwing a little extra danger into the surgery and I might have to get some follow up treatments. But any problems will be temporary, and I’m taking some preventative measures. (One of those measures is that I’m taking enough iron supplements to become ironman. It does have the unexpected side effect of making me hiccup, though, so if you hear me hiccupping a lot during Sheacon, that’s why!)

The one downside to all of this, is my three remaining teeth surgeries are getting pushed off into 2023 as a result of the major surgery and anemia issue. It’s too dangerous to schedule them in 2022. So my health saga will continue into 2023, but I should be able to bounce back faster from those once I get over the anemia. (The anemia recovery is an estimated three to six months, but I’m hoping to be on the shorter end of that spectrum.)

What does this mean for us? At this point, not much has changed. I’m still on schedule to release the next Magiford trilogy, but I won’t get the opportunity to work on Retha #4 this year now that I have the big surgery in September eating a large chunk of my time, so I have no idea when Retha will launch in 2023. (Spoiler: It will probably be later than we all wanted. But it is STILL the next non-Magiford book I’m going to work on next!)

This summer and spring have been the pits for me. I’ve never been so frustrated with myself before because there’s so much I  can’t do anymore. But! I’m glad I know there is an end, and I’m so thankful it can be solved with a surgery.

Thanks for hanging in with me, Champions. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate our supportive and encouraging community. Thank you so much for all the supportive emails, snail mail, and the gifts! I’m kind of in a weird place, so you all made me cry a lot, but it’s because I’m so, so thankful for you! Your encouragement has lifted my spirits, and you’ve been so understanding even though I currently have the bristly personality of a disgruntled porcupine right now.

Also, a huge thank you to the KM Shea team–Like Meg, my assistant; Vin, the Director of Discord; Jocelyn, Megen, and Sarah, the Facebook Group Champion Leaders; and Cindy and all of the Sheacon planners–who’ve been working hard to keep things running during this time. You guys are the best!

Ending on the positive side, there WILL be an end to this, and once I’m through it we’re going to have so much fun!