You can buy my book!

Published March 22, 2024 by Malia

This one.  Right here.  In case you’re interested, here are just a few of the places it’s available.

Signed Copies

–Ko-Fi This ships directly from me.

–Sower Books Sower Books is the bookstore owned by my wonderful friend, Tory.  Her business is currently only online, but she’s working toward getting a physical store opened in Lincoln, NE later this year.

Paperback & E-book copies

–Amazon: Paperback & Kindle

–Barnes & Noble: Paperback & Nook

–Thriftbooks: Paperback

–Walmart: Paperback

I don’t have many reviews yet, but here’s the reviews currently on Goodreads.

I know that this book isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I hope that you’ll enjoy it!

Why did I stop taking my ADHD meds?

Published March 5, 2024 by Malia

The simple answer?  American health care sucks, even if you have insurance.  Normally my med is $40.  That is on the very far end of what I can manage to afford.  When I refilled it last week, my total came to $365. 

I’ve now been out of my med for almost a week and today I could tell that it’s almost out of my system.  It’s miserable and exhausting and my emotions are starting to get much more difficult to deal with.  Plus, I’m super tired and my brain won’t shut up so I can fall asleep. 

As much as I enjoy making the “Squirrel!” joke, the truth is ADHD is so much more than just getting easily distracted.  And my med helps me keep it from getting too out of control. 

Fingers crossed my provider can help me find a med I can afford that will work.

I’m off my ADHD meds at the moment, so here’s some random thoughts about movies I grew up with.

Published March 4, 2024 by Malia

If you watch Back to the Future and skip Back to the Future III and instead go immediately to Back to the Future III, you are going to be a bit confused.  Growing up I was allowed to watch the first and third movies, but I wasn’t allowed to watch the second until I was in my mid-teens. 

Same situation with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.  I was allowed to watch that, but not Wrath of Khan or Search for Spock.  When I got old enough that I was allowed to see them, suddenly parts of Voyage Home made so much more sense.

If you’re looking for some deep life lesson in this little anecdote, I fear you’ll walk away disappointed.  Though, I suppose there is some sort of lesson here regarding not removing parts of stories.  Again, I’ll leave it to you to make that interpretation. 

Honestly, I could probably write a novel based on all the things from my childhood that people find incredibly strange.  Maybe I will.  We’ll see…

Not What I Expected

Published February 13, 2024 by Malia

Today’s the day.  The day my first novel goes on sale.

Except it hasn’t.

It’s all set to go.  Everything is ready.  It’s been approved to be published and the on sale date has been set for weeks.  Unfortunately, the self-publishing publisher that I’m going through hasn’t made it available for sale yet.

It’s frustrating and stressful.  Not exactly how I envisioned feeling the day I released my first book.  Last night I was so nervous and excited and anxious, and tonight I’m just sad. 

Fingers crossed it’ll sort itself out by tomorrow.

It’s okay to be scared.

Published February 10, 2024 by Malia

The other night Tom asked me what I would do if I wasn’t afraid.  To be honest, I can’t imagine existing without having a certain level of fear.  Fear and anxiety have been a large part of my life for as long as I can remember. 

I’m scared about my book.  I’m not scared that some people won’t like it.  I fully expect that some or even a lot of people won’t like it.  There is not a single book that every single person likes.  That’s just a fact. 

And that’s okay.

While I would love for my novel to be the shit, I am terrified that it is just shit.

And, even though, a few people have read it and responded positively, they’re also people that know me personally.  I fear that knowing me has caused them to read the book with kind eyes.

I am under no misguided belief that I’m a spectacular writer.  I’m average, at best. 

And that’s okay.

I love writing, and I have vastly improved over the last two years.  The book is the best thing I’ve ever written.  I finished it.  I am so incredibly proud of myself for that. 

While I can’t imagine living without fear, I am learning quite a bit about being afraid and still doing the thing (pretty sure that’s a paraphrase of something Neil Gaiman said).  If I gave into all my fear and anxiety right now, I’d pull the book.  I wouldn’t put it out into the world next week. 

I’m scared and I’m still gonna do the thing. 

5 Days

Published February 8, 2024 by Malia

The ebook version of Healing Notes comes out in 5 days!  I’m anxious and excited and terrified and thrilled and a whole pile of other conflicting emotions about this.  It kind of feels like I’m a mama bird and I’m about to kick baby bird out of the nest.  If you would like to hear me read an excerpt from chapter one, please click this link:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPR3SyqjP/

Catching Up

Published February 4, 2024 by Malia

Well, hello there. It’s been a hot minute since I last posted, and quite a bit has happened since then. 

First, we adopted a 7-ish-month-old puppy at the beginning of June 2023.

The day we met.

As you can see, she was very malnourished when we met. She was a stray and had been at the shelter for about a week. 

I named her Muffin because she looked a bit like Muffin from Bluey, and I’m still very much in love with that show. I was unprepared for the Muffin level attitude that came with the name. It’s been a challenging several months, but I think things are improving. Raising a puppy has definitely been an experience.

Happier and healthier after 7 months in our family.
A rare moment where Krypto and Muffin actually sat together peacefully.

And now the really big news…

I wrote a book!!!

The e-book cover
The paperback cover

This book started as a silly little idea at the end of last November. I fell into a writing hyperfixation, and roughly three weeks and 100,000-ish words later I was typing The End. What I ended up with was a sweet romance that went to a much deeper place than I ever anticipated. It was an extremely emotionally taxing story to write, but I’m very proud of what I ended up with. 

It’s coming out on February 13, 2024. I’m incredibly nervous and excited to put this out into the world. 

And that’s the big news on my end.