And I could just laugh at the way my life is a ball of chaos. For those of you with me when Fifteen launched, you remember that the book wasn’t available on Amazon on the launch day. For this launch, I SWORE that if it was the last thing I did, I would have it up on Amazon on launch day.
The world is laughing at me. For those of you in beautiful Australia, you should be able to buy the ebook. For the rest of you? If you want to buy the book, you’ll still have to buy it off Etsy.
I could be mad. Or frustrated. Not only is the book NOT on Amazon, but the beautiful @ had to step down from joining our launch party tonight. But it’s okay.
Sixteen is still out there. The launch party will still happen. I have still reached a milestone in my writing career, and it is good.
Because I choose today to be a good and beautiful day.
Happy Launch day, beautiful Sixteen. Touch people’s lives and create a change.
If you want to order Sixteen today, you can do so through Etsy. If you order today through Etsy, you’ll still be able to get the pre-order goodies. (Which include some coffee, an eye shadow palette, an extra poem, and a sheet of stickers.) Hurry, though, because there’s only 12 preorder goodie packages left!
I have to say, I’m not on the ball when it comes to this whole book launch thing.
And I have no one to blame but myself for that. But for some reason, I don’t blame myself. I’m at a time in my life where I have lots of different plates spinning, and I’m trying to find what I’m okay with dropping, and what is a priority to me.
But, for all of you who have been following me for years and enjoy my poetry, I’m super excited to announce that Sixteen has preorders AND preorder goodies!
To be honest, Sixteen probably holds all of my favorite poems to date. They are poems I wrote to help others, to understand what on earth happens in this world. Why people treat each other the way they do, and how we should respond about it all. I love the cover, I love the whole aesthetic of the book, and I know you guys will, too.
And now for the preorder goodies! If you order the book, for the first 25 books sold, there will be a pre-order packet you can claim. The goodies include: 1 bag of medium roast coffee, 1 eyeshadow palette in purples, 1 package of stickers, and 1 extra poem.
I AM IN LOVE with these preorder goodies. They are so much nicer than Fifteen’s preorder goodies, and I mean, you guys HAVE to go snatch them up.
And now for the last part of business for this post. Once again, I’m hosting a blog tour! And I’m beyond thrilled for this. If you want to help spread the good news, be one of the first people to read Sixteen, or you’re in need of something to post about, join the blog tour.
I’ve always loved blog tours, because they helped other people find out about my blog. People who wouldn’t usually learn about it. So it’s great for views, and also great to just build community.
I can’t even begin to say how excited I am about launch week. Only two more weeks to go! 😱 Time is certainly flying for me, and I can’t wait to see this lovely little gem on your bookshelves.
What a great question, considering all she does is occasionally pop onto her once lifestyle blog to barf poetry or vaguely motion to some aspect of her life. That is why it’s time for another episode of Coffee Chats with your host, Amie.
*sits down and gets comfortable* Ready for an interesting fact? I only drink coffee once a week now, so this should really be Tea Times with Amie, since I drink like, three cups of tea per day at the moment. 😂 Why have I stopped drinking so much coffee? Well, I shall start this coffee chat by talking about my health. My body is very sensitive, and even though I have tried to attribute it simply to hypochondriac tendencies, I am actually allergic to a lot of things. For example, anything grass related (i.e. wheat, buckwheat, grass, pinesol), anything dairy related (i.e. Milk, yogurt, cheese, whey), and so many other things. (Fragrances, mold, cats . . . ) But I don’t like going without things, so I struggle to keep myself away from the things that make me sick. When I was reviewing my lifestyle, I realized that if I rationed coffee, it made it easier to ration other things. So while coffee isn’t “bad” for me, I’ve put tea in it’s place.
Anyway. That was a long ramble, but it’s something that has taken me away from this blog. When you’re exhausted all the time and sick all the time, you certainly don’t feel like blogging.
The other health related thing I’ve been doing a lot is exercise. I know there’s a lot of debate on exercise, and some people just don’t enjoy it, but at the moment, my exercise is my favorite part of the day. Yes, it is very sad, but hey. It is what it is. I’ve been doing a lot of pilates and weight training at the moment. I’ve wanted to get into running but I’m waiting for my asthma to calm down a bit before I do anything crazy.
At the moment, I’m studying for the ACT, and I have now realized why people in school are always so tired. Studying takes so much mental energy from you. It’s like. . . a vacuum of the cruelest kind. But my improvement has been so encouraging to watch, so I won’t resent the time it takes to study.
Another thing that has taken my time is . . . I’m publishing another book! 😱 And I thought I had already announced it on here but oh well. 🤦♀️ It’s a companion poetry book to Fifteen, and yes. It’s named Sixteen. I intend to have a four book poetry set by the end of my teenage years, respectively named Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, and Eighteen. 😂
I also have continued to run my business, Painted Prose. It is now a subscription box. If you want more info, go here.
But I’m not here to talk all about my . . . . work, I guess. I’m here to ramble about my thoughts. What is going on in the head of Amie?
I will be honest, I’ve been stressed. Yesterday I had a crying fit after this week has been riddled with migraines. There’s just always so much to do, you know? And even if I don’t have to do everything, I still have to do a lot. And just thinking about what I have to do, I get stressed, because it’ll take so much mental energy, won’t it?
And then I realized something hilarious.
If I stopped stressing about how much mental energy life will take, then I’ll have more mental energy to give to life. 😂
I like to avoid pain at all costs, like average humans. But my problem is that I like to think I have high pain tolerance, to justify me skirting the painful things. My painful things hurt so much more than so-and-so’s, so I’m justified in not pushing through the pain to get the reward.
But to be truly happy in life, we have to push through the pain. Example: I love being strong. I love the high that comes after exercise. But in order to get that high, I have to push through the pain of the actual workout routine.
Like everything in life, you have to do this with balance. So if you put yourself through pain all the time, and refuse to take time to rest, you’ll be in a bit of a tight space. Which is the place I often force myself. I struggle to balance, always have. My knees used to be bloody all the time from my lack of balance.
So now it’s my soul that’s bloody and I don’t know how to practice balance.
I had given up on good years when 2021 showed up last January first. I’d decided life was just one suffering battle, something to be endured, something that you just want to end. But 2021 and God showed me that life isn’t like that. That yes, there’s awful years you simply have to slug through. But there are wonderful years like 2021.
2021 Highlights
Starting Painted Prose Designs!
There’s not many things I started or did in 2021, but I’ve fallen in love with my little Etsy shop. There’s still so much to do and so much growth it’s waiting for, but I’m still really thankful and proud of every piece of hard work and love that went into it. Especially since it’s my second small business.
Which leads me to the second highlight.
Learning how to fail
This one is hard for me, as a person who hates failure, breaks, and any kind of self care. But it was time for me to learn, time for me to take time and breathe, or else I was bound to get myself in some pretty bad places. And I had a lot of opportunities on learning how to fail this year.
First off, I “failed” in a small business attempt. And I’m not even upset about it anymore. It taught me that failure is often the forerunner of success, and that hard work will never go unrewarded, even if at first glance, the reward looks like failure.
Then, in the summer, I “failed” at a law office job. It just wasn’t the right fit for me, and it was running me dry. I learned that I am not at all a desk job type of person, and if you leave me in a cold room with barely anything to do, I will sleep the day away. 😂 Quitting that job taught me that it’s okay to say no. It’s okay to not have things work out. People won’t hate you, and you certainly won’t hate yourself.
Seeing my sweet friend twice in one year.
First trip to visit her was a blast. I surprised her for her graduation, she had no idea I was coming! And that ended up being the best part of my 2021. Late Starbucks run, beach fun, amazing conversation and singing at the top of our lungs in the car. It was magical. And then this December I was able to visit her again, and it was a lovely time. ❤
My first full-time job and being promoted to manager
Taking so much of my time, it’s a good thing I love this stinker. I found a place where I belong as a barista, and now a manager. It’s like a second home, and I may or may not spend as much time or more time there than I do at home. The people I work with are amazing, and I love my customers so much. This was one of the largest and coolest blessings God gave me in 2021. To go from total isolation to being able to see people EVERY DAY? It was a dream come true, a dream I didn’t even know I had.
2021 has been a lovely year, full of healing. In 2020, I started the year with a post that stated I didn’t know who I was anymore. And while it’s true, I don’t have a detailed synopsis on myself, I do know myself now. I know who I am.
I’m Amie, a wild yet cautious being who has more ideas than time, reads more than she speaks, and yet treasures people and stories as the greatest things on earth.
Amie Anne 