A Musical and Bookish Start to Autumn – September 2023 Wrap

September was packed and fun, and it was also one of those marathon months. Time is so strange sometimes. Anyway, between starting September in Missouri and ending it in Colorado, I made lots of memories and had amazing moments. Here are the highlights.

My Official Video from the 2023 ISSA Awards

I’m still on a high from winning my first music award at the 2023 International Singer Songwriters Association (ISSA) Awards. If you haven’t read all about my perfect trip to Atlanta in August, you can do so here.

This month, the official recording of the awards was released, which means I got my award presentation and acceptance speech in high definition. I’m so glad the show was filmed in such great quality because I love having this video to remember the magical day.

Huge thank you again to the International Singer Songwriters Association for an experience I’ll never forget.

My September Session

I had the best time returning to the Vault Recording Studio for another ten-hour session this month. In a nutshell, I recorded pop bops, brought my Christmas single to life with my little gingerbread, and officially wrapped up recording for my new album coming next year. Oh, and my ISSA Awards crystal took a field trip, because obviously.

If you’d like all the exclusive details about what I worked on during my session, check out this blog post. I’m so excited to share all my new music when the time comes.

My Last Day at the Murrysville Farmers Market

This month, I played during the last day of the Murrysville Farmers Market for the year. This was such an amazing way to end the summer. I hope you enjoy watching my set highlights video.

I loved playing five times during the farmers market this year. Playing my guitar in the sunshine is always a wonderful time. Here’s to more live performances hopefully soon.

My September Interviews

I had the opportunity to do three super fun interviews this month. First, Hops & Spirits invited me to be part of their Bar Conversations Friday Five series, where I talk about what drew me to music, my influences, my songwriting process, my music and podcast, and more. You can read it here.

Also, I did two live radio interviews this month. I was the indie artist spotlight on Country Crops on KB Radio 91.7RM, hosted by Robbie Harte, and joined Brian Weaver on his station, Brian’s Rock n Roll Radio, for a chat. During both interviews, I talked all about my career so far and what’s to come. Huge thank you to both Robbie and Brian for having me.

Interviews are definitely at the top of my list of favorite things to do as an artist. I’m so grateful I had three this month.

Producing and Co-Hosting Falling into Autumn on Heart of Indie Radio

Autumn has arrived, and I’m delighted I got the opportunity to produce and co-host another show on Heart of Indie Radio. Earlier this year, I did Spring into Spring and Summer Groove. This time, the show was Falling into Autumn.

I had the most fun picking all the songs and choosing topics for the station breaks. The more I produce shows, the more comfortable and creative I feel with the process. Also, co-hosting the show with Eddie was a blast as always.

If you’d like to fall into autumn with amazing music and conversations, listen to the show on MixCloud. I promise this is one you don’t want to miss.

Updates from Author Land

I have lots of updates from author land. First, I attended the Atlanta/Colorado Writing Workshop online, which was truly a wonderful experience. During the two-day conference, I attended incredible classes and panels and got to pitch two agents. I love writing conferences, since I get to interact with publishing professionals and further my education about the craft of writing and publishing industry as a whole.

Also, I shared my query letter and opening pages with Carey Blankenship-Kramer, a wonderful agent and editor, for feedback. Thanks to her, my query package is even stronger, and I’m grateful she put so much thought into her notes. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes from this improved package, since this young adult fairytale and mythology reimagining has my heart.

I dedicated a lot of time to another manuscript, too. This month, I revisited my young adult speculative thriller. Once I finish my full revision, I’ll be sharing the manuscript with beta readers for feedback. I haven’t looked at this story for a while, and doing another revision reminded me why I wrote it in the first place and how much I love it.

I’m working extremely hard every day, from revising manuscripts to querying agents. My dreams is to land literary representation, and I’m going to keep persisting, until that dream comes true.

With November right around the corner, I’m starting to really focus on the book I’ll be drafting during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). For a while, I was planning on doing my young adult locked room thriller, but I realized it’s a bit too involved to write in one month. So, I’ve decided on a new idea, a young adult cozy fantasy. This story came to me out of the blue one day, and I’m very excited to draft it in November. I’ll be spending a ton of time during October preparing to take the NaNoWriMo challenge for the second time.

So, that’s a wrap on September. This was an amazing month, and I’m grateful for every opportunity.

I already have plans for October. I’ll be doing a photo shoot for my new album and attending the Josie Music Awards in Nashville. Along with this, I’m sure I’ll have many more highlights coming my way. I can’t wait to see what October, and the rest of the year, has in store for me and my dreams.