Last night, I held my very first book release party ever. I'm not going to lie--I was anxious as hell all day leading up to it. But it was actually a fantastic experience.

The fantastic people at Turn A Page Bookshop in Aurora, Colorado hosted the party for On the Tightrope: A Loki Devotional. A group of my good friends (and my parents, gasp) came to celebrate with me and listen to me read poetry in public for the first time in ages. It's always nice to be reminded of the support system and encouragement in your life.

But the important part for my blog readers (are you there?) who weren't at the party and didn't get in on pre-orders of the book, is that On the Tightrope is now officially available for regular purchase!

The physical book can be bought on Amazon and special ordered through your local bookstores, including Barnes and Noble (hello, dream come true!). Or if you're in the Denver area and desperately need it ASAP, Turn a Page has a few copies left. If you prefer a digital version, you can grab the PDF ebook from my shop here on the site.

And to wrap up this post, this week's TGIF:

• I'm trusting that this little book with reach the people it needs to reach.
  
• I'm grateful for all the incredible support I've received and all the love in my communities.
  
• I'm inspired by seeing people smile and laugh. 
  
• I'm practicing my faith by continuing to move forward!
  

 P.S. If you've got a sec, stop by the newsletter page to help me decide which freebie to create first (and then, you know, subscribe so you can get it when it's ready).

This week has been a little crazy and scattered as I've tried to work through some new plans and ideas for this business (including starting to offer some art prints and opening a Redbubble store--both of which will be growing soon).

For those of you in the Denver area, come join me on Thursday, August 16th, 6p.m. for the On the Tightrope launch party at Turn a Page Bookshop. There will be sweets (my mom's kickass chocolate chip cookies), some savory snacks, copies of the devotional for sale, and my random-ass Loki playlist. It'll be good times. Plus, Turn a Page will be keeping a few copies to sell on consignment afterward. My book's going to be in a real bookshop, y'all!

And now this week's TGIF:

• I'm trusting that my scattered energy and lack of singular focus is for the best and helping me figure out my current priorities.
  
• I'm grateful for the freedom in my schedule to spend time messing around in Photoshop and creating things that may or may not work.
  
• I'm inspired by watching other folks on the front lines of fighting for equality and humane conditions for everyone.
  
• I'm practicing my faith by inviting my spirit friends/family to write and create with me, and trying to tune in more consistently.
  

It's Friday! Huzzah! (Let's not talk about the horrible affliction that is the "working for the weekend" mentality perpetuated by capitalism as part of the vicious cycle of trying to trick us into being content with our wage slavery jobs. Holy crap, I sound like some sort of conspiracy theorist. Anyway.)

One of the things I've been meaning to do for a while that kept slipping through the cracks is some sort of gratitude practice. In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown discusses one of the things she does and I figured I'd give it a shot--publicly here--for a couple reasons:

• It holds me accountable better
• It's a bizarre little insight into my brain
• Regular blog content to get started with
• Hopefully some fun little peeks into what I'm working on
• Some record keeping about my journey through my personal mental illnesses, goals, and other issues

The general gist is listing out a T.G.I.F.:

• What I'm Trusting
• What I'm Grateful for
• What Inspires me
• How I'm practicing my Faith*
  

So, here we go with week one.

• I'm trusting that On the Tightrope will be interesting and useful to folks who purchase it, and that they'll find their own meaning in my writings for Loki.
• I'm grateful for the incredible support of my friends and community as I move forward with my creative projects and this wacky little business idea of mine.
• I'm inspired by the amazing spirits and people in my life and how persistent and strong they all are.
• I'm practicing faith by up my Pinterest board for my spirit family and putting myself out in the world even though it's scary as shit.
  

* Faith in this context can be either spiritual/religious or more open-ended and mundane This section is probably going to change around a lot as I figure out more of what "faith" means to me personally.