I LOVE THIS MEME.
Hopequesting. I can't think of a better term to describe the act of writing hopepunk in 2020.
(I get that the meme author was talking about social media, but the best terms tap into ideas that are larger than their context. They light up our brains as we recognize some truth about our lives, and the origin of it doesn't matter so much.)
We're all connected.
One of the best parts of being self-published is that I get to pick my co-workers. My assistant lives in France, halfway around the world, yet we work so well together, she's an integral part of keeping my business afloat. I love how much we trust each other and how much I can count on her. I've been working with my German translator since he first translated Mindjack years ago—now he's got a full-fledged business supporting other translators as he publishes my romance penname's works (and others) in German. We've both gone through hard times along the way (like when I lost my mom last year) and supported each other through them. I treasure that space we keep for each other in our otherwise perfectly businesslike relationship.
I've had similar close relationships with several cover designers and other people in the business—because that's how I like to run my life. I want to work with professionals who do top quality work but who also are understanding humans who care about the people they're working with. That's the kind of professional I want to be.
So when my cover designer said the covers for the Nothing is Promised series would be delayed because she had to do some work that might potentially expose her to COVID, in one of the hot spots of the country, my concern wasn't about the covers... it was that this damn pandemic might affect another of my friends.
That's what being connected means—your life affects mine, mine affects yours, and we're all on this lifeboat in the middle of space together.
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