First, I hope all who see this are healthy. Please take this serious, and do all you can to keep yourselves safe.
My title applies to so many things right now. But I’m want to focus on just one.
I already had a healthy appreciation for teachers. They do one of the most important jobs there is, but society doesn’t value it as it should. They take care of our kids and teach them for us, and get paid so little for their work.
After these last 5 weeks of ‘distance learning,’ and my role as part-time teacher, I have greater newfound respect for teachers. This stuff is hard. Maybe it’s a factor of trying to work fulltime from home and teach, but I’m having a hell of a time getting this down right.
It stands to reason that I’d have less trouble getting my own child to focus – I mean I’m her parent, right? If that’s true, holy guacamole. I can’t imagine how a teacher can corral the goat rodeo that is sixteen 7 & 8 year olds. I can barely keep one ‘kid’ in line. The notion that at school she has interaction with her friends cuts both ways. Sure, she can talk and play with them, which helps calm her at times. But when one starts talking, giggling, acting out etc., they all follow along. And the teacher has to get them all moving in the same direction. Talk about difficult, difficult, lemon difficult.
Whether you are a parent, were a parent, want to be a parent or don’t ever want kids, take the time to thank a teacher and let them know how great they are for doing what they do. I don’t think there is a limit to how much we can thank them for what they do.
In Book News – I have a lot of stuff to toss out.
- Child of Night and Day was re-released April 16th. The fourth book in my epic high fantasy Champion of the Godsseries didn’t come out smoothly – as if anything is smooth with Amazon – but it’s all good now. It, like all the books in my series, is available in Kindle Unlimited or for purchase,
- When Heroes Fall, the last book in Champion of the Gods series will be available again, May 16th. It is current available for preorder. If you haven’t started the series, now might be a good time to start. The first four books are the equivalent of about 3000 kindle page reads. This isn’t something you can read in one night.
- Purpose is going to be an audio book! This has me happy dancing. A big thank you to Darcy Starks for his work on the narration and shout out to Eden Winters for recommending Darcy’s voice. It will be released whenever ACX feels like it – that sounds snarky, but it’s true. It’s ‘in the queue’ to be reviewed. I’m thinking mid-May. I’ll be giving away some audio codes to my newsletter group, so if you’re not signed up, now would be a good time.
- Last, I’m going to make a real push into Contemporary MM Romance this year under my Andy Gallo pen name. Along with my friend Anyta Sunday, we’ll be releasing the first three books in our Harrison Campus The first book, Better Be Sure was released by Dreamspinner Press. With all the stuff going on with them, it got lost in the noise. After it was pulled, Anyta and I used the last year to finish books 2 Better Have Heart and book 3 Better Be True. Better Be Sure will be re-released on June 1st. Books 2 & 3 will be out July 1 and Aug 3 respectively.
And—drum roll please for the big announcement—all three will be available in audio. We were super happy to be able to have the talented Nick J. Russo do the narration. So big doings.
That’s all for now.
Be safe and be well.
~Enjoy the journey.
Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.
Since devouring The Lord of the Rings as a preteen, he has been a fan of all things fantastical. His imagination has helped him create works of high fantasy, paranormal thrills and touch of the futuristic. He also writes the occasional contemporary story.
He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his husband of twenty-four years. Together they are raising their daughter and three dogs. Andrew tries to squeeze writing time in around his most important jobs, being husband and ‘Papa.’ Along with teaching how to kick a soccer ball or ride a scooter, he has become fluent in cartoon characters and children’s books.
To find out more about Andrew, his writing and his family, follow him on his website or on Facebook. You can also sign up for his monthly newsletter and get an exclusive short story only available to subscribers. Use the link below to join:
http://andrewqgordon.getresponsepages.com
Follow Andrew:
website: www.andrewqgordon.com
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Twitter: @andrewqgordon
email: andrew@andrewqgordon.com
Books:
Purpose: A Mother’s Love (A Champion of the Gods Prequel)
The Last Grand Master: (Champion of the Gods–Book 1)
The Eye and the Arm: (Champion of the Gods–Book 2)
Kings of Lore and Legend: (Champion of the Gods–Book 3)
Child of Night and Day (Champion of the Gods—Book: 4)
May 15, 2020: When Heroes Fall (Champion of the Gods—Book 5)
I didn’t know you wrote MM romance. Since I love the genre, and the work of Anyta Sunday, I’m definitely going to be checking this out! Good luck on the release!
I actually started doing MM on the Gay Author’s site. But Fantasy was my first love as a kid. I met Anyta there and we’ve been friends for more than 10 years. I’ll be posting more next month when it’s all good to go. 🙂 Thanks for the comment. And yes, Anyta is awesome!
Looking forward to your MM series with Anyta Sunday. I love her work! Thanks for the kind words for teachers. My daughter teaches at an inner city high school, and I can’t even imagine what she went through in a day before quarentine. Now she is trying to keep up online.
I’ve always thought they were heroes and did great work, but now? Holy crap. I seriously don’t know how they do it. And society truly doesn’t value their worth. Any yep, as I said in the last reply. Anyta is awesome.
Great that you and Anyta are co-writing again with more in that series. Hit me up for blog space if you want any <3