BLOG - Rambling Prose Ep 1: Intro of Author Kasey Mackenzie

Time to get this blog on my website back up and running! I'm going to be sharing the transcripts (okay, more like scripts that I mostly stick to but may not be exactly word-for-word) from my brand-new Rambling Prose YouTube channel. I'm hoping to post at least once, if not more times, a week on writing and publishing-related topics with the occasional personal topic possibly tossed in. I would love to have you subscribe to the channel! Here we go with Episode 1: Intro of Author Kasey Mackenzie & Channel!

***

Hi and welcome to my new Rambling Prose YouTube Channel, where—spoiler alert! I plan to ramble about all things writing and publishing related. Just an introduction for those who have absolutely no clue who I am—which, let’s be real, is gonna be pretty much all of you! I’m Kasey Mackenzie, a New York Times bestselling author—no, wait, that’s not me! Um, I’m a USA Today bestselling author—fudge. That’s not me either. Wait, wait. This one’s true! I swear. I’m a Kindle bestselling author—if you squint just a little. I recently appeared in the Once Upon a Star anthology, which debuted at No. 1 in Science Fiction anthologies on Kindle. Okay, FINE! While that one actually IS true, let’s just go with the plain, unvarnished truth. I’m Kasey Mackenzie, a published author. A multi-published author. Yes, that’s right, I had not one, not two, but THREE books published by Penguin Random House under their Ace Books imprint. If you love urban fantasy with a side order of romance, please check out the Shades of Fury series. I’ve also indie-published a few more books, but years of dealing with grief from the loss of five family members and some mental health issues pretty much sidelined my publishing career. Fortunately, neither my agent, Ginger Clark, nor my supportive friends or family gave up on me. So now that I’m in a much better headspace, I’m trying to become a Phoenix on the Rise, much like the main character in the indie-published series of the same name I’m working on, as I try to get both my writing and publishing careers kickstarted again. No, no, no, don’t freak out. I’m not asking you to donate money to me via Kickstarter. That’s just a figure of speech. Which I’m totally licensed to bust out as an actual published author. Unless of course you WANT to donate money to me via Kickstarter? Kidding! So let’s cut to the chase. My friends Yasmine Galenorn and Sarra Cannon, who really ARE actual NYT, USA, and Amazon bestselling authors have inspired me with their own YouTube channels into sharing some of my own advice and experiences with both writing and publishing. I’ll be sharing some of the history behind my publishing experiences, some tips and tricks for writing, and charting my path as I work on getting this indie career going and hopefully sell more books to traditional publishers via my rock star agent. Because if my wonderful friends and family—and if the agent who reps (just to name a few) amazing authors like my childhood favorite Patricia Wrede, amazing YA author Gretchen McNeil, Sandman Slim author Richard Kadrey, and the late great Ursula Le Guin hasn’t given up on me, I can’t give up on myself.

That’s really what I want the heart of this channel to be. Not giving up on yourself. If you love writing as much as I do, you are a writer. If you want to become published, you have the power inside you if you have at least some talent at it and more importantly, the drive to learn and challenge yourself by working hard. Read widely, write a lot, and educate yourself about the world, people in all walks of life, and of course the craft of writing. Obviously, I can’t promise you’ll ever be published or score a six-figure first book deal like I did. Then again, not even that guaranteed me automatic publishing success. Here I am more than a decade later and that initial three-book deal is the only one I’ve managed to score thus far. But that’s my entire point. I’m still a writer. I still love telling stories and spending time with characters that intrigue me. As long as I keep writing, I’m a writer. You may not have a Ginger Clark in your corner yet. You have YOUR friends and YOUR family in your corner. Or maybe you don’t. We don’t all have the same support systems. That’s okay! You have YOU in your corner. And I’m in your corner, too. Maybe we don’t know each other, but we undoubtedly have things in common. Even if that’s just the love of writing and the dream to share our words with others. There’s also a lot of supportive people in the writing community at large. If you can, form a circle of other writers on a similar journey to find the understanding and support you need. I’ve found a lot of super helpful and amazing people among my fellow writers. And I think that’s enough rambling for this first video. Hopefully something I’ve said has resonated with you. If it has, please click that subscribe button and spread the word about this channel. I’m planning to post regular content with writing and publishing advice and stories. I’d love to have you along for the ride as I hopefully pull off this rise from the ashes. Whether that means indie-publishing or selling more books in traditional publishing, I honestly don’t know and can’t let myself care. I’m writing again, I’m feeling excited about the words again, and that’s something nobody can ever take away from me! And that can hold just as true for you.