True North Issue 4 September 2023: The Afterglow Of Summer
My monthly newsletter where we talk all things bookish and everything in-between
Pour lire ce numéro en français, cliquez ici.
Hi book friends!
Summer is coming to an end and the bookish season is finally up.
I have completed the preparation for my new business Spark Word House, where I help coaches, entrepreneurs, thought leaders & aspiring authors write their book. I am now deep in ad optimization, which is by far my least favorite part of the process. Sometimes I wish I could simply have someone take it all over for me. It’s difficult for us creatives to have to deal with this business side of things.
With fall just around the corner, I am slowly getting back into creative mode. There are a few ideas that recently popped into my mind and I can’t wait to give them the attention they deserve, only after I have finished Promised Land.
I also wanted to share my favorite read of the month, A Court of Wings And Ruin by Sarah J. Maas:
It’s not my favorite book ever, but it’s very easy to read. I was disappointed with the other books on my TBR this month, so now my trick is to read something easy to avoid getting into a reading slump. And it worked!
I still feel like ACOTAR series (A Court Of Thorns And Roses) is overrated, but I get that it’s a smooth introductory series to the Fantasy romance genre. Anyhow, I’m glad I can now keep up with the Booktok community about this series. I don’t like to be left out of the conversation (curious me, screams at that).
Next in line is Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, another BookTok sensation. More on that next month.
Amaranth Is Available At A New Bookstore!
One of the big wins of August is that a local indie bookstore, Librairie Pantoute, is now selling my books. I still haven't figured out how to land a distributor locally, so I’ve decided to get in touch directly with librarians. They have been super accommodating, which I’m grateful for. Distributing to brick-and-mortar stores is definitely more work than I anticipated, but for now, I’m glad my books are sold in 2 different bookstores.
All Things Rollerblading
The last time I picked up my rollerblades, it was 10 years ago. I had never gotten the hang of it, despite my relentless efforts. So in the last couple of weeks, I decided to buy myself a new pair and try again.
After only 5 sessions, I am able to skate over 6 km (at 8.5km/hour, don’t laugh!) ! I still need to learn how to brake and turn properly, but I’m stoked. I’ll try to put in as much into it before the snow comes. It’s like a little dream come true and though I love running along the river, adding rollerblading to my options is great and a welcome change.
The next challenge for this fall is… swimming!
It’s kind of embarrassing to say, but I’ve always had a fear of water, which is one of the reasons why I wrote Amaranth in an ocean world. I think I’m ready to overcome that fear once and for all! I’ll let you know how those swimming lessons go in the upcoming issues of True North.
Wish me luck!
The Power of Habits
Ever since I read James Clear’s Atomic Habits, I’ve been reflecting on my own habits to improve productivity. I have downloaded the Streak app on my iPhone and I love it. I keep track of all the important habits I want to include in my daily life such as reading, creative writing, exercising, and language learning (which I absolutely need to get back to if I ever want to sit the Chinese HSK 6 exam). I also make it a thing to track my personal finance and investing habits which is crucial to building a successful future.
I highly recommend you read Atomic Habits if you need some positive change in your life and want to understand how compounding works in those small daily decisions and actions we take.
Kickstarter & Selling Direct on Shopify
I am seriously considering leveraging the power of selling direct more effectively. I’ve been putting this on the back burner for quite some time now, which I’m not very happy about. In the meantime, I sell books every now and then when I meet people, but my online presence is sorely lacking.
I’ll be putting up a signup page for my upcoming Kickstarter campaign which will feature North Star, book 2 of the Amaranth series. Stay tuned!
The Afterglow Of Summer
This month’s title is inspired from a book a friend of mine wrote: An Afterglow of Ashes by Axel Laigo. I thoroughly enjoyed his book and though it’s not widely available now, you can still add it to your TBR on Goodreads. It’s a cozy YA Fantasy with magic, friendships and mystery. If you like Legends and Latte by Travis Baldree, you’ll certainly love this book.
By the way, I’m also crazy about this cover! Isn’t it pretty?
Bonus Content
I apologize for not having published any substantial content in August. Since I am still in the midst of figuring out how to create the best bonus content for the Amaranthverse, I decided to publish chapter 1 of Lion Hide in French.
Here’s my thinking for now: I think having a series of connected posts makes more sense strategically (Lion Hide’s short story is a great example of that). Plus, you get more interesting content than simply a bunch of random things. Let me know what you think by replying to this email. If there is anything you’d be interested in reading, I’d be happy to know.
*You can expect the monthly bonus content to be exclusively available to paid subscribers around 2 weeks after the end of the month. This may change in the future as I have more content on Substack.
What’s Next?
My main focus for September will be resuming the edits on Promised Land. I’ve already managed to do a bit here and there in the last couple of days, so it’s a good start. I also want to create more fiction-related content.
Meanwhile, Spark Word House, my business to help coaches, entrepreneurs and thought leaders write their book, will be running in the background while I recover from all those months I spent creating everything from scratch. I mostly need to build an audience at this point, which takes time, dedication and a LOT of tweaking, but especially patience.
Finally, I will also be preparing for the literary events coming up in October. There will be CanCon in Ottawa and Congrès Boréal in Montreal. It’ll be nice to meet new people and expand my network. This year, I'll be part of the Brins d’éternité fiction magazine team, so that’ll be a whole new experience for me as a vendor.
Thank you for supporting me and my work. Please share this blog with your friends who might be interested so we can grow our community.
Happy reading!
Dave Dufour a.k.a David M. Snow
It’s already the end of the Monthly Issue of True North. Here are a few things you don’t want to miss:
Download your free digital copy of Flower of Memory, the prequel novella to the Amaranth series, a sci-fi dystopian story with a touch of fantasy, for a limited time. Ideal for fans of Hugh Howey’s Silo and The Last of Us.
Subscribe to this newsletter for more bonus content: