March post post IWSG

Apparently I never set my IWSG post to actually post. Duh. I swear, this whole long drawn out illness thing has eaten my brain.

So now that's come and gone and I figured I'd better prove I'm still alive. I'm doing better now, just trying to catch up on the weeks of stuff I let slip by while I was coughing my lungs out.

Last weekend was a long tiring one, but I met some new readers at Alma Con, a small con put on by the students at Alma College. It was a lot of driving for me, back and forth to the three days of the con, but not far enough away to warrant getting a hotel room. The drive was not much fun on Saturday night as there was a storm moving through that coated everyone's car in a good layer of frozen rain. The roads were also covered in a layer of sleet. Good times. I'm glad that part of the adventure is over.

The next two weekends of events are closer to home and I'm looking forward to spending some time with my gang of local authors.

Trust is scheduled to release on April 3. Watch for more about that very soon. I supposed that means I also need to get posts ready for those of you who have graciously offered to host a blog post. So much to do. So little time.

In other fun news, I've been working on sewing some pop up tent covers for a few outdoor events I'm doing this summer. No more boring white tents for me! Unfortunately, that means my writing space, which is also my crafting space, is full of fabric and half finished tent covers. Did I mention, I'm also in the midst of sewing a cosplay costume for my daughter and a ren fair dress for her or me - we haven't fought over it enough yet to decide. Maybe I can find a way to make it fit both of us (not at once, that'd be weird), but she's a size 0 and I'm...not. I'll have to get my brain on that in the few minutes a day that it's creatively functional lately.

Until next time...

This weather blows

Quite literally. Today's winds are averaging around 30 MPH. It's cold. It's blustery. At least it's not snowing (at this moment). So far we've only lost power for a minute.

Most of the high winds overnight helped melt some of our current snow, so hey, that's a plus. As you can see we've lost a few pieces of trees, but nothing big or house endangering as of yet. The high winds are supposed to continue until tomorrow morning so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Earlier this week, we ventured over to Detroit, a two and half hour drive, to see Peter Murphy and David J perform a host of Bauhaus songs. I was fortunate to see Love and Rockets in concert in the early 90's, but never Bauhaus. It was funny to realize I still remembered almost all the words, despite not hearing many of these songs for roughly twenty years. What did I have to eat yesterday? Why am I in this room? What was that important thing someone just said two minutes ago? I often have no answers for that. So useful, the knowledge we retain.

Because I'm still sick...yes, still - it's down to being generally exhausted all the time and this persistent chest congestion though, so I'm feeling fear less likely to contaminate anyone - we splurged upgraded our general admission tickets to get balcony seating directly facing the stage. This seriously hurt my thrifty Dutch sensibilities, but was so worth it. Not only did it mean I wasn't spreading any lingering germs with the generally crammed together populace, but I got to sit down and have a clear view of everything with great sound. Saint Andrews Hall is a very cool venue and having the VIP lounge and bathrooms, along with seats and a table, was really nice. I did still get the true concert experience of having a large drunk guy (sitting) next to me that deserved a neon shirt saying 'say it don't spray it' and a super annoying chatty woman behind me whose purse kept knocking into my arm every few minutes as she leaned against the railing behind me to talk to some guy. But really, it was a great concert. Peter Murphy's voice is still dead on and amazing.

My intention to participate in the February edition of 30K in a month didn't pan out very well due to the fact my brain has been mostly mush and all I want to do it sleep. Being sick for nearly three weeks straight does tend to hamper the whole productivity thing. Instead, I've been working on a rewrite of a 10K word short story. It's going so very slow, but any progress is good so I'm not going to complain about it too loudly.

Since I haven't been very good at writing this month, I'm (also slowly) working my way through Nick Wilford's Corruption. I haven't read the first book, but it's been pretty easy to follow along.

Now then, I suppose I should get some writing done.

Guest Post: Nick Wilford's Corruption Release

Hi Jean! Thanks for hosting me as part of my blog tour. Today I'd like to introduce your readers to Ranglebuck, the chief of a Loretanian village, who's going to show you around his manor. This is before the scientists arrive to deal with the disease that's got the place in its grip.

Hello! My name is Ranglebuck, and I’d like to welcome you to my humble village. Well, I’m not so humble – I’m very proud. We don’t have much but we definitely make the best of it. You can see a lot of houses with mud walls and thatched rooves. There’s no shortage of mud around here, it bakes up pretty good in the sun, and we can usually carry out any repairs with no problems. Mine’s the biggest house, that nice long one. On special occasions – like when someone’s killed a nice big animal like a wild boar – we’ll all gather in there for a feast, and those who can’t fit at the table sit on the floor.

And that’s about it, really. In the middle of the village we have a gathering place where people meet and exchange gossip. I’ll make any necessary announcements there. Maybe we don’t have an easy life, but it’s the only one we know, and we’ll love and protect each other until the end. Of course, there’s that pesky disease that takes most of us before we’re thirty. It’s a part of life and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere – not unless something drastic happens. I’m waiting for my time myself, and I’ve already chosen a successor as chieftain. It just means there’s no problems here apart from that – no divisions, no squabbles, no animosity. With the short time we get, what would be the point? 

I hope you enjoyed getting to know a bit about our way of life. You’re welcome at my table any time.

Title: Corruption

Author: Nick Wilford

Genre: YA dystopian Series: Black & White Series #: 2 of 3

Release date: 11th February 2019

Publisher: Superstar Peanut Publishing

Blurb:

Wellesbury Noon and Ezmerelda Dontible have found themselves in a position where they can make their native land somewhere that lives up to its name: Harmonia. However, they’re setting their sights further afield for their number one task: eradicating the disease that has plagued the neighbouring country of Loretania for generations and allowed the privileged Harmonians to live in a sterile environment.

After dispatching a team of scientists to Loretania, armed with cratefuls of an antidote and vaccine and headed up by their friend, Dr George Tindleson, Welles, Ez, and Welles’s brother Mal – who grew up in that benighted nation – start to worry when they hear nothing back, despite what they had agreed. Commandeering a fishing boat to follow the science team over the sea, they soon find that, while the disease may be on the way out, a new kind of infection has set in – the corruption they thought they had stamped out in Harmonia.

Can they get to the root of the problem and eliminate it before even more damage is done to an innocent people?

*** Warning – this book contains themes that some sensitive readers may find upsetting. ***

Purchase Links:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Smashwords / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iBooks

Add it on Goodreads

Meet the author:

Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those early morning times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction, with a little freelance editing and formatting thrown in. When not working he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. He has four short stories published in Writer’s Muse magazine. Nick is also the editor of Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew. Visit him at his blog or connect with him on Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon.

Down with the Sickness

For those of you who normally follow my sporadic blog posts, you may have noticed I neglected this month's IWSG day. I got hit with the plague, okay, maybe not quite that, but that wicked cold/flu hybrid thing from hell. I've been mostly in zombie mode since last Tuesday when I contracted this lovely condition from my husband who picked it up from someone at one of his gigs the weekend before. And now my daughter has it too.

PSA time, if you're feeling like hell, or like you're coming down with something, for the love of all that's holy, stay home and keep your germs to yourself. Do not go out and infect the musicians who then have to cancel their upcoming gigs and possibly the couple hundred other people who will be in the germ zone with you. As much as we love to see everyone, that's just not a cool thing to do.

So yes, we've both been sick all week. Much nasty coughing, heavy chest congestion, many rounds human furnace vs. chills, headaches, and so much more. I left my bed for a couple hours yesterday to go be a zombie on the couch. Today I've mostly been in my comfy chair. Not that I'm writing like I want to be, my head hurts to much for that, but I've been getting a lot of things cleared off my Netflix watch list. So hey, that's something I can do with one eye shut and a hand pressing on my temple.

According to my husband's recovery rate, I've got about two more days of this before any major improvement. Mmmm goody.

Stay tuned for a guest post from Nick Wilford later this week with his new book release. Until then, I hope you stay healthy!

The Narvan, A Smidge of Optimism, and Aquaman

It's January. A new year. I make no promises to blog more often or more regularly, but I may be inclined to make an effort to try. Low expectations mean I can't let myself down, right?

I saw Aquaman today. It was awkward. I wanted to like it. It was pretty to watch, both the actors and visual effects. But the dialogue...oh man. The corn and cheese factor was pretty damn high. So many jokes fell flat. The plot was so predictable. I wasn't expecting to be wowed by a deep plot or emotionally invested in the characters - and that was a good call. Did I mention that underwater scenes were stunning? The acting itself was good, there was also plenty of shirtless eye-candy and it did have a few humorous lines of dialogue. Look at me finding nice things to say.

Beyond thinking about seeing Aquaman, the first two weeks of the year have been spent polishing two short stories for submissions and working on book 5 of The Narvan: The Minor Years.

Book 5? What the hell! Book 1 isn't even out yet! I know. I know. It will be shortly - I'm assured by the publisher. I like to plan ahead...sort of. Having finished what I wanted to do with books 1-4 to tell the story I'd set out to do, I realized there was more, but couldn't put my finger on how to go about it because the MC's arc was complete. I tried three different starts since finishing book 3, because this has been on my mind for a while, but none of them took off. Then, I'm working on an entirely different book, and breaking for a short story with a timeline submission window, and bam, book 5 hits me! Creativity is like that sometimes.

To make things confusing, because I'm like that, book 5 actually takes place between books 1 and 2 but doesn't impact the main story arc and is told through different POV characters. I'd say it's aimed at readers who want more once the main story is complete, or maybe it's just a self-indulgent project that only I will enjoy. But I'm writing it either way because I need to get busy with the final edits on Book 2: Chain of Grey. The Minor Years happens between books 1 and 2, I want to flesh out a few things in TMY and be able to use them in the opening of COG. The current opening of COG would benefit from a few more concrete details of what has transpired after the end of book 1 to where we pick up in book 2. Because these books to actually end. I'm not a fan of major cliffhangers in a series.

Writing book 5 has also given me the opportunity to get back into Anastassia's head. The first four books are all in Vayen's POV. In the earliest versions of Book 1, Anastassia was the POV character, but I was having a hard time getting past all her attitude and quite frankly, she was being a bitch, even to me. Since she was a little (lot) to high on herself, I put her on the sidelines and got into Vayen's head instead. The story took off and that was that. It was a massively painful rewrite to change over that first book, but I can't imagine it any other way now. She's mellowed now. We've come to an understanding, her and I, made our peace after the major shift in storytelling. All in all, I'm happy with it so far.

Now, I'm off to work on The Minor Years. More on Trust in my next post, which hopefully be sooner than later. Woo, optimism.

IWSG - January and 2019 One Word Resolutions

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here. 

So hey, guess what? Yeah, I was surprised too. It's the first Wednesday of the month already. I have an excuse though, I'm living in the brain haze of a cold someone gifted me at Christmas. This is why I stay safe in my writing cave, other people can't pass their germs to me. On the plus side, I'm catching up on my one word for this year. SLEEP.

Sleep and I used to be the best of friends. We'd spend long nights together, weekend mornings, we looked forward to spending time together. Now we're like long suffering spouses. We have to hang out but we don't talk. We spend the minimum amount of time together to get by. We meet in bed, the couch, and in my comfy chair for a few hours here and there. So this year, I'm hoping to get back on better terms with my old sleep pal, which may also help me in other areas. One can only hope.

This post marks my annual visit on past one word resolutions.  Let's tour them now, shall we?

2012 was the year of Less. This helped me overcome my habit of over obligation.

2013 was the year of Me. In which I focused a little more on myself.

2014 was the year when I said I would Write. Shit happened. Goal denied.

2015 Time. Making time to do the thing I wanted to do: write. 

2016 was the year of Relax.  That went pretty well and started my morning routine of time in my comfy chair.

2017 I tried to Enjoy. I'd give it a solid meh. I made an effort, but life, work, and finances often got in the way.

2018 was Speak. I did panels at a couple events. I organized events. I had a good time and met people.

Now back the whole first Wednesday thing... It's time for this month's Insecure Writer's Support
Group post! This month's question is:
What are your favorite and least favorite questions people ask you about your writing?

My least favorite question, and it comes up at least once at every author event I do, is: Oh, you wrote this book? Now let's just think about that for a second. I'm standing at a table with my books, telling you about my books, usually surrounded by other authors also at tables with their books. Do you think we're just random people championing someone else's books? While that's an interesting concept, it's probably not the case. Now, if you'd like to volunteer to go stand at a table for a few hours wherever you happen to live and sell my books for me, that would be super cool. I'll let you know where you can mail the check.

My favorite question is anyone asking about details of my books, or what inspired them. I do have a hard time not going off on tangents, because that's how my brain works, but authors do generally love talking about their books beyond what the back blurb says. So go ahead and ask!

Yes, I know the question is a plural thing, but I'm sick and I'm tired and so I'm keeping it short. Look at me not tangenting off and stuff. I may even go attempt this sleep thing. Cold meds are helpful to that cause.

More Cover Reveals: Nick Wilford's Corruption

While we're in cover reveal mode, here's two more! Not mine this time, but for Nick Wilford. First up is his new book, Corruption (Black & White #2).

Release Date: 11th February 2019

Cover design: germancreative

Wellesbury Noon and Ezmerelda Dontible have found themselves in a position where they can make their native land somewhere that lives up to its name: Harmonia. However, they’re setting their sights further afield for their number one task: eradicating the disease that has plagued the neighbouring country of Loretania for generations and allowed the privileged Harmonians to live in a sterile environment.

After dispatching a team of scientists to Loretania, armed with cratefuls of an antidote and vaccine and headed up by their friend, Dr George Tindleson, Welles, Ez, and Welles’s brother Mal – who grew up in that benighted nation – start to worry when they hear nothing back, despite what they had agreed. Commandeering a fishing boat to follow the science team over the sea, they soon find that, while the disease may be on the way out, a new kind of infection has set in – the corruption they thought they had stamped out in Harmonia.

Can they get to the root of the problem and eradicate it before even more damage is done to an innocent people?

*** Warning – this book contains themes that some sensitive readers may find upsetting. ***

Pre-order: Amazon US / Amazon UK / Smashwords / Barnes & Noble / Kobo  

Add it on Goodreads

He's also updated the cover for Black & White #1 (now free! so go check it out!)

Cover design: germancreative

Blurb: What is the price paid for the creation of a perfect society?

In Whitopolis, a gleamingly white city of the future where illness has been eradicated, shock waves run through the populace when a bedraggled, dirt-stricken boy materialises in the main street. Led by government propaganda, most citizens shun him as a demon, except for Wellesbury Noon – a high school student the same age as the boy.

Upon befriending the boy, Wellesbury feels a connection that he can’t explain – as well as discovering that his new friend comes from a land that is stricken by disease and only has two weeks to live. Why do he and a girl named Ezmerelda Dontible appear to be the only ones who want to help?

As they dig deeper, everything they know is turned on its head – and a race to save one boy becomes a struggle to redeem humanity.

Available here: Amazon US / Amazon UK / Smashwords / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iBooks

Add it on Goodreads

Also available: A Change of Mind and Other Stories

And you can follow Nick here:  Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads / Amazon

Cover Reveal: Trust

Look at me making two blog posts in a month! Maybe this will be the start of a slightly more ambitious blogging schedule. Tune in to find out.

I'm happy to share the long awaited cover for my newest (and oldest) book, Trust.

Yes, the first book of my space opera series is finally making its way into your hands! I don't have a release date from the publisher yet, but I'm told it will be before the end of the year, so look for that announcement very soon.

That also means I'm quickly throwing together a blog tour. If you'd like to be part of it (sometime in January), please shoot me an email at jeandavis71@gmail.com or leave a comment here.


At long last, the war that has torn the worlds of the Narvan apart, is over. Anastassia Kazan has brought about the end  to the fighting between Vayen Ta’set’s homeworld of Artor and their rival, Jal. When she offers  Vayen a job on her team of bodyguards, he leaps at the opportunity. He’ll do anything to keep Artor on the path to recovery.

Protecting the paranoid and mercurial woman who’s deals and threats are keeping everyone in line is a tough and thankless task. One drunken night  with Anastassia makes Vayen seriously doubt why he got the job and if he should keep it. But no one else on the team is willing to earn Anastassia’s disfavor by calling her out on her reckless choices. Reckless will get her killed and send the Narvan back into chaos.

Not everyone is happy with Anastassia’s changes on his homeworld and beyond . She’s also on less than friendly terms with her deadly ex-partner. Then Vayen discovers that Anastassia is only middle management. The Council she works for has ambitious plans for the Narvan’s military forces.

How much is Vayen willing to sacrifice to keep the Narvan at peace?

IWSG December: A glance around my office

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here. 

Wow, it's December? Last month flew by in a stream of hosting NaNoWriMo events, book selling events, writing 50,000 words of a YA fantasy novel, and proofing the ARC of my next book. So yes, it was a busy month! I'd say this month is less busy, and technically it is, but it still feels jam-packed. I'm looking forward to January - the month where I (usually) catch my breath.                                                                                                                         I'll be doing a cover reveal here for Trust: Book 1 of The Narvan, in a few days, but until then...                                                                                                                                                                Let's focus on this month's IWSG question: What are five objects we can find in your writing space?

New for NaNoWriMo this November, is my jaunty pirate hat. This year we had an inner-regional word war to help our writers stay motivated. I headed, you guessed it, the pirates. The best part of this hat, was the giant fluffy feather than got in everyone's faces anytime I was nearby. Now it decorates my desk display of books that aren't quite put away between events, since I've had one about every other weekend for a while now.

And if you're wondering, my pirate team sunk our opponents, the ninjas! It was a good battle, made even better by being wordily victorious.

Last year I headed the villain team and also won. I'm sensing I might belong to the dark side.

Just over my head, where I do most of my writing from my comfy chair, is this cabinet. Inside are so many treasures, like a stack of  packages of blank notecards I got for a penny each at a office store sale years ago and seem to be saving for...something. It also houses some of my super old writing that we don't talk about or look at but also can't throw away, a large stash of cassettes from the late 80s and early 90s that I also refuse to part with, and various craft supplies.

One of those crafts is book art, in which I, in one of my many spurts of random craftiness a few years ago, decided to try. I needed something to fill the open spaces in my cabinet and this seemed like the perfect solution. It also mostly hides all the stuff spilling off the shelves behind them. Functional and nice to look at.

Have you ever watched Farscape? No? What's wrong with you? It's one of my favorite shows of the old sci-fi channel, back before they went wonky with a y and focused on stuff like Sharknado. Just. No.

While I love all the characters of that show, Scorpius was my favorite, in all his incarnations. He was a very interesting antagonist and well-rounded. Creepy at times, evil a lot, but also with a compelling backstory. And then we get into the imaginary versions of him. Good times. Now I'm going to have the urge to watch that series again. Darn it, I don't have time for that!

I did a post five years ago on how to make these book page roses. I'd made a bunch of them as an auction item for a NaNo fundraiser. They turned out really nice so I'd also made some for myself. Because I totally need more crafty things hanging around in my writing space to distract me. Remember that time you made roses, they whisper to me. That was fun, what else could you make? You've got a bunch of pages still sitting around in a book somewhere. You should do something with them. Come on.

Evil, taunting craft things. What, you can't hear them too?

Stop and hear the roses wasn't a thing? I swear it was.

One of my long-time favorite crafty things to do is paint. I painted this gargoyle twenty-some years ago. Egads, has it really been that long? (See, lose track of years just as quickly as months.)

So, as it turns out, one of the worst places a distractedly crafty person  can ever work is a craft store. I did. For several years. Oh and several glorious years they were, except for dealing with people (both customers and co-workers), it was heavenly!

You know where you should never put me? In charge of ordering the ceramics and telling me I can paint the display pieces and keep them later. But we had a great selection of  gargoyles, fairies, castles, wizards, and pretty much anything fantasy-oriented in the catalogue.  There are days I miss that job, but the store closed and it was onward to other things for me.