August IWSG and more chickens!

I'm a day late and several dollars short, but things have been hectic both on an off the writer front. Work has been crazy, sending me out of town twice last month for a couple days at a time and book signings fill my weekends. Lots of deep breaths have been taken.

New chicks were also purchased and Henifer is 
doing her usual good momma chicken duty. Yay for cute little chicks!

Edits for Tears of the Tyrant from both editors showed up in my inbox this week. I've been busy reading those over, finding what comments they had a in common and where things differ. One has read the whole series, one only the first couple books. I do like my companion novels to be able to stand alone (ish) so having insight from someone who is out of the loop on a large part of the story is helpful in knowing what hints and gaps I need to touch on.

We did our annual panel at Kogan con last month. This year
we discussed the differences in worldbuilding between gaming,
graphic novels, and novels.

While I'm busy pondering how to fix things the editors have pointed out, I'm also busy reading. Because Jacqueline Carey's Cassiel's Servant fell into my hands on release day when I went to the book signing. I know. Weird, right? LOL. I'd met Jaqueline Carey at a signing she did for one of the earlier series books in 2009, wherein she patiently offered advice to those of us aspiring writers who lingered afterward. Inspired by her advice, my first short story was published in 2010 and then I was off and running. In as much as we author types are off or running. Writing a lot and waiting for responses is more like it, but I digress. 

Authors have author heroes too. 

Have I made progress on Frayed since last month? Other than a few edits on the later chapters, no. Will I by next month? With edits on Tears of the Tyrant on my schedule, probably not. I'll get there eventually though.

In talking to my daughter about her writing/graphic novel journey, we ended up in a discussion about ideas that pop up when your supposed to be focusing on a current project. I mentioned writing the idea down, maybe doing a synopsis or outline. That lead to me trying to remember where I'd saved (and what I'd called) the two stories I'd done exactly that with that I plan/hope to write this November for NaNoWriMo. And then I had to read what I'd written for both. And get excited about them. And force myself to put them away again for a few months. Is revisiting the synopsis for your project distraction, also a distraction? Yes. Yes, it is.

While we're on distractions, where can you find me this month?

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the other 

participating writers.

August 5 - Art in the Park - Holland, MI

August 12 & 13 - South Haven Blueberry Festival - South Haven, MI

August 18-20 - Wild Blueberry Festival - Paradise, MI

August 25 & 26 - Michiana Renaissance Festival - South Bend, IN

I don't have anything exciting to share on the question of the month this time around. I've shared that answer before in a couple different posts so I'll keep this month's post short. Do go check out what everyone else has to say though by clicking that link right over there --->

How is it July already?

Yes, I'll be asking a similar question all year. When you stay busy, time flies by. 

June was full of fun with Laya the chicken. Laya is a naked neck silkie and the most laid back of all my chickens. Books and a chicken? Yep. She often comes with me to outdoor events to draw people over to my booth, and because hey, chickens are fun! Have you ever pet a chicken? Visit my booth and you can check that off your bucket list.

Taking a walk at the Lakeshore Art Festival

Sitting pretty at the White Lake Arts and Crafts Festival

Getting all the love at Magical Realms

I've been doing a little work in my garden as time allows. So many weeds to pull. The chickens love to eat them though so that give me some extra incentive to get weeds pulled beyond making the flower hill look nice. 

Have I been writing? The answer was supposed to be no, because I'm taking a break. However, Camp Nano got brought up in my local writing group and I did have an already started project I was mulling scenes over for...so yes, I am now writing. Sitting at 11K words so far for the month. I expect the fantastic pace will slow down now that my long holiday weekend is over.  

On the subject of taking a break, I have been reading and watching Netflix. Refilling the well, as it were.

Recently watched and finished: 

The Last Kingdom

Legacies

Bridgerton

The Ted Bundy Tapes

The Letter for the King

Cracow Monsters

Vikings Valhalla

The John Wayne Gacy Tapes

Recently Read:

Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas

The Kingmakers Daughter by Philippa Gregory

Sometimes We Fall by Yong Takahashi

Year One by Nora Roberts

Patrick by Stephen Lawhead

29 by Vera West

Bromance Bookclub by Lyssa Kay Adams

Now that I've enticed you with Laya the chicken, I'm sorry to say that she won't be back with me until August when I'm at closer to home outdoor events. However, this month, you can find chickenless me at:

July 8-10  Capital City Comic Con - Lansing, MI

July 16 &17 Michigan Medieval Stroll - Lake Orion, MI

July 23 Kogan Con - Grand Haven, MI

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the other 

participating writers.

And now to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group question: If you could live in any book world, which one would you choose?

I'd have to go with my own Narvan world because I know the rules and the people there, and most importantly, who to avoid in order to stay alive. Alive is good. 

That whole world (universe?) has been with me for so long I can't imagine living any where else outside of the real world. Plus, my characters have aged with me. They're not moving as quickly as they used to. They suffer from aches and the occasional bad back day. I could fit in there in some quiet little background character roll without having to get into the plot chaos with main characters, but maybe still be close enough to see some of the action from a safe distance. 

Where would you go?

Penguicon is always a great time

Last year I'd heard mention of this mysterious con in one of my NaNoWriMo groups. A place with low cost, multiple tracks, and a friendly environment for everyone. And free beer.

Is it wrong that that's the detail that sold me? Come on, it's a variety of really good Michigan Craft beer.

We had such a good time last year that we headed off to Penguicon again this past weekend. This year we gathered another friend for our room. I invited some author friends too. And again, I meet a bunch of great people and reconnected with those I'd met last year. It's three days of non-stop stuff to do. I'm still catching up on sleep. All that peopling saps a lot of energy.

One of the many fun things about Penguicon is gathering ribbons for your badge. My ribbons were getting so long that I was stepping on them, at which point, it's a generally accepted practice to either start rolling them up, wear them as a scarf or start placing them sideways. I did all of those at various points. Bathroom trips are particularly precious otherwise.

Ribbons are supplied both by the con and attendees and most everyone gets into it. Elevator rides turn into ribbon swapping festivities. Panelists lure attendees up to talk to them afterwards with ribbons. You can earn ribbons from the con staff by doing things throughout the con. Many of the attendee ones are inside jokes you'll never be in on, yet they're still funny in their own way. I was a big fan of "Safety Third!?". I handed out ribbons that said "I'd rather be reading", which at a con full of introverts, was quite true for most.

There are so many different things to do throughout the day! There are panels and activities going from 9am to midnight and beyond. Everything from programming, gaming, crafts, writing, anime, to a wide array of adult-oriented programming, such as the Saturday night Burlesque show.

One thing my tongue is still recovering from is the abundance of flavors of Liquid Nitrogen Alcohol Ice Cream. Oh man, the flavors! I believe this one is Mudslide. We tried Watermelon Pucker sorbet, Peach Cider with ginger sorbet, Chocolate mint, Spicy Chocolate, Rumchatta icecream as a root beer float and so many more. That last one was amazing, by the way. They're all sooooo cold, yet so good.  

The con does a wonderful job of offering an abundance of lit panels and support for the participating authors. They provide a staffed bookstore where we can stock our books so we can go have fun all weekend rather than sitting at a table to sell them ourselves. Did I mention they do this fee free? They do. The con staff is awesome. They also had an afternoon writer's reception for us with the best cookies ever. Freshly made. The chocolate in my chocolate chocolate chunk cookie was still melty. Yum!

The Westin Hotel is great. The rooms are quiet and the curtains actually make it dark. The beds are perfect and there are plenty of pillows. The hotel staff is super friendly and most of them get into the con by wearing fun tshirts or even getting in on the cosplay.

I presented three panels this year. One of which I didn't get a photo of, but they were all a lot of fun and well attended. We had some good discussions, and from the comments I received afterwards, offered helpful information to aspiring writers. Mission accomplished.

We also got to do readings.

As a word of warning, I highly recommend not going out to most of the room parties the night before or enjoying two nights of tongue numbing Liquid Nitrogen ice cream before doing a reading. Words are hard when you can't keep your eyes open and your tongue feels like it's twice it's size. The year before, I did my reading on Friday night and I think that was a far better plan than Sunday morning.

However, we made it through and had some laughs over my tongue tripping. People bought books later, so my performance must not have been too detrimental.

Will I be going back next year? Hell yes. If you're at all near the Southfield, MI area next year in May, I recommend you check it out too. Penguicon just might be your new favorite weekend getaway.

Enjoying a few moments of relaxation

Spring is a busy time for me in terms of the day job and gardening, but the garden and yard work part hasn't kicked in yet because we're still thawing out a bit. However, my daughter informs me that Spring Break starts tomorrow so surely we must do something. My version of doing something is this:

sitting with my feet up in my comfy chair with a book and a couple beers.

Apparently that's not age appropriate for my sixteen year old so I'm doing that now. Tomorrow, we're heading across the state to enjoy a small aquarium, though the largest in Michigan, because she's considering going into Marine Biology. We're also planning to check out a science museum, because she's a science nerd. I say that lovingly. She's a smart kid. Who knows what other stops we'll make. I'm loosely planned road trip kind of person. 

April is full of big things so I'm going to get my day or two of relaxing in now while I can. What things you ask? Come on, pretend you asked.

April 3 is release day for the very long awaited (for me, at least) Trust: Book One of The Narvan. You can pre-order your print copy from the publisher if you'd like to beat Amazon to their cut.

April 6 my first child does become age-appropriate for drinking a beer or two. Surprisingly, this doesn't make me feel old, but does explain why both my husband and I have so much grey hair for being in our thirties. Which is how old it seems like we are until we think about it. The fun hair color (currently blue and purple) does a nice job of concealing that.

April 6 is also Fandom Fest in Benton Harbor. This is fun little con put on by several local libraries and is totally free to attend. I'll be there with many other authors, selling and signing our books. My daughter will be joining me to sell her artwork. Illustration is her second choice if the Marine Biology thing doesn't pan out.

April 13 is a local craft show at Zeeland high school where I hope to find some new readers with fellow author, Diane Burton. She's got a new book out too. If you have any young readers looking for sci-fi adventure, check out Rescuing Mara's Father.

April 20 will be long day up in Traverse City with author Ingar Rudholm at both a craft show and a book signing at Bookbrokers and Kramers.

April 28 will be my first time at my hometown con, Tulip City Comics and Toy Fare, also with Ingar Rudholm.

If you're around Michigan at any point this year, I'm all over with an assortment of other authors. Check out the places to find me over here --->

IWSG: October and so much reading

If you're not familiar with 
the Insecure Writers Support 
Group, check it out here. 

When I went on a short vacation at the end of August, I hadn't planned (as usual) to have time to read, but hey, a miracle happened and I did. Yes, we covered my little three book excursion into readingland last month, but it's gotten worse. I've been sucked into an unplanned reading binge. (cue the ominous music)

I haven't done this in a while. And for good reason. All writing stops when I go into reading mode.

Lots of other things stop too, like getting enough sleep, being on time for work, keeping lunch breaks to an hour, maybe hanging out in parking lots in my car for an extra half an hour or longer when running errands... yeah, reading and I have an addictive relationship.

Book shaming time. In the past six weeks, ten days of which I was waiting for shipments of books to arrive, I've read twelve books. And not just short books, 500 to 600+ page books of small type. I even broke down and bought an e-book of one of them because I wasn't near a bookstore at the time. Darn you, J.R. Ward and your Black Dagger Brotherhood.

What makes this series so addicting? It's not your typical paranormal romance. There is a lot going on in the world in which it takes place, lots of action, so many subplots, and lots of well fleshed out POV characters beyond the usual two. Each book ends on a satisfying note, but I had to know what happened next in the greater story. Like. Right. Now. Several of these I read in a day or two. Seriously. And I work full time and have other obligations. Evil damn books! It turns out four hours of sleep is fine on occasion. And...that may or may not be four in a row. Soooooo anyway, yes, I'll be reading the rest of the series soon, but I'm at a good pausing point and I should get back to editing and writing for a little while before November hits.

What started to drive me nuts, because there's always something even when I love a book / author / series. 1. When a word like alacrity gets used a lot, it starts to stand out like sore thumb because it's not a commonly used word. 2. When technology is liberally named throughout a series (like using a Blackberry or hitting send to place a call) and quickly becomes dated.  3. When you read the first book and think certain words and phrases are awesome for characterization, but then realize everyone in the series uses those same words and it's not natural sounding or logical that they would. 4. Overuse of slang. Again, totally cool when a single character uses it because it works for characterization. Not cool when everyone is using natch at the ends of sentences. It's totally not natch.

With reading, preparing for NaNoWriMo, three author events, winterizing my pond before winter this year for a change, still looking for a home for the exchange student we didn't plan on, and getting a head start on sewing my Halloween costume before the week before Halloween... it's been a busy month. From here on out, life only gets more hectic until January. While I'm taking a deep breath and trying not to get freaked out by that last sentence, let's get to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group question.

How do major life events affect your writing? Has writing ever helped you through something?

When I'm stressed, I don't have any energy left over for writing. I have a hard time even focusing on editing. So things like a divorce, death of friends and family, or giving birth tend to lead to dry spells of weeks or months or even a year or two. You've got to take care of yourself. The words will be there when you're head is back in the game.

Has writing helped me through anything? I guess I'm not in jail for taking my frustration out on anyone in a physical manner. There tends to be a lot of death and violence in my books. Coincidence? There's a good chance there's a connection. There is something to that whole, 'the quiet ones are the ones you have to watch out for' thing. However, I do try to keep it fictional. If you've ever been my boss, you're welcome.

IWSG: September and a recharge

If you're not familiar with the Insecure Writers Support Group, check it out here. 

It has been a wild end to summer around here. I managed to take a few days of vacation after sending Trust off to the editor. We traveled over to the thumb of Michigan, having never visited there before. I don't mean to spoil it for you, but there isn't much there other than farmland and the shore of Lake Huron. In this case, that was fine with me as I really needed some time off from life to recharge. I spent most of my vacation buried in a book, which I haven't done in quite some time. That burst of reading cascaded into three more books and now I have four more on order that should be here in a few days. Not that my TBR stacks are running dry by any stretch of the imagination, but I found a new series to binge on: J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood. 

I also have a new (and very unplanned) exchange student. That's whole long story, but suffice it to say, we're only an interim host family and this is the straw that sent me off on a need for a reading binge to recharge my creative juices and vacation. 

Onward into the reason for this post... 

This month's question is: What publishing path are you considering/did you take, and why?

I've done both a small press and self publishing with novels. For short stories, I prefer the more traditional route of anthologies and magazines. 

As far as novels, for my first one, I wanted to get my feet wet in a more structured way so I went though the whole query letter and rejection loop until I got accepted by a small press. As it turns out that was a whole learning experience and I'm glad I took the time to do it rather than rushing off into self publishing. However, having figured out the strengths and weaknesses of small press publishing and how they aligned with my goals, I opted for self publishing my next three novels. My upcoming series, The Narvan, is back with the same small press. I find doing both gives me more options and yet a bit of credibility for those who don't hold self publishing in high regard. 

Writing my way through January

Yes, I've been quiet. That's because I've been writing.

After all these years reading paranormal and sci-fi romance, I finally gave in to writing one. What started as my side project in November during NaNoWriMo has continued to grow and flow. Thankfully. I even know how it ends and I'm only two thirds of the way through. Which if you're in the extreme pantser category like I often am, you know how much of a miracle this is.

The Last God has been fun to write, so far. I say that because things have been moving along so well, that I'm just waiting for either my ambition or inspiration to suddenly go dry. But so far, so good.

Once I get a better handle on how to spell my MCs name, I might even share a little about it. Yes, you read that right. I've spelled her name soooo many different ways that's it become rather a game of key mashing the general shape of the thing every time I use it. I had to say it last night at my writer's group meeting when I was passing out the latest excerpt and let me tell you, having to pronounce the name I haven't decided how to spell was pretty much a vocalization of a keymash. It's *mumble* Ja...*mumble* I'm happy to report the first two excerpts have been well received despite the name issue.

Other than happy writing away and gathering a few extra winter pounds, we've been searching for an exchange student for the next school year. As of yesterday, we may have secured one from Denmark. We're quite excited because she has the same interests as my daughter and when you have a nerd artist, that's not such an easy niche to match. Nerd artists tend to be shy and not go out for exchange student programs, not like the sporty kids do anyway. We should know in a week or two if we've made a solid match between our school, her family, and the exchange program.

I have been reading and watching but doing so much of both lately that I haven't been good about keeping track. Oops. I should probably get better about that again. I did manage to read 38 books last year, which, while I'd set out to do the 52 book challenge, is technically a fail, is a lot more books than I made time for the year before. That's a win...in my book. (Ouch, I know.)

November in the blink of an eye

I woke up this morning and took a long shower to wash the NaNo off. Wow, I got lost in November, and boom, its suddenly December!

We held an early TGIO party for our region so my NaNo obligations are over a week earlier than ever before. It feels really weird, but it's a good kind of weird. I'm not as burnt out as usual, so that early party thing? We're definitely doing that again. Though, hopefully without pulling a muscle in my back next time, because that was NOT good. Thankfully, it's nearly recovered now after a week of taking it easy.

NaNoWriMo 2016 yielded one short that's already out in submission, a proposed epilogue and prologue for A Broken Race that readers have ben asking for, a little progress on Interface - which was supposed to be my main project, and a third of the first draft for The Last God, a sci-fi novel that I've been toying with in my head for the past six months or so. All those words got my to my tenth 50K 'win'.

I also read five books because I managed to catch a nasty cold and was good for nothing than blowing my nose and coughing up lungs...and curling up under a blanket with a book (or five). All were by Sherrilyn Kenyon, each in a day, because they're quick, easy reads for my tired brain. I also watched the entire second season of Dark Matter - a must watch for sci-fi fans if you haven't already, and Glitch - an Australian paranormal series that may live to see a second season. If you liked Resurrection, give it a try.

December is looking like editing and revision as well as catching up on all my blog visits month.

July Eye Report

July has been a whirlwind of evening and weekend activities. I started the month off by participating in a close by author event with thirty-some other authors, most local and some from distant shores.

Other than that one day, I took the month off from all things writing in favor of relaxing and showing our young Spanish guest around town. We spent a long weekend up around Mackinac Island, did a lot of biking, and ate a lot of pizza and ice cream. We did a lot of local sightseeing as well, visiting beaches, nature parks, malls, museums, and a large assortment of restaurants, shops and tourist attractions.

Now that she's gone, its back to cooking dinner, cleaning the house, hanging out with the chickens, gardening and, of course, writing. The first round of edits are in on Trust so I'll be hitting those hard and then waiting on round two and working on edits of Sahmara. Ah the joys of edits. I do actually enjoy them for the most part.

Speaking of chickens, two of the girls have finally started earning
their keep. We got our first eggs this week! I'm pretty sure these two are discussing the finer points of egg laying. Once all six get going, we should have enough eggs for all the friends, family and neighbors who have been inquiring about getting on the receiving end of our eggs.

While I've been taking a break from writing, I've been enjoying a great deal of reading and watching...

Top of my reading list, the first three books of the Outlander series. These 800 to 1000 page tomes have been good company to relax with out on the porch while the chickens roam about the yard. (We have a lot of predators around so they only get to roam while under supervision.) Now if only I could figure out how to turn off the Scottish accent that has invaded my head. Only a pile more of these giant books to go, I'm have a feeling I won't be hearing the last of that accent for a good long while.

On the watching front, we sped through The Shannara Chronicles now that all of the first season is available on Netflix. Our teen Spanish guest and our daughter enjoyed this. My husband and I mocked the incredible amount of angsty open mouth and round-eyed looks, guessing the predicable dialogue before it was spoken and counting the cliches as they flew by. But we did see the season out and would probably watch more if for nothing else than it's a fantasy series we can watch with our teenager. While there was some implied sex, it didn't venture into uncomfortable to watch together territory. I haven't read any of the books, though I hazard to assume they must be better than that show, and may attempt reading one in the future. I guess in that regard, the tv series did work.

We've also been working our way through the second season of Wayward Pines. I'm liking this season more than the first because of the exploration of the world rather than focusing on the reveal-centric themes of the first season. However, they've managed to kill off the majority of the main cast so it feels like either the writers are doing a lot of house cleaning or the series is going to hell fast. Time will tell if there is a third season.

My horrible sleep cycle (sleep sound for 3 or 4 hours, wake up for 1 or 2 and then sleep good again for 1 or 2 more), has allowed for a lot of early hour viewing with earbuds in my comfy chair where the light of my laptop doesn't bother anyone else. How badly have I been sleeping? Let's just say I've worked my way through ten seasons of Supernatural.

April and May Eye Report

It's been awhile since I've done a report post so it feels like there's a lot to say. Sorry for the long post.

Before I get started, if you're in the market for book cover artwork, my writing buddy Marion Sipe is having a 25% off sale. Check out her Facebook page to see some of her work.

And while we're on writing, after the last post regarding my project pile, I decided to dive into editing short stories. Violets, written from your V word suggestions during April, has been polished up and sent out into submissions. I'm currently mulling how to fix Tickle, a sci-fi short that's been sitting in my editing pile for a couple years now after some editorial feedback. Aaaand, pondering cover art for Sahmara, the fantasy novel I intend to self publish at some point this summer. I'm also having my first meeting tomorrow with the editor I'll be working with on The Narvan series.

Now then, back April and most of May and all the things my eyeballs read and watched.

On the watching front:
Helix: As much as I wanted to stay awake for the CDC and Immortals duking it out, Billy Campbell's whispery raspy voice puts me to sleep. When I was able to stay awake, I found this show creepy, disturbing (particularly the second season), and outfitted with just enough twists to keep things interesting. I was disappointed to find out there wouldn't be a third season.

The White Queen: I stumbled across this by chance and thought, 'hey, this sounds like a familiar title'. Well yeah, the book has been sitting on top of one of my TBR piles for about a year now. Duh. I knew I was in for goodness because: Phillipa Gregory. Again, I was disappointed the series didn't continue, but the show did a wonderful job of making history interesting. If only history was written as fictionalized romance in school, I would have paid a lot more attention. Now I guess I better get on reading the book. Oh, but there are so many books in my stacks.

Daredevil: We danced around whether to give this a try or not so soon after Jessica Jones, which we did like, but never quite fell in love with. And well, this seemed very similar as far a setting and superhero and plot. Loved the first season, with all the action, and trying to balance the day job with late night crime fighting and you know, being blind. The second season, while still pretty good, got really predictable. As in there would always be that one bad guy that survived just long enough for DD to ask him who had done this to him (because it was him). Always. To the point we started placing bets on which guy would be in the brink of death but still helpfully talking. But, for a superhero series, it had decent character depth and I'll be waiting for the third season. Punisher, meh. Every time I saw him, I kept saying to myself, hey, it's Shane, still being an asshole just like on Walking Dead. And Electra, also not a huge fan. While I did like that she wanted to be good, but was evil...but was good... and I lost track, her character generally lacked the depth I was looking for.

The Ranch: Totally going off what I normally sit down to, my husband suggested we give something funny a try. I hate laugh tracks. Just throwing that out there. But I like funny, and the show slowly grew on me. While a lot of the humor felt like Ashton Kutcher & Danny Masterson rehashing their roles on That '70s Show, but all grown up and as the sons of a cattle rancher, I did enjoy the relationship with their father and his odd relationship with their mother. A couple scenes where even touching.  

Not to mention Game of Thrones! So far I feel quite good about where this season is going. In fact, I'm downright happy with it. Which means someone is probably going to die and piss me off again.

I'm also watching Fear the Walking Dead, but I'm not sure why anymore. At this point in the series, I'm over the interest I had in seeing out the zombie outbreak occurred and how civilization broke down. I'm mostly hoping that the entire cast gets eaten and the show ends. Other than Salazar and Strand, they're all so busy being stupid, it's amazing they haven't become a main course yet. I take back everything I've ever said about TWD's Carl wandering off like a idiot. These kids, they're morons. And they're older. There's no excuse for any of them to act as irresponsibly as they are in these situations. I want to support the Walking Dead universe, I do, but my tolerance for stupid has been reached.


Reading:
I started my reading rush with Sherrilyn Kenyon, because it gets my eyes warmed up and my brain in reading mode. After pouring through Fantasy Lover and The Guardian, I was ready to branch out into something beyond paranormal romance.

Next up was Hunter by Mercedes Lackey. I've read, well, a shelf worth of her books, though it's been a long, long time. So when this turned up on the top of my daughter's stack of books she brought home from her book club, I grabbed it out of curiosity. Would I still enjoy her writing? Tons of world building here and an interesting point of view in the girl main character that goes a smidge too third wall for my taste, yet it was an enjoyable foray into YA fantasy, and I'm looking forward to the next book.

Then I tried to get into a cyberpunk novel, but after a couple days of attempting to get to a point where the story grabbed me, there came a point where I had to admit that it just wasn't working for me, despite that I've enjoyed other novels by this author before. I may hang on to it and try again in a few months when I'm in a different mindset.

Next on my stack was Karen Marie Moning's The Highlander's Touch. I spent an enjoyable day of reading your typical portal romance and delivered reliably the quality experience I've come to expect from this author when I'm in the mood for a little highlander flavor. And while I was at it, a couple weeks later, discovered I had another book from the same series so I flew through Spell of the Highlander as well. I do enjoy her plucky heroines and their humor. And now I find myself thinking in the Scottish tone she uses in her books. Guess I better read something else to wash the Scot away.

Ever have one of those nights when you should go to sleep, but instead grab a book, and then realize you've read it before, but you stay up half the night and read it again anyway? Yeah, I did that. I think I've gone through all the Sherrilyn Kenyon in all my stacks now. Maybe. I haven't checked my writing room stack and I probably shouldn't. Devil May Cry was just as enjoyable the second time around.

Next up was Christine Feehan's Dark Storm. Which wasn't in any of my stacks, but was at the book store on sale while I was there doing a job. Damn you sale racks. I need to get out of my paranormal romance rut. But I did appreciate that this book, while one of the Carpathian Novels, was a bit different than her usual formula. I like different.

Okay so the next book I read will not be paranormal romance. Really. And I need to stay out of the bookstore.

The Eye Report

It's been another productive couple weeks so time again for anther update on what my eyes have been up to.

I've finally settled on working title for Book 3 of The Narvan: Bound In Blue. That project has been zipping along and is now up to 55K. Only 35K more and then the editing fun begins. Really though, I like the editing stage. I'm looking forward to cleaning this up and making it presentable.

After attending my first meeting with the local writing group, I meet up with Lindsey Winsemius who was just getting ready to release her second novel, Patrician. Which meant I had to catch up on the first novel to appreciate the second one. I made it through Reaper in a day and half, because work. If you're looking for a dystopian fix with some sweet romance, check out her books.

In TV land, we discovered Dark Matter. Okay, so we didn't discover it, that would be bad, but we did find the show and watched the entire season. I love Netflix for enabling my binge tendencies. If you're still mourning the loss of Firefly, this sci-fi show about good bad...maybe bad...trying to be good...violently bad guys (and gals) in a spaceship may just fill the whole in your heart.

Last night we finished the season of Jessica Jones. I did enjoy this show, but there so were so many moments throughout the last few episodes where we both yelled at the television," just kill him already", that it made the end of the season feel more like a relief than resolution.

And now to enjoy some writing time while everyone else is preparing for sportball frenzy.

My Eyes Have Been Busy

After diving into making up my missing words and driving full force forward, my creative juices demanded a little recharge. Not to mention I spent most of the week working out of the office. So it's been a busy week for watching and reading.

We finished the Making a Murderer documentary. And let me just sum this up with: wow. If I tried to write a murder mystery this shoddily, I'd be raked over the coals in critiques, but somehow, this utter farce of a trial flies in real life. Whether the man is guilty or not, and I'm leaning toward not, he shouldn't have been convicted in that trial. And yes, I still fell asleep during every episode, yet managed to keep up with what was going on. Maybe the jury should have taken some naps during the trial.

We blew through the first season of Sense 8. I'd heard good things about this series from a couple friends and was not disappointed. A cluster of eight people all born at the same time who are awakened to each other's minds later in their lives. Hunted by paranoid plain humans who are led by don't-look-him-in-the-eyes-Whispers, they must learn to use each others assets to survive. Yes, there are plot holes and the rules of the whole sense sharing thing are quite sketchy, but the character stories are compelling and binge-watch-worthy.

American Horror Story Hotel wrapped up. After a shaky start wherein I almost didn't start at all for the fact that the cast included Lady Gaga, the plot rose above gore and things that go bump in the night to weave together interesting characters and even threw in a couple twists. The end of the season was my favorite as far as AHS endings go. Yes, everyone dies. They always do, no spoilers there. But I enjoyed how they're plotlines were all pulled together and folded up in a neat pile that would have made the laundress proud.

I read The Red Church by Scott Nicholson. It's been a long time since I've indulged my love for a good scary story. Now that life has calmed down to the point where I can concentrate on written words again, I figured it was high time. And this one was on top of one of my many TBR stacks. If you ever watched the Poltergeist movie and were weirded out by that creepy ass preacher? Yeah, that's the same feeling in this book. Not for the devout Christian, because there's a lot of religious stuff thrown about in these pages. While I enjoyed the interplay between the father and cult-stricken mother, the sheriff who finds love too late and a young boy who had the worst Sunday school teacher ever, the ending felt a little off. The big bad didn't follow through quite enough for my taste, but it was still an enjoyable read.

Yesterday, I stopped by my local bookstore while out picking up bagels, and two books called out to me. Yeah, I read one from my stack and add two more. There might be a problem there... But one was Sherrilyn Kenyon's Son of No One, and if you've been hanging out here, you know this is my book crack. So, uhh, I read that today. I may have gotten up early on a Sunday to read and finished the book by lunch. No, I do not have a paranormal romance reading problem.

And to wrap up the week of distractions, I started watching the Shannara Chronicles. I have not read the books, but my son assured me the series was good. Having reached episode three, I will honestly say I'm really only still there to watch Manu Bennet because: Spartacus. The main characters are probably exciting to younger people, but they're young and keep making stupid mistakes like young people do and they're the chosen ones, and well, that's all I have to say about that.

Not to say I've been neglecting my writing, Book 3 of The Narvan currently sits at 43K and I started reworking a short story for an themed anthology submission. Then to be even more productive, I finally made it to a meeting for the local writing group I joined nearly three months ago.  I can't say that the planets will align often as the timing of the meeting doesn't quite jive with my schedule but it was good to finally meet the gang in person.

Onward into another hopefully productive week!

Off To A Productive Start

It's a new year...where to begin?

I've been writing! Every day even! It's a wonderful feeling. I love my new chair that helps block out all the aching distractions so I can get lost in words. The third unnamed book in my as of yet unnamed series is sitting at 32K fairly as of today. I went back and took notes and added several new opening chapters until I got the story starting at what feels like the right place. I've got a fairly clean draft now going forward, and I'm loving the story so far.

My daughter is giving me crap about not working on Interface, but I will get back to it, just not right now. I need to stick with one world at a time this deep into the draft.

I have a social life again! I've forgotten what that feels like, to just pop over to the brewery down the road after work, to meet friends for lunch, to have friends over for dinner. All those casual encounters that got shoved aside with an overwhelming workload, building, and settling in. I've even started volunteering at school again. Only for one thing, okay, two, but they are on my own terms and only one is more of a long term after school thing.

With time to write in the morning before work and after work before dinner, I'm more flexible about taking time to watch frivolous TV during and being a couple time. We recently finished watching Orphan Black (clones!) and can't wait for the new season to start. We're currently watching Making A Murderer (with everyone else on my Facebook feed), and while it's interesting, the slow shots of the scenery and soft voices put me to sleep every damn episode. It's like Forensic Files. I love that show, but it also has the voices that lull me to sleep. Maybe murder just makes me tired?

I've been reading too, because that's apparently a thing this year. When resolutions flooded my Facebook feed, reading more seemed to be high on the list. It seems like a good goal, so I figured I'd tag along. Last week I finished Brewed Awakenings I, an anthology featuring some of my local writing friends. My favorite by far was Amy Jo Johnson's, She's My Favorite, which is about...clones. I think I might have a clone fan thing going on. But really, it was a haunting story and I couldn't put it down.

Not only reading and writing and watching, I even managed to squeeze in two critiques! One for a friend and one for a stranger. Getting back into that mindset helped with the cleaning up of the draft I'm working on as well.

We spent Christmas Break trying to squeeze in watching all six episodes of Star Wars because the kids hadn't seen all of them, and we'd never watched them all in order. Then we topped it off with a trip to the newly renovated local theatre featuring all recliner seating (which was so freaking awesome- no heads in front of you, all the foot room you could ask for and comfortable!) and saw the new one in 3-D, because why not? It was probably the best behaved theatre audience I've ever been a part of, and the movie was enjoyable, though I had several snarky comments to save for when we got in the car and that last scene? It just went on too long to the point where I wanted to laugh, but overall, a massive improvement over the prequel casting and acting and script.

Our house is also home to a new cockatiel. My daughter's previous one died, which is a story fraught with things I'd do differently and gritting my teeth. We'll skip that because it makes me angry, and I'm relaxing this year. Let's instead focus on the new one, who is a couple months old and great fun. Pepper makes all kinds of noises and loves hanging out with my daughter. She's also happy to ride around on our shoulders and pick at anything in reach. Today we built a ladder for her so if she happens to land on the floor (her wings are clipped), she can get back up to her cage and out of the reach of the dogs, who think she looks really tasty.

And I'll close out this rambling update with this week's Author's Answer, where we talk about our favorite characters we've created.

Cover Reveal for A Broken Race

In the next couple weeks, A Broken Race will be in my hands...and yours if you so wish (and I hope you do).

In a hard future where most of humanity are slaves to a select few, a simple man sees the ugly truth behind the smiles of his masters and stops being a cog to take hold of the wheel.



While I prepare for the release of A Broken Race and NaNoWriMo, I've been busy reading. Gotta fuel the creative engines. In the last two weeks, I've devoured, Stephen King's Under the Dome (and I'm finishing the TV series), Sherrilyn Kenyon's Kiss Of The Night and Devil May Cry, and Guy Gavriel Kay's Ysabel. All were enjoyable. The books, that is. The TV series, well, we'll discuss that as soon as I finish the last three episodes.

This week on Authors Answer, we talk about family support with our writing.

I found time to read a book.

This is a wonderful thing. It's even a book there's no way in hell I can finish in a day. Or two. Maybe three if all I did was read.

I've been saving Stephen King's Under The Dome for over a year. It came to me from a box of books meant for the book resale store, but happened to be on the top and land in my hands before it made it there. Not usually a King fan, I had actually been interested in this one because of the tv show. Another show that I haven't had time to see. I'll get there eventually. But first the book. Because that's how it should be done. (because I said so.)
As I said, I'm not normally a King fan. I've tried. I wanted to be. I mean, he's got a lot of work out there. Unfortunately, after a promising start, it took me two years to finish Pet Sematary. It just dragged. For me, anyway. I'm sure there are readers out there who loved it. I've tried a couple others over the years but just couldn't get into them. This one, so far at least, has been great. I don't want to put it down. But at over 1,000 pages, I have to. It's heavy. And yes, I have a kindle, but I like paper on occasion, this being one of them.

The characterization is excellent. And there are a lot of characters to characterize. I can't imagine the work of getting into each one as the POV changes with every scene. And there are a lot of scenes. And people are dying left and right in all sorts of interesting ways. Even the animals aren't safe.

So while I await cover art on A Broken Race and to see what lands on the cover of the Brewed Awakenings II anthology, I'm just sitting here, percolating my NaNoWriMo project, juggling submissions and reading. Good times.

Looking for more authors to check out? This week on Authors Answer, we discuss our blogs and websites. Who knows, you might find someone new to virtually hang out with.

Patience is a virtue and fiction saves lives

While I'd love to say that I write for a living, I don't. I have a day (and sometimes night and weekend) job, that while it does allow me to do lots of creative things that I really enjoy, mostly that pays the bills and comes with it's share of headaches. Many of those headaches involve writing and reading either in product descriptions or email exchanges, so I'm going to share a few in the hopes that even one of you won't be that person.

Let's say, for the sake of an easy, across-the-board example, I'm selling blankets. I create what I think to straight-forward product description using as few words and sentences as possible because I understand we are all busy and have short attention spans:

Queen size Blanket

Soft, fleece blanket. Fits Queen size bed.  Available in blue (shown) red, white, beige, black and grey. You will be shipped a blue blanket (shown), unless you specify a different color when ordering.

Ships Priority mail within the United States and First Class Mail internationally. Actual shipping rates are shown after adding product to your cart and entering your address.


These are kind of questions I deal with every day, which are the reason I kill so many people in fiction:

1. What is this blanket made of?
2. I like the vase in the photo, where did you get it?
3. What color is the blanket in the photo?
4. I received my order, but was expecting a poster of a blue blanket on a bed like you show. What am I supposed to do with a stupid blanket?
5. I received my blanket in the mail today, but you smashed the box to bits and now it's unusable. How soon can you deliver another one to me in a better box?
6. My order wasn't shipped UPS like I asked for in the notes I put on the order, why?
7. I received my blanket today, but it doesn't fit my king size bed. What are you going to do about it?
8. I wanted a red blanket, but you shipped me a blue one. It says it comes in different colors, but I never saw anywhere to put what color I wanted. How do I get a red one?
9. How much is shipping?
10. How tall is the bed in the photo?
11. Can you show me what that blanket looks like on four poster bed?
12. I received the blanket it in the mail today and when I went to use it, I saw that the disposable bag the blanket came in was wrinkled. Your product is crap. Can I get a refund?
13. I didn't get my blanket that I ordered eight months ago and just realized never arrived. When I went to check the tracking, I see that you shipped it to my old address. I moved nine months ago, but my order shows my old address for some reason. Can you reroute my package to me at my new address?
 14. I didn't get my package and when I went to check my order, I realized I switched to numbers in my address around, and now tracking shows it delivered to someone else. Can you send me a new package? I already paid shipping when I ordered.
15. I ordered a blue blanket like in your photo, but when it arrived, it's dark blue, not baby blue like what I was expecting. What are you going to do about your misleading description and sending me the color I wanted?
16. My blanket was delivered, but someone in the mailroom signed for it and put it somewhere. I can't find it. Can you ship me a new one?
17. I ordered this product - and thanks for shipping it so fast - but I'd emailed you three days after placing my order to ask if I could get two twin-sized, orange blankets instead, but you shipped me a blue queen size blanket. Don't you read emails? I would like to return this blue blanket and get the two orange twin-sized blankets I asked for.
18. I'd like to use this blanket as a table cloth for a birthday party I'm having this weekend, will it repel water and not stain?
19. Is the blanket soft?
20. I'd like to order a blanket in blue. How do I do that?

Other than not dealing with blankets, these are exact questions I have had to respond to.
Please save fictional lives, read descriptions when ordering anywhere, and for the love of all that's holy, double check your mailing information. Thank you.

What better way to spend a long weekend

...than reading! It's been quite awhile, but I finally managed most of three days of downtime to read. This wasn't for lack of other things I should have been doing, but fate decided to smack me upside the sinuses with a major cold, thereby giving me a valid pass to hang out on the couch. And hang out I did. I can't remember the last time I sat in one place for so long.

My congested head required lite reading, so I went for my usual (lately, it seems) romance-related fare. In three days I devoured Sherrilyn Kenyon's Born of Fire and Bad Moon Rising. Got to love a writer that really knows how to put her characters through hell, literally and figuratively.

That's over 1000 pages between critiquing a short for a friend, spending half a day moving the last of our stuff from the garage and shed of our previous home, and several hours at two home improvement stores ordering everything we need for the deck that needs to be built in order to finish out our building permit.

Good thing I had to go that other stuff or I probably wouldn't have picked up my head from a third book long enough to spend time with the rest of my sick (we all got the cold) family. I was even a good little citizen and attended our local memorial day parade...because I had to transport my son there to play in the school band. Several people I've run into since have commented on seeing me there, but not stopping over to say hi "because it looked like you were really into reading your book." I did put it down once the parade started, honest. I was doing them a favor, warding them away from my cold germs.  

Now, with my sci-fi and were-creature fixes sated, I can get back to trying to figure out this short I've been fighting with. Yes, that means I still don't have that darn thing finished and I'm running out of time.

Actually End That Sucker

In preparing my responses for March on Author's Answer, we were given a question that I hadn't had much issue with lately: Have you ever wanted to rewrite the ending of another author's published book? I typed up my reply and sent it off thinking that I was quite glad of that particular fact. Then, given that the majority of the household has been unpacked to a functional degree, I decided that I deserved the long-awaited opportunity to attack a book from my towering TBR pile.


I sat down and read a book. It was amazing.


Not the book so much as allowing myself to sit down and just read, to get lost in the words and not worry about all the other things I could (possibly, should) be doing. It was relaxing. It's been a long time since I've done 'relaxing'. Even better, I was able to focus on the book for more than a page at a time and for more than five minutes at a time. I read several chapters in one sitting. This was all wonderful and good. I wasn't up to my usual book devouring read-it-in-a-day-or-two speed, but I did find the time, desire, and focus to sit down with it over the next several days.


Then, yesterday, I hit the end of the story. Hit. Like with a train. Just bam. The words ended.


Now, I thought to preserve my tenuous hold on sanity by picking up one of my favorite paranormal romance authors for this first foray into the return to reading for fun. I trusted this book to get me from point A to point B in an enjoyable fashion. Perhaps my downfall was choosing a book that included two stories, giving me no physical page gauge as to how far into the first story I was before the next one began. Thus, when I hit a page that ended halfway down in white space and the next one didn't contain the words Chapter Fourteen, I was inclined to throw the book at the wall.


I didn't. I was at a science tournament with my daughter and surrounded by students and that would have set a bad example. Had we been at an English tournament, I would have stood up and loudly exclaimed why. But alas, it was not appropriate at the time.


What was the problem? Well, this was a romance story, as I mentioned earlier. Generally they have fairly simple plots and the goal is for the two people (or whatever they happen to technically be) to acknowledge that they are happily in love. This was from an established series I've read much of. I know the world, the types of characters and pretty much what to expect, as these sort of books tend to get a little formulaic after awhile. But they're easy to get lost in, and so I enjoy them from time to time.


In this particular story, boy met girl. Boy is off conquering bad guys and girl joins him. Yay for strong female characters. Girl's siblings are involved in the fighting. There is a lot of focus on girl's siblings, their special linage, and how it may lead to conflict with boy's people. Girl has a job that puts her in danger and boy will have to come to grips with this even though it's against his nature. There is also a lot of build up regarding a conflict with meeting girl's parent's, particularly her mother who we're told will not like the boy at all and there will be major family tension. There is also the matter of the bad guys, one of whom will be after girl's brother with all sorts of promised evil intent until either the bother or the baddie are dead.


Where did we end? Boy and girl kill two of three bad guys, leaving the big bad to slink off and threaten them and girl's brother in perpetuity. The whole subplot regarding the special linage is left hanging. What will happen with her job, we never find out. Boy never meets the parents. All we get out of whole story is the couple in love. All the rest of what made the story interesting beyond the falling in love was left hanging. I could forgive the big bad slinking off knowing that he'll probably turn up later in the series, but the rest? No.


Which brings me to my point. If you're going to start subplots, finish them. Nothing leaves me more disappointed at the end of a book than it ending as if the author got tired of writing that particular story and just shipped it off to print as is.


Would I rewrite the ending of a published novel? Nah, I have my own novels to work on and endings to conquer. Hopefully they are more satisfying than the one I just read.


With that off my chest, check out this week's Author's Answer in which we delve into our writerly influences.