ISWG: May Flowers and Rituals

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 
and find links to all the other 
participating writers.

Welcome to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group post. It's finally spring here in Michigan, meaning the weather is generally above freezing now, even at night. Is it warm? Not reliably. One day it's 70 and sunny the next it's 35 and raining with occasional spurts of snow flurries. But, on the bright side, flowers are finally blooming and my ducks are growing up.

But before we get to flowers and ducks, I should probably talk about writing. There hasn't been a lot of that going on. Though I did manage to read a book so that's progress - more so than binge-watching 8 seasons of Vampire Diaries and season 4 of The Last Kingdom.

Dreams of Stars and Lies, my next upcoming release, is progressing nicely. I have two short stories to finish formatting and then I'm waiting on the cover art. Look for the release of this collection of sci-fi stories mid-summer.

Bound In Blue: The Narvan Book 3 is going through another round of edits before it hits proofreading, but that is also on track for a Fall release.

Book signing events continue to be cancelled, with my next possible one now in July. I miss talking with readers and networking in person with my author friends. This is part of my lack of motivation. I usually come home from events all energized to work on whatever next project I have on deck, but right now life is a too quiet.

This month's question is: Do you have any rituals that you use when you need help getting into the zone?

My writing rituals usually include, turning off the lights in my office, sitting in my comfy chair, lighting a candle, maybe some incense, and making words happen until the story starts coming out of my fingers. Sometimes that means writing with my eyes closed to further block out distractions. It's often the getting the fingers going on the keyboard that is the most important step. Once that happens, the story isn't far behind.

And now... flowers and ducks

The ducks are getting their wing feathers, not that they will be doing much flying.

Violets are one of my favorite flowers

Fancy daffodils after one of the many spring rains

Yep, we had more rain

Not a stick! This Easter Hognose snake slithered through the yard.

Nap time for duckies

Visiting Donald Levin's Blog

Today, I'm doing a blog visit for author Donald Levin's Indie Monday. We talk about The Narvan series, writing, and my upcoming projects. If you like Mysteries and Michigan Authors, check out his books while you're there. We've done several author events together and he's a great guy.

Online reading of Trust

Last week I did an online reading session with How Writers Write with my long distance poetry buddy Michael D Jones. He's got a new book out too.

We talked about Trust, The Narvan, Chain of Grey and writing in general. Check it out here

IWSG: April Lockdown

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 
and find links to all the other 
participating writers.

I am fortunate to work from home all the time, so my income is generally not affected by this whole Covid-19 mess. But we have my elderly MIL staying with us so she's not home alone during this shelter in place decree.

Beyond that, most of my book launch events for Chain of Grey were canceled so I've been doing a few virtual ones.

Check out Quarantine Con for some fun con merch from the comfort of your own home.

or this author reading and interview series by How Writers Write
I'll be doing a reading from Trust on April 16 and having a chat with my poet pal, Michael D. Jones about his new poetry collection.


And also, I had the itch to add to our pet inventory.

It seems that I don't ask for anything for my birthday anymore. The past few years, I just get a new pet. 

It started with my little dog, Bitsy, five years ago.

My pond with goldfish.

Then came chickens.

Then, after losing a couple to illness and a hawk, the next year, we had chickens round two.

And this year, ducklings.

Next year? I think I'm good with creatures to take care of now, but I'm not going to say it won't happen.

Really though, with all the crazy going on in the world right now, we needed a little cute, cuddly fun.

I was just going to get two ducklings, but once I was there at the store looking at the big bin of ducklings of the variety they'd ordered at my request, my gut whispered for me to get three. Always listen to the gut.

We're on shelter in place until at least April 13 so that gives us plenty of time to get acquainted with our new ducklings. We've had them since March 24.

Right now, these adorable little feather babies are living in my writing room. How is that working for writing? Not all that productively I must say, but they're darn cute so I'll forgive them for making so much noise. Soon enough they'll be living outside and we won't be seeing quite as much of one another.

These three are Indian Runner ducks. They'll be generally flightless and will help clean up the bugs in the yard and my flowerbeds in between playing in the pond and hanging out with our chickens. We're just hoping they all get along. We won't know if they are male or female for a few weeks yet so here's hoping we have a couple females because I'm looking forward to some duck eggs.

How are things in your corner of this crazy world?

It's crazy world out there and in here too

With this whole viral virus thing taking over the world and bringing many things to a standstill, daily life as we knew it a week ago seems so long ago. Today, being my birthday, I thought I'd take a moment to make a few lists to keep all the crazy in perspective.

Things I'm grateful for:

1. I already work at home. Literally, the entire lower level of my house is dedicated to my home businesses. So hey, zero change for me there. 
2. My main business is online (on various platforms). I'm all set with social distancing. 
3. While many people, my son included, are off work due to closures, I'm working overtime.
4. We regularly buy a three-month supply of toilet paper online and are all set for a while yet. 

Things that have changed this week:

1. Last Saturday my 89-year-old MIL ended up in the ER for a leg infection. The hospital was full and couldn't admit her. She didn't want to transfer to the next hospital an hour away, so she's currently staying with us. So yeah, I'm working overtime and playing nurse. If I ever get around to publishing The Minor Years, which chronicles Anastassia's time as a Seeker on Veria Minor, yeah, it's based on real-life me right now. 
2. My daughter is a high school senior and her school is closed for a month. We have no idea how or if graduation will happen. Or AP exams. Or lots of things. Lots of uncertainty going on for a kid who already struggles with anxiety. On the plus side, she gets to do what schoolwork they are assigning on her own time from the comfort of her room and also sleep in. So in that one regard, it's kind of a dream situation. 
3. I officially became another year older. And after two weeks of overtime with one to go, I'm feeling it. 

Things that are not so great:

1. I'm trying to evaluate my MIL's health situation and weigh the choice of maybe sending her back to her home or into a nursing home for good. Because apparently, out of five kids, I'm the one willing to make that decision.
2. Nursing homes are also on lockdown so we can't tour any of them.
3. I don't currently have time to make a bunch of phone calls, fill out forms, or be a nurse.
4. I don't remember the last time I had a full night's rest thanks to my own sleep issues and my little dog's peanut-sized bladder and now I'm also getting up at least twice a night to help a full-grown human get out of bed and use the bathroom.   
5. As it turns out, it's really rough to release a book while events are being canceled left and right and social media is on Covid-19 takeover. 
6. I really want to be working on Dreams of Stars and Lies, but my brain is too scrambled to concentrate.

I hope you're all healthy, your pantries and TP are stocked and your employers are taking care of you. Until next post, keep washing your hands and let's hope this all blows over very soon!