Great Advice from a Fellow Author

 I got some great advice today (well, probably me and several hundred other authors) that I wanted to share. 

Paraphrasing, it went something like this:

Don't be afraid to fall in love with writing (again). Remember why you started to write? Remember why you still write? If you're struggling, find a new idea you're passionate about, let go of your fears, and pour your heart and soul into this new book. Try to release expectations for this book and just savor and enjoy the writing process and the amazing new story. Relive the excitement and enthusiasm that got you writing to begin with. 

This seemed to be a highly respected opinion from out-of-the-blue that reinforces my decision to step back and dive into the trilogy-on-the-backburner-of-my-mind-for-many-years. To bring back to life the saga that first got me enthused about writing professionally and publishing in the first place, and yet, I just never seemed to be able to get that first novel to the publishing stage, in spite of it's nomination for a Golden Heart Award (Remember those?) and multiple writing competition wins a decade ago. 

This story (in three main parts) is a sweeping family saga in a ...in spaaaaaaace. But it's about so much more than that. It takes great swaths of history and myth from here on Earth and creates the hopefully convincing worldbuilding for the trilogy, which essentially follows three generations in a time of great change. And creates the history for all of my stories that have already been published in the Inherited Stars Universe, that came much later in the timeline.

How far have I gotten?

Well, to be honest, not far...on paper (er...computer), but I've written multiple entire passages in the current project as I knead the plot, motivations, conflict and characters in my head. The story for Gen One is written--and has won awards--but needs a bit more scrubbing before it can meet the world. I'm going to wait on the introduction, and publish all in close succession -- provided I decide to traditionally publish them at all. 

Gen Two is the story I'm mentally developing now, which will be followed by Gen Three. These are generic WIP tags for titles I'm not yet ready to announce.

Let me share just a tiny thread of a scene -- one that's actually written but not yet revised, refined or edited -- to give you a taste of the Gen Two story. Yes, it's Science Fiction -- or Space Adventure, as I prefer to label it -- but like many sci-fi settings, it probably invokes the language and social etiquette of a past age. (More on that later.) 

Tucked into the midst of her escort, Shanna approached a group of men, all clad in immaculate uniforms or festive finery. Her eyes were drawn to the one who wore an imposing uniform of pristine white, with golden stripes adorning the sleeves of an elegantly tailed jacket, his trousers delineated by a wide gamble stripe. His light hair, thick and cut in a taper, just brushed the back of his uniform’s collar accentuating broad shoulders. An ornate scabbard gleamed at his side, the grip of the sheathed sword decorated in cascading scarlet tassels. 

A commander of the King’s Guard, maybe? Or even a captain?

As her escort drew closer, he cast a glance back over his shoulder to inspect the new arrivals, and spying her, his whole body pivoted to follow his gaze. 

Shanna stopped mid-step, drawing a quick breath. “Blue!” she whispered. His hair was shorter, his bearing more regal than the friend she'd come to know. But how had she not recognized him?

His aqua eyes widened as he took her in, lavender gown and all.

“My Lady,” he whispered, and after shaking off his surprise, moved closer. “You are here in time for my reception.”

“Your reception?”

In answer, he made a sweeping gesture to the grand entrance to the Royal Quarters, where she caught sight of the large crowd milling in the main hall. A reception for what? Surely not his wedding!

“Our hunting party returned just a few hours ago.” Shanna nodded to Macalla, “My Confidante told me there was a celebration I must not miss.”

Nacondus tilted his head. “Indeed.” He gave Macalla a quick glance and a slight smile. “I am beyond pleased you decided to attend.” 

“I’m a little uncertain what it is I’m attending. You said…your reception?”

Nacondus dipped his chin slightly. “My Recognition Ceremony was held this afternoon. By tradition, a grand reception always follows.”

Shanna relaxed with some relief. “Recognition Ceremony. I don’t know what that means.” 

 

As always, I'd love to hear any thoughts or feedback on this "enthusiasm-booster project." :)

Take care and have a great week as you prepare for the holiday season.

Laurie

Aphantasia - What the Heck?

I teased this in my last blog and promised to come back to comment on it, so... Ta-da!

I recently read about this malady and thought to myself *Horrors!* Aphantasia is the inability to "see" images in thought. Such as, if someone says to you "imagine a tree" you wouldn't be able to summon the image of a tree--or its setting, or its leaves or bark--in your mind, only some subject-specific words about trees in general. 

Wait! Whut???

The author further went on to explain how he also couldn't "hear" music or sounds in his thoughts. You know the term "earworm" -- that favorite song that you just can't get out of your head? Yeah. Doesn't happen. The author mentioned the Star Wars theme. When I think "Star Wars theme," I can absolutely hear those iconic first notes of an inspiring overture like I was the third chair clarinet inside my mind. It must be horrible to not have the ability to do that. And yet, he was quite far along in his life before he figured out he was lacking in the sensory imagination department.

Yet, he still was able to successfully write.

How?  I mean....HOW?

He explains in his post. It has something to do with what he calls "grey words."

I found it utterly fascinating.

Obviously, I don't have aphantasia (thank the Good Lord!) because when I write, or pre-write, or work on basic story context or scene ideas, I do it in my head in living technicolor and stereo sound. When I'm head-writing a scene in my current work, I can see the deep aquamarine eyes and subtle smile of Nakondus. I can hear his voice. I can picture Shanna's shining red hair and confused expression when she poses a question to him. It's a mind-movie for me. I couldn't even begin to fathom how someone could write without this capability. And yet the author talking about discovering this handicap...well, let's just say he's done a lot for an imagination-challenged soul.

I won't regurgitate his lengthy FB post here (which included texting snippets of his dawning revelation with other peers and a fascinating dialogue on how his mind does work), but I will drop the link below if you'd like to check out all his musing on the surprising revelation. Be sure to check out his credentials at the end. (Um...wow.)

Aphantasia: How it Feels to be Blind in your Mind

I'd like to segway that into a note that this blog has now developed its own form of aphantasia. It seems I can no longer post images, for some unknown reason. I apologize profusely, since I love to break up the long blocks of text by illustrating with related pictures, but that's no longer possible. (And getting help from Blogger...good luck with that.)  So sadly, this "blog" is going to be a bit bland going forward, though I will keep working the problem -- like Mark Watney in a Martian dust storm.

Hope you have a day filled with vibrant thoughts. I'll be Bach. 

I've Resurfaced -- Hiya!

So...new post. SURPRISE! I know it's been months since I've created any new content for this blog, but that's an indication of where my mind has been. Namely...elsewhere.

To just scratch the surface, here are three of the reasons. 

Lack of Focus

My mind needed a mental break from the tedious and overwhelming fire hose of information I needed to process simply to be an author. The industry has changed a lot and I've been left in the dust. Information such as how I needed to target my ads and all the lovely landmines FB was throwing at authors (ugh!), the art and mysticism of how to create effective keywords (gah!), how I had to have a brand and before I could determine what my brand was I needed to do semesters of soul-searching and honing of my product (no thanks!), plus other nefarious and annoying self-education requirements that I'd probably need to get the equivalent of a bachelors degree to process.. Needless to say, it left me creatively bereft. Dammit Jim, I'm a writer not an advertising agency. And I just want to write! 

It seems I no longer have the desire nor the mental fortitude to spend the lion's share of my time trying to market my work and sell more books. I need to do something different. I'm just not sure what "different" at this point in my career. 

Also...to further add to my distraction, our horse won the Preakness this year (not to mention a couple of other major races that most of you would not know or care about because they weren't Triple Crown races). That's a subject and a topic that doesn't really fit this blog, so I won't go into detail, but let me tell you -- it was a MAJOR life event! It impacted me and my spouse and our large partnership group in ways I can't begin to describe. It was a dream come true that I had wished for since I was six years old, but didn't realize the impossibility of my wish at that young age. So yeah, never, ever, in a million years did I think it would happen to us. But it did. And....well, WOW. Just WOW! I'm a writer but I can't even communicate what it meant to us, what the horse means to us, what it meant to have a legendary trainer training him, and a jockey so new to the sport he hadn't even ridden a horse four years ago and to watch him cross that finish line as a newly minted classic winner. Being a part of the partnership, the horse, the team, the experience -- all of it -- was a huge blessing from God. I must give credit where credit is due. 

But I digress...  

Lack of Enthusiasm

I've also been enormously un-motivated because I seem to be having a struggle of the soul over what I'm now inspired to write, which is not books filled with faith-challenged and Godless characters. The last two years have shown me that the Almighty is at work in my life in a multitude of ways, and my past books are a bit (to say the least) dissident to my current state of faith. My dilemma is that I'm well into a lengthy series of books and audience-wise, I'd be changing horses mid-stream. (There's that horse theme again). 

The Roadblock of "Business"

I'm now at the point where my next four books are large volumes that will cost me far more to have fully edited than they may ever earn back. (We're talking thousands and thousands. And no, the vast majority of writers don't make that much on their books.) So...I've been thinking...if I'm not going to regain my expenses maybe I should just self-edit and publish them as free works online. I'm still wrestling with all the ramifications of that decision, and what to do with my previously published work if I do go forward. I'm at the "still computing" phase of that concept. And it's boggling. Stay tuned. 

I'll try to be a lot better about communication via this blog, and throwing some different content out there -- progress, excerpts, random thoughts, etc. I'd ask for opinions or feedback, but no one seems to comment on blogs anymore so I'll skip that part (though you're always welcome to comment should you wish) [ ::: Insert begging emoji that doesn't exist here ::: ] 

Thanks for listening to my info dump. (Thank goodness I try to avoid this cardinal sin in books, huh?)

I'm working on a blog about Aphantasia that shocked me. Stop back to see what that's all about. 

Have a great week! 

A new year and a new book

 

Hello everybody and welcome to 2022, the year of Getting Back to Normal. Maybe? I'm sure we're all living in hope.

It's wonderful news for all us astronomy buffs that the James Webb space telescope was launched on 25^th December. It will be a while before we know if all the intricate parts that deploy the telescope's dish have all worked as they should and I guess I won't be the only one with my fingers firmly crossed. If James Webb gives us results comparable to the stunning achievements of the ageing Hubble device, we're in for decades of stunning photos and spectacular science. I can't wait!

On the writing front, after a long hiatus I have finally published a new book.

One hundred years ago the pirate ship Crimson Lady terrorized the space lanes, then she disappeared without a trace, leaving behind nothing but tall tales and legends. Until Tara Wyndham finds an artefact from the lost ship

Rys Kovas made a mistake when he left Fleet to take over his uncle’s tourist business. He jumps at the chance to hire out his luxury yacht to go hunting for a ghost ship with the lovely Tara and her grandfather. But murder, sabotage, and accidents mar their journey.  It’s clear somebody doesn’t want them following the trail. As the danger ramps up Rys suspects there’s more to the mystery of the Crimson Lady than a long-lost spacefarer’s story.

Can Rys, Tara, and her indomitable grandfather unravel the mystery and escape with their lives?

The Search for the Crimson Lady is available at a retail store near you. Select your favorite retailer.

Here's a short taste of what it's all about. Tara is attending a deceased estate sale.

Tara glanced inside one of the boxes and caught a hint of red. She picked up a cracked mug with a picture of a woman in a flowing red dress wrapped around the outside.

Her hands trembled. She knew that design. This was the Crimson Lady, mascot of the famous ship. It was good quality porcelain, with a fine texture, basically white, with a red and gold rim. The handle had broken off and it was cracked, the line running down through the woman's head almost to the base but even so, if it was genuine, if it came from the legendary Crimson Lady, it would be worth… she sucked in a breath… thousands. She turned it over, reading the words on the base. 'Beecher Designs, Kendon.' She didn't know what the symbols meant, but Archimedes, Grandfather's house IS, would be able to find out.

Tara took a couple of deep breaths and tried to look blasé, then went back to Miz Jepson and held up the mug. "How much do you want for this?"

She stared at Tara. "You know it's broken?"

"Yes. But I like the design. We might be able to get it fixed."

She pulled an 'if you say so' face. "Take it. You can have it. I was going to throw it out."

The woman obviously had no idea. Tara smiled, thanked the woman, and forced herself not to hurry out of the house.

This is a brand new Dryden Universe story with new characters, although there is a cameo appearance from Admiral Ul-Mellor. It’s a mystery and a puzzle with a romance thrown in.

I hope you enjoy it.

On another note, I'll be publishing a monthly newsletter. It will be filled with book news, reviews, progress on my latest WIP and similar. Needless to say, you will not be spammed, I won't sell your email address, and you can unsubscribe at any time. If you're interested, here's the sign-up page

 While you're here, if you wish to add to your TBR pile, and you like stories featuring pets, you can't go wrong with this bundle. Here's the link.

As you can see, the bundle offers paranormal, science fiction, and fantasy romances. You just might find something that excites you.

 

 

New Year, New Start

We had a wonderful holiday. Hope you did, too! But New Years Day is when we started packing up the ornaments and decorations and dismantling the tree, to squirrel all the Christmas adornments away for another year. 

The holidays came and went so quickly for us this year, partly due to some background dramas that unfolded. (I had to have a double root canal on December 23rd, for one, after a specialist discovered a completely painless abscess and infection that had probably been present for months. The dread turned out to be the worst part of it. I slept through most of the procedure.)  

We even got our tree up a couple of weeks early, but there it stood--stark and forlorn--bare of any lights or ornaments for nearly a week. Eventually, it all came together in plenty of time to enjoy it for the holidays.

Seeing the tree come down this year hit me particularly hard. Our pups were quite dismayed because Christmas is a Really Big Deal for them. The sad looks about broke my heart. They don't understand why we can't have Christmas -- and presents and treats and pretty lights and discarded paper to romp through -- every day. 

That made us decide to leave the lights up on the lilac bushes in our courtyard, and the three wreaths on our two courtyard doors and front door so all the magic didn't get banished. We'll take those down when we're ready.

So here I am, holidays over and facing 2022 with a big sigh.

Because of our bout with Covid in late September and early October, and the weeks of trying to recover from lingering brain fog and memory issues, everything writing related got put on hold for the last part of the year. I had two books from past Pets in Space volumes I was working on -- one a quick scan away from going to the editor and another that needed a bit more work but was almost there. In addition, I have five more books in the series and multiple one-off stories that have been floating around in my head for years, or stowed away on my hard drive as completed manuscripts. 

But I just couldn't bring myself to tackle them once I had recovered. 

Mental Jeopardy. Things Authors Deal with for $100, Alex.

But...I have to be honest. Some of my foot-dragging was due to the state of the industry, as well. 

Society in general--and the publishing industry, in particular--is taking a different tack from the  expectations I had when I started publishing my books almost six years ago. The author community used to be welcoming, happy and supportive group for the most part, but lately it seems to have turned a lot less friendly. I blame both social media and the frustrations that the present industry--and Covid--have imposed on writers. Since 2015, one of the big book conventions has all but ceased to exist for authors who aren't big names, and the other has undergone a major identity crisis. Whatever the cause, the"rising tide that floats all boats" seems to have definitely gone out. 

So I recently had to take a deep breath and ask myself if I really wanted to continue to do this. Did I want to publish another book? Did I want to attempt to kickstart my efforts in 2022, or was it time to just wave the white flag (as I've seen so many of my peers do in the last couple of months) and hang it up? Or should I, instead, try to invent some other imaginative method of getting my work out there for people to read that doesn't involve an industry that continues to make things really difficult for authors.

I ultimately decided I'm going to keep working on publishing some of my work in 2022, but with a  different focus. From now on, I'm going to work in my own time, at my own pace, with a focus on sharing some of these stories that have been rampaging around in my head (or lurking in a digital file), and not to stress over sales, numbers and stats. Stress can be a real creativity killer, and I want to start enjoying the writing process again. I want to put the fun back  in it. 

I'm now acknowledging that I don't need to be a commercial success to be a happy author. If a few people read my stories, great. If they care enough to leave a review, fantastic! It's the sharing that's important to me, not the bottom line, not the promotional push, and not the USA Today bestseller tag. Not anymore. 

So...I may be posting some of my work free online to get the stories out to readers. I tried that here on this blog with my short story The Recruit last year, and it was an interesting experiment. But The Recruit was never meant to be more than a bonus companion piece that took a scene from the novel Draxis (working title), turned it inside out and expanded it, relating it from a fresh POV. For this to work, I need to present fully fleshed out books, and the book chapters or sections will need to come a lot faster than every five weeks. I'm still working that out. 

But hey, it's 2022 and I'm still here. Let's see what the year brings. 

 

Working with your characters

 

One of the nice things about writing is you connect with your characters. They become very real – and that has to happen so you can write their stories in a convincing manner. You'll often hear writers complaining because their stories have stalled. They want to write a scene but the characters aren't having any. They stand there with their arms folded and refuse to go where you want them to go. Or your characters take over and heads in a completely different, totally unanticipated direction.

It's happened to me. Of course it has. When I was writing Morgan's Return, the sequel to Morgan's Choice, Morgan's original mentor, Admiral Makasa, played an important secondary role. I felt it was important that he was more than a cardboard cut-out, a two-dimensional figure in a Fleet uniform, so after much intense navel-gazing, I added a scene of Makasa with his grandson.

The little boy dangled in the harness, chortling with laughter. "Do it again, Padra, do it again!" Smiling, Makasa sent the toy ship whizzing around the yard again, low over the bushes, zooming over the pool, tilting down the garden paths, while all the while young Obra crowed with glee, his chubby little hands tight on the crash bars.

Makasa's daughter laid a delicate hand on her father's shoulder. "Father, he'll be sick."

Makasa zoomed the toy fighter around a clump of rushes. "Nonsense. He's loving it. He's a natural born fighter pilot."

Her lips taut with disapproval, she said, "Long before that he'll be a sick little boy. Anyway, I'm to tell you there's a message for you. From work."

His hands faltered on the controls. Work? They knew better than to interrupt him on his day off. "Tell them I'll call later. Who was it?"

The interesting thing is that later in the story this scene gave me an important hook to explain something Makasa does. I had no idea that was going to happen – but the subconscious mind is a remarkable creator.

I've found the best way to get out of story binds is to talk to your characters, especially when they're in that arms folded, stubborn mood.

"You don't want to do that?" I ask.

Character shakes head.

"Any reason?"

Shrug. (But I get the idea it's not something she's comfortable with.)

"Okay. What do you want to do?"

At this point, you relax and chill, letting your mind drift in neutral. Eventually, your character will talk to you, maybe throw up suggestions, alternatives.

And sometimes it's the other way around. You write a character's story and you find you want to know more. I'd written Morgan's backstory, how she became a Supertech, before I wrote Morgan's Choice. (It's called Supertech, a longish short story)And Supertech became the lead-in to Morgan's Choice.

I also knew a certain amount about Admiral Ravindra – his background and what made him a little bit different to other Manesai admirals. One of those things was, that against all custom in his social class, he had a tattoo. But when I wrote the book, I didn't know how he acquired that tattoo. And I began to wonder. What would make the son of a dynasty of admirals make the mistake of having a tattoo? Tattoos were common in the lower ranks, but disdained by officers.

 

So, I wrote that story. It's called Ink – how and why Ashkar Ravindra acquired a tattoo.

I actually think it's one of the best stories I've written. It's not a romance but it gives an insight into Admiral Ravindra.

You'll find all the Morgan Selwood stories - including Ink and Supertech, on the series page.