Like most Americans, my attention has been firmly on our nation’s capitol this week, as law enforcement investigates the uprising at the capitol and congress worked to hold the president responsible for inciting that violence.
I’ll admit that it has not been great for my creativity or productivity!
That said, I did finish the zero draft of the second Blood Witch book over the weekend. Up next will be an editing pass to flesh out a few scenes and retrofit some story points that developed near the end.
For as long as I have been writing, my characters can still surprise me. Going into this book, I knew the plot points I wanted to hit, at least in the beginning and middle. The ending changed multiple times while I was writing, and a relationship developed between two characters along the way, which I now have to go back through and lay the breadcrumbs in.
There’s a certain satisfaction that comes with reaching the end of the book, even though I know there is still work to do. It was a victory I needed this week.
Now though, I need to finish my coffee and get on with the day job. I hope you are all safe and well, Readers and that you manage to find joy in these chaotic and dangerous times.
You know, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to not have a writer’s brain. How quiet would my head be if it wasn’t filled with characters telling stories, with worlds built from a scrap of an idea, with words spilling in torrents of creativity?
I may not always be actively writing, and have just this year gone through a dry spell, but even then, my head is full of activity, it just isn’t translating well enough to put on the page.
I love world building and crafting characters. I have a whole cast of characters that I have built in my head and never used (there’s a whole subsection of just talking animals). Unsurprisingly, this is also my favorite part of playing SIMs, building houses/lots and creating characters.
I wish I could paint so I could show people the rich, vibrant worlds that my head contains. I know ridiculously minute facts about these places. I know their mythology and history. I know the places where mythology and history cross paths. I have drawn maps and created languages.
Now, if my fingers could just keep up so I could get it all down on paper/computer screen, that would be lovely.
If you know me, you know I suck at names. Characters, places…it doesn’t matter. I have a default five or six names I use that I then have to go back and change. Usually I just use the placeholders while I’m actively writing because when I do name a person or thing for keeps, I usually end up falling down a rabbit hole of baby name sites and foreign language translators.
See, I like my names to have a meaning that corresponds to the character or place. In the Shades and Shadows series, each of the characters has a name that corresponds with their ethnic background and who they are. Every one of them started off with different names than they ended up with. Well, except Zero and Raven. I knew those names going in.
Cue working on the second Blood Witch. In the first book most of the names/people are of Greek or Irish heritage (sort of…it’s complicated). In this book, the people and places are entirely alien, so I’m stuck with making things up. For one race I am loosely basing their language/names on Germany (very, very loosely), the others though are “make it up as I go” and “keep a list for consistency” type of folks.
I can’t tell you how fast writing can come to a screeching halt when I need to name a person or a place. I freeze up. It’s ridiculous!
But now, it’s time to get working on the day job. Happy Monday, Readers! I hope you have a great week.
There is a particular spot when writing a book, at least for me, when I’ve found the path, and the plot is clear and my characters are feeling very chatty, and it just flows out of my fingers and into the keyboard.
I’ve recently hit that point with the second Blood Witch book.
The problem with that is, all I want to do is write, to get it all down and find the ending. It’s a glorious feeling, but it does tend to interfere with real life. I still have to work, and there’s other obligations to meet. I can’t actually sit my ass down at my computer and write all day, every day.
That said, I do have some vacation days coming, and I’m hoping that I can get my zero draft finished before the end of the year. I just have to get from here to December 24th, grabbing writing time where I can, then I have a whole week (plus a day or two) off to write.
I hope you are all well, and keeping yourself, and your families safe during this hell-fire of a year. Drink some water. Wash your hands. Wear your mask. Stay home as much as you can. I love you all, Readers!
I haven’t been writing much, obviously including here on my blog. I’ll be real honest and say that living has been hard recently. I have found myself feeling heavy and unmotivated.
I know everyone is feeling it. Six months of living in crisis mode is wearing us all down.
Then came the news that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had passed from this life and I am not ashamed to say that I was dragged into a deep dark hole. Everything felt hopeless and dark and like the country I love had taken that last step out of the light, out of the promise of who we are meant to be and we are now tumbling headlong into the abyss, driven by avarice and greed.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Honestly, as an author, had I presented a story like 2020 to an editor, I would have been told that it was not believable. Pick a single plot and stick with it, would you?
I spent Saturday in grief-cleaning mode. When everything is out of your control, control what you can, right? When I spiral down into the land where anxiety borders on depression, I tend to just let stuff go…I don’t clean, I don’t eat properly, I forget to take my meds. You know, stuff like that. Climbing back out looks like cleaning, preparing actual meals and setting reminders on my phone to take my meds.
So, here we are back at Monday. I’ve been awake since 2:30 am, I’m drinking coffee and trying to find the light. There are still things I can’t control, but I’m going to start controlling what I can. And one of those things is voting my conscience, voting for stepping back from the abyss of the last four years. I can’t help those who hate, those who are determined to believe that the last four years have been good (what value of good are they using anyway?).
All I can do is love hard enough and bright enough that the hate retreats in shame. I love you, Readers! I’m not a really huggy person, but I’d hug you all right now if I could. Remember, it’s okay to step back, to disengage when it’s all too much for you. It’s okay to cry, to rage, to just withdraw. Just remember to get back up again and step back into the fight.
It’s Friday. It’s the first Friday in a long time that I’ve spent an entire week working on paying work. I mean, yeah sure, eventually, hopefully, all the work I’ve put into my writing lately will pay off, but this is the immediate…or close to immediate, paycheck kind of work.
Did I mention that I started TWO full time jobs on Monday, or close to full time for the one. Job #1 is with a BI software company where I get to dig into my data analysis background and learn new things. Job #2 is straight up editing work. Granted, it’s editing work for a big company on a big project where the end client is a state government, so think dry and unexciting reading.
I ended up keeping both, even though Job #2 is a contract job through a contracting agency because neither one of them pays me what I’m used to…by a pretty significant amount. I fully anticipate that Job #1 will be my permanent job, and that the pay will increase as we move out of the current economic situation.
I’m really enjoying learning how to use new tools and combine my experience with new things, and at the end of that long day I can unplug my learning brain and edit for hours.
Means not much else is getting done, though my muse Brain is nibbling on something new, based on a dream a friend of mine had. She has the three main characters and the set up, some back story, but there’s a lot of world building to do, and a chunk of research, but she DOES love a good world build!
Just finishing up my first cup of coffee and getting ready to get onto Job #1. So, if I’m a bit scarce for the next little while, forgive me! I promise I’ll be around. Happy Weekend, Readers!
The Blood Witch is off with my first agent query, as of last week. I’m nervous and terrified and very excited. I am so very pleased with this book and these characters and I can only hope that someone out there likes the story enough to represent me and get me a good book deal.
I had intended to take some time to work on other projects, but Thána doesn’t appear inclined to stop talking, so I have already begun the second book. No, I don’t know how to not be writing/editing.
The second book will shift the focus a little bit, give us a new world to play in and may even give Thána a love interest, probably female. Of course, this means giving Brain (my muse) the kind of work she loves best, world-building.
To be honest, she’s been playing at what this world will look like since about the beginning of March. I’m still teasing out the full plot, but I have the usual five or six plot points that the story will be built around. So far, what I know is that the world we will visit has undergone recent, radical, apocalyptic changes. It is a place filled with many races, some of which are familiar, some of which will be wholly new creatures.
Not going to say more, and I do not have a working title yet, but I have the first 1000 words or so and I look forward to seeing where the story takes me.
There comes a point in every book where I want to chuck it all in and never write another word. I start to question my plot. I start to think my characters are crap. I become fairly certain that the whole thing is a steaming pile of garbage left to rot in the sun.
Thankfully, a few days away from the book is usually enough to cure me of it, and then I fall in love with my characters again. I plug up plot holes. I draw maps to make sure I’m using consistent language and direction when I’m writing about travels. I fortify character descriptions, using sensual language to really let the reader see the character. I read through the book, making notes on things I need to thread deeper into the story, and then I go back to the beginning and I edit.
I hit the first point the other day, as I was finishing my first edit pass on The Blood Witch. I was pretty sure I was just going to toss it, and the year or so I’ve spent writing it, in the bin and stop calling myself a writer.
This morning, as I sit here sipping my coffee and contemplating my day, I’m reaching the second point. I know where my holes are and I have good ideas on fixing them. I have a list of little things I want to carry forward because I wrote them in with good intentions, and then forgot about them completely. I have a deep abiding love for my two main characters, and character notes on how to improve the secondary and tertiary characters.
My one remaining quandary is that my narrator main character is witty and fun in the first half of the book, but some of that bleeds off in the second half. Part of it is due to the circumstances, and that will remain. But, I know that when I am under stress I get more sarcastic, not less, so I want to work on building some of that back in.
So that is the mission I will embark on today. After the coffee is gone, the garden watered, breakfast eaten, for at least two hours today, and every day this week, I work on filling in the gaps and making this book something to be proud of.
Of course, then the real work happens because it is time to start querying. Which is vaguely terrifying.
So, off to do those precursor things so that I can get to the words. Have a pleasant Monday, Readers. Stay safe.
Hey there, Readers! I hope this Easter Sunday finds you well and in good spirits. I haven’t celebrated Easter in over 20 years, but I have many friends and family who still do. I have a complicated relationship with Easter, to be honest.
Living alone, as I do, and not having kids around has done a lot to reinforce the “out of sight, out of mind” aspect of what Easter was for me as a kid, then a deeply religious Christian, then an aunt with small nieces. Once the kids were old enough to not really care about the Easter bunny and all the attendant hoopla, the holiday just sort of faded from prominence for me.
However, this time of year is so full of rebirth and the absolutely amazing way that nature wakes, making food grow out of dirt, decorating our environment with flowers and greenery, and that is certainly something I can celebrate.
This evening, I plan on celebrating in my own way, with a tasty adult beverage, and reading the second chapter of Through Shade and Shadow over on my Facebook author’s page. If you missed the first chapter, it’s loaded up on my You Tube Channel, and I’ve put it here for your happy viewing.
I will link them all in a playlist to make it easier for y’all to watch in a continuous stream. If the weather stays nice this evening, I may even move this chapter outdoors.
I’m knee deep in consolidating feedback from my beta readers on The Blood Witch, and once I have it all noted down in my printed out copy, I plan to do a slow read through it to mark up with my own notes/additions, etc, before I bring it back to the computer.
I really love these characters, and I can’t wait until I can share them with all of you, though that might be a while, as I plan to do the “query” fun to maybe find an actual agent to represent me, because as much as I appreciate my current publisher, I am ready to move beyond what they can provide.
In the meantime, I’m sure we can find other stuff to keep you entertained.
Did you know I have an Instagram? To help relieve my own boredom, I’ve started an impromptu photo project with a Porg named Joe and his good friend, the Child from the Mandalorian. The hashtag #theadventuresofbabyyodaandporgjoe will take you to their shenanigans, though I missed tagging the first few. (Yes, I really am that dork).
Okay, on that note, I should get my day going. My edits are staring at me and my coffee’s gone cold. I should probably think about eating something too.
I hope you have the best day. Stay safe, stay home and wash your hands! Love you all!
Earlier this week, I pulled a few of my poems out to share with the world via a Facebook live video. I was crazy nervous, but in times like this it falls to the artistic people to keep the hopes of the people up, so I bit the bullet and did it.
I thought that maybe, if you don’t follow me over there, you might like to see it to, so here it is. I hope to do another one later in the week. I might even consider a reading from one of my novels, or possibly a work in progress.
