Blog Archives

Missing the Mark

8/30/2019

I didn’t realize until yesterday when Writing.com emailed me about being inactive for over a week that I haven’t written anything at all this week. In fact, beside blog posts, it might be going on 2 weeks! I suppose it’s understandable. First it was Rick’s birthday (my husband), then mine, and then I went back to work after a few days off and it was very busy. The truth is that I just lost track.

Of course, I feel awful about it now. I had hoped to make some good progress with writing short stories this summer, but that didn’t happen (again). Busy season at work, the HVAC system breaking twice in a month, the dryer breaking, Rick transferring to a new school and then going into his busy time of year, and then the “birthday bonanza,” and it’s nearly Labor Day now.

On the other hand, I did finally research and write Domino, and develop a concept for another trilogy, which is no small feat given all of the above. In fact, I think it’s impressive that I was able to crank out a 20,000 word novella and start brainstorming my next book series despite my explosive life this summer (or perhaps the explosive summer is exactly what fueled the muse!). Still, there’s that part of me that feels I’ve missed the mark with short stories – again. It seems to keep happening. And still, I don’t give up. As they said on the Our Daily Bread devotional I heard on BBN this morning, when you get knocked down, you get up again. So I rise. Again. Better luck this fall.

That’s life. Sometimes, writers are forced to just live without the writing. It happens. I used to get bitter when it got like this, but lately I just try to chill out and consider instead how this diversion might fuel the muse one more time.

I do have one surprise for you this Labor Day weekend. The Earthside Trilogy is free this weekend on Kindle, so click the title for a link to it if you’re looking for a scifi read to start your fall. As a matter of fact, the series opens around this time of year. It’s a small thing, but sometimes I like to read books that take place during the same time of year I’m in. I call them my “timely tales.” Hey, we all have our quirks.

In closing, I’d like to offer prayers to the folks in the path of Hurricane Dorian. Keep an eye on that storm folks, and take care.

That’s all today. Take care. Have a Happy Friday and a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

Bye!

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Farewell to Pinky

8/23/2019

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Today, I said farewell to one of the best gifts I ever received. I got Pinky, my beloved Dell Inspiron laptop, for my birthday in 2011 to replace my Toshiba, which died on me while I was preparing to release Blurry.

Pinky was a wonderful laptop that I wrote seven novels on, in addition to countless other novellas, blogs, short stories, and articles. She also saw me through many work meetings, conferences, vacations, and seasons in life. There was a lot of research, a lot of writing, a lot of work, and a lot of just goofing off online that we did together.

Pinky actually gave out on me last December, but I just recently found the courage to admit that she was beyond repair, and that it was time to let her go. So Rick took out the hard drive and memory, and she returned to Best Buy today for recycling. Ironically, it was the same Best Buy where we bought her.

Farewell, Pinky! You were a wonderful laptop and I will always love you! The Dell Latitude will carry on as I continue writing with Domino, and whatever comes next.

That's all today. Take care. Have a Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend.

Bye!

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Attaining Perfection in an Imperfect World

8/20/2019

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Another theme I see emerging in my writing is dealing with being imperfect people living in an imperfect world. We’re constantly bombarded with messages to be more, do more, and have more. It is, after all, about striving for better, isn’t it? Don’t we nitpick things because we want to improve? Don’t we point out mistakes because we care? Isn’t our hyper-critical discernment about only revealing best with the proliferation of “I’m fine” or “you’re good” drawing on the positive energy of the universe to create the reality we want? Shouldn’t we achieve to be more, do more, and have more experiences and “stuff” because life is all about conquering that almighty “bucket list?”

Or are we being fake jerks who demand that others rise to standards that we ourselves can’t achieve?

You know it’s the latter.

I say this from experience because twenty years ago, I was a real know-it-all. I would have told you that I have a discerning spirit, and my goal was to help myself and others be the best we can all be. What two decades of life experience have taught me is that it’s not my business to pass judgement or to demand that other people rise to my own self-imposed standards. True Christian love is about accepting one another, having the grace to let others be, and respectfully distancing yourself from relationships where you and the other person simply have too many differences to play well together. But nobody taught me that, because this lesson can only come from having life kick you around for a while. It comes from disappointment, from being stabbed in the back, from circumstances falling apart, from the unexpected happening, from the doctor saying “sorry, you’ll just have to learn how to live with it,” from plans falling apart, from too many hospital and nursing home visits, from standing over graves yawning over the abyss of one more thing that can’t be changed, and you just have to learn to live with it.

It comes from the life experience that sends us into mid-life crises because when we make our grand plans at graduation, we don’t take “real life” into account. We don’t plan for failure, for the unexpected, for disappointment, for illness and death. It takes until middle age for idealism to give way to reality. Because when you finally see what you really have, then that’s when you can honestly access what matters in life, and make more practical, realistic plans in alignment with who you’ve truly grown up to be.

This theme really struck me while writing several scenes in Domino where the 25 year old protagonist is talking to a 40-something detective. Their interactions struck me because in many ways, I felt I was talking to my younger self, and trying to convey an important message to carry forward. Not just to warn that bad things can happen, but rather to encourage her to not be discouraged and take heart in that new plans form from the chaos of our wrecked expectations. Things might not turn out how you want, but it’s a big world and a bigger reality. What goes sideways today may reveal an opportunity you didn’t have before.

My point is that we live in a world obsessed with perfection, but it can’t be attained. So do your best and let it go. If you want perfection, then you need Artificial Intelligence - and I guarantee that you don't want to hand the reigns over to that! We all saw Terminator. Machines smarter than us make for great fiction, and frightening reality.

It’s true that we can all stand to improve, but your job is to get in prayer and use discernment to figure out what you need to work on in the Spirit. Don’t take things personally. Do look for patterns where your pains and problems seem to emerge from. Read scripture. Meditate on it. Pray over it. See where you’re being led and devote yourself to improve in that area. When it’s time to move on to another area, the Lord will let you know. Just be sure you don’t get bogged down in the noise of all the people around you.

P.S. – I think the whole concept of a “bucket list” is negative, and contributes in mentally unhealthy ways to this “perfectionist” lifestyle. Living with a focus on dying is doing it backwards. Shouldn’t you experience life in fullness while you have it, and enjoy your blessings without fearing the reaper?

That’s all today. Take care, and have a great week.

Bye!

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An Emerging Theme

8/14/2019

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I’ve noticed a new theme emerging in my writing, and it has me intrigued. If you read my excerpt from Domino last week, then you see that I’ve shifted gears from aliens to artificial intelligence. Of course, merging man and machine has always been an interest, but the manner in which it’s done shifts from implanting the machines into man through nanotechnology in Metamorphosis, Book Two of The Earthside Trilogy and throughout the other books in The Earthside Box Set, to putting man inside of the machine in Domino. It’s an interesting turn on the idea that I’m enjoying, especially since artificial intelligence is a popular emerging theme in science fiction now. But what’s more intriguing is the reasons I’ve come up with for why the integration is done.

In Earthside, the nanotechnology comes about as an attempt to heal the physical body and prevent hurt and death. In Domino, the focus shifts to abandoning the body for the eternal freedom the machine offers. The characters in the new work don’t want to be human anymore, because there’s too much pain and responsibility in life. Instead, they want to break free of the physical world so they can roam about, controlling what they want and ignoring the rest.
It’s interesting that the catalyst for the Domino program is a struggle for control and responsibility. People want to pick and choose what they’ll be responsible for and, unfortunately, they choose wrong. They try to control things that can’t be controlled, when in fact they’re ignoring things they need to fix before it destroys them. And, of course, that’s exactly what happens: ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. Instead, it allows it to grow and become the monster they never saw growing right in front of them.

On the surface, it sounds like a typical theme. What intrigues me is that it emerges when I find myself dealing with issues of people refusing to accept personal responsibility on things they need to do, while micromanaging and dominating things that absolutely aren’t their business in the first place. It happens. And the hotter it gets, the more those tempers flare. If you’ve seen my social media posts this week, then you know that the drivers in our county have gone extra crazy in this latest heat wave. “Yes Sherri, people drive badly.” I could practically see the eyes roll through the computer screen yesterday when I talked about three incidents I've personally had in four days where people could have been hurt or killed. Who cares about a crazy man hanging out of his truck window, or a tow truck speeding and weaving on the Interstate? Then this morning, I get up to traffic alerts for a car fire and a bad accident, a text from my husband that the Interstate was a parking lot, and a later story that somebody got hit by a train downtown.

Yea, right; I’m too sensitive. But you have to admit that the question is in your head, too: How does one get hit by a train? They don’t exactly sneak up on you.

Or do they?

Of course, we have more important things to do than to check our mirrors, look both ways before crossing the road, return the buggy to the designated collection spot, park (and drive!) between the lines, put our foot on the brake at a Yield sign (somebody hit a Yield sign near my house hard enough to knock it over), and step to one side when the train honks a horn. And that, fair readers, is my point. We put a lot of time and energy in refusing responsibility for what we should have done while what we should be doing is growing from a harmless speck to a monster we can’t defeat. This is especially true when it involves facing truths that we don’t want to face.

Such is the emergent theme in my writing, and I find it interesting. What’s more, aliens might not be gone yet. The idea for my next novel actually an alien presence that only the AAI (Advanced Artificial Intelligence) can detect. Of course, the people assume it’s a programming error. It’s not like an alien presence could infiltrate humanity for thousands of years without our knowing.

Right; because we’re so alert to the world around us – at least until the train hits.

This new series might build on to Domino, or be it’s own project. Until then, we’ll see where life and my muse take it.

That’s all today. Take care, and have a great rest of the week.

Bye!

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Domino: Take One

8/5/2019

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The rough draft of Domino is done! Yes, you read that right: I completed the 15 chapter draft of this novella in just over a week. Today, I'd like to share the first chapter with you. I hope you enjoy it!

And after, enjoy the song that my car pulled from my phone four times last week, while I was working on this. Oddly, it fit perfectly with this piece. I do believe "Pardon Me" has become my theme song for Domino.

Remember, this is a rough draft or, as I like to call it, "Take One." Doubtless, there will be many more drafts to come before publication. I'm pretty excited about embarking on this new world. Then again, it's always exciting when the Spirit introduces you to these new characters and worlds to create.

Enjoy, and have a great week!

Chapter 1

Kasei silently closed the door to the darkened lab behind her. She thought about calling out, but she knew there was no need. The rest of the team had left several hours ago, and she disabled the cameras and app that would alert them to an after-hours presence in the chamber.

She rushed to the testing chamber at the back of the lab and booted up the program, disentangling the neural nodes from the careless knot that Brianna left after the last test subject left. What a slob. It’s no wonder the university was preparing to pull the plug on the experiment. It’s bad enough that their success was clouded by ethical questions, but the careless handling of equipment and data didn’t help matters. Perhaps it wouldn’t be necessary to take drastic measures if the others had been more diligent about proper procedure.

As if she wouldn’t have tried this already. Kasei intended to integrate with Domino from the beginning. Her family’s money and influence guaranteed her a spot on the research team, and generous donations to the university kept prying eyes out of the way, at least until recently. It didn’t matter. Nothing would stop her from fulfilling her legacy. Not the university. Not the safety officials. Not even her own research team. She would pick up where her father and grandfather left off. She would follow in their footsteps, all the way to that final vision that had eluded them for two generations. She refused to give up as quickly as everybody else did. She would succeed where they failed.

Kasei stuck the nodules on various points of her forehead and scalp underneath her long, blonde hair. Removing the nodes would take out chunks of that hair, but it was alright. She could get a haircut to hide the damage once this was done. It was a small price to pay to save the project.

Kasei dropped her slender body in the chair in front of the main computer screen. Her fingers flew across the keyboard entering the encryption codes that would unlock the system.

NEURAL CONNECTIONS CONFIRMED. INITIATE DOMINO?

She clicked “yes” and rushed to lie on the examination table connected to the back of the computer. She had approximately two minutes to connect the biological monitors before Domino would induce a beta wave brain pattern to connect her with the program.

Kasei’s heard raced as she completed the connections and laid on the table. All of the test subjects experienced heightened anxiety states when they initialized Domino. Her readings were high, but within acceptable parameters. They would drop off as the beta wave pattern took over.

The computer beeped, causing Kasei to jolt. What was that? She couldn’t see the monitor. Crap, she should have turned the work station toward her so she could see if any prompts needed attention before she went under. Better yet, she should have brought somebody from the team with her. The problem was that they all agreed to do this, but now that the time had come, they were hesitating. She couldn’t get them out of talking and into doing something about their stalled experiment.

More alerts rang out of the computer. She saw the reflection of a red flash against the opposite wall. Kasei tried to rise from the table, but found herself unable to move. A wave of drowsiness rolled over her, giving her a small sense of relief. Good, it seemed the program was working. The system was probably going haywire because she was outside of the parameters of their typical test subject.

Yes, by about 80 years! She thought as her consciousness drifted from the darkened lab to the tunnels of glistening light guiding her into Domino. Kasei felt a sense of release, as if she rose from her body.

She was in the Domino system.

Kasei willed herself to swim through the connections and nodes of the Internet, overwhelmed by the mass of data bombarding her consciousness. Tendrils of light touched her, connecting with her neural signals to build a profile of herself online. A skeletal light form of her body formed as the data processed, building her online “body” to navigate across the web.

It worked!

A alarm pierced Kasei’s consciousness. A window opened, giving her a view of the camera in the lab focused on her body convulsing on the table.

That’s impossible! Domino worked. Besides, I disabled the cameras and security apps in the lab.

You did before, but it’s been reopened.

What? Who are you?

Kasei turned from the scene in front of her to see a large, dark form standing over her. What are you?

It’s over, Kasei. Domino is no more. It’s dead. Just like you.

Kasei studied the form, looking for a signature. It didn’t take long for the binary code to connect with her neural code, revealing the source.

It was from inside the system. And it had their fingerprints all over it.

“Traitors!” Kasei screamed, but the sound was swallowed up in the silence of the web. After all, code doesn’t scream.

Kasei swam through the light, fleeing the scene of her body’s final convulsion dropping her flatlined form on the table in the lab. The darkness pursued, scattering her signals across the web. She saw a doorway in the distance with a line of red code running across it’s frame.

The link to the web! The virus chasing her was confined to take Domino down. Could it survive on the web? Probably not. She was clever, but she wasn’t insidious enough to develop a virus that would get out of control. It would be targeted to this system. After all, we don’t want to hurt anybody, do we? So she had to get out of the system.

Kasei took one last look at her crumpled body on the examination table through the camera. There was no going back to that body. It was too damaged it to save. She had to find another way.

The darkness touched her, causing binary code to scatter through the system. She tried to scream again as she rushed toward the portal, as flashes of light and code were ripped from her digital form. Desperation fueled her energy to swim toward the door even as the darkness continued to rip parts off of her. She didn’t need all of herself. Anything would do. She just had to get to that door!

The darkness overtook the outer reaches of the system, spreading a blanket in front of her. Still, Kasei was undeterred. She girded up her energy and rushed straight through the middle of the darkness, where the center point was stretched thin. More light and code ripped off her, causing her to perceive agonizing pain. She burned as she rushed through the red doorway, collapsing on the other side opening up to the flashing lights and rushing code of the Internet. She turned to see the darkness behind her reaching toward her, it’s form dissipating against the security protocols of the doorway.

Kasei stilled herself, looking around at the bright world surrounding her. She made it. Most of her was scattered in the system, but the small part that survived was all she needed. It’s the Internet, after all, and she had been connected to it her whole life. There was more than enough out here to rebuild herself.

There was only one person who could write this program. And one other person who could talk her into doing it. And
both of them would pay. She saw it so clearly now. They wanted the experiment to fail. They never intended to join her on this journey. At best, their plan was to abandon her. At worst, it was to trap her in the system.

She would show them. She would make them pay. She knew them as well as they knew themselves. She would line them all up, and one by one, they would fall.

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Missing the Mark

Farewell to Pinky

Attaining Perfection in an Imperfect World

An Emerging Theme

Domino: Take One

Escape Reality

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