Blog Archives

A Writer's Got to Write

7/31/2019

I’m finally writing again! Last weekend, I resumed work on Domino, a scifi/mystery novella that I began a year and a half ago, but shelved to finish The Earthside Box Set. I had hoped to expand it to a novel, but it looks like it’s destined to be a shorter work. That’s ok. It’s been a while since I did a novella so it’s good to be back, especially since my efforts at writing short stories keeps falling flat. I’m not giving up on that, but I am admitting the inevitable: I’m better at the longer works, so I’m rolling with the idea I have.

Naturally, Domino has evolved since I came up with the initial concept early last year. It started as a journal story about cyberbullying, but has expanded to a bigger story about an AI project gone rogue and the repercussions of trying to cover it up. I suppose you could say that the element of bullying is still there, given the overbearing nature of one of the characters, but it’s fallen to more of a subplot than a main plot. That might disappoint some people who hoped I would follow the cyberbullying theme, but I have to go where the story takes me, and it took me to a slightly different stage. Sometimes the story and/or characters take you to different places than you plan, and that’s ok. That’s how writing goes – and frankly, these are the times where it’s most exciting.

I was disappointed when I discovered that the concept for Domino wasn’t big enough for a novel until I had another idea that I believe has potential to evolve into another trilogy. This bigger idea involves an insidious alien presence (because I love aliens) and the evolution of AI (artificial intelligence) revealing this presence. This may or may not tie in with the work I’m doing on Domino right now. Whether Domino turns out to be a prequel of sorts for this bigger work, or whether I simply use some of the same research remains to be seen. I’m open either way. For now, I’m working on Domino as an independent project and will make the decision whether to link these projects later.

It’s great to be writing again because honestly, life without writing is boring. I don’t know how people do it. But then again, I’m a writer, so that’s what I do. If I don’t write, life doesn’t feel right. Promotional work has been great the past four months, and I probably did need a break after finishing Earthside. But it’s time to get back to writing new projects and designing new worlds. I’m excited about that! I'm a writer, and a writer's gotta write! Life just isn't right if you don't.

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

Bye!

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What a Strange Trip It's Been

7/17/2019

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I’m happy to report that my eyes are finally healed, and I’m back in my contact lenses. Four and a half months after conjunctivitis attacked me (literally), my eyes have finally cleared, and are back to normal. Thanks be to God. Let’s never do that again. If that’s the common cold for eyes, then I need to avoid colds. The next one might kill me.

But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I’m happy that things seem to be getting back to normal. Hopefully, the drama has settled and life is back to a normal routine. It’s as hot as the fifth layer of hell, but of course that’s summer in the south. If you don’t believe in global warming, come spend a summer in South Carolina. Not June 21 – September 21 like the calendar says. I mean a true southern summer of April 1 – November 1. You need to experience the full six months of heat, humidity, and 100+ heat index days to “get it.” It used to not get that hot around here, but now it’s the new norm. I know it’s small, but it’s another sign. But there goes the sci-fi writer in me again, preaching about the compounding effects of climate and overpopulation. I know, save it for my writing. Speaking of that –

Besides sweating through summer and healing, I’ve also considered where to go with short stories. The instructor for the “How to Write Best Selling Fiction” course on The Great Courses suggested that writing novelettes and novellas are a good idea to market and build readership. There is a market for Kindle Shorts, and I’ve had some positive responses to Quarantine and Resonance. It’s been a while since I wrote anything like that. I enjoyed writing those pieces (and my other novelettes and novellas) before I got into writing The Tanger Falls Mystery and The Earthside Box Set. If the short stuff is eluding me, and I’m not ready to dive into another novel (or series) yet, then I need to explore the middle ground. I’ll pray over this idea for inspiration and insight. It gives me hope, so that’s a good sign. Now I just need an idea!

It’s been a strange trip through the first half of 2019, but by the grace of God we’re making it and continue on the journey. It’s reminded me of the power of prayer, faith, hope, gratitude, wisdom, and discernment to help you through a life as strange as this world we live in! I do feel much better these days physically and mentally. I’m grateful, I’m happy, and I’m hopeful for the future.

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

Bye!

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A "Music Box Dancer" Moment

7/10/2019

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My first failure in life was not learning how to play “Music Box Dancer.” My mother put me in piano lessons when I was 7 years old, and the first goal I set for myself was to be able to play that song as beautifully as she did. Mom is a great pianist. She even gave her junior recital, so naturally she had high hopes for me and my brother to be great musicians.

Well, you see how that ended out. She wound out with a CPA in my brother, and a writer in me. The closest I ever got to “Music Box Dancer” was to make it the tune on the music box in Anywhere But Here that triggered the demon to take over. I liked playing the piano, but didn’t have the talent to do much better than basic. I did a little better playing the flute in high school and college band, but I peaked out at mediocrity, and couldn’t seem to break through the plateau. Eventually, I had to accept the fact that I’m not a musician and move on to find out what I am. And even that can evolve as roles and circumstances change with life seasons and you discover new things.

We all have those goals that we fail to meet. It’s usually the result of limits that we didn’t realize we had: talent, time, opportunity, or resources. Perhaps, in some cases it’s that we realize we don’t like it as much as we thought we would. I think this was part of the reason for my musical failure. I liked it, but I wasn’t willing to devote the time to practice that would be required to be excellent because there were other things (like school) that I wanted to do well at. But mostly, it comes down to hitting wall that we can’t seem to break through. The secret is to discern when to persevere and when to gain wisdom and let go. And that, in itself, is usually a valuable lesson that helps us discover a lot about ourselves.

Still, it hurts to fail. Every time I run into resistance, I call it a “Music Box Dancer” moment. And as you’ve probably guessed, I had one recently: all of the short stories I’ve submitted for publication have been rejected (save one, that I’m really praying over). The reviews are ok at best on Writing.com, so I’m obviously still “missing the mark” somewhere in this process. Worse yet, I’m stumped. I don’t have any new story ideas, and this writer’s block is weighing me down. Life without writing is just boring. I was working on a book in The Earthside Box Set (and other writing endeavors) constantly for five years. To not have a novel (or some writing venture) in progress now seems wrong.

These are not the kinds of things you see posted on Facebook.

If I put it in proper perspective after prayer, I realize that I underestimated how much time and effort it would take to write good short stories. They have to be crafted like novels do; it’s just a different process and product. I think I stumbled over the fact that “short” only refers to the length of the piece, and not the effort or time required to learn it and do it well. And, of course, writing is a rejection heavy business. I haven’t dealt with that much over the past few years with novels and self publishing, but I’m back in it now, so back to dusting off and moving on. It happens.

I believe this is a stumble, not a failure. Life has slow seasons, and this is one for me. Heck, there are probably people out there whose life is uncontrollable drama that would consider it a miracle to be in the place I’m at. It’s all a matter of perspective. I need to shut off that darn music box and project gratitude over being in a quiet place in life!

So let’s put that music box away and reinflate that balloon. My ebook sales have actually increased, so obviously something is working. And unlike my lack of musical talent, I know that the muse will come back. He always does. It’s just a matter of time. That, and realizing that "novel writing" and "short story writing" are two different modes that I'm going to have to learn how to handle - and that will take some time.

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

Bye!

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The True Goals of Reading and Writing

7/3/2019

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“The goals of the truly great writer are not publishing and fame, but authenticity and truth.”

That’s a quote from Simon Van Booy in the September 2019 issue of Writer’s Digest in his article “The Big Idea: Becoming a Multigenre Master.” Of course, that is a great focus for writers. It’s imperative to creating compelling plots, believable characters, and resonating themes in our work.

If I switch from writer to reader mode, I’d say that we are looking for authenticity and truth in fiction that we can bring back to reality. The key is that a good story allows us to draw our truth from the story. It goes back to the concept that therapists and psychologists refer to as “planting the seed.” We all want to believe that our brilliant thoughts and insights are our own, and are more likely to accept them if we believe it was our idea. That’s why we learn more from pain and mistakes than from warnings. That’s why advice is rejected or ignored when somebody states it plainly. We want the freedom to make our own decisions and, if necessary, our own mistakes as well. That’s human nature. We want to be the master of ourselves. Of course we rarely do have that level of control because we can’t do anything about other people or circumstances, but confronting that discrepancy is matter for another blog. Today, it’s about how we’re more willing to take the messages from fiction than we are from non-fiction, or even from reality.

My best selling novel before I switched to sci-fi was Move, Book One of The Tanger Falls Mystery. It’s a paranormal mystery about a young woman who fears change. She stays in a rut of push and pull against change until she’s passed over for a promotion and, in desperation, unknowingly makes a deal with a djinn. The problem is that the djinn has his own agenda, which solves problems of one nature by creating problems of another nature.

The books in The Earthside Box Set are about the different ways that people deal with pain. It starts with one, close knit family dealing with dementia, and branches out from there to show how an extraordinary event affects how they deal with the things causing the problems and pain disrupting their lives. These books are receiving good reviews and consistent sales.

I’ve also released Joy on the Journey, a follow up to my first published book, a couple of years ago. Do you know how many copies I’ve sold of it? None. Not one single copy. It does ok on KDP giveaway days, but to date not a single copy of that book has been purchased, and every review request I’ve sent out has been declined. It’s still languishing for a review on Reader’s Favorite, too. I just can’t justify dropping money for an express review of a book that nobody is buying or reading.

Why? It’s non-fiction. Nobody wants to hear the lessons I learned from a hard season in life in exposition form. They’d rather draw it out for themselves in The Tanger Falls Mystery and The Earthside Box Set, even though they cover the same things in different ways. I talk about change and dealing with pain in all of these novels, but the fictionalized versions are received while the non-fiction version is ignored.

Don’t get me wrong. I love writing and reading fiction best, so I’m no different than my own readers in that regard. That’s why I understand this phenomenon so well. I’m the baby of my family, so I grew up with everybody having authority over me, so naturally I’m a rebellious about people “telling me how it is.” The lessons are more powerful when I draw them out see how it applies to my own life. That’s why I don’t do author interviews where they only talk about me and what inspired my books. I want to grant readers the grace to take their own messages from my writing. The freedom to interpret meaning through the filter of your life experience is a powerful blessing. I’ll do interviews talking about the book and characters, but if it’s all about me; forget it. Nobody cares about the writer and how they want to change the world, nor should they. Good writing should inspire you to change your way. There are enough people bossing us around in real life. Writers need to give readers a break and grant them the grace to be the master of their own domain, even if they choose to escape it in your world. Don’t be a tyrant.

I suppose authenticity and truth are the main point in both reading and writing. The difference is that the writer has to be intentional and creative in expressing it in subliminal ways so the reader can hear the message they need to hear. And readers need to go in with open hearts and minds to accept whatever the Spirit is leading them to discover through our work.

That’s all today. I hope you have a safe and Happy 4th of July, and a wonderful rest of the week.

Bye!

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A Writer's Got to Write

What a Strange Trip It's Been

A "Music Box Dancer" Moment

The True Goals of Reading and Writing

Escape Reality

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