Feeding my Writer’s Soul

You ever have one of those months when you’re looking forward to something and it just takes forever to get here? 

It’s definitely been one of those months for me.

The month of February is almost over and while this month has been a satisfying one for my writer’s soul, this next week is one I’ve eagerly been waiting for.  It’s already been a busy month, and very productive too as I continue to work on my third mystery book and after I published my latest short story 1313 Psycho Path and entered Best Kept Secrets into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.  I’ve also continued with daily readings to learn more about the craft and about branding but this next week will add a real boost to what I’ve been learning and it should also lend a hand towards the inspiration I’m always on the lookout for.

So what’s in store for me this week?

First, I’m looking forward to an online conference that occurs from Tuesday through Thursday.  Last year the speakers had an amazing amount of content they covered and it was all very useful information, full of motivation, as well as many tips about the trade of writing, publishing and marketing.  I look forward to another great conference dedicated to indie publishing and all the information other established authors are willing to share.

Second, I’m planning to attend a book signing of New York Times bestselling author, J.A. Jance.  Our state is one of the few on her Moving Target tour and I’m happy for the opportunity to finally take part in such an event with someone who has done so well with their writing career.  I’m also pleased Jance did not limit her appearances to only one major metropolis in our state, making it easier for me to find a date and time that works with my own schedule. 

And last, but certainly not least, there’s the AWP Bookfair in Seattle.  I’ve never attended such an event but from what I’ve read about it so far, I have to be prepared for the fact that it will be overwhelming.  Regardless of how much my head will be spinning during and after the event, I look forward to taking part in this experience, especially since the event moves around from state to state every year and this may be my only chance to see what’s it’s all about. 

So I’m gearing up for an eventful and fulfilling week, full of new experiences, while I gain knowledge from those in the know and soak up all sorts of motivation to feed my writer’s soul.   I’ll be back next weekend with my thoughts about the events. 

Have a great week! 

Looking for a quick read before bed?

I'm posting on a Monday, only a day after I already posted this week.  You know something's up.

I just wanted to make it official…I’ve published my third book.  Not the third book in my mystery series but a third book, nonetheless.  The title is 1313 Psycho Path but before you ask, it’s not a horror story; it’s just a ghost story.  While it’s a short story versus a complete novel, it’s a story I wanted to share.  And for

anyone who likes a good ghost story or haunted house tale, I’m hopeful you’ll enjoy this one as well.

So how and where is the story available?

Right now, it’s available as an eBook on Amazon and also in paperback on Amazon or through my eStore.  Here are the links for whatever you’d prefer:

eBook for Kindle on Amazon for the U.S.

eBook is also available on the Amazon sites for IN, UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, JP, BR, CA, MX and AU

Paperback via my eStore

Paperbackvia Amazon 

The eBook is 99 cents (in the U.S., anyway…I’m not sure how it translates after the conversion in other countries) and the paperback is available for $5.50, or a little less depending on whether you buy it through my eStore or from Amazon.  The eBook is probably the best value for your buck, as it’s only a 12,000 word, 80 page novel, but if you enjoy reading paperbacks, the $5 price is the best I could offer based on pricing guidelines.

If you do read the book, I’d enjoy hearing from you if you have any comments regarding the story and of course, if you’d like to post a review on Amazon, I always enjoy receiving them.

I’m branching out a bit and working with a different genre so I’m excited to share this new sort of story with you.  Happy reading and have a good evening.

Checking the tasks off the list

We’re just over half way through the month and I’ve been doing pretty well at staying on top of the Game Plan I let everyone in on the end of January.  My list of to-do’s included writing often, joining a writer’s association, editing and publishing a short story, continuous studying of the craft, entering a contest and attending a book fair.  Overall, I have to say I’m very pleased with my progress.

My writing schedule isn’t fixed but I write as often as I’m able and I’m really excited about how the third book in the Jorja Matthews series is working out.  I love, love, love how my characters tend to surprise me and I’m having so much fun with the book as I also anxiously wait to see what’s going to happen next.  Sounds odd coming from the writer but I’ve said this before about how I write…I share the story as the story unfolds, or as it’s told to me by the characters.    

Available soon on Amazon

I’m also really excited about the short ghost story I wrote over the holidays.  I wasn’t really sure what I’d be doing with the story because I originally wrote it at the request of my boys, who wanted either a ghost story, suspense or horror, but I’m happy to be able to make additional work available to those who are waiting for my third book in the Jorja Matthews mystery series.  I finished the final edit of what is titled “1313 Psycho Path” and once I receive word that the interior and book cover meet with submission guidelines, I’ll be able to hit the publish button and make it available to anyone who might be interested, both as an eBook and in a small paperback.  I’ll keep the eBook at 99 cents since it is a short story and while I’d have preferred to sell the paperback for less (it’s a 5x8 soft cover, around 12,000 words and 80 pages long), it’ll be priced at $5.50 in order to meet Amazon’s minimum pricing requirements for that size of book.  I’ll definitely post here when the book is actually available on Amazon.

I haven’t joined a writer’s association yet…I’m debating on two and haven’t quite decided which association might be the better fit for what I need.  However, I have been studying daily the craft of writing, the necessity of branding and the give and take behind marketing.  My main study book right now is The Writer’s Workout, which includes 366 tips, tasks and techniques, by Christina Katz.  I like how it’s broken up into different relevant sections and it really is full of tips, tasks, techniques and also inspirational quotes and ideas.

I’m very much looking forward to the book fair in Seattle at the end of the month, as well an on-line study course the last week of this month.  The weeks until these events take place have really appeared to pass by s-l-o-w-l-y.  That’s how much I’m looking forward to both events.

And I did enter Best Kept Secrets in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest this morning.  I’ll do my best to Stay Calm and Keep Writing as I wait for the monthly results…but it will undoubtedly be difficult.  With these sorts of contests you can only hope for the best but not expect too much so that you’re not disappointed if you don’t get very far.  With No Mother of Mine I made it as a quarter-finalist, or the top 100 out of 10,000 entries.  I’m hoping Best Kept Secrets makes it as far but no matter what, I’ll post here as the results are provided.

So the month has been pretty productive and there’s still more to look forward to – that makes me a happy camper, or happy writer anyway.  How about you?  Is your February working out to be a productive month?

With snow comes an adventure

What to blog about today?  I have to admit, it’s one of those days when I could get a lot done, or very little depending on my attention span.  We got snow last night, as many in the Pacific Northwest did, and it’s the kind of snow I like…flakey, fluffy and fun.  There’s a lot of snow but it’s not so heavy to cause branches or trees to take out the power and the brightness in our house from the reflection off the snow never fails to energize me.  

But the snow can also be very distracting.  It’s bright and beautiful and clean.  The sounds outside are muffled or almost completely silent except for the noise heard when snow falls off the trees onto the ground.  I love to go out and take photos and while I did take the opportunity, I wasn’t able to head to my computer afterwards to write.  Instead, we began to worry about the hill we live on and whether our boys would be able to get up the hill to get home. 

So we decided to venture out, tackle the hill ourselves and take a risk on whether we’d be able to get back home.  If we could get back up the hill, then our boys could too.  We had a truck with 4-wheel drive until early last year and while I’ve missed it for various reasons since we got rid of it, today I missed it for the obvious reason…not worrying about getting stuck in the snow. 

We were able to get down our long driveway okay, after getting stuck once only because I asked my husband to stop so I could get a shot of the valley.  Oops…my bad.  But he was able to put the car into reverse and get us unstuck easily enough.

Then we made it to the county road and immediately we knew the county had not yet bothered to plow or sand.  I felt some optimism though because the snow is fluffy and the car took to the road just fine.  But then we got to the top of the hill and looking down, I would have preferred to turn around and head straight back home.  I remember when I was kid that sometimes the road would get so bad we’d have to park at the bottom and walk home.  It’s quite the walk, especially in the snow when you’re cold and having to carry whatever you don’t want to leave in your car.  My preference would have been to wait a few more hours and just tell the boys not to bother coming home yet; but my husband had other ideas.

We slowly made our way down the hill, driving down the center as I crossed my fingers that no one would bother coming up the hill as we headed down.  I had to laugh when one of the neighborhood boys (probably in his early 20’s) drove up the hill riding a very small motorcycle that looked like it was built for someone under ten years old.  He flew right past us and the motorcycle, with its very small tires, seemed to have no problem getting traction up the hill.  I think that little motorcycle gave my husband the idea that if it could make it up the hill, so could we.

It was not a good assumption.

We made it down the hill, only to discover there were already four vehicles parked at the bottom because they weren’t able to make it up.  One of the neighbors came down in his jeep and was actually trying to put chains on his wife’s car so she could get home.  We told him we were going to turn around to try our way back up the hill and he said to honk twice if (I think he was thinking ‘when’) we got stuck and he’d bring his jeep up to help us. 

With fingers crossed yet again, we began the slow climb up the hill and all seemed to be going well until we got about half way up.  The car slowed down, even with the accelerator pressed down hard, and we lost traction and the tires began to spin, moving the car towards the ditch on my side.  It doesn’t take much for me to sputter back-seat driving instructions (it’s a bad habit, I know), but when I felt the car began to move towards the ditch, my mind was spinning as fast as the tires.  My husband is much calmer in this sort of circumstance and he was easily able to manage the car so that we didn’t get stuck in the ditch.  Once we stopped sliding, he put the car in reverse and we moved backwards down the hill back to the bottom.

Oh what fun that was.

We ended up borrowing a vehicle with 4-wheel drive from a family member and with our car and our oldest son’s car parked at our family’s house for the time being, we all headed home.  We’re going to wait it out and try again in a few more hours. 

In the meantime, I’m going to try my best to get some writing done beyond this blog.  I hope you’re enjoying your Sunday and if you’re like most and have snow to deal with, I hope you’re enjoying it from the safety of your own home.

Let’s always try to astound ourselves

Game day is here, aka the Super Bowl, and pretty much everyone I know is gearing up for some kind of Super Bowl party, big or small.  If for no other reason, the Super Bowl is a good reason to make plans for a party, eat all kinds of junk food and hang out with family or friends.

For me, the Super Bowl is a grand ordeal this year only because our Seahawks are in it and will hopefully take on the title of Super Bowl champs, therefore clamping shut the traps of all the nay-sayers who just can’t imagine the Seahawks as Super Bowl champions.  This is a dream the Seahawks and every Seahawk fan has had for quite some time…and now the day is finally here when they are about to take part in that dream.

That’s the thing with dreams…you have to focus, believe in yourself and continue to work hard for what you believe you can achieve.  You do this regardless of what others say about you or what they believe you can or cannot accomplish.  You have to give your dreams wings and let them fly because if you listen to the nay-sayers, those wings will never form and you will never experience the possibilities available to you.

“In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make reality.”  ~Kristian Kan~

Will the Seahawks win the Super Bowl?  I certainly hope so.  It sucks to lose, especially on such a grand scale with millions of people watching.  But if they don’t, they will have experienced what every other single team had hoped to achieve…the chance to be the best, prove they earned their spot at the head of the line and show everyone else what they’re made of. 

The dream to achieve something spectacular can completely change your life, whether it’s during the journey to get there and even after your dream comes true.  Even if you don’t achieve the full dream right away or the first time, the hard work it takes to get where you are will help you as you continue on your journey to fulfill your dreams.  If you want it bad enough, you will listen to what your heart desires rather than to what others say you’re capable of.  You just have to continue to believe in yourself and remain stubborn as you focus on your dreams to prove them wrong.

“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”  

~Thomas Alva Edison~

So no matter the dream, whether it’s big or small, give it the attention, focus and dedication it deserves based on what you believe you can achieve.  Never let the nay-sayers take your focus away from the possibilities and always remember this: 

“Don't live down to expectations.  Go out there and do something remarkable.”  

~Wendy Wasserstein~

Game Plan in the Works

Football may be what everyone is talking about these days but my Game Plan has nothing to do with the Super Bowl.  Don’t get me wrong; I’m thrilled our Seahawks have made it to the Super Bowl…they deserve a shot at the title and I’d love to see them win.

No, my Game Plan is personal.  My Game Plan is going to help keep me inspired and moving forward.  My Game Plan will give me direction, motivation and results to help me monitor my progress.

Why do I need a Game Plan? 

Because I want to continue to be inspired and I don’t want to get stuck just going through the motions.  I want to continue to have a passion for writing, a yearning to continue to learn more about the craft, and I want to continue to feel inspired so that the ideas just flow through me like water from a faucet. 

Everyone needs some kind of plan so they know what they want, what it will take to get the results they need and what the next step will be once those results are achieved.  We always have some kind of plan, whether on paper or in the back of our minds, but sometimes the plan gets fuzzy, or it fizzles out, or too many gray areas take over so that we may become side tracked from the original plan.  The desired end result may never change but sometimes, when the daily grind of every-day life threatens to suffocate your muse, you have to get serious, take control, and put together a plan of attack, aka a Game Plan. 

So, here’s what my Game Plan is going to be…

• I’m going to continue to write as often as I can and when life gets tricky and keeps me away from my writing longer than I’d like, I’ll make up for it the best I can but I won’t beat myself up about it in the process.  The negative thoughts and self-loathing attitude that can come from believing we aren’t doing well enough is something I’d like to remain free from. 
• I’m going to join at least one, maybe two writers associations.  I’ve meant to do this for some time but just kept putting it off.  Now, I’m come to realize I probably missed out on a number of opportunities by not taking part in a local writers association and I look forward to joining an established group who I can continue to learn from and where I can relate to other writers.
• I’m going to finish editing the proof of a short ghost story I wrote over the holidays as a gift for my kids and I will make it available for others as an eBook and as a small paperback.  I really hadn’t thought too much about writing short stories but after finishing this one, I discovered just how much fun they are to write and how rewarding it is to be able to offer something else in between the books in my series. 
• Because short stories give that extra bit of satisfaction, I’m going to play around with the idea of trying to write and publish a couple of short stories a year in between my regular books.  Short stories are a great way of dabbling in other genres and it will also help me strengthen my writing skills.
• I’m going to take a chance again and enter one of my books in a contest – this time Best Kept Secrets will feel the brunt of scrutiny by judges but I have to step away from the fear and take a shot because you just never know what might happen.
• I’ll continue to study the craft and while blogs and websites do offer quite a lot of useful information, I’m going to focus again on actual books on the craft and I will study them like the student I am.  The knowledge I gain from these books will continue to inspire me and the very act of reading will keep my eyes on the prize rather than on the World Wide Web where my thoughts can be so easily sidetracked. 
• I’m going to make plans to attend an upcoming book fair I was recently made aware of which will occur in Seattle at the end of February.  While I won’t be able to take time off to attend the annual conference, I do look forward to attending what will be one of the largest book fairs I’m sure I will ever view first hand. 

As I write, I will continue to learn and as I learn, I will continue to write.  That’s all any writer can do.  And with this Game Plan under my belt, I look forward to the inspiration that will continue to fuel my passion for writing and move me even closer to the future I see for myself as a writer. 

Short story coming soon!

Unproductive Blogger = Productive Writer

I’ve been on hiatus from my blog, partly due to no choice of my own because my Internet connection was completely lost for a few days, and then partly due to the need to stay focused on what was important…my writing.  It’s only been a week and a half since I last offered a blog post but for the time I was unproductive as a blogger, I was very productive as a writer.

Blogging is a form of writing but it’s no substitute when you’re writing a book.  What it is, however, is a nice distraction and a way to share thoughts, feelings, fears, annoyances or whatever else comes up during your journey as an author.  Sometimes, though, blogging and any other sort of social media can clutter the mind and take too much energy away from the book at hand so that the author doesn’t fully invest themselves. 

Limiting your thoughts to just one project and fully investing yourself can sometimes mean the difference between what might be a struggle and what might turn into full-blown momentum.  And full-blown momentum is a completely awesome feeling. 

I’ve been working on my third book in the Jorja Matthews’s mystery series and while much of the story has been easy, there was one area in particular that I felt I was forcing.  I finally realized I wasn’t completely sure what was behind the actions of a particular character, which made it difficult to move forward with certain aspects of the story.  I had an idea but yet, I felt there was more to the character’s attitude and intentions than I was giving them credit for.

So, as my characters have done from the beginning of this series, they might let me flounder for a bit but eventually they will tell me what it is they want or why they want it.  You think I’m the one telling them?  No.  It’s a funny thing how this works for me and it may not make sense to some but that’s just the way it goes.  The characters and the stories run through my head and I do my best to make sense of them and get them down on paper.  As it happens with this particular character, I knew there was more to the story but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.  And then, one day last week while I was driving home from work, thoughts about the character kept coming at me until eventually, I finally began to see the bigger picture.  You can’t imagine what a wonderful feeling it is to finally be let in on the secret.

Does that sound just a bit odd to you?

It might.  You might have this picture of me driving and talking to myself as I try to figure out what my characters are up to but I promise…I keep most of the conversation in my head and I try not to move my lips.

All humor aside, it’s the way it works for me.  Even if I don’t get what I need all at once, I’d much rather my characters help me work out the details of their story to better understand their intentions than to force something that will only later feel contrived and uncharacteristic.

Did I miss blogging?  Yes.  Did I mind the break?  No.  The break gave my mind the space needed to allow other thoughts to come through.  And now that I have what I need, the pages of my book are filling up even faster than before.