Today is the Greatest... (Don't Sue Me, Billy Corgan...)

Yes, I'm a huge fan of Smashing Pumpkins. When CDs became a thing, my very first CD purchase was the SP Adore album. After seeing him on one of those late night shows as a musical act (probably one of the Jimmy shows), I can say for certain the man still has a voice that gives me tingles.

NO! That's not what I'm here for! The ultimate milestone is finally here and I'm gloating! My first nine book series is published in completion... or is it? Technically, yes. I have a couple of possible spin-off ideas for it, but I've wanted to tuck this one under my belt so I could move onto other series and ideas and genres.

Let me give you a sexy little roster of my published works:

1. The Truth about Heroes: One of Many
2. The Truth about Heroes: Two Sides to Everything
3. The Truth about Heroes: Menage a Trois
4. A World Reborn: Children of Heroes
5. A World Reborn: Higher Reasoning
6. A World Reborn: Deicide
7. Each Endless Universe: Close Encounters
8. Each Endless Universe: Dual Decisions
9. Each Endless Universe: Original Sin
10. UnNamed

Heh. Poor UnNamed, all alone down there... Not for long, since UnSung is in the making and even its two sequels are in planning. Hey, how about a quick look at some future projects in the Bingo ball machine while we're here...

• UnSung (UnQuadrilogy, Book 2) (adult epic fantasy)
• UnHeard (UnQuadrilogy, Book 3) (adult epic fantasy)
• UnVeiled (UnQuadrilogy, Book 4) (adult epic fantasy)
• Dreampunk Chronicles 1: Through the Golden Doors (YA steampunk fantasy)
• Piscine (Sci-fi Crime Thriller)
• Rock My World (webcomic) (sci-fi romance)

Now, those are the ones I feel okay with confirming, each either in advanced planning or a few chapters set up at least. I do have a romance novel idea I'm tossing around as well as a non-fiction idea on the joys and discipline of drawing. I'm actually going to start working on the YA fantasy book next. It will be shorter and kid-friendly, a very different challenge from UnSung, which is an important draw in writing for me-- don't stay comfortable in any one place. I came into this wanting to try anything and everything and test myself. As long as I'm relatively obscure, I can just keep sneakily building my library with whatever I wish, see which ones build momentum. I'm also very careful to choose genres and ideas that I would not hate to keep writing. While I would certainly take a demand into concern, I also have no intention of pandering to one. Having the freedom to work and grow while making it available for public consumption and support is a nice balance.

UnSung will be a work in progress for the next few months yet. I have yet to draft the third part and epilogue and even once they're written, I will attempt to pull in some beta readers and run many edits regardless of how beta reading goes. I'd love to get some eyes on it, but I also don't intend to hold it hostage. As I've said, where I am now, I have no intention of growing stagnant. As long as the ideas keep coming, I'm going to keep moving forward. One of the advantages to living in these times is that we don't have to sit and wait for approval to keep running along the path to growth. I'm not a traditional girl and I won't wait for traditional means. It's just not happening and it doesn't have to.

Don't let gatekeepers stand in the way of your ambitions. Gatekeepers don't mean that your work is ironclad or guaranteed or even that your job is easier. It's not. There are many people who see traditional publishing as appealing because of the amount of work they don't have to do. Whatever your ambitions, bask in the fact that you have options suited to your vision. I'm sure you've seen these before, but there's no shortcut to a masterpiece any way you go. You can count on only ever being able to pick two...

It's not a hard rule for every type of creative pursuit, mind you, and when you're the only one involved you can usually tell yourself you can be all three. However, any outside help you get, it's realistic to expect it to fall under this rule.

Damn it, I just can't avoid the creep into advice mode...

CELEBRATE, YOU WORKAHOLIC, YOU!

In any case, another birthday, but these milestones are a rare beauty indeed. Want to give me a cheap birthday gift? Grab one of my ebooks or two, write a review (and no, I'm not going to act as if the world has ended if you don't like it either-- my career aspirations aren't nearly that fragile).

And look forward to more work ahead!

Where Does the Week Go?

It's easy for an entire week (or more) to pass in a blur. It's not that I don't feel the strain of the day to day, often a mix between making sure the kids eat, making sure I eat, making sure my Sims eat, and also writing. As much as I enjoy the ups and downs of writing, it often leaves breaks down to a couple hours of gaming when I'm struggling to stay awake longer than 9 PM, cleaning the fish tank, housework-- you know, the fun stuff.

Because writing is no walk in the park even when the muse is good. Each phase is a different challenge. I'll run through that real quick so you can compare it to your own ups and downs.

First draft: Dive right in, creative bursts and discovery, realizing my 'planning' left something to be desired, accumulating side notes to make sure I'm not contradicting my own story, resisting the temptation to edit as soon as I realize I want to change something I've already written because of a better idea. Getting tired of looking at a screen all day. Yeah, first draft discipline-- it's about the flow, blah, blah, blah.

First edit: Glad I lacked discipline and did correct things while writing the first draft. Realizing it wasn't nearly enough and what the hell was I trying to say there? No, no, now I'm going to have to rewrite that whole scene because I liked that one better. Ending up printing off the draft so I can use my new red markers and not look at a damn screen. Why is there so much red?!

Second draft: Okay, I got this... I probably should've just edited the digital file though. Getting whiplash from looking between the draft and the screen. Okay, fine, it could be worse; right now I'm just plugging in corrections... This isn't so bad...

Second edit: I've recreated Frankenstein's monster... It's a jigsaw puzzle where I just kinda crammed things where they don't go! Is anything in order? I mean, yay for all grammar goofs and punctuation fixes being a thing of the past, but it should probably make a lot more sense...

Final draft: I scrapped the print-out editing after the first one so this is just... sewing the monster back together. I'm so glad I use the scenes method in Scrivener... Hey, this... this is even better than I thought it would be! I can release this!

--------

Enjoy the first draft phase, they say-- just get it down, they say. Thing is that I often start with a handful of ideas covered in cheese dust. The fantasy genre, for me, is one of the most difficult because it is often a simple idea that is complex as it grows. I don't mean complicated to READ (although I can't say it doesn't happen)-- I mean that the build is complex. Who knows what for example? If the reader already knows something, you can't just keep the characters in prolonged ignorance either. You ever been to the theater, watching a movie obviously, when some guy in the audience yells out "You idiot, he's the killer! Get away from him! How do they not know this?" On occasion, yeah, it makes for a moment of suspense if only one scene before, the nice guy is discovered to be the killer and some unknowing victim is happy to see him in the next. That's momentum, but sometimes it's just aggravating filler beyond that.

Back to the complicated to read thing, it's the glossary thing that kills a lot of stories for me. Now, some books have it and don't need it, so the presence of one isn't a red flag. If you're rereading a book and just want a refresher before analyzing it again, no big deal. I've read some books that make you look for a glossary almost immediately and never ever stop with the constant technicalities. I can be forgiving if your context game is good. Before reading an excerpt for Loni Townsend's ongoing series (no spoilers), she warned me concerning some of the details of races and magic systems briefly inserted by name might be confusing without the story. However, I didn't have a problem with this-- because of context. It was clear what the unique vocabulary was hinting at and it was also clear that whatever questions I had weren't just overlooked but something that would be revealed at some point later. They weren't throw-away ideas meant to sound deep; they were all connecting to the characters already. A glossary shouldn't be a necessity. Even with epic fantasy, skimping on the importance of natural introduction to your world shouldn't be overlooked. Describe it as if to a tourist-- be wary of being too infantilizing but don't toss someone into a pit of foreign concepts. Some mystique, good; word vomit, bad.

In the Fight Like a Girl post I went into this, but some fantasy fans are all about the naming and info-dumping and there are also readers that puff up with pride because they 'get it'. Also, have you ever heard these fans actually talk about what they're all reading? It's a hilariously confusing mess and it sounds like they're not really reading the same thing. They also start arguing over the feasibility of how well this or that sword would be in this or that kind of combat. Don't worry-- this isn't all of fantasy, but traditionalist medieval fantasy fanatics. I used to run with the D&D crowds, never as enthusiastic about this subset, but then I got a hold of more psychological, diabolical, humorous and even romantic takes on fantasy, some through gaming, some through reading. Tolkien got a whole generation of people thinking it's all dwarves, elves and dragons-- again, traditional norms. My own forays into fantasy tend to dive into supernatural, mythological, magical and even sci-fi territory.

I can't speak for all writers, but I use my writing to communicate my own struggles and interests in a setting that often amplifies them. This doesn't mean I ever Mary Sue a character that represents me. I don't include 'me' in any story. Given the temptation to do so, I find a way to ditch that character (not necessarily kill them since that's a cheap way out if you don't use it well). It means that my interests in mythology, culture, human struggles, psychology, even playing an instrument inevitably leak into the pages. I wouldn't say, over time, that I've come to prioritize either the characters or the world building as more important. Done well, they will both make some sort of impression. I don't try to make lovable or unlikable (hatable/hateable should be a word) characters so it's interesting to see which ones people might prefer. I do have personal favorites but I labor NOT to show any favoritism. I will say that some of my favorite scenes to write continue to be the ones where the environment and character play perfectly together.

Hmmm, no idea what I was going to write about going into this, but I do want to run some updates:

• Each Endless Universe: Close Encounters was released today (June 15).
• UnSung's first draft passed the 140K mark, putting the second part at about the 2/3 done mark. At this point, it's largely down to, again, wrapping up the plots to streamline them into the main plot. I can make sure the details don't contradict later-- substance first.
• Each Endless Universe: Dual Decisions will be released on June 29th.
• Each Endless Universe: Original Sin, the final book, will be released on July 11th (my birthday), as well as the final trilogy edition. You can net all nine books in trilogy form for $15 or the very thick trade paperbacks for $75. If you're in it for the cover art too, each paperback in single novel form is around $15. The first two might be at $20, I believe, but have the illustrations.
• Possible plans for redoing cover design for the first two or three. I want to unify the first cover, do some reorganizing of the elements on the others. The last two trilogies I was far more cognizant of what I was doing. I may redo the cover art on the first altogether. It was a sentimental choice because that drawing was first done years ago, but it doesn't stand up to the others.
• Webcomic! Unfortunately, I haven't been on that just yet. I do plan on working on that more once I've wrapped up part 2 of UnSung, even if it's just concept sketches. I want to at least finish UnSung, maybe take a hiatus on novel writing while I at least nail down a few episodes of the webcomic, see how it does.
• The UnQuadrilogy? This may be too far ahead to plan, but I'd like to have them out before 2020 is up. It's a huge series and giving myself a year for each one is challenging but I think I can swing it.

That's it for updates. My next blog post will be a gripe I saw about another Quora comment. This time, the commenter asserts that the problem with too many fantasy novels is that the writers are using it as a medium to write what should be a video game or a movie. I'll dissect what I agree with and disagree with sometime soon.

Busy B

It certainly took Kindle Scout long enough to review, just to get back a rejection. I've seen some Hot and Trending books tanking on there so there's no telling what their criteria there is. Honestly, I'm so sick of identity politics deciding trends these days that I'm more than happy to continue self-publishing. 

So I'm putting UnNamed to the paces to prepare it for a release this week. Have not yet decided on pricing, but I'm thinking $3.99 for the ebook, but print will be determined by print cost. Once that goes through, please look for Book 3 completing the Truth about Heroes trilogy by the end of February. I'm working on painting the cover this week then I'll set that up. I'm hoping to shove all three into a text-only omnibus as well.

Believe me, this is no Cloud Nine experience. It's fraught with highs and lows like any other. As frustrating as that can be. I've only been doing this since August. Barely over half a year since I put myself out there. I don't market much and a good deal of groups don't let you unless you're in on the circle jerk. Which I'm not. I'm just not into manipulation when all I want to do is find an honest audience. I'm probably a little too 'pure' for quick results.

This is also part of the reason why I'm aching to do a web comic. I get a lot of positive feedback for my drawn stories. I can't churn out ideas with the same satisfying speed as writing alone when I'm drawing, but I do get a lot of positive feedback for my style and wit.

And let's face it-- I'm not one of those group hug types. I don't spend gobs of time stalking other writers and artists because I'm crunching to do the actual work. Oh, and I'm just not the fangirl type. I don't get starstruck, I don't rub elbows and squee. I might collaborate, but I'm a bit of a slave-driver when it comes to work. I'm sure that works for some people, but I'm just not a girlie-huggie kind of person. Yes, I probably do have a feminine voice as a writer and I write about things that I like, which as a woman are probably things other women will like. But I'm just not a we-womens-gotta-stick-together ride-or-die-girlfriend type either. Hyphens mean serious business, I'm telling you.

I will never ever claim to be an expert and I'm not looking to convince you I'm an expert. In fact, as much as I've read, the more I find Ernest Hemingway's simple quote to be true: "We are ALL apprentices in a craft that no one ever masters." Sure, we all want to make a mark, be quoted, have fans-- I would never deny that. However, if that means being safe or trendy, forget about it. I'll take a little niche market where all I can ever afford is making my fish eat as long as I can tell my stories.

You've seen plenty of my writing in public forums by now. I hope that if you haven't checked out my writing, you do so. Keep in mind, I know there's a lot of cringe in the introduction of my first series' book. I had always debated about rewriting it, but the more I read it and cringed, the more I realized that the awkward charm was fitting for the very awkward start of an adventure. I didn't want these characters to be eloquent and bad ass right out of the gate. It may or may not have been a good decision, but I committed to it because there are other stories to write and sometimes you just have to let your babies grow up. I feel like as the series matured, it began to show off the years I put into it. My characters were maturing with me (or dying off or 'retiring').

For that reason, UnNamed is a testament to how I matured as a writer. I think one of the best things about the advent of self-publishing is that we can let people see our work and learn how to market and value our own work. We can aim to please or aim to challenge and there are no literary snobs that have the power to shut us down. We get to grow in the public eye, not just when someone deigns to look down their nose at us. And it's a beautiful thing, somewhat quaint and ancient, like times when all you needed was a bound book and quill, copying each word by candlelight to immortalize your words. Now, anyone who puts in the time and passion can put a piece of themselves to market.

Woe betide the reader who now has to weed through the garden with all this burden of choice and no guarantees! So like the days when I picked up a book with no words on its cover, no idea what I was about to read and took a chance. Some of the touted classics bored me to tears but I've found joy in the 'trash' that critics will slam too. I don't think self-publishing dirtied the pool. There have been bad covers, poor editing and crappy plots long before that was ever a thing. Whatever standards people will claim exist to preserve the 'dignity' of literature have long been tainted by trend and politics and the whims of agents and publishers. It has never been a pristine pool and to be honest, my fondest memories of swimming were never in chlorinated pools but in dirty creeks.

Lastly, all my love to the risk takers who will read a new author's work (and not just the ones on those circle-jerk lists). It's so difficult to get those people who will invest time in you, who find you interesting and refreshing and want to see what you can do. I'm going to write with no guarantees of fortune or fame. I'm not going to please everybody, but I'd like to believe I have something to contribute. So I'll labor under that hope.

Keep writing! And stay tuned for more updates.

Book Two Information

I have a lot to say about a lot of things, but this post is just the facts, ma'am.

Or sir, don't get your panties in a bunch.  Old quote, feel free to use the internet for that one...

I have art to finish up this week!  Only six illustrations left to go and the panorama and cover before I move onto the final edit prior to the planned end of September release.  I absolutely do not have a date set.  The date is always 'that day I'm confident it's going to be finished.'

For those who haven't seen my millions of posts on this, this is prior to my participation in Virtual FantasyCon in October.  For the month of October, I'm posting my first ebook, The Truth About Heroes: One of Many, for free.  Please get hooked and pay for the next book.  Grab a print copy while it's still cheap and if you're one of my local friends, I'll sign it for free.  Or I might sign it free anyway, if you're not a dick.  Remember a girl has to make a living too!

Keep your eyes peeled for The Truth About Heroes: Two Sides to Everything.  Yeah, I'm not using standard naming conventions for fantasy.  All three books in a trilogy will have the same main title with a different byline.  It also makes it easier if I ever decide to chunk it all together as one mega-book.  I refer to it as the Heroes Trilogy.  I suppose eventually all of the books set in this world will eventually get some bigger name to encase all of them.  Look at the Game of Thrones series.  Even though GRRM called it the Song of Ice and Fire series, it ended up taking on the name of one of the books.  Yeah, it happens.

That being said, maybe I do have a bit more info to share with everyone.  The second series inspired by this world is called A World Reborn or the World Trilogy and the last is called Each Endless Universe or the Universe Trilogy.  I'm not disclosing whether they are prequels or sequels.  I will say I am currently working on one of the prequel stories to the first series.  I said I was done, but damn it, I love revisiting this world and its crazy history and I always felt like this was a book that needed to be written.  I've designed most of these books to stand alone, but there are definite incentives to bearing through all of them.

Anyways, here's your blurb for Book Two:
Rienna and her group are back to tackle the forces threatening to disrupt their world, but first, they have to tackle the demons of their pasts.  In the aftermath of devastating loss, they become more keenly aware that this may be their last chance to experience life before war cuts it short.  Before facing the very real forces that led them all to find justice, they must make peace with whatever time they have left.

This was a fun book for me.  They are at a hub in their journey, preparing for war, and they break off into smaller groups.  Some of their motives are selfish, even foolish, but ultimately, they are looking for their reasons to move on.  It will show how vastly people in crazy situations react to the possibility of death and still be chockful of adventure.  I'm never sure why people seem to think these concepts are mutually exclusive.  It's a mix of good and evil, sex and violence, awkward and awesome.

If you're not aware of my writing style, I like to use short stories to tie in bigger themes. I do intentionally break a few supposed rules. Sometimes I do like to devote a paragraph to describing a character-- it's not something I always do, but sometimes I like to knock all of that out right away.  I also don't care to avoid adverbs, especially when they aren't being used as lazy modifiers.  I write the way I do intentionally and not to spite or rebel against the dos and don'ts either.  I've seen quite a few writers lose their voice when they try to hard to please the book gods.  My writing, no matter how much I refine it, is just not going to be for everyone and I'm not looking to follow or capitalize on any trend.  I just wanted an honest book, one that followed this weird world I've visited for so long.  I think that the writing reflects it well.  It's not a world meant to impress.  It's one you want to get comfortable in, just not TOO comfortable.  Things are gonna get weird, so make sure you know where your shoes are.

I'm saying this in light of the fact that many bestsellers kind of put me to shame.  lol  With more recent scenes coming up like the tampon sex in 50 Shades (which is terrible writing all around) or Stephen King's kiddie sex romp in The It (a sometimes brilliant writer-- I get your rationale on that scene, but no matter how you spin it, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to anyone but you.  More power to you for sticking with it.  At the very least, you've inspired me to stick with my awkward spots as an observer in my worlds)-- I won't make you backtrack to catch my train of thought-- With more recent scenes coming up like the ones in 50 Shades (garbage) and The It (thumbs up, you weird bastard), I really shouldn't be second-guessing my own awkward or titillating scenes of human contact.  You're supposed to all have different reactions when you read things, people.  If you think you're supposed to feel awkward, then you're right.  Who gives a fuck what the author intended?  It's YOUR experience.  It might be worth it to stumble through some awkward shit to get to the stuff you like.

I don't know-- give it a chance.  I plan on doing this as long as I'm able, love it or hate it.  Writing and drawing are two very different creatures.  I've been desensitized to any reactions to my artwork for some time.  Yes, I want you to love it, but meh if you don't.  Truth is, I'm a little sensitive to how my writing is received.  I haven't done all of the conventional things, as you probably already know (blog title much?), so I just have to have faith that it's worth reading.  I didn't want it to become a chore-- I truly didn't do all of the acceptable things because I intended to keep it a place I liked to go.  lol  Now, it gets to be unleashed on all of the poor sensitive masses.  I'm not sorry.