What a Year

 Amazingly enough, it looks like we're about to make it through 2020. Sadly, a lot of people didn't, so I must mention them as a matter of respect. I'm very sorry to their families and friends in what has been such a difficult year.

Right now, we're just starting to hear about the new vaccine and it's starting to be administered to health-care workers in this country. I'm so glad those heroes will now be protected! It is unimaginable to me what their year has been like and I'm glad to see an end in sight for their hard work and anguish.

Now we're faced with the possible end of the pandemic. We've had to get used to it for about nine months and now we'll have to get used to life without it. I know the part about "life without the pandemic" will be easy, but what about the rest of it? I find myself a little concerned about what has changed permanently. How many bricks-and-mortar stores will never come back? Will we be able to sit down in a restaurant? Is it true what I've read, that theatres are a thing of the past? (I doubt it, but I don't know.) Will there be a DH in the NL? What else will be different that I haven't even considered?

I'm silly enough that I'll partially miss wearing a mask sometimes. It sure keeps my face warm on these cold mornings, but more than that, it gives me a barrier against the world. Remember: I'm an introvert. Sometimes I want to retreat, and the mask makes it easier to do that in some situations. Besides, if I want to make a face but don't want anyone to see it, the mask helps!

I think sometimes about last year and how ignorant I was. I had no idea that such a thing as a global epidemic was possible in these modern times. It's yet another example of Mother Nature, or whatever/whoever you believe, giving us a reminder that we aren't omnipotent or omniscient. We've made great strides as a species, but we're still vulnerable.

I learned a lot about human nature, too. Man, I had no idea that such large groups of people could be so stubborn. I don't want to open up a great debate (which I wouldn't anyway because no one reads this blog), but I was sad to see how many people refused to wear a mask. Obviously, there were those with legitimate health reasons, but I mean the other people. You know who you are. It's not a symbol of oppression; it's a symbol of concern for your fellow human! I see that you have none. Enough said.

And in the middle of this, I published a novel. You might think I'm crazy. You might be right. My thinking was this: I wanted to get it done, no matter when it was. And I did realize that more people were reading, so I thought maybe my novel would have a better chance. That didn't happen (I think I've sold four), but at least I gave it the opportunity.

My fantasy is that one of these days, someone will read one of them and actually like it. Maybe even love it. Then they'll discover that it's a series and read the whole thing. And still like it! And then they'll post a good review somewhere. And then they'll tell their friends. And then a lot of people will read these novels that mean so much to me, and they'll meet my characters, whom I happen to like quite a bit. That would be fun. I've always thought it would be amazing to see a few people debating some small aspect of one of the novels. Or something like that. (I dream small.)

Anyway, I'm mostly just rambling here. It's been such a crazy year and I feel hard-pressed to say anything about it that doesn't sound ridiculous. I keep thinking that I could never write anything as "out-there" as this year has been, so what's worth writing about? I'm sure I'll come up with something someday, perhaps once the oddity of 2020 has started to fade in my memory.

I hope your year has been all right and your friends/family are safe. Here's looking forward to 2021.

Take care.

Finally

You might not believe it, but the fifth novel of the Penumbra series is now out!

Here's a look at the amazing cover by Nicole Smith:

It's now available on Amazon. There were a few glitches getting it there, which is why I didn't post here right away, but I think most of it is fixed. I see that the "Look Inside" feature isn't yet working for the paperback version, but I hope that will be functional soon.

Wow. I hardly know what to say. I'm very excited to finally get this done, but I'm sorry it's in the middle of a pandemic. I don't know if anyone is buying physical books anymore, but maybe the Kindle version will do well. Who knows?

At this point, I can say that this will be my last novel for a while. As sad as that makes me, I have to acknowledge that I don't have anything else written right now and life is so strange that my imagination feels a little insignificant.

I love my characters with all my heart. I know that they'll live on in my head, and maybe someday they'll have another adventure that I think is worth writing. If so, you'll be the first to know! For now, please enjoy the five novels I've released ... and please write a review if you read any of them. Reviews are very important in getting a novel noticed!

I'm going to try to promote this novel and then I'll consider whether I'll continue this blog or not. I suspect that I will because I don't want it to disappear, but I've learned that what I think about the future isn't always the case. 

Thank you so much for reading the blog. I've tried to be honest and not ridiculous, to give some advice and some insights, to share what I've gone through. I've written some posts on my life outside writing, so maybe I'll continue with that. It remains to be seen.

You can always check out my Facebook page for more information: Diane's Facebook Page

Thanks for your support. Stay safe!

Title for the Fifth Novel

First of all, I must apologize for not writing sooner. I'm not going to make any lame excuses, but I will say it's a little surprising how crazy life gets sometimes.

In between counting birds this weekend for the Great Backyard Bird Count (go to birdcount.org for more information), I'm actually working on my fifth novel.

And believe it or not, I'm finally past the rewriting stage. It took me a lot of time because I sent it off to two very helpful readers, who pointed out a few things that didn't work or just didn't seem quite right. That led to me discovering a few other problems, so I had to put in quite a bit of time to tweak and rewrite. I'm not complaining: I'd rather get it right! Thanks to Bill and Deb for your help.

At some point, however, I realized that I HAD TO STOP REWRITING. That's one of the hardest things for me to do! I keep thinking there's one more error to be caught, and I keep reading it over just in case. I could keep doing that forever, but it's a little hard to get it published that way.

So here I am. I've signed it up at the KDP site and now I'm formatting the whole thing. This involves several steps: adding the front and back pages, setting the margins, justifying the text on all sides, adding drop caps and setting the trim size. After that, I need to scroll through the whole thing page by page, looking for awkward breaks in sentences. For example, I don't want a character's whole quotation and name to be on one page with "said" on the next page. That one little word looks lonely by itself, so I have to tweak things so it can join the rest of the sentence. You might find this surprising: I don't consider this process tedious at all. In fact, I enjoy it. I don't know if it's because I'm crazy or because I realize that I'm actually getting closer to finishing the whole process, but I don't mind spending the time.

The good news for you is that when I signed it up on KDP, I had to submit the title. That's right: there's finally a title ... and here it is!

The fifth novel will be called Parting Shot.

Some of the characters and events in Another Shot are mentioned in Parting Shot, so I like the similarity in titles. I hope it helps tie the whole series together.

You may be wondering if this is the final novel in the Penumbra series. The short answer is that I don't know. I had five novels in mind when I started, and this one sort of ties up a lot of things, but I can't guarantee that I won't find that I want to explore these (and possibly other) characters some more in the future. Or I might start a new series. The only guarantee I can give you is that I won't stop writing. I might not publish again, but I can't promise that either. I'm going to leave that open for now.

I will let you know as I proceed, especially when Parting Shot is available.

Stay tuned!

Reconnecting

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I made my usual trek up to Nebraska to spend time with my family, which makes this one of my favorite holidays. I love my family and I'm always glad when I get to reconnect with them.

During this time, I was able to ask someone who grew up on a farm about how corn grows. At first I was afraid to look dumb, but then I asked the question anyway ... and I got a useful answer. This might not seem important to you, but it was huge for me: the reason I asked about corn is that I'm trying to write a scene involving some characters running around in a cornfield.

That's right: I'm writing a scene! After over a year, I'm starting to reconnect with my characters. There was a dog named Nick in the National Dog Show and I immediately thought of my pilot. I'm starting to think about asking Reg's advice again. I'm trying to look at problems through Lamont's eyes.

What a relief. There were times I thought this would never happen again. It doesn't mean that I'm going to sit down and write my whole fifth novel next week, but now I really am beginning to believe there's a good chance it will get finished.

To those of you who write, I know you've probably gone through writer's block before. Maybe you're going through it now. Believe me, I know how scary it is when you think you're never going to write anything more than an email again ... but I'm here to tell you this: you will get past it! Just keep trying, just keep hoping, just keep writing (even if the result is awful). Remember what it is about your characters or story that excited you in the first place.

I have to laugh at the timing. I'm ready to get to work again, just as I'm getting hit with holiday decorating, gift-planning, baking, parties, etc. But I don't mind. Writing is a gift and I'm going to take some time to unwrap it again.

Have a magical holiday season.

Update on the Fifth Novel

It occurs to me that this blog is supposed to help you keep track of where I am on my novels, but it's kind of hard for you to do that if I don't post updates once in a while!
So here goes ...

The fifth novel, which does not have a title that I want to share yet, has a long way to go. This weekend I finally started to break part of it into chapters so that it's not just one big lump of story. I've done some other minor formatting, but it doesn't have headers yet.

The biggest problem is the story itself. I had a story written, but it's too short and the beginning is horribly boring. Because of this, I decided I needed to add something to the beginning, and that's where I've gotten myself in trouble. It turns out that it's very hard to add onto the beginning of a story because you have to come up with stuff that not only fits in with what's already written but also doesn't mess with the themes or give away anything that's coming later in the story. That's hard!

I also find that it's hard to write toward something that's finished. In other words, I'm used to writing with no particular ending in mind, which gives me a lot more freedom. Right now, I'm limited on where the story can go or what the characters can do, and that's had a negative effect on the writing itself. I wrote myself into several dead ends and had to backtrack to get where I wanted to be.

I like most of what I've written and I think I can make all of this work, but there's still a lot to be done. Because of that, I'm not very far along. I'm sorry to say that, because it makes a potential reader a little exasperated, I'm sure.

I am working on it, though! I spent quite a bit of time this weekend on the novel, which felt incredibly good after my long bout of writer's block, so I'm confident that this novel will see the light of day.

We'll just have to see when I can finish it, but I think that's a lot better than having to see if it will happen.

In the meantime, if you'd post a review of any of my novels, I'd really appreciate it! Please be honest if you do so. You can post a review on Amazon, Goodreads or wherever you prefer.

Thanks! And thanks for reading my blog.

To Be Continued

There were a few dried leaves in the open doorway. My footsteps echoed on the wooden floor as I entered. Most of the tables were gone. There were a few lonely books on the remaining bookshelves. It was the last day that Spellbound bookstore was open.

I shook Brett's hand and took back the copies of my novels. He told me he doesn't know what he'll do next, but he acknowledged with a smile that there are a lot of opportunities. I wished him well.

Then he said something that sort of surprised me: he wanted me to let him know when my next novel comes out.

It surprised me for a few reasons. First of all, I was touched that even in his situation, he wasn't thinking only of himself, but was reaching out to someone else.

Second, it reminded me that I have another novel to work on. That might sound silly: how could I forget that I have this novel to finish? Well, this has been kind of a tough year for me, and several factors combined to give me a pretty tenacious case of writer's block. The novel kind of slipped out of the Top Ten things I was considering ... until Brett reminded me.

As I walked to my car, I made myself stop and consider the plastic bag in my hands. It held four novels and they were all written by me! When I was younger, the mere thought of that would have made me do a silly little dance of joy. And those books made me realize that I want to create another one. It's been sitting on my computer and needs me to finish it.

So I want to thank Brett one more time. His dream hasn't ended: he's just going to move on to the next one. His attitude about that has been positive and hopeful, not angry or disappointed, which is a lot better than I would have reacted. And he's inspired me to keep up with my own dream. I have actually written seven whole sentences today and I'm going to keep going!

I think we'll both be okay.

I wish you all the best in 2017.

Three Years

Believe it or not, today marks the three-year anniversary of this blog! (It doesn't look like it because my first official post was July 28, 2013, but that's because I accidentally deleted the first post from July 23! I was off to a great start there.)

It's hard for me to believe that I've written posts weekly for that long. It's hard to believe I found that much to say. I don't consider myself particularly thoughtful or opinionated, so it makes me wonder what all of those posts were about! Ha.

I would like to thank you if you've read one, all or some of my posts. I'm not exactly sure how many readers I have out there, but I thank all of you.

Here's the latest news on Diane McCallum and the Penumbra series. My fourth novel, The Other Side, is published and awaiting copyright registration. It's also in the local bookstore, Spellbound, so be sure to check it out! There is a fifth novel, but it needs so much work that I can assure you it will not be out for more than a year. I have a tentative title, but it might be a while before I release that.

I intend to release news about the fifth novel when I feel there's something worth mentioning.

However, the weekly blog is going to have to stop. I'm very sorry, but I am truly running out of things to say! When I have a novel that I'll be releasing soon, that keeps the ideas coming and I don't have any trouble writing a blog, but when there's no novel scheduled, that leaves a bit of a void (especially in my brain!). I've spent three years pushing to get the word out there and I won't just stop, but I have to take a break. That way I can spend more time on the fifth novel.

Please be assured that this blog won't die. If a certain team wins a certain series, you'll probably hear something about that. If a thought strikes me, I'll share it, whether you want to know or not! When there's progress on the next novel, I'll let you know that, too. My goal is to write something at least once a month. If I find that I'm posting at a particular time of the month, I'll let you know, but I'm afraid I can't give you any specifics right now. You can also follow me on my Facebook page: DianeMcCallumAuthor

Please keep spreading the word to your friends and family about the Penumbra series. I'd love to share my novels with a lot of people. My dream is to have people discussing the characters and plot (especially if I get to hear the discussion).

Thank you again for reading this blog and putting up with me. I will try to post again next week, just to round it out, and then we'll see what happens. Please check back!

Why Sci-Fi

Ha. I chose science fiction just so I could have that cool rhyming title someday.

I've had people at work tell me they're astonished to find that I have all these stories of remote planets, spaceships and wormholes in my head. I guess that tells you how boring I am in real life, since they're so surprised by it.

But how did I choose science fiction as the genre for my series?

Part of it is because of Ray Bradbury, my greatest inspiration, but I can't attribute it all to him. For one thing, he didn't write only science fiction. He had a story to tell and he didn't particularly worry about the genre. Wherever the story led him, that's where he went. This is also true for me.

I've always been drawn to science fiction, though. Some of my favorite movies are in that genre and I like the freedom it offers. (That seems appropriate for Independence Day weekend, doesn't it?)

Besides that, I'd already ruled out a few genres. I don't have the money to travel around the planet so I can describe various locations effectively. I enjoy historical fiction, but I've never been particularly strong at history. I don't have the patience to write a romance. I didn't want to spend years on research.

Don't get me wrong: I did have to do research. I had to learn a lot about wormholes (thank you, Kip Thorne), spaceships, microgravity, etc. I have a lot of geeky physics books on my shelves. But once I'd done that, it was pretty easy (and cheap) to travel to distant planets: I just had to close my eyes (even that is optional) and dream.

When you think about it, the genre is only a small part of the equation. There have to be strong characters, a compelling story and a few ideas guiding the whole thing. If you don't have those, the genre will be irrelevant.

At some point, though, I did make a conscious decision. I think it was about the time I discovered Sean aboard a spaceship heading to a prison colony. I'd been toying with several ideas, but that one seemed to speak to me the most so I went with it.

And I've never looked back.

Happy Independence Day tomorrow! Thanks for reading.

The Other Side

If you scrolled down the page on my blog in the past few days, you might have noticed that there's a new book cover in the lower right. That's right: The Other Side is now published! It's available in paperback on Amazon: The Other Side  I hope to have it available for Kindle by next week.

What a process this one has been! It really tested my patience (which was probably good for me), but I'm so glad I stuck with it.

I want to thank Nicole Smith, the artist who created the cover image, for her patience and willingness to work with me to get the image right. She put up with a lot of emails from me and she was always gracious and helpful in response. Thanks, Nicole.

I also want to thank everyone who put up with my hand-wringing and eye-rolling throughout the long journey that led to this novel. You were all very kind not to tell me to shut up and get control of myself.

Now I hope at least a few people will read it ... and like it! Please spread the word that the fourth novel in the Penumbra series is out: no one will read it if they don't hear about it. (And if you buy the novel from Amazon, please write a review.)

Thanks for your help!

Finally Some Good News

I just returned from Nebraska, where I spent some time with my parents and sister. The weather was spectacular for us, except for one brief downpour that managed to drench me thoroughly. We did a little sightseeing (driving past the Nebraska State Capitol never gets old), watched a little hockey and baseball, and did a lot of talking, which was the most enjoyable.

It's always nice to spend time with people who accept me for who I am and don't seem to mind my company, amazingly enough.

When I got home, there was a brown cardboard package waiting for me in the stack of mail. I knew it was the latest proof copy of The Other Side ... and once again, I was a little afraid to open it. We've had so much trouble with the cover image and I wasn't sure I was ready to go through that again. However, I knew I had to do it, so I opened it.

I think this is the one! The image is much better and I think the artist has fixed the problem. I can't tell you how happy I am to report that to you.

Tomorrow after I get unpacked and do the laundry, I'm going to try to go through the whole book once more (just a run-through, not a complete rereading), and then I'll most likely approve it at CreateSpace.com. When that's done, it won't be long before The Other Side shows up on Amazon!

I must admit that there were times I wondered if that would ever happen, but I was determined to see it through, so we're almost there. You can either watch for the news on my Facebook page DianeMcCallumAuthor on FB, or keep checking Amazon, or check back here next week for the latest news on when it will be available.

Tell all your friends that it's almost time for the fourth novel in the Penumbra series to come out!

And thank you again for your patience.

Try Again

Things are moving on The Other Side again. As you know, there was a delay because there was a problem with the cover image being too dark, but once again the artist has come through for me and provided me with a revised image. We really hope this one will work!

I made a few tweaks to the story and resubmitted the cover image. After about twelve or so hours, CreateSpace gave me the go-ahead on the files, so I ordered another proof copy today. The ETA is May 2, but I'm hopeful it might arrive a little before that. Then ... cross your fingers that the cover will be okay!

I find it a little hard to believe that it's almost May and my novel isn't out yet. I never would have imagined that it would be delayed this long, but that's how things go. At least you know I'm trying very hard to get it right!

Once I get the proof copy, I'll have to read it one more time, just in case there's one last thing I missed. If nothing horrible jumps out at me and the cover is okay, this novel might finally see the light of day!

Thanks for your patience. While you're waiting, please spread the word about the series and consider writing a review on Amazon for one of the novels. I'd really appreciate it!

Small Setback

I have a proof copy of The Other Side in my hands! (Well, not while I'm typing, but you get the idea.)

It came two days early, so I thank CreateSpace for that. Also, I see exactly why it's important to order a proof copy because there's a small problem with the cover: the image is darker than expected so a silhouette in the image hardly shows at all. Thank goodness I had a chance to see this before the book officially comes out!

I've already notified the artist and she's working on it, so I'm sure we can get this fixed. She's done a great job so far and has always been very patient and willing to make adjustments. (I'll tell you more about her when the novel actually comes out.) Meanwhile, I'm proofreading the text to check for any typos or stray things that need to be fixed.

I have given you some teasers for this novel, but I thought I'd give you a first look at the cover blurb:
       Reggie Hawkins has been in some bad situations ... and being confined to his
     house for weeks has to be in the top five. No appliance is safe when a mechanic
     gets bored.
       Things are about to change, though: a messenger with a warning is on the way
     and gunmen are storming his brother's law firm. Hawkins will have to act quickly
     to rescue his kidnapped brother.
       What he learns about who's behind all this will lead him and the crew of
     Penumbra on a quest to the far reaches of space, where they'll make their
     most stunning discovery yet.

I hope that will pique your interest! It's never too early to start spreading the word about the new novel coming out soon, so we can build interest for it. I'll be sure to keep you updated on its progress.

Stages

Remember that skeletal park I visited in February? I finally got a chance to go back today ... and it's certainly not skeletal now.

The trees are still mostly bare, but there's an undercurrent of green across the ground. Here and there I caught pale purple flowers or the bright pink of redbud trees. One bush had delicate white blossoms. The park isn't fully dressed yet, but she's starting to put on the initial layers of finery.

The birds are arriving, too. The air was punctuated by titmice calling everywhere I went. Carolina wrens tried to fool me into thinking all that noise couldn't come from such a diminutive bird. A barred owl made me smile with its call of "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for YOU??" Throw in a few cardinals, a fish crow and some goldfinches, and it was almost a symphony.

The bare bones were fascinating, but I have to admit that I like the dressed-up version better.

I'm getting close on The Other Side. I have an ISBN. The interior has been submitted and accepted. However, there's a slight problem with the cover image so I'm working on that with the artist. I'm hoping we can get it figured out quickly so I can move on and get to the proof copy stage. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading my blog! Please spread the word about the Penumbra series and leave a comment if the mood strikes you.

And happy spring!

Update on The Other Side

Rewriting The Other Side has taken a lot of time, as you can tell by looking at the calendar. This is the latest I've ever gone without releasing a novel, but I feel I need to take as long as necessary to get it right. I'm sorry for the delay.

Right now, though, I'm formatting. That's good news because it means the rewriting is mostly finished. Yea!

The initial formatting is done because I put together a binder with instructions on how to do it and that really helped. There are a lot of steps involved with margins, gutters, headers, drop caps, etc. and my brain doesn't like to remember all of that after a year so it's nice to have a reference.

That means I'm at the hard part: making it look good. I think I've written about this before. Sometimes when I'm scrolling through the document, I'll see a sentence that has a paragraph at the end of one page and a single word of that paragraph on the next page. It looks terrible!

For example, I found this on one page: Lamont turned on the radio. “This is Captain Ben Lamont asking you to cease fire. Who are you and what

On the next page I have this: do you want?"

That's not the worst example I've seen, but it makes the reading a little awkward. I'll have to check the first page to see if I can remove a word or two so the last part of his question can go with the rest of it.

It's amazing how hard that is sometimes. I've written it the way I want ... and now I have to change it! I'm trying to add words on some pages and remove words on others. It can be frustrating.

I'm hoping to get the bulk of it done this weekend, however. After that I'll get an ISBN and we can move forward!

If you want to review the teasers I've given about the novel, here they are: Teasers

Please remember to spread the word to your friends and family (and complete strangers) about the Penumbra series. Word of mouth is the best way to let people know about it!

Also, if you happened to buy a copy of any of my novels on Amazon, thank you and please consider writing a review there.

Thank you! I'll keep you posted.

The Little Things

I write about a lot of different topics on this blog. I've detailed some of the joys of writing and some of the frustrations. Sometimes I'm thrilled and sometimes I'm dejected. That comes with the territory, I guess.

Sometimes when I'm a little down, a great event will raise my spirits. Those are the good times! More often, however, it's something small ... and I have to be willing to recognize it. Here are three examples.

I needed to double-check some tax information recently. (Even when you make no money, you have to report your earnings and expenses to the IRS. I joke with my husband that I'm helping reduce our tax rate with my lack of sales.) I found a discrepancy, so I had to look at some of the reports online. While I was doing that, I looked up Outsider on amazon.com (that still hasn't gotten old) and scrolled through the information. As I did, I noticed something strange:

Amazon.com Feb 4, 2016

The last time I looked, Outsider was at about five or six million in the Amazon Best Sellers Rank, certainly not 224,181. This could only mean one thing so I hopped over to Createspace.com and ran a report. Sure enough, for the first time in over two years, I'd sold a copy of Outsider on Amazon! I don't know how this happened or who bought it, but it was cause for celebration. (To keep things in perspective, I noticed that my other two novels are still ranked at around five or six million.) To that lone buyer out there: thank you!

I stopped in at the local bookstore this weekend to check on my inventory and chat with the proprietor. When I arrived, there were others ahead of me so I browsed while I waited. As I did that, I heard the proprietor say to another woman, "That's one of our local writers." I looked around, but there was nobody else in the store ... so then I realized that she meant me! That doesn't get old either.

Last but not least, I was at a medical establishment recently, waiting for someone to actually come see me after I'd waited for about 45 minutes. I was annoyed, trying to think of some way to catch someone's attention so I could voice my displeasure. Instead, I allowed myself a bit of whimsy: I imagined my characters storming the place, pistols in hand. I saw terrified office assistants cowering while my characters spread out, shouting, "Okay, what's the deal? Why's no one seeing Diane? Get to it!" I actually smiled and was in a better mood when the doctor did arrive, so I didn't even say anything snide. That's a win.

Each of those little things added up to something that made my week better than it would have been otherwise. I try to notice and embrace these kinds of things because they're what make the not-so-good times bearable.

What are the little things that made your week better? Be on the lookout because they can try to sneak by without you noticing them. Take note ... and enjoy!

Contest Result

I hope you had a fun and entertaining Halloween! How it got to be the end of October is beyond me, and I feel a renewed sense of urgency about working on The Other Side. Once the Two Big Holidays get here, things will get crazy and it will be harder than ever to find time, so I'll try to get as much done as possible before then.

Since I spent two whole blog posts on the short story I was writing, I didn't think it would be fair if I didn't let you know how I did in the contest. Out of five entries, I came in second. I think that's respectable, don't you? (I was actually quite pleased.)

I want to thank Spellbound Bookstore & Cafe for holding the contest. Some of the entries were quite chilling! If you're in the Pittsburg area, you can stop by the store and check them out. Mine is called "Fall."

I have a friend who's going to partake in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) next month. If you've never heard of that, it's a group that encourages writers to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November. You can find out more here: NaNoWriMo

I did NaNoWriMo in 2006 and it was incredible to me how many words I had to write each and every day. That's not easy, especially for someone like me, who often writes in short bursts. It was a struggle and the result will probably never see daylight, but it was good for me and I did it!

All of this reminds me that I need to keep pushing myself and my writing. I don't want to fall into a rut and I don't ever want to find that I've stopped writing altogether, no matter how hectic and crazy my life gets.

Thanks again for following my blog. Please help me spread the word about my Penumbra series of novels.

Keep It Short Part 2

Believe it or not, I finished my short story and submitted it to the Spellbound bookstore contest today, one day short of the deadline. Whew! My husband was a big help, with a lot of good suggestions, as I rewrote it several times. I think it's pretty good now and we'll see what happens.

Now I have a much better idea about what makes a short story different than a novel. I touched on this last week, but here it is in a little more detail:

1. Character development happens a lot more quickly. It seems you've barely identified the character before you have to demonstrate how that character evolves. I'm used to letting a character evolve over chapters, not paragraphs.

2. You have to get to the point quickly ... and you can only have one or it's going to get messy. This is very hard for me because I usually have a bunch of points I want to make and I'm not that fast at getting to any of them. I had to listen closely to my character to find out what she wanted to tell me about her wishes and decisions for this story.

3. Almost everything in a short story has to be there for a reason. In a novel, I can have some scenes that might set the tone or give you a little more insight into a character but aren't strictly necessary to the story. In the short story, I couldn't do that. I had to cut out all kinds of descriptions and sidetracks. Now almost every word has a reason: a "lonely" item reflects its owner, a spreadsheet showing the character's job at the beginning is used to show what choice she must make later, etc. This was more of an issue in this story because I was limited to less than 1,000 words, but I think it's true in most short stories.

4. My favorite aspect of a short story, though, is that you can pay close attention to every sentence because there are fewer sentences to work with. I went a little crazy with metaphors, but I really enjoyed getting to use more of them and stretch myself a little. I included more details in some scenes than I might have done if I was in the middle of a long chapter. Whether it made the story better or not might be up for debate, but usually more detail means a stronger story.

This does not mean I'm going to stop writing novels! I might try this again, but I think I'm too hooked on novels to give them up in the near future. I leave it up to you if that's good news or not!

Thanks again for reading my blog. Please spread the word about my Penumbra series!

Third Video

Happy Labor Day Weekend! For many of us, it's a chance to rest and recharge our batteries before we launch ourselves back into the labor that helps us pay the bills.

For me, it's been a chance to finally finish my third video! I think I must be the world's pickiest person because I spent a lot of time this morning adjusting transitions and effects. It's a good thing I'm not a movie director because considering how much time I put into a one-and-a-half-minute video, can you imagine how long a two-hour movie would take??

This video is for the third novel in my Penumbra series, In the Shadows. Please share it with friends and family.

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozZbYu15Q_I

I appreciate your support!

The Other Side Update

I haven't given you much in the way of updates lately for The Other Side, have I? I am working on it, but things are a little slow in that department. Here's why:

When I started on my novels, I wrote Outsider first (no surprise there) and then I slowly wrote four other novels. In between writing, I would go back and edit/rewrite on previous novels. After a while, I realized that the third novel was too short, so I combined it with the second to create Another Shot. What started as the fourth novel was now the third, and I was having some real trouble with it: I couldn't come up with an ending that worked. I rewrote and rewrote, but it never ended to my satisfaction. Finally, with more than a little regret, I realized that the novel would never work as it was and I discarded it. (Believe me when I say that was not an easy thing to do.) The final novel was now referring to things that had never happened!

I wasn't happy with only three novels, so I resolved to write one to go between Another Shot and the final novel. As it turned out, I managed to fit two novels in there, In the Shadows and The Other Side. This means the final novel also neglects to mention big things that happened in those two novels! As you can tell, that last novel is going to need a lot of work.

In the meantime, however, I have to deal with The Other Side. Since it was technically written last (even though it isn't the last novel in the series; how confusing is that?), it has had the least work. Some of the original writing came as late as 2008 or after, so I haven't been through it as many times as the other novels. Since I don't write things perfectly the first time (or even the second or third time), I'm having to do a lot of rewriting. I've also been adding scenes that should have been in there but somehow weren't.

All of this means I'm doing more work on this one than I even did on In the Shadows. (You might remember how much work I did on that late in 2014.) The good news is that I'm doing this work over the summer instead of over the fall, so I've given myself some more time. I'm still aiming for a release date of January, although that isn't set in stone.

Meanwhile, just to make things "interesting" for myself, I'm trying to create a video for In the Shadows. Sometimes it gets confusing and I have to remember which plot line I'm working with, but it means that things don't get boring!

That's the latest update. I appreciate your patience and I thank you for reading my blog (and my novels).

The Desk

We recently had some windows replaced in our house and we needed to move stuff out of the way so the workers could actually get to the windows. I also realized that there would be dust involved, so I wanted to cover what I could. In the end, I decided to remove everything from my desk.

Wow.

It's amazing what kind of stuff accumulates on a desk (or any surface where you might set things you intend to put away later). It was almost like an archaeological dig! I found a list of possible titles for the series of my novels ("Penumbra" was second on the list). I found random notes of plot ideas or character studies. I found sketches for the videos. I found a list of possible ship names. I found a list of Amazon rankings for Outsider (the highest is 241,491 and the lowest is over 2 million).

Not all of it was book-related. I found a great photo of my co-workers (taken two years ago), some Dilbert cartoons, a scribbled note about an elliptical machine I was considering two or three years ago, a Kansas bird list and a nice postcard of the Colorado Rockies.

It was pretty easy to shove all of it in drawers or a bag before the window guys arrived. It wasn't so easy to take it all out and decide what to do with it after they left. In fact, the bag sat in the living room for a week before I worked up the courage to open it.

I recycled a lot of it. I filed some of it. And I started a new stack of "I don't know what else to do with this" items on the corner of the desk.

There's a lot less clutter than there was before. Let's see how long that can last.
In the meantime, if I need a new ship name, I know where to look!