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!

When to Write (or Not)

You’re sitting at your desk (or in your easy chair or in a coffee house or wherever), staring at a screen (or a typewriter or whatever), and nothing’s coming. You’re blank. Your head is blank. The page is blank. You want to get up and do something else (anything!), but you know that’s no good. The little voice in your head keeps telling you to stick with it, to keep trying until something happens, even if you write trash.

You might be surprised to learn that at this point, I give up and go do something else. Or you might not be too surprised, since I only have four novels out. But I’m a writer, so that’s what I do, isn’t it?

Let’s be honest here. I’m not a full-time writer, no matter how much I like the idea. I have a day job. I have other hobbies and interests. I have family. Writing is only part of my life. It doesn’t rule my waking hours or dictate that I spend a certain amount of time with it. If you want to know what a full-time writer goes through, you’d better ask one of them.

But if you want to know what a part-time writer does, here I am. I’m sure I will disappoint you when I tell you that I only write when I’m feeling it. (Rewriting is a completely different story. If I only did that when I wanted to, I’d never get it done!)

That’s right. All that nonsense you’ve heard about muses and inspiration might be true after all. I don’t think I have a little angel whispering plots in my ear, but my head has to be prepared to come up with something and it can’t do that if I’m overworked, stressed, angry, grief-stricken or just empty-headed. I must have had some quiet time recently to mull things over. I have to feel comfortable with my characters, sure that I know their motivations and personalities.

Here’s the thing: write when you feel like it. If that’s two hours a day, do it. If that’s an hour every other day, do it. If it’s every other Tuesday, do that. If you don’t like writing, you shouldn’t be doing it.

     And that’s why I never force myself. Writing is one of those things that gives my life more meaning. I’d be lost without it, so I’m not going to turn it into a chore. It’s a joy, and I plan to keep it that way.


P.S. The fifth novel is a work in progress. Stay tuned!

Out of the Blue

Believe it or not, I'm still here.

Believe it or not, I'm hoping to release my fifth novel this year.

Both of those might seem surprising to you, considering the fact that I haven't released a novel for three years or written a blog for three months, but that should tell you something about me. (You can't get rid of me!)

Some of the blogs I wrote last year dealt with writer's block (I admit that I had to go reread some of them because it had been so long), which really explains why I haven't written blogs or a novel. Behind the writer's block, there's another story.

And I choose not to tell it.

By now, you should know that I don't do things just because "everyone does it." I still have a flip phone. I don't have Netflix. I haven't invested in Bitcoin. Call me slow, call me old-fashioned, call me whatever you want. I'm fine with that. But one of the things I absolutely don't do is put my whole life out in front of the world. (Yes, I realize that this blog does NOT reach the whole world, but you get the idea.)

There are several reasons for this. Probably the biggest is that I grew up in a time without social media, where people kept things to themselves because they had no choice. But I think that along the way, I realized the value of that. When I met someone, I could get to know that person by talking to them, not reading something online. We could have a real conversation and learn about each other that way.

Another big reason is family privacy. I could bare my soul here and cry words about what happened to me, but I don't think it's fair to them.

Also, I've always liked to have a slight air of mystery. Once you know everything about me, I'm kind of boring. But if you don't know everything about me, you can always imagine there's something interesting in there that you just haven't been allowed to know yet.

So this leads me to keep a part of my life private. The events I mentioned had been going on for a few years and they came to an abrupt, painful end last year. It was a family event, one that brought us closer together while it tore our insides apart, and now we're rebuilding.

While this was happening, I just couldn't work up any enthusiasm for my novel. A bunch of fictional characters seemed unimportant next to real people in pain and trouble.

I'm starting to recover (it took a while) and aspects of my life are starting to return to almost-normal. Once I was able to do that, I took another look at the novel. It has some themes that come uncomfortably close to what happened to us (all of which were written well before the actual events happened), so that made it both difficult and important for me. Also, I thought that since I'd taken the trouble to write the novel, it made sense to release it.

I've started to format it. A reader has given me feedback. A second reader will look at it soon. I'm in contact with an artist about the cover art.

Amazingly enough, after all that time, this might actually happen.

I apologize for my long absence. If you've moved on, I can't blame you.

If not, thanks for your patience! I'll try to bring you updates when I can and see if I can't get a new title on Amazon sometime this year.

Have a good year and thanks for reading!

(By the way, blue is my favorite color.)

Farewell to Google Plus

When I published my first novel, I read a lot of advice online about the best way to publicize it. Several people/sites said it was imperative for me to put myself out there on social media so that any potential reader could find out more about me and might be inspired to buy my novels.

As a result, I opened accounts with Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon Author Central, Blogger, iAuthor, Youtube, and Google+. I soon realized that each of these needed to be somewhat different since no one wants to read the same information over and over.

I decided that Blogger would have snippets of my fiction, in addition to actual updates and my thoughts on the world, while Facebook would be more about the novels and general space news.

iAuthor, Goodreads and Youtube are sites where I mostly posted items (names & information about the novels, videos about the novels) and then left them alone. Amazon Author Central was the place to post general information about me as an author, with a picture or two.

Then there was Google+. I wasn’t sure what to do with it at first. All of my blogs automatically show up there, but that seemed a little boring. I did some exploring and found out that a lot of people use Google+ for photos, especially collections of photos, so I decided to do the same. At first, I simply shared photos from others that I thought were noteworthy. After a while, though, I posted a few of my own photos. Eventually I posted a few collections. It was always a good place to find amazing photos of birds, wildlife, nature, beautiful things, etc. I liked how easy it was to explore and find others’ collections. And I had around 42 followers!

Now comes the news that Google+ will no longer be available for non-commercial users like me. This makes me sad. It was one place where I could post little items about something cool I’d seen in Wilderness Park or on the flowers out front or while I was traveling. I wasn’t really an author there; I was just one person among many wanting to share some photos.

There weren’t a lot of ads. If I followed someone, I saw ALL of their posts, not just some. If I wanted to explore, it was simple. If I wanted to share my photos with someone, that was simple, too. Google+ never seemed overbearing or difficult; it just seemed like a nice place to hang out once in a while.

I guess those of us hanging out together weren’t generating enough revenue. Also, Google apparently had a data breach and decided it wasn’t worth it to revise Google+ for added security. Whatever the reason, they’ve decided to end the Google+ product, except for business owners.

I’m not the only one who will miss Google+. I’ve read several posts there as people try to figure out where to move their photos and how to notify their followers (sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands). They’re scattering to the wind; I guess it’s a lot like when you leave high school or college in the “real world”: you realize you won’t be with that particular set of people anymore and won’t see some of them ever again.

I suppose it’s for the best. I’ve met a lot of good people since college. I’m sure I’ll find somewhere else to share and enjoy photos.

But I’ll miss this one. Goodbye, Google+.

Mountains in the Rearview

I recently returned from a trip to Colorado, and ever since then, I've noticed something different. Mostly about myself: I'm calmer. I'm not so scattered or anxious. Why is this?

First of all, let me highly recommend a trip to Colorado whenever you get a chance. There is so much variety in that state, there are so many things to do, that you will always find something there to enjoy.

My personal favorite is Rocky Mountain National Park. You start with sweeping meadows ringed by pine trees. Then you drive up Trail Ridge Road along switchbacks and past craggy rocks. Finally you emerge above the treeline to another world: the alpine world. Here everything is short and tough, designed to withstand the high winds and cold temperatures. And the views are breath-taking, everywhere you look. "Purple mountains' majesty" starts to make sense.

Throughout the park, there is abundant wildlife to be seen: elk, moose, deer, marmots, chipmunks, ground squirrels, untold species of birds, and much more.

Among all of this, however, I have found one thing that I enjoy more than anything else: the mountain stream.

When I was a child, I loved to throw rocks or sticks into the stream: rocks for the satisfying 'sploosh' and sticks because I could run alongside and track where the current took them.

Now, however, I'm content to sit beside the stream and listen to what it has to tell me.

Then something happens: when I listen to the stream, my head goes silent. All those random thoughts, all those worries, all the planning and plotting that fills my head—it all goes away. I'm left with only the sound of water tumbling over rocks ... and a peace that is rare for me.

I sat beside such streams several times during my trip. Each time, there was only the stream and nothing else mattered. It was the ultimate form of meditation.

Don't get me wrong: I drank in the mountain views, the wildlife and the wildflowers, which were everywhere. I cried when I had to leave ... and I stared at the rearview mirror for as long as the mountains were visible there.

But now I feel a stillness that I couldn't achieve before this trip.

I don't know how long it will last, but for now I'm holding onto it. I like the calmness, the peace, the feeling that things will be all right.

I'm trying to keep the mountain stream in my heart.

Stream at Hidden Valley, Rocky Mountain National Park

Trust Your Readers

Part of your job as a writer is to set the scene, to explain to the reader what is happening, but you need to be careful: unnecessary information can be distracting … and sometimes annoying!

For example, if I wrote that Hawkins went to the starboard side of Penumbra and then I added an explanation that the starboard side is the right side of the ship, my readers would roll their eyes and sigh. Yes, Diane, we already know that. If they didn’t know that, I apologize, but they can certainly look it up. That’s what Google is for, right?

How many times have you read a story and wondered why the writer insisted on telling you things you already know? It’s simple: the writer doesn’t trust you.

This includes the distracting facts that tell you the writer is simply showing off: how fast light travels, how many bones are in the human body, what the square root of 3,472 is. Most of the time, the reader doesn’t need to know these facts to appreciate the story. Only if it is directly relevant—for example, the forensic scientist found 202 adult bones, so four are missing—should these little tidbits be included. It’s never a bad thing for a writer to know these facts, but it’s in bad form to include them in the story when they’re not needed.

It’s also bad when you tell the reader things that he/she should be able to figure out from what’s happening in the scene.

For example:

    Bobby kicked open the door and hurled his keys across the

room. He muttered under his breath as he slammed the door

shut and flung himself into a chair.

    Katrina appeared in the bedroom doorway. “What—?”

    “Shut up. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Now let me ask you this: what is Bobby’s mood at this point? Do I need to tell you or can you figure it out for yourself?

How about this?

Bobby slammed the door. He was angrier than he’d ever been.

Katrina appeared in the bedroom doorway. “What—?”

“I’m so mad at Joe!” Bobby shouted.

In this case, I’d be a little ticked off myself, mostly because the writer doesn’t trust me enough to figure out Bobby is mad on my own. As a reader, I never appreciate it when the writer decides to spell out the obvious for me.

I admit that it’s a fine line. Sometimes you’ll need to step back and pretend you’ve never seen this scene before; then decide if everything you’ve included needs to be there. You could also have someone else read the scene and tell you what can stay and what should go.

When in doubt, though, trust your readers.

Silence

I'm like the Grinch in one respect. No, I don't hate the Whos. I don't hate Christmas. I don't yell at Max. But I do hate the noise, noise, noise.
Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky. I know that part of it is because I have tinnitus. If you don't know what that is, have you ever had your ears ring after a particularly loud sound or a noisy concert? If you were to have that sound in your ear(s) all the time, without relief, that's tinnitus. It can be different sounds for different people. Mine is a high-pitched shrieking sound, like a tea kettle whistle. Tinnitus is apparently supposed to make a person more sensitive to sound, and I am proof of that.
What I don't understand is that people around me seem to require sound/noise all the time. I listen to the radio, I watch TV, but there are times when I like to sit in relative silence, a thought that would make many of my co-workers recoil in terror. "Silence? How can you stand it??"
When I was growing up, nobody thought silence was bad. As a kid, I played outside without a radio to listen to or videos to watch. My family traveled to the mountains and went on long hikes where all we heard was occasional wind and the birds. I don't remember considering that torture (well, except for the tough hiking part). We might even spend an evening reading, with no sound except pages turning.
Now everybody's got to have ear buds or a radio or a phone or a TV or something. It puzzles me.
People ask me, "How do you come up with all those ideas for your novels?"
Here's the answer: silence. Almost all of my ideas come when I'm walking in nature or staring at a computer monitor, in silence. Silence lets my mind settle down, roam at will and make connections that it could never make with constant outside stimulation. It needs that breathing space to get creative.
I don't hate music or TV or whatever. These things are entertaining and have an important place in anyone's life. But don't let them rule your life.
Give yourself a break once in a while to let your mind wander. You'll be surprised by what you might come up with.