How do you remain motivated to write when things aren't going well?

There's a reason for today's post, besides the fact that I hear that question pretty often. The answer is both simple and complex.

First of all, I've been sick for the last two months and counting. No, it's not the Covid virus, I had a bout with some sort of food poisoning on or before Thanksgiving morning. While that is long gone, it left me with ongoing intestinal issues that have begun to rule my life. This consists of chronic sudden diarrhea with nasty cramping, some nausea and stomach pain, and an inability to eat anything heavy, dairy, fibrous, acidic, greasy/oily, along with many vegetables and fruits—especially raw. I'm stuck with bland foods in small quantities. I've been tested for just about every known toxin under the sun, and all came back negative. I can't leave the house and go somewhere that I won't have access to a bathroom immediately on short notice. No way to predict when this thing will flare up and I'm still occasionally finding foods that are at least temporarily off limits. Even my decaf coffee with a non-dairy creamer and my beloved dark chocolate upset me. Yeah, this sucks!

This is on top of my usual issues with mobility due to advanced arthritis that have left me hobbling with a cane for the last several years. The pain and stiffness of that in the affected areas is a constant issue that I deal with daily also. I have medication for it, but it only knocks it down to a level I can live with. It's widespread for me, all the major and many smaller joints as well as my entire spine. I do whatever I have to in order to control it. Add on the other more current issue and that's a recipe for curling up in bed and feeling sorry for myself. Can you blame me?

Well, I can't afford to do that. First of all, I do have family who want to see me, and while I may not always be great company, I do my best to remain part of their lives. And I am a writer, I have books and other projects I'm working on, and want to make headway in. It's not just my commitment to publishers and fans speaking here, though that is important to me. I need this writing time to take the focus off what's going haywire in my life and the world around us so that I don't dwell too heavily on all that. That's a slippery slope that leads to depression and while I have my moments, I've learned to combat it with doing something positive and creative—like writing. Plus, in order to remain relevant in my career niche and grow my fan base, I need to put material out regularly. To do that you have to actually write and not just think about it.

I'll admit it's been hard lately. Some days I just feel so crummy I don't get a whole lot done. Yet I still sit myself down at the desk and do whatever I can. Every word on the page moves the story forward and leads to other new ideas. I've always been a writer who has more than one project going at a time so I can toggle back and forth between them if I feel I'm getting stale. That saves me from what everyone calls 'writer's block'—where you stare at a page and have nowhere to go with the next line or paragraph. For me, I average 3 days on most projects before switching to another, but I will switch out sooner or later depending on my mood. The idea is to write something, not give up on writing altogether. Like falling off a bicycle or a horse, I've got to get back up and write again to avoid that woo-woo fear that builds up, telling me that I can't do this, it's too hard and I'm not good at it. Yeah, even after 20 books in print, plus over a half dozen more awaiting a slot and quite a few short stories, I still have those days where I doubt myself. I'm human, not a machine.

One of the things that seems to help me commit to writing when things are rotten around me is making myself accountable. I post an almost daily stat of my writing progress on social media, mainly Facebook and Twitter, where I have followings. I also belong to a small but very supportive online group that meets regularly to read what we're working on to one another. The support and feedback are wonderful. I've had this blog for a while but over the last year or so I have made much more effort to keep it updated. I have a little more time on my hands now, so I can spare a weekend afternoon for blogging. Sometimes just talking about writing, makes the struggle to actually get something done much easier. When I'm really frustrated, I might chat with a writer friend, send an email, or blog. Usually within the course of airing that grievance, I somehow manage to work it out. This is why I tell potential writers, find your tribe, and listen as well as share. We all face the same issues with writing, though our lives outside of banging keyboards to make stories might be very different indeed. It's the rest of life that often seems to get in the way. Putting my current health issues into perspective by listening to what others are going through in order to gain writing time makes me realize that in some ways I'm more fortunate than my peers. Many of us are denied time to focus on a creative endeavor that could become a career because we have 9-5 jobs, extremely debilitating circumstances, families to care for, and bills to pay. Yes, those things must take priority. That's incentive for me to keep going as well.

In the end I guess it's just plain stubborness for me. I spent a lot of my life caring or working for others. Writing is something I chose just for me, and it does work well with my rather laid-back and introverted lifestyle and current disability status. I enjoy it immensely, because it gives me the chance to be creative and actually get paid something for it. So I can't afford to collapse myself into my own woes and not write, because readers will move on. Whether it's 50 words or 5,000, what I get done on a regular basis does add up over time. It's that persistence that pays off. I don't find time to write, I make it wherever I can. I use that time wisely, and get as much done as I'm able to. Along the way, I leave the world and all the problems in it behind while I'm immersed in one of my own design. There is a great feeling of satisfaction that comes at the end of each writing session, when you know you've gotten something accomplished that most people would never be able to convince themselves to tackle. When a project is finished and turned in, you've hit another milestone. I keep my focus on that, because it will bring me back to the desk day after day.

So there's no magic to motivation really. It's a mindset. You do it because you want the end result. It's harder when you have things that interfere with your ability to concentrate, but it can be done. I'm proof of that.

Write on,
~Nancy

Jezebel Johnston: MASTIFF has set sail!

I just got the news today folks,  that the 7th JEZEBEL JOHNSTON novel, subtitled MASTIFF, is now available on Amazon. For the time being it is only in paperback format, but should be up as a Kindle download quite soon. So stay tuned because this is yet another adventure of our intrepid pirate lass that you won't want to miss!

This is the awesome cover by artist Adam Shaw. There are also 9 black and white illustrations by Airship 27's own in-house artist/setup man, and all around nice guy, Mr. Rob Davis. Here's one of them again, so you can see how drool-worthy they are.

Here is what my publisher, Airship 27 said in their press release: 

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS

Presents

JEZEBEL JOHNSTON Vol 7

MASTIFF

Airship 27 is thrilled to announce the release of volume 7 in its best-selling pirate queen saga, Jezebel Johnston by Nancy Hansen, “Mastiff.”

Stranded far from her Caribbean homeland, pirate Jezebel Johnston struggles to survive over the alien waters of the Barbary Coast. Through a strange twist of fate, she, and two other freed slaves, Zuri and Amaka, come under the protection of the famous Maratha Indian Warlord Shivaji Bhonsle. The soon to be Maharajah has a strong disdain for foreign interference in his country along with a unique respect for the faith of others and the intelligence of women.

Thus Jezebel and her sisters-in-arms feel a strong obligation to aid the famous warrior by volunteering to participate on one of his seagoing raids against the Mughal overlords. To do so, they will have to become spies, gather information on which ships are carrying what cargo and how best to take them.

It is a dangerous game, one Jezebel and her companions are aptly qualified for, their bravery mingled with their natural charms set into motion a daring seagoing assault that will have serious repercussions throughout the Indian world.

“I’ve pretty much run out of words to describe how amazing this series is,” says Airship 27 Production Managing Editor Ron Fortier. “Nancy writes a sweeping, historically accurate adventure saga sure to entertain any lover of pirate lore. The action never stops and her characters are truly colorful rogues battling their ways across the seven seas.”

Pulp Factory Award Winning artist Rob Davis provides the 9 black and white interior illustrations and the amazing Adam Shaw the beautifully painted cover.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION

So this is the deal mateys, you buy some of these books, and I'll keep writing them as long as I know I have an audience. When you consider what 2020 was like, isn't a good read that allows you to get away to a different place and time for a while worth a little expense? Writing this one kept my head together when it seemed the world around me was coming apart at the seams, and something scary was in the news daily. So you get your copy as soon as possible, because I am already over 4500 into the next JJ novel right now, and going strong. This is what I do for a living these days, and it's the most rewarding job I've ever had. Sure would like to continue doing what I love right into my old age. So please, if you buy it and you enjoyed it, spread the word. The more readers I can reach, the better for all of us in this small niche of the publishing field. This is 100% homegrown business, and a labor of love for most of us, but we need your support. Thank you, each and every one of you, for your patronage and your willingness to support the kind of fiction and artwork that is hard to find now at such affordable prices.

~Nancy

A Pirating We Will Go!

 

Well matey. I've got some news on the piratin' front to pass along. To be specific-like, I be talkin' the JEZEBEL JOHNSTON series of pirate yarns that I've been writin' for yer readin' pleasure. So sit yerself down fer a bit and rest them weary bones, git yerself some grog and have a listen to a few tales about what-all be coming yer way...

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, here's what's going on with this popular series. First of all, JEZEBEL JOHNSTON #6, subtitled SISTERS OF VENGEANCE, just came out in audiobook format from RADIO ARCHIVES. Now this audiobook has 7 hours of listening pleasure involved, so even at the full price that is quite a bargain. But right now, you can get that half price. Imagine being able to sit back with earbuds in or headphones on and eyes closed, letting this book take you out to another place and time. You'll go off to where daring deeds and tropical climes have you alternately on land or sea, fighting to survive in a hostile environment. You'll be in places where enemies abound and danger is always around the next bend or coming at you with the tide. After the continuing insanity of the past year—which seems to have carried over into this one—couldn't you just use such a break? Think about it, because $6.99 for a 7 hour vacation from reality sounds like a bargain to me!

And yes, the paperback and Kindle versions are still available on Amazon. So you do have options. By the way, any of these books are available in PDF format for a reasonable $3 directly from the publisher Airship 27. Scroll down on the left and you will find a menu that takes you to the books you want to see. And look around while you're there, because there are a lot of really good books by other authors as well. 

Well, now  I've got news of the next book in line. I recently got the galley proof back for JEZEBEL JOHNSTON #7: MASTIFF. A galley is the book in a format set up to be printed. It's the author's last chance to do a final pass before it goes to print. I knocked that out in a couple of days by doing a line-by-line read through and leaving notes for the setup guy. My understanding is we're waiting for the cover art on this one, but the Rob Davis interior illustrations are all done and in place, and folks... they are gorgeous! I always love to see what Rob has for me. Rob has done a couple dynamite covers for me too—SISTERS OF VENGEANCE was one of his covers. I was told that the very talented Adam Shaw is doing the cover for this particular book, and I was thrilled to hear that. Always exciting to see your characters come to life via artwork. I'll let you know when the book comes out, I usually annouce them here as well as on my Facebook page and you can find me on Twitter.

So what's next for our pirate lass? Well I'm glad you asked! On the 5th of this month I began writing the 8th JEZEBEL JOHNSTON novel. This one doesn't have a subtitle yet, but it picks up where #7 MASTIFF left off in the first chapter. Now I have a habit of adding a short prologue to each book first, to kind of connect it in some way to the last one without doing a continual flashback scenes. Hopefully that helps readers who come in somewhere in the middle of the series to pick up what's going on and where we are. We were just about to engage with another ship in the final scene of the last chapter of #7, so that's where Chapter 1 starts in book #8. I'm already over 2200 words into it, and if I finish this blog post early enough today, I might add a few more.

This second group of four books in the series from #5 through #8 have taken place on the way to or in the East Indies, that area between the east coast of Africa to the far Orient. This was the early heydays of the East Indian trade, and while there were some pirates in the area, they were not as well established in this Age of Buccaneers (1650-1680) as they became during the Pirate Round (1690s) and into the Golden Age of the early 1700s. These books are historcal fiction and as close as I can make it to realistic, so there aren't any zombies, mermaids, or skeleton pirates meandering through them. We're in the time of the buccaneers in this series, but moving toward the end of it, before the more famous pirates sprung on the scene. People like Blackbeard, Calico Jack Rackham, Black Sam Bellamy, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Charles Vane show up later, though Henry Morgan has been mentioned in passing, as he was on the early side. A lot of this part of the the JEZEBEL JOHNSTON series is based in the Indian Ocean or in India itself. I do plan on having Jez head back to the Carribean at the end of this one, because I have something important for her to do there. That set of adventures might fill another 4 books, which would give me 12. I don't think I'll be done writing about her after that though. Jez is still quite young yet and needs to make her way up the pirating ladder of success, and I'm just having waaaaay too much fun getting her in and out of trouble. Plus I've learned a lot along the way about things like ships and seafaring, colonization of the New World, politics and social conditions in Europe and the Asian Orient, and famous folks who lived in those times that you really never hear about. For instance, the the much revered Maratha Indian Warlord who became their Maharajah (king), Shivaji Bhonsle popped up in my study of this era in India, and he just happened to have an established navy as well as some amazing forts both on land and sea. Talk about serendipity! Shivaji was known for his guerilla raids on the Mughal overlords, his disdain for the foreign interference in their country, along with his respect for the faith of others and the intelligence of women—which are unsual characteristics for his time. Shivaji first appears in JJ#6  SISTERS OF VENGEANCE, continues to have a presence in JJ #7 MASTIFF,  and we will be finishing with him in JJ #8. You never know what little gems of history you might stumble across when you research for books like these. It brings the world of the past back to life in my mind, and introduces me to people, places, and ideas that I'd never heard of before.

One of the things I have tried hard to walk a line with this series is between making it authentic sounding, but also accessible. I have kept the language for the most part English, though I will throw in a foreign phrase in dialogue or naming of things like ships here and there. I try hard to get that as close to properly translated as I can make it. I use some vernacular or dialect, but only in small batches. I'm sure all the spoken languages were far more different that how we speak today, but find the 'thees and thous' sort of speech tiresome, and so I figure readers will too. What's more important is getting the characters right. You'll see a smattering of pirate jargon and plenty of seafaring terms, but I try not to overdo that either. Like spices in a dish you are cooking, you want them to enhance the flavor without overpowering it. The bigger issue for me is a balance between the heavy action, intrigue, and adventure that a book about pirating needs contrasted with character growth and details about the locales we're in so that readers can envision what's going on as well as where it's happening and to whom. Plus I must keep in mind that to be affordable to readers and to allow the publisher a chance to make a profit (they can't afford to print these for free you know), the book has to meet a very defined wordcount range. After you've written enough of these sort of high action/adventure novels, you get a feeling for the pacing. Every word counts. Every sentence, paragraph, and chapter has to lead you forward and leave you wanting more. Hopefully I've managed that because I'm told this series is popular. I'm really glad too, because this is a labor of love for me as well as my chance to leave something tangible behind in the world when I'm no longer on this side of the veil of life. I'm going to be 64 in April so this is a late life career for me, and it's something that I can likely do no matter how old and creaky I get.

So if you enjoy these stories, please let me and/or my publisher know. Reviews are wonderful, and I have no problem with honest critiques. They just give me something to think over so that I can do better next time. I'm available through the comments section of this blog, I have an Amazon Author Page, and the aforementioned presence on Facebook and Twitter. Follow or Friend me, I make regular posts on both social sites about what I am writing and how it's going. If there's some other social site you'd like to see me post on, let me know. I don't want to spend all day online, because I need time to write as well as have a homelife and be with family, but I'll do whatever I can to connect with readers. You folks are the reason I'm doing this after all. It sure isn't to get rich! Maybe I should take up pirating for that...?

That's it for this week folks. Carry on and keep reading, and I will keep writing them!

~Nancy